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Trump holds first official Cabinet meeting of second term
Maureen Chowdhury Elise Hammond Aditi Sangal
By Antoinette Radford, Maureen Chowdhury, Elise Hammond and Aditi Sangal, CNN
Updated 1:18 PM EST, Wed February 26, 2025
Trump asks his Cabinet if anyone is unhappy with Elon Musk
00:48 - Source: CNN
What we're covering
• Trump holds Cabinet meeting:
President Donald Trump convened the first official Cabinet meeting of his second term today, where he said some members of his Cabinet “disagree a little bit” with Elon Musk, who was in attendance, as CNN reports that Musk’s directives to federal workers have begun to grate on Cabinet secretaries. Meanwhile, also on Trump’s agenda today: signing additional executive orders.
• Memo on mass layoffs:
The Trump administration issued a memo Wednesday telling federal agencies how to conduct large-scale layoffs. The principles to guide the agencies include conducting “a significant reduction” in the number of federal workers by eliminating positions that are not needed and reducing federal property holdings and budgets. Trump said during the Cabinet meeting that his Environmental Protection Agency administrator plans to cut up to 65% of the agency’s workforce.
• US-Ukraine deal:
Trump confirmed Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will come to the White House Friday to sign an agreement on natural resources and the reconstruction of war-torn Ukraine. The US president also said Russian President Vladimir Putin “is going to have to” make concessions in the negotiations to end the Ukraine war, but declined to specify what they would be.
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1 hr 28 min ago
Trump confirms Zelensky to visit White House Friday to sign agreement on Ukraine natural resources and reconstruction
From CNN's Betsy Klein
President Donald Trump confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will come to the White House Friday to sign an agreement on natural resources and reconstruction of war-torn Ukraine.
“We’re doing very well with Russia-Ukraine. President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday. It’s now confirmed, and we’re going to be signing an agreement,” Trump said, thanking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
He added, “We’ve been able to make a deal where we’re going to get our money back and we’re going to get a lot of money in the future, and I think that’s appropriate.”
Trump said his administration is “happy about” the deal, which could grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as part of wider negotiations to end Russia’s invasion, as well as US involvement in a reconstruction fund for Ukraine.
1 hr 41 min ago
NOW: Trump holds first Cabinet meeting of second term, with Elon Musk in attendance
From CNN staff
President Donald Trump is holding his first official Cabinet meeting since beginning his second term — a gathering of agency leaders who’ve taken different approaches to proving their loyalty to Trump in public and private.
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who has led efforts to reduce the federal government workforce but is not a Cabinet member, is also expected to attend today’s meeting. The White House said earlier Wednesday that he’s attending as “Cabinet secretaries take the advice and direction” of the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk, nominally a senior adviser to the president, is playing a massive role in the Trump’s administration. That’s despite the fact that – unlike actual Cabinet members — he won’t be confirmed by the Senate. Currently, 18 of 22 Cabinet nominees have been confirmed so far.
Wednesday’s gathering is intended to serve as a moment to touch base and ensure Trump’s federal agency heads “are rowing in the right direction,” a White House official said.
Cabinet meetings, typically staid affairs with brief photo opportunities at their start, morphed into something much different during Trump’s first presidency. He kicked them off by touting his administration’s accomplishments, and then each Cabinet member took a turn lavishing praise on the president while television cameras were rolling.
With reporting from CNN’s Eric Bradner and Alejandra Jaramillo.
Here’s a look at the Cabinet members confirmed so far:
2 hr 19 min ago
Analysis: How to think about all the court action against Trump
From CNN's Katelyn Polantz
Rulings are coming in fast and furious: a reinstatement of fired officials here; a midnight order looming for the federal government to pay out blocked foreign aid funding there.
Making sense of even just the three losses in court for the Trump administration on Tuesday and developing clashes Wednesday morning can be head spinning.
To understand the nearly 80 active court cases against Trump executive decisions, here are a few organizing principles:
Testing Trump’s power over the executive branch
• A major group of lawsuits want to stop Trump from cutting federal spending. The administration has tried lots of approaches already. Nonprofits especially have argued what the administration has done is catastrophic to their existence. Judges have been more keen to step in quickly and tell the Trump administration no, not now, not so fast — especially when the funding choices may be discrimination or, in the case of the United States Agency for International Development, ended abruptly.
• Several lawsuits attempt to reverse Trump’s decisions to fire large groups of federal workers. Generally, the courts have given themselves little authority to override the president’s workforce choices at this time. In a few cases, officials removed have been temporarily reinstated.
• A third group of lawsuits challenge Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. These largely revolve around privacy claims. The courts want answers, but with few facts, are limiting the force with which they respond.
Policy challenges: Several ongoing cases challenge Trump’s immigration and LGBT+ policies. This is the traditional policy realm where the Supreme Court comes into play. The Trump Justice Department has been expecting these to be major legal fights.
Only the beginning: Many of the decisions so far come in the preliminary stages of the cases. There will be many more rulings, and lots more appeals.
2 hr 27 min ago
Trump administration asks appeals court to halt order to pay $2 billion in foreign aid by midnight
From CNN's Tierney Sneed
The Trump administration is asking for a federal appeals court to quickly intervene in the ongoing legal dispute over the administration’s freeze on foreign aid, setting up the possibility that the issue could be at the Supreme Court in a matter of days – or even hours.
The administration wants the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals to halt a district judge’s order requiring that the State Department and US Agency for International Development pay by midnight nearly $2 billion owed to contractors and nonprofits for aid work they already completed.
The appellate panel – made up of three Democratic appointees – that will consider the request have set a 1 p.m. ET deadline today for a response from the funding recipients that sued over the foreign aid freeze.
While federal judges have handed down emergency order curtailing the administration’s sweeping actions on numerous matters, the Trump Justice Department has sought quick appellate review in just a few of those cases. So the move on Wednesday to ask for the DC Circuit to jump in suggests a deep resistance by the administration to follow the court orders to revive the foreign assistance funding.
In court filings late Tuesday night, the administration said that it is undergoing a multi-step review of all the aid contracts – with Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally weighing in on some decisions – and the administration claims it cannot even comply with the judge’s order requiring immediate payments for some of those invoices.
Last week, the challengers asked the judge to hold the relevant government officials in contempt for their alleged failure to comply with his earlier order restoring the funding. The judge declined at the time, but after a lack of information from the Justice Department at a Tuesday hearing about how the administration was carrying out the earlier order restoring the funding, he set the new Wednesday deadline for some of the payments.
2 hr 24 min ago
Zelensky's visit to Washington makes no sense if he says resource deal isn't final, White House official says
From CNN's Kit Maher
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to journalists during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 26.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to journalists during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 26. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
A White House official told CNN that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says an agreement on resources has not been finalized, then it does not make sense for him to visit Washington, DC.
“If Zelensky isn’t saying the deal is final, it just doesn’t make sense for him to come here,” the official said.
As CNN previously reported, Zelensky was expected to travel to Washington, DC, to meet with President Donald Trump in the coming days, according to a Ukrainian official.
Zelensky said at a news conference on Wednesday that “we will make conclusions” about the deal after talking to Trump.
He also told reporters this version of a natural resources deal was a “framework agreement” that “can be part of future security guarantees.”
1 hr 40 min ago
"The House and the Senate are going to need to work together on this," Barrasso says on budget resolution
From CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi and Morgan Rimmer
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told reporters Senate Majority Leader John Thune will meet with President Donald Trump later Wednesday.
Barrasso added that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will attend the Senate Republican lunch, as congressional Republicans begin to negotiate on a budget resolution that can pass both chambers.
“The House and the Senate are going to need to work together on this,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he’ll be meeting with Thune Wednesday after the House narrowly passed its budget blueprint Tuesday night.
He would not say whether the Senate will abandon its two-bill approach to passing Trump’s agenda. “It’s the same shared agenda, has been from the beginning. Nothing has changed. We want to accomplish all of those things, and the question is, what’s the best way to do it? And I think that what we’ve done here in the Senate spurred the House to acting much more quickly than they might have done,” he told reporters.
Barrasso highlighted one key demand from Senate Republicans that Trump has backed: making the 2017 tax cuts permanent.
Remember: The House adopted a sweeping budget blueprint after Johnson worked to flip holdouts. With help from last-minute phone calls from President Donald Trump, GOP leaders spent all of Tuesday in a furious pressure campaign to win backing for their plan.
3 hr 8 min ago
White House explains Musk’s attendance at today’s Cabinet meeting and outlines preview of the gathering
From CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo
Elon Musk walks to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday, February 13.
Elon Musk walks to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday, February 13. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg/Getty Images
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained to White House reporters on Wednesday why Elon Musk will attend Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, despite not being a Cabinet member, and gave a preview ahead of Wednesday’s anticipated gathering.
“Well, Elon is working with the Cabinet secretaries and their staff every single day to identify waste and fraud and abuse at these respective agencies,” Leavitt answered when asked why he was attending. “All of the Cabinet secretaries take the advice and direction of DOGE,” she said.
Leavitt continued to emphasize that the secretaries “work alongside” DOGE and continued to provided a preview of the meeting.
“Cabinet members will be providing updates on their efforts,” she said. “And providing updates on what they’re doing at their agencies in terms of policy and implementing the promises that the president made on the campaign trail.”
2 hr 45 min ago
USDA secretary previews new plan to tackle bird flu and lower egg prices. Here are the measures
From CNN's Brenda Goodman and Alejandra Jaramillo
In a new op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins outlined a new strategy she says will mitigate the spread of bird flu and lower the price of eggs — a signature issue of the 2024 election. But, she warned the prices won’t go down until the summer.
Rollins outlined the five-part strategy, which includes enhancing biosecurity measures, accelerating poultry repopulation, deregulating initiatives, increasing egg imports, and investing in vaccine research. She said the USDA will invest $1 billion in the new plan, which will be paid for, at least in part, by Department of Government Efficiency cuts.
When asked by CNN’s Kevin Liptak about a realistic timeline to lower prices, Rollins said, “We are seeing probably even a little bit more increase up until Easter.” But she added that was normal “because so many eggs are used around Easter.”
“It’s going to take a little while to get through, I think the next month or two, but hopefully by summer,” she said.
“Just this morning, we announced the plan to attack the avian flu and how we pull it back out of our poultry producers,” Rollins told reporters at the White House. “But secondly, how do we bring the cost of eggs down? That plan has five parts,” she said.
Notably, the agency stopped short of authorizing the use of a bird flu vaccine for poultry in the United States. US poultry producers have strongly resisted vaccinating their flocks because America is a leading exporter, and many countries won’t accept birds that have been vaccinated.
The World Organization for Animal Health says vaccination may now be a necessary measure to control the spread of bird flu, which has moved from being a seasonal scourge to becoming a year-round threat for many different species of mammals, including dairy cattle.
This post has been updated with the latest information on Rollins’ bird flu plan.
3 hr 29 min ago
US president promotes "Trump Gaza" plan in AI video
From CNN's Mick Krever
Trump Gaza AI
Trump Gaza AI Donald Trump/Truth Social
President Donald Trump posted a video on his Truth Social account late on Tuesday, which appears to have been created with generative AI, promoting the transformation of Gaza into a Gulf state-like resort featuring a golden statue of himself, a hummus-eating Elon Musk, and shirtless American and Israeli leaders lounging on a beach.
“No more tunnels, no more fear,” a voice sings over a dance beat. “Trump Gaza is finally here!”
The president has proposed expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from Gaza and transforming the enclave into a “Riviera” that would be owned by the US. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has called that proposal a “serious violation of international law.” The PA foreign minister, Varsen Aghabekian Shaheen, said: “We have tried displacement before, and it will not happen again,” referring to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced during the Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation of Israel in 1948.
The video Trump shared opens on barefoot Palestinian children walking through Gazan rubble. “What’s next?” a title card asks. They walk towards a skyline of skyscrapers lining Gaza’s coast.
“Donald’s coming to set you free,” a voice sings. “Trump Gaza shining bright. Golden future, a brand-new light. Feast and dance. The deed is done.”
The video incongruously features bearded and bikini-clad belly dancers, a child holding a golden ballon in the shape of Trump’s head, and Elon Musk dancing on a beach under a shower of US dollars.
It is unclear whether Trump intends to carry through on his expulsion plan. After receiving forceful pushback from Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, Trump said Friday: “The way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it.”
As the video ends with “Trump Gaza, number one!” the camera pushes in on Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sipping drinks on a beach.
3 hr 54 min ago
Some probationary employees reinstated by board that found Trump's mass firings may be improper
From CNN’s Katelyn Polantz
An independent board that looks at federal workforce complaints has decided to temporarily reinstate six employees who were fired by the Trump administration, in one of the first direct rebukes of the president’s moves to cut back the federal workforce starting with the termination of thousands of probationary employees.
The board found Trump’s cuts are likely unlawful.
One of the reinstated federal workers, for instance, was a disabled veteran who lost his job the same day his supervisor commended him for going “above and beyond” at work, according to the case filings.
The six federal workers who complained worked at various executive branch agencies and were all in their probationary periods — meaning they were in the first several months of jobs before receiving more worker protections, such as being unable to be fired without cause. Lawyers for the workers have alleged the Trump administration’s firings of probationary employees are unfairly seizing upon a loophole in the federal civil service as a way to carry out the president’s agenda.
“I find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each of the six agencies engaged in a prohibited personnel practice,” Raymond Limon of the Merit Systems Protection Board wrote in the reinstatement order Tuesday.
The workers’ case is likely to be the first among many testing — and pushing back against —the Trump administration’s mass firings. Thousands of probationary workers have lost their jobs already, at agencies including the Forest Service, Energy and Education departments, and the IRS, which is in the heart of tax filing season.
Lawyers representing federal workers on Tuesday pledged they’d try to expand the board’s actions to cover all probationary employees who’ve lost their jobs.
More on the reinstatement: The Merit Systems Protection Board’s decision late Tuesday puts on hold the six employees’ terminations for 45 days, giving an independent special counsel more time to investigate their claims. That official, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, is at the same time fighting to keep his own job after Trump fired him.
“I am very grateful the MSPB has agreed to postpone these six terminations,” Dellinger said in statement on Tuesday night. “These stays represent a small sample of all the probationary employees who have been fired recently so our work is far from done.”
4 hr 3 min ago
It is a big day in court for the government watchdog that is challenging Trump's decision to fire him
From CNN's Katelyn Polantz
As President Donald Trump tries to kneecap the civil service and convince the courts to sign off on sweeping change across the federal government, federal watchdog Hampton Dellinger is becoming the public face of a workmanlike opposition.
Wednesday is a pivotal day in which Dellinger, a federal workers’ special counsel, is at the center of two separate disputes over the president’s ability to fire whom he may please across the executive branch.
Dellinger, who himself was fired by Trump, was the first person to land a case before the Supreme Court that challenges the president’s executive authority and, specifically, the president’s ability to remove him before his five-year term ends, without cause.
What is happening today: His lawsuit has a hearing before a trial-level judge in Washington, DC, on Wednesday morning, and he’s staring down a same-day deadline that will give the high court an important moment to weigh in on Trump’s authority.
The politically ambitious son of a late former US Solicitor General, Dellinger has kept a low profile since he was terminated by Trump on February 7 then reinstated by a federal judge three days later. He kept showing up for work, issuing reports on whether removals of federal workers have been properly done or were too partisan.
Late Tuesday, his recommendation was endorsed by an independent federal workforce board that greenlit Dellinger to keep investigating the Trump administration’s firings of probationary employees across the federal government as potentially unlawful.
4 hr 1 min ago
Zelensky says US-Ukraine resources deal could be "big success" but depends on Trump talks
From CNN’s Svitlana Vlasova, Daria Tarasova-Markina and Christian Edwards
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference in Kyiv on February 26, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv and Washington have agreed a deal to give the United States access to Ukrainian mineral resources, following a spat between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference in Kyiv on February 26, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv and Washington have agreed a deal to give the United States access to Ukrainian mineral resources, following a spat between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP/Getty Images
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said a resources agreement with the US could be a “big success” but that it would depend on talks with President Donald Trump.
CNN reported on Wednesday that Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington to meet his US counterpart in the coming days, according to a Ukrainian official.
Zelensky did not confirm a date of the visit during a news conference, but added “we will make conclusions” about the deal after talking to Trump.
The Ukrainian president stressed to reporters on Wednesday that this version of a natural resources deal was a “framework agreement” that “can be part of future security guarantees.”
“We need to understand the broader vision. What is ahead for Ukraine? Where are we?” Zelensky said.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also weighed in on the agreement Wednesday, saying that Ukraine and the United States have prepared the “final version” of a deal over natural resources. He emphasized that Washington backs Kyiv’s efforts to secure guarantees, though he did not provide specific details.
“After two weeks of intensive work between the US and Ukrainian governments on an agreement on our economic cooperation, we have actually developed the final version,” Shyhal said at a news conference in Kyiv.
Shmyhal said the US government “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain the security assurances necessary to create a lasting peace,” but did not specify what these guarantees could entail, suggesting these will be agreed after talks between Zelensky and Trump.
4 hr 32 min ago
Trump administration claims Rubio has "personal involvement" in foreign aid contract decisions
From CNN’s Tierney Sneed and Jennifer Hansler
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking “personal involvement” in decisions to terminate foreign aid contracts, the Trump administration claimed as it argued that it would not logistically be able to pay out the nearly $2 billion by a judge’s midnight Wednesday deadline.
The latest court filings are an escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to effectuate a sweeping freeze on existing and future foreign assistance that has ground humanitarian and development work around the world to a halt.
In a late Tuesday court filing, the Trump administration sought to pause the new court order requiring it to pay the existing contracts, arguing that it would be too logistically difficult to follow the judge’s latest order in the case – a challenge brought by nonprofits and contractors alleging harm by the blanket freeze on foreign assistance – under a new system of controls to confirm that contracts are “legitimate.”
“Restarting funding related to terminated or suspended agreements is not as simple as turning on a switch or faucet,” the administration argued, saying it “would instead take multiple weeks.”
Some context: Judge Amir Ali issued a temporary restraining order nearly two weeks ago partially pausing the blanket funding freeze and ordering the revival of funding for contracts that existed at the end of Biden administration. Organizations and contractors say they are owed hundreds of millions of dollars for work that was completed prior to the freeze that was put in place in late January.
The administration was accused repeatedly by the funding recipients of failing to comply with the order. At an emergency hearing the judge called Tuesday, a Justice Department lawyer could not point to any particular programs that had had their funding restored, nor could the lawyer elaborate on how the State Department and USAID were carrying out the judge’s order. Ali issued a new order that, in more forceful terms than the original temporary restraining order, required payment by Wednesday night of all foreign aid work that had been completed by the time of his original order.
4 hr 52 min ago
Why the US wants a minerals deal with Ukraine
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová and Antoinette Radford
Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials on Ukrainian soil on February 25, 2025 in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. Despite the ongoing war, many mining companies across the country have continued their operations, extracting resources such as titanium, graphite, and beryllium. Ukraine and the United States have been negotiating a deal that would pay back American aid with revenue from Ukraine's minerals and other natural resources.
Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials on Ukrainian soil on February 25, 2025 in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. Despite the ongoing war, many mining companies across the country have continued their operations, extracting resources such as titanium, graphite, and beryllium. Ukraine and the United States have been negotiating a deal that would pay back American aid with revenue from Ukraine's minerals and other natural resources. Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images
Let’s talk about minerals — the materials at the core of the US’ planned deal with Ukraine.
While it’s often referred to as a “rare-earths deal,” rare earths are only a small part of it. Ukraine doesn’t have globally significant amounts of many rare earth elements — the 17 chemical elements that exist in the earth’s core and have magnetic and conductive properties that make them crucial to the production of electronics, clean energy technologies and some weapon systems.
It does, however, have large reserves of other valuable minerals, including graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium. While these are not chemically classified as rare earths, they are among the 50 or so minerals that are seen as critical for future economic growth.
Some of these reserves are in areas that are currently under Russian occupation.
Where does the US get its minerals? The US largely depends on imports for the minerals it needs, many of which come from China. Of the 50 minerals classed as critical, the US was entirely dependent on imports of 12 and more than 50% dependent on imports of a further 16 last year, according to the United States Geological Survey, a government agency. Ukraine, meanwhile, has deposits of 22 of these 50 critical materials, according to the Ukrainian government. The US wants to reduce reliance on China — one of its key strategic rivals — for both rare earths and other minerals.
What does Russia say? Russia said Monday it was open to economic cooperation with the US, including on rare earth minerals. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ready to work with American companies to mine rare earth mineral deposits in both Russia, and parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine. “I want to stress that we certainly have much more of such resources than Ukraine,” Putin said of Russia’s rare earth deposits.
5 hr 7 min ago
US and Ukraine agree to terms on natural resources and reconstruction, official says
From CNN's Victoria Butenko, Nick Paton Walsh and Gul Tuysuz
A drone view shows the open pit mine of Zavallievsky Graphite, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zavallia, Ukraine, February 10, 2025.
A drone view shows the open pit mine of Zavallievsky Graphite, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zavallia, Ukraine, February 10, 2025. Thomas Peter/Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington, DC in the coming days after the US and Ukraine agreed to terms on a deal over natural resources and reconstruction, according to a Ukrainian official.
The deal will grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as part of negotiations to end Russia’s invasion, as well as US involvement in a reconstruction fund for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian official said the terms were agreed after “everything unacceptable was taken out of the text and it is now more clearly spelt out how this agreement will contribute to Ukraine’s security and peace.”
What’s in the deal? The deal’s details are not yet known, but a major sticking point had been a demand from the Trump administration for a $500 billion share of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals in exchange for the aid the US had already provided Kyiv, which Zelensky rejected.
President Donald Trump called the agreement “a very big deal” and said that he heard Zelensky was “coming on Friday.”
Asked by reporters what Ukraine would receive in the deal, Trump said: “$350 billion and lots of equipment, military equipment, and the right to fight on.”
“We’ve pretty much negotiated our deal on rare earth and various other things,” Trump said, adding that “we’ll be looking to” future security for Ukraine “later on.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Trump said. “I spoke with Russia about it. They didn’t seem to have a problem with it. So I think they understand … once we do this, they’re not going back in.”
Read more about the deal.
4 hr 56 min ago
Gabbard says over 100 intelligence officers will be fired for sexually explicit messages
From CNN's Piper Hudspeth Blackburn
Tulsi Gabbard during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 30.
Tulsi Gabbard during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 30. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that more than 100 intelligence officers would be fired for participating in sexually explicit chat messages in National Security Agency chat rooms.
“There are over 100 people from across the intelligence community that contributed to and participated in what is really just an egregious violation of trust,” Gabbard told Fox News on Tuesday. “I put out a directive today that they will all be terminated and their security clearances will be revoked.”
“They were brazen in using an NSA platform intended for professional use to conduct this kind of really, really horrific behavior.”
Hours before Gabbard’s interview, DNI spokesperson Alexa Henning said that various intelligence agencies had been directed to identify and terminate employees who participated in the sexually explicit conversations by Friday, as well as revoke their security clearances.
“The DNI sent a memo directing all intelligence agencies to identify the employees who participated in the NSA’s ‘obscene, pornographic, and sexually explicit’ chatrooms and to terminate their employment and revoke their security clearances,” Henning said.
Read the full story.
4 hr 59 min ago
The House passed a key GOP budget blueprint last night. Here's what happened
From CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Ali Main, Manu Raju, Annie Grayer, Aileen Graef, Lauren Fox
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) makes a statement to reporters after the House passed a budget resolution at the U.S. Capitol yesterday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) makes a statement to reporters after the House passed a budget resolution at the U.S. Capitol yesterday. Francis Chung/Politico/AP
The House voted to adopt Republicans’ sweeping budget blueprint last night, a victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson who pressed ahead with the move even when it wasn’t clear if Republicans would have the votes.
The resolution was adopted by 217 to 215 and House GOP leaders said President Donald Trump was instrumental in convincing holdouts to support the blueprint.
The Senate has already adopted a different, targeted budget resolution focused on border security and national defense. Both chambers will have to adopt the same version in order to move ahead with Trump’s agenda.
Here’s what else happened Tuesday:
Gold cards: Trump said the US would be selling what he described as a “gold card” to wealthy foreigners, giving them the right to live and work in the US and offering a path to citizenship in exchange for a $5 million fee. The card will replace the government’s EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, which allows foreign investors to fund projects and then apply to immigrate to the US.
Email confusion mounts: Trump described the sweeping directive to federal employees to justify their jobs or risk termination as “somewhat voluntary,” though he later said people who don’t answer would be fired. The scant clarity on the order compounded confusion across the government.
Database for migrants: The Trump administration is threatening to punish certain undocumented immigrants with criminal penalties if they do not submit their information in a newly launched database. The registry appears to target people who aren’t already on the federal government’s radar. Border agents collect information from migrants apprehended at the border, but some evade capture and enter the US without inspection.
DOGE leader, at least on paper: Amy Gleason is the acting administrator of the US DOGE Service, the agency that houses the temporary Department of Government Efficiency. The White House announcement comes in response to weeks of questions about Elon Musk’s official role and authority over DOGE.
Trump paves way for higher copper tariffs: Trump signed an executive action ordering an investigation into the copper industry, potentially leading to the imposition of higher tariffs. The US commerce secretary suggested that the US could enact a third kind of across-the-board metal tariff in addition to 25% aluminum and steel tariffs set to take effect next month.
5 hr 25 min ago
Musk’s directives to federal employees have frustrated Cabinet officials and caught them off guard
From CNN's Alayna Treene
Elon Musk’s presence at President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting today will solidify his power in the administration — and show how quickly he’s amassed it despite not being elected or confirmed by the Senate.
The meeting comes as Musk attempts to gut the federal workforce and reshape it in Trump’s image, including sweeping orders to employees across the government, which has begun to grate on Cabinet secretaries and members of Congress, multiple sources told CNN.
Those frustrations were escalated when Musk delivered a six-word directive that resulted in rippling chaos throughout the government.
White House officials insisted they were not caught off guard by a Saturday email from the Office of Personnel Management sent at Musk’s direction, which asked: “What did you do last week?”
But Cabinet officials and members of Congress weren’t given a heads up.
A Trump administration official said the move led to “some annoyance” among not only top officials, but even some Cabinet secretaries, adding that the secretaries “are in charge of their own agencies and need to conduct their own reviews for where cuts may be needed.”
Part of that frustration stemmed from the secretaries only recently being sworn in and not having time to thoroughly examine their own workforce or properly assess their needs before the threats of firing began.
The controversy around the directive is the latest in a string of DOGE moves that have begun to grate on top administration officials, the sources said, who have expressed quiet skepticism over the way in which Musk is carrying out his priorities.
Read more about Cabinet reactions to Musk’s directives.
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