What's happening today
- The National Collegiate Athletic Association today announced that it will restrict women’s sports to students assigned female at birth while permitting all student athletes to compete in the men’s category to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order rescinding support for sports programs "within which the relevant female sports category is based on identity and not sex."
- A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's offer of buyouts to federal workers. Today was the deadline for employees to accept the controversial packages, which Democratic lawmakers have warned are legally dubious and have not received congressional authorization.
- Trump defended his proposal that the U.S. take control of Gaza in a social media post this morning, claiming no U.S. troops "would be needed," as Republicans and Democrats in Congress push back on the plan.
- The Senate is expected to vote tonight on the confirmation of Russell Vought, Trump's pick to run the White House Office of Management and Budget. Other controversial nominees, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, have cleared key procedural hurdles for votes in the chamber.
- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to federal agency heads directing them to send in information about employees who received less than 'fully successful' performance ratings over the past three years or any employees who are under or have completed a performance improvement plan within the last year.
Senate Republicans confirm Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought as White House budget director
The Senate voted along party lines tonight to confirm Russell Vought as the next head of the Office of Management and Budget despite fierce pushback from Democrats.
Although Democrats have been divided on various Trump nominees, they unified in opposition to Vought.
Democrats see Vought as the embodiment of a Trump agenda that they want to build their opposition message around — from his longstanding ties to Project 2025 to his support for slashing spending programs that benefit the middle class to his election denial.
ACLU says Trump ICC sanctions puts Americans 'at risk' for helping the court
The American Civil Liberties Union said an executive order Trump signed today sanctioning the International Criminal Court could jeopardize the free speech rights of Americans who help the court investigate atrocities anywhere in the world.
“The order also raises serious First Amendment concerns because it puts people in the United States at risk of harsh penalties for helping the court identify and investigate atrocities committed anywhere, by anyone,” the group said in a statement.
The order accused the ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency" when it issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and several Hamas leaders.
Democrats pitch bill to block Elon Musk from accessing Americans' sensitive personal data
Democrats believe they’ve found a political message that is resonating with the public: Elon Musk is illegally accessing the federal data of American taxpayers.
At outdoor rallies and in news conferences inside the Capitol this week, congressional Democrats are sounding the alarm about Musk and his DOGE team’s accessing Treasury Department payment systems that house Americans’ sensitive personal data. This week, DOGE officials also accessed systems and technology at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as Musk’s team seeks to tackle fraud and waste in government.
“Why does Elon Musk and his minions need access to the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates and bank account information of millions of Americans?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., asked at a news conference today. “Why does he need that information? What are they doing with it? And why aren’t House Republicans stopping them?”
Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., said at the news conference: “The actions that Musk and his IT goons have taken — they’re illegal, very clearly illegal, but, so far, unprosecuted actions — have already compromised millions of Americans’ privacy and data security. If we close this barn door today, how much is already burned down? We don’t know the answers to those questions.”
Casten and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a Treasury official during the Obama administration, said they will introduce the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, which would severely restrict who could access the Treasury Department’s payments systems in a bid to protect Americans’ sensitive personal information.
Hours later, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee raised concerns about DOGE’s accessing Social Security and health records at a separate news conference
“What is more important than health records? If an individual goes to a pharmacy, to the CVS or to Walgreens, they’re very guarded about the prescription that they might secure. That is their business,” said Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. “We have no idea now where this data might land.”
Musk today tweeted a video of himself from last fall detailing how he would tackle waste, fraud and abuse in the government.
“We’re going to make the spending lower. ... If we don’t, we’re going to bankrupt the country,” he said in the video from October. “We got to do something. It’s got to be some pretty big moves.”
Last night, the Trump administration agreed to restrict DOGE access to the Treasury payment system as a lawsuit filed by federal employee unions moves through the courts. The deal would allow only two DOGE officials to have “read-only” access to data at Treasury.
Casten said he worries that Musk and DOGE will use Americans’ data to punish Trump’s critics.
“What am I afraid of is that they are going to use data that they are legally not allowed to use to act as a bully. So what does that mean for my home state of Illinois, where our Gov. [JB] Pritzker has been very forceful in calling him out? If they take control of the stop payments, does Illinois all of a sudden not get their Medicaid reimbursement money?” Casten told reporters.
He added: “What might they do to someone who’s on a fixed income but had the strength of their convictions” to criticize Trump?
Netanyahu and Mike Johnson reschedule their meeting for tomorrow
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson tomorrow after Johnson's White House meeting conflicted with today's planned meeting, the speaker's office said.
They will meet at 10 a.m. ET and deliver remarks to reporters afterward, Johnson's office said in a news release.
Johnson, R-La., was unable to meet with Netanyahu because he was still at the White House with congressional Republicans who were working on a budget resolution plan.
Democratic senator says he was turned away from EPA after requesting meeting with DOGE reps
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he was turned away from entering the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters today after he asked for a meeting with representatives of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
“We just went in and asked for a meeting with the DOGE representatives, and we were denied and we were turned away,” Markey said at a news conference outside the building.
In response to questions about the event from NBC News, Markey spokesperson Abigail Goldring said he was joined by two House Democrats: Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Paul Tonko of New York.
Goldring said Markey was first denied entry by someone whom she described as a security guard.
"He then made the request outside of the EPA headquarters to meet with DOGE representatives, and in their absence, Administrator [Lee] Zeldin," Goldring said. "In the middle of his press conference, a representative for EPA approached a staffer for Sen. Markey and informed them that no meeting would be taking place with Sen. Markey or the members of Congress."
Molly Vaseliou, a spokeswoman for the EPA, said Markey had not taken the steps needed to enter the headquarters.
"In what world does walking into a federal building a demanding a meeting constitute 'requesting a meeting'? EPA’s federal triangle campus is not a public access building," Vaseliou wrote in an email. "Visitors must have business in front of the agency and EPA security protocol requires registration and clearance 48 hours ahead of a confirmed meeting."
Added Vaseliou: "There was no formal request for a meeting. This was clearly a publicity stunt."
Markey said at his news conference that he was seeking to question the DOGE representatives about whether they were freezing funding for clean air and water programs and blocking work within the agency.
"He did not get confirmation if DOGE is at the EPA, nor did he ever get someone from EPA to answer his basic questions about frozen funding," Goldring said.
Democratic lawmakers have portrayed the DOGE representatives as Musk's henchmen who are trying to obstruct typical government processes.
“Trump And Elon Musk and their unqualified, unelected, unwanted henchmen want to be able to carry out their attacks on your environment, your rights, your friends, your neighbors under the cover of darkness,” Markey said in a news conference. “We’re outside asking them to step out into the light of day.”
The White House accused Democrats of "gaslighting" on DOGE's mission.
"Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law," said Harrison Fields, a deputy press secretary for the White House.
After vowing to protect DOGE workers, Trump prosecutor is silent on employees targeted by ‘DEI watch list’
Reporting from Washington
Trump’s interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia told Musk on his X platform this week that federal prosecutors were at his service should workers at DOGE face any threats.
“Dear @elon, Please see this important letter,” Ed Martin wrote Monday. “We will not tolerate threats against DOGE workers or law-breaking by the disgruntled.”
In the attached letter, Martin wrote that it was “good to work with the DOGE team” over the weekend, and he asked Musk to “utilize me and my staff to assist in protecting the DOGE work and the DOGE workers.”
But Martin has so far indicated no plans to investigate a conservative research opposition group that appears to be behind the website DEI Watch List, which has published the names and photos of federal health workers involved in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — at one point describing them as “targets.”
White House calls NCAA transgender student-athlete policy change 'a victory'
The White House applauded the NCAA's decision to change its transgender student-athlete policy, saying, "Promises made, promises kept."
“It’s a victory for the girls across America whose dreams of competing have been destroyed by extremists peddling a lie that biological sex can somehow be changed,” the White House said in a release. “It’s also a reflection of President Trump’s ongoing commitment to defending the rights of women and girls after a years-long assault.”
The NCAA issued the new policy restricting those assigned male at birth from competing in women's sports a day after Trump signed an executive order prohibiting such athletes from competing in female sports. The new policy restricts NCAA women’s sports to students assigned female at birth while permitting all student-athletes, regardless of sex assigned at birth, to compete in the men’s category.
The policy is effective immediately and applies to all NCAA athletes.
Marco Rubio says Trump administration 'not trying to be disruptive to people's personal lives' after putting staff on leave
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that the Trump administration was "not trying to be disruptive to people's personal lives" following its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and put staff members on leave.
"We’re not trying to — we’re not being punitive here, but this is the only way we’ve been able to get cooperation from USAID," Rubio told reporters in Santo Domingo during a joint media availability with Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader.
A reporter had asked about additional guidance for USAID employees facing uncertainty after the agency announced this week that nearly all direct hires around the world would be placed on administrative leave at 11:59 p.m. Friday.
Rubio said that USAID employees were given a 30-day period to return home and that exceptions would be made for special conditions, saying, "We didn’t list them all, but we’re willing to listen to those."
Some evangelical leaders challenge Trump’s immigration, foreign aid policies amid calls for unity
Trump called for unity in his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning — largely steering clear of addressing controversies around his actions cracking down on immigration and paralyzing federal efforts to distribute international aid.
But some evangelical leaders are speaking out against those policies, even though Trump has enjoyed broad support from the evangelical community.
The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, who is the president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, was among the faith leaders at the breakfast. He had been meeting with senators and government leaders since yesterday, he told NBC News, explaining to them how the pause on international aid and the gutting of USAID, which distributes those funds, jeopardize their missionary work abroad.
Anxiety mounts as U.S. government workers face buyout deadline
The futures of millions of federal workers were plunged into another day of chaos today as they faced fresh uncertainty over an unprecedented program pushing financial incentives in exchange for quitting their jobs.
All they’d need to do, the Trump administration told them, was reply to an email with the word “resign” in the subject line. As many fretted over the 11:59 p.m. ET deadline to make a potentially life-altering decision, a federal judge stepped in with a temporary reprieve — the program would be blocked pending a hearing Monday.
Then came the memo.
12 states plan to file joint lawsuit over DOGE access to Treasury systems
A coalition of 12 states plans to sue after DOGE was given access to Treasury Department systems.
The attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont said in a joint statement today that they will sue to "stop this injustice."
Attorneys for the Justice Department agreed yesterday to temporarily restrict most staffers associated with DOGE from accessing information in the Treasury Department’s payment system.
“In the past week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has given Elon Musk access to Americans’ personal private information, state bank account data, and other information that is some of our country’s most sensitive data," the state attorneys general said. “As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law.”
They also called DOGE’s level of access “unlawful, unprecedented, and unacceptable.”
Musk, who leads DOGE, has defended the advisory group as “something that is sorely needed,” framing his efforts as cutting down on wasteful spending.
EPA places 168 environmental justice staffers on administrative leave
The Environmental Protection Agency today placed 168 staffers in the Office of Environmental Justice on leave, an EPA spokesperson said.
“Career staff made determinations on which Office of Environmental Justice employees had statutory duties or core mission functions,” spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in an email, adding that the work done by the employees who were placed on leave "did not relate to the agency’s statutory duties or grant work.”
Vaseliou said the agency was “working to diligently implement President Trump’s executive orders” and implementation memos.
When Trump took office on Jan. 20, he signed an executive order called "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which directed agencies to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion positions “to the maximum extent allowed by law.” It also required agencies to provide the director of the Office of Management and Budget a list of all environmental justice positions.
“EPA is in the process of evaluating new structure and organization to ensure we are meeting our mission of protecting human health and the environment for all Americans,” Vaseliou said.
Staffers received notice of their leave by email this afternoon, according to multiple copies of the notice reviewed by NBC News.
“You are receiving this email because you have been identified as an EPA employee working in ‘environmental justice’ or a diversity, equity, and inclusion position and/or office,” the email read. “Effective immediately, you are being placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits. This administrative leave is not being done for any disciplinary purpose.”
The email said that employees on leave would continue to receive their full salaries and benefits and that they would not be expected to perform any work-related tasks or go to the office. The notice does not specify how long their leave would last.
The notice also said the employees’ email access would be suspended and that employees would not be able to use government equipment like computers or cellphones, access EPA government network systems or perform any EPA duties.
Demonstrators rally outside State Department to protest foreign aid freeze's effect on HIV treatment
Reporting from Washington, DC
Protesters blocked traffic near the State Department to call on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately restore funding for a decades-old program known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS, or PEPFAR.
For more than two decades after it was implemented under President George W. Bush, PEPFAR has invested $110 billion in more than 50 countries, saving 26 million lives by preventing and treating HIV infections, according to government figures.
Broadway actor Javier Munoz, who tested positive for HIV in 2002, shared through tears that his global activism began after he lost loved ones during the Reagan administration.
“We all know what it means when access to treatment is denied. It means people die,” he said at today's protest. “That blood is on your hands — Trump, Rubio, that blood is on your hands every single day that this stays frozen.”
An angry Munoz called out Rubio personally, saying: “I’m talking directly to you, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I know your heart. You know I know your heart. Through this work, I have seen what you’ve done. I know you know better, and I know you know you should be doing better, and that’s got to start today. Lives must be saved.”
Jonathan Cohen, an employee with the Health Global Access Project who said he has not missed a day of HIV treatment since 2010, told NBC News, “I can’t stop crying.”
“I know how frightening it is," he said. “I’m here because I’m in disbelief that with the stroke of a pen this administration would unravel decades of progress in the fight against HIV.
“The way in which this freeze was done created confusion, chaos and bureaucratic hurdles for people who are working every day to save lives,” he added of Rubio’s stop-work order that brought U.S. foreign assistance programs to a halt.
Cohen had some harsh words for Musk’s attacks on USAID and PEPFAR.
“If anything is criminal and evil, it’s arbitrarily ending programs that save people’s lives," he said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to visit Guantanamo Bay
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem plans to visit Guantanamo Bay tomorrow, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.
Trump has said he wants to send tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants there.
Trump administration sues Illinois and Chicago over immigration policies
The Trump administration sued the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago today, alleging that its sanctuary city policies are blocking federal authorities from enforcing immigration laws.
The federal lawsuit is the first by Trump’s Department of Justice against states or municipalities that have sanctuary city policies in effect.
The 22-page lawsuit, filed one day after a sanctuary jurisdiction directive was issued by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on her first day on the job, alleged that the sanctuary policies in place by the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and Cook County “obstruct” the federal government from enforcing immigration laws.
FedEx executive chairman visits White House
Fred Smith, the founder and executive chairman of FedEx, visited the White House today, a company spokeswoman told NBC News by email.
The spokeswoman said Smith was at the White House to "attended meetings" on "a number of subjects" but did not provide details on what was discussed.
NCAA's new policy bans transgender women from women’s sports after Trump order
The NCAA today announced a change to its transgender student athlete policy, a day after Trump signed an executive order prohibiting trans women and girls from competing in female sports.
The new policy restricts NCAA women’s sports to students assigned female at birth while permitting all student athletes, regardless of their sex assigned at birth, to compete in the men’s category.
“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement. “We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”
The policy is effective immediately and applies to all NCAA athletes, even those who were deemed eligible under the prior policy, the NCAA announcement states. Under the prior guidelines, adopted in 2022, transgender participation was largely determined by each sport’s national government body.
It is not known exactly how many transgender student-athletes would be affected by the new policy, but in December, Baker told a Senate panel that he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes competing in college sports.
Mark Zuckerberg visits the White House
Reporting from San Francisco
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was at the White House today to talk about trade policy, his company said.
"Mark Zuckerberg was at the White House today to discuss how Meta can help the administration defend and advance American tech leadership abroad," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote on the social media app X, confirming an earlier report by NewsNation.
Meta, the owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, has been working to shore up its relationship with Trump. Zuckerberg had a prominent seat at Trump's inauguration last month, and last week Meta said it would pay $25 million to end a lawsuit from Trump over the suspension of his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Democratic senator issues letter to transportation secretary warning of potential Elon Musk 'conflicts of interest'
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, issued a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy today urging him to ensure that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is not meddling in agency operations in a way that could be a conflict of interest with his businesses.
"FAA has the legal responsibility for safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses. Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket launches share the airspace with commercial airplanes, and the FAA has the responsibility for keeping the entire airspace safe," Cantwell wrote.
“Secretary Duffy, you must make sure that all conflicts of interest between the FAA and Elon Musk are removed,” she added.
Former FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker resigned last month before Trump took office. His agency had been been in disputes last year with SpaceX over launch licensing regulations and fined the company in 2023 for violating launch licenses.
Cantwell said Whitaker's departure had left the country "without a permanent FAA Administrator to lead us through the biggest U.S. air crash we have had in years," referring to the midair collision between a military helicopter and a commercial airliner near Reagan National Airport last week.
Senate Democrats urge VA secretary to deny DOGE access to veterans data
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, and other Democratic senators sent a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins urging him to deny Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to the agency's data systems.
"Today, we call on you to immediately secure any personal and related information regarding veterans provided by VA or other agencies to Elon Musk and associates," they wrote. "Further, we call on you to deny and sever their access to any VA or other government system that includes information about veterans, and to require them to immediately and permanently delete any information in their possession."
The letter, which cites privacy violations, comes as a response to reports that DOGE accessed the VA’s systems this week.
"Veterans risked their lives to defend our country, and they deserve better than to have an unelected billionaire reviewing their medical records, targeting the benefits they have earned, or using their private information for personal gain," the senators wrote.
The Department of Government Efficiency has already accessed data in the Treasury Department’s payment system. Justice Department attorneys agreed yesterday to temporarily restrict staffers tied to DOGE from accessing that data following a lawsuit from a group of union members and retirees who similarly alleged privacy violations.
Trump administration seeks info on federal workers with poor performance reviews
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management today sent a memo to federal agency heads directing them to turn over information about any department employees who've had poor performance reviews over the past three years.
OPM said it's "developing new performance metrics for evaluating the federal workforce that aligns with the priorities and standards in the President’s recent Executive Orders," and wants the information by March 7.
It directs "all agencies" to "submit data regarding their performance management plans and policies — including those contained in collective bargaining agreements — and to identify any barriers to ensuring that agency performance plans make meaningful distinctions based on relative employee performance and that the agency has the ability to swiftly terminate poor performing employees who cannot or will not improve."
Among the information it's demanding is the name, job title and pay of "all employees who received less than a 'fully successful' performance rating in the past three years." It also wants to know whether those employees are under or have already completed "a performance improvement plan" in the past year.
Minnesota lawmakers reach power-sharing agreement, ending weekslong stalemate
Minnesota lawmakers settled on a bipartisan power-sharing agreement in the state House, ending a weekslong political stalemate in one of the most closely divided legislative bodies in the country.
Under the drafted agreement, Republicans will control the speakership in the House, where the party currently holds a one-seat advantage. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party secured assurances that Republicans wouldn’t block one of their members from being seated and would share power if the chamber returns, as expected, to a tie after a special election next month.
Government lawyers with ethics concerns look for help amid Trump crackdown
With the Trump administration warning career lawyers to follow orders even if they have ethical qualms, pressure is building on professional legal associations to take a stance against efforts to upend long-standing norms of public service.
The effort by lawyers inside and outside of the government comes as Trump, in one of his initial executive orders, issued a warning to state and local bar associations suggesting they could be targeted for investigation over their diversity programs. Lawyers who spoke with NBC News said that order came across as a threat to keep quiet or risk consequences.
Senate expected to confirm Trump's controversial nominee for budget director tonight
The Senate will vote at 7 p.m. on Russell Vought's nomination to be Trump's director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a position Vought held in the last Trump administration.
Vought needs the support of a simple majority of senators and is expected to be confirmed.
Senate Democrats kept the chamber floor open overnight to give speeches against his nomination, which are ongoing. Vought has drawn the ire of Democratic lawmakers over his involvement in Project 2025, a policy blueprint for Trump's administration that was drafted by conservative organizations ahead of the election.
Vought also was criticized for testifying at his confirmation hearing that he believed Trump did not have to abide by Congress' direction on how to spend money it has authorized.
Vought is expected to be confirmed along party lines.
Another flight of migrants heads to Guantanamo Bay
The U.S. military is sending another plane with high-threat migrants to Guantanamo Bay today, according to two U.S. defense officials.
Today’s flight is expected to have 13 migrants, more than doubling the population there now, currently 10.
Another flight is scheduled for tomorrow, the officials said, but the total number on board that flight is still to be determined. All flights are flying from Texas.
It’s still not clear how long any of these migrants will be held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
The U.S. has now flown in more than 600 troops to the base to support the mission, the officials said. The troops have set up thousands of tents for migrants.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is expected to sign more deployment orders as early as today to send more logistics and other support troops to the base, with more people and resources arriving every day, the officials said.
Gov. Newsom says Trump didn't indicate wildfire aid would be conditioned
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who met with Trump at the White House yesterday, said today that the president didn't give any indication that aid for wildfire recovery would be conditioned.
Newsom said that issue hadn't been discussed in private conversations, but added, “I’m mindful that any government appropriation, there’s expectations, and I think that’s part of the give and take.”
Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have suggested that they would only agree to emergency funding for wildfire recovery if it's conditioned, such as by altering forestry management and water conservation policies or instituting voter ID laws.
White House responds to judge temporarily blocking federal employee buyout program
Responding to a federal judge pausing Trump’s federal employee buyout program, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tells NBC News, “We are grateful to the Judge for extending the deadline so more federal workers who refuse to show up to the office can take the Administration up on this very generous, once-in-a-lifetime offer.”
USAID and State employees worry their devices might be monitored
Some U.S. Agency for International Development and State Department career employees are concerned information in their personal devices may be being monitored, several civil servants and foreign service officers tell NBC News.
The career employees have received pop-up messages in the last few days warning them that information on their personal phones or laptops could be tracked.
“Your organization installed a certificate authority in your work profile. Your secure network traffic may be monitored or modified,” read one notification on an employee’s personal phone.
One USAID employee said they had received the notifications from security software on their personal computer warning of two trackers from USAID.
During the pandemic, employees were authorized to use certain applications on their personal devices for official business, including the Google workplace app and Microsoft Teams. Now, the officials are concerned the programs could provide a way for Trump administration officials to monitor their personal devices.
“I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but this was just over the weekend,” one career official said. “I’ve had this particular laptop for 10 years, and I’ve been with USAID for longer, and never seen anything like that before.”
Judge issues order temporarily blocking Trump executive order limiting birthright citizenship
A federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s executive order that seeks to limit birthright citizenship from taking effect.
Senior U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour granted the order, which was sought by Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon.
Yesterday, a federal judge in Maryland similarly issued a nationwide hold on the same executive order from Trump regarding birthright citizenship.
The number of federal workers who've accepted buyouts hits 60K
More than 60,000 federal workers have now accepted Trump's controversial buyout offers ahead of what had been tonight’s midnight deadline, a senior administration official told NBC News.
That's a one-day jump of nearly 20,000 workers who have taken the so-called buyouts, which Democratic lawmakers have warned were not authorized and might not be funded.
A federal judge this afternoon temporarily blocked the program after labor unions challenged it. The judge said the pause will allow both sides to submit arguments.
Judge temporarily halts Trump's federal employee buyout program
A federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked the government from implementing mass buyouts at federal agencies, at least until Monday.
U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. announced during a short hearing on Thursday that he was blocking the “fork in the road” buyout program temporarily to allow the parties more time to brief their arguments. A hearing on federal labor unions’ request for a temporary restraining order more fully blocking the program will be held Monday at 2 p.m.
As part of this temporary injunction, federal agencies will be required to notify employees who received the buyout offer that it has been blocked until Monday.
Judge OKs deal temporarily restricting DOGE access to Treasury
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., today approved an agreement to temporarily restrict some of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency staff from accessing sensitive information in the Treasury Department’s payment system.
Trump's Justice Department agreed to the temporary restrictions last night after a group of union members and retirees sued the Treasury Department, charging that it had violated federal privacy laws by allowing DOGE access to its payment and collections system.
The plaintiffs are seeking to block DOGE from accessing or tampering with those systems, and to retrieve any information staffers might have already received.
Under the terms of the agreement, the restrictions will remain in place pending the outcome of a Feb. 24 hearing on the plaintiffs' claims.
Department of Homeland Security warns local police agencies about possible protests over change in U.S. policy in Gaza
The Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to multiple local law enforcement agencies about recent changes in U.S. policy toward the Middle East and specifically Gaza, including warnings about possible protests.
The memo, which NBC News has reviewed, noted Trump recently announced “changes to the US posture in the Gaza region,” adding that there could be protests over the issue, as there have been on U.S. policy in the region in the past.
The department also offered support to police departments, saying that "peaceful protests are legal protected in the US, but if they turn violent, we expect you to take action in your state and region."
The department cannot order local law enforcement agencies to take specific actions on protests. Local police departments are beholden to state and federal laws that prescribe appropriate responses to protected First Amendment protests and activity that cross the line to threats or violence.
Top Senate Intelligence Democrat warns China could fill the U.S. foreign aid breach
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned in an interview on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" that the Trump-ordered freeze on foreign assistance could be a boon for China.
Warner said the freeze in foreign assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the federal government’s humanitarian aid arm, which Trump has been working to shutter, could be costly for Americans.
“There’s no member of the Intelligence Committee or defense community that doesn’t say the pennies we spend on foreign aid is a lot cheaper in certain cases than sending in our military,” Warner said.
Warner noted the federal government spends “less than half of 1% on foreign aid,” but that its absence abroad could be filled by China, which could wield influence in conflicts abroad through aid investments.
“China will definitely step in,” he said.
Netanyahu gifts Trump a 'golden pager' to symbolize 'breaking the spirit' of Hezbollah
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifted Trump a "golden pager," which "symbolizes the Prime Minister’s decision that led to a turnaround in the war and the starting point for breaking the spirit of the terrorist organization Hezbollah," the prime minister's office said.
"This strategic operation expresses the power, technological superiority and cunning of the State of Israel against its enemies," the prime minister's office added.
Netanyahu gifted the pager to Trump on Tuesday during their meeting at the White House.
The pager references Israel's attacks on the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah in September, in which Israel detonated pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members.
Netanyahu says he doesn't think U.S. troops are needed in Gaza for Trump's takeover plan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill today, told reporters that he doesn't think U.S. troops would be required to bring about Trump's plan to take over the Gaza Strip.
When asked before meeting with senators at the Capitol whether he thought U.S. forces would be necessary, Netanyahu said "no."
Trump said in a social media post this morning that Palestinians could be “resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities,” adding that “no soldiers by the U.S. would be needed!”
Senators attending the meeting with Netanyahu included:
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
- Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
- Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine
- Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
- Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
- Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho
- Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
- Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
- Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.
Trump to sign an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court
Trump will sign an executive order today sanctioning the International Criminal Court, accusing the body of improperly targeting the United States and Israel, according to a copy of a fact sheet supporting the order obtained by NBC News.
The order will include both financial sanctions and visa restrictions against unspecified ICC officials and their family members found to have assisted in ICC investigations of U.S. citizens or allies.
GOP tension grows on Trump agenda bill as Senate diverges from House’s path
As the GOP-led House struggles to begin work on "one big, beautiful bill" to advance Trump’s agenda, the Senate Republican budget chief says the upper chamber will move forward on a distinct two-bill path.
The conflict over strategy comes as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and a group of House Republicans meet today at the White House with Trump, who has indicated a preference for a one-bill approach to pass his policy priorities on taxes, immigration and energy, but largely steered clear of the dispute between the two chambers.
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Jamie Raskin calls on Trump officials to halt purge of Jan. 6 prosecutors at DOJ, FBI and reinstate them
The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, is calling on top Trump administration officials to halt the purge of career prosecutors at the Department of Justice over their involvement in investigating and working on Jan. 6-related cases and to reinstate them to their positions.
In letters exclusively obtained by NBC News and sent this morning, Raskin called on Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director nominee Kash Patel and acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin for a commitment to undoing the actions and to provide relevant information to the committee.
Raskin demanded that Bondi immediately halt the purge of career officials at the DOJ and FBI who were “wrongfully terminated simply for doing their jobs” in investigating Jan. 6 cases. He said firing them is a “blatantly political violation of the civil service laws of the United States” and “badly undermines public safety and national security.” The Maryland congressman said he wants Bondi’s commitment by next week that the purge is stopped and that all fired personnel are reinstated to their roles.
Similarly, Raskin said in a letter to Patel, who hasn’t yet been confirmed by the Senate to be FBI director, that he wants his assurance by next week that he will also put an end to the termination of FBI employees and to reinstate them.
“By removing and threatening career personnel, Trump Administration officials are hampering the Bureau’s ability to conduct critical investigations involving terrorism, public corruption, transnational organized crime, cybersecurity, and white-collar criminal offenses,” he wrote to Patel.
And in a letter to Martin, Raskin slammed his firing of more than a dozen career federal prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. on what the lawmaker said was "an explicitly political basis," violating federal law and constitutional protections. These individuals, Raskin said, “prosecuted the violent rioters who tried to prevent the peaceful transition of power” and instead of honoring them, he said Martin betrayed their service to America to try to “rewrite the clear history” of Jan. 6.
Raskin requested that Martin send by Feb. 20 all communications he’s had with the Trump White House as well as Jan. 6 defendants and prosecutors. The congressman also said he wants to know whether Martin reviewed these prosecutors’ personnel files or met with them before firing them.
The FBI declined to comment, while the DOJ, the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., Patel and the White House didn’t immediately respond to NBC News' requests for comment.
FBI agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases negotiating with Justice Department against public disclosure of names
Lawyers for the FBI Agents Association, anonymous FBI agents and the Justice Department are attempting to negotiate a binding agreement that would prevent the government from publicly releasing names of agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases, something the Justice Department says is not planned.
The two sides appeared in court this morning for a hearing on the FBI agents’ request for a temporary restraining order to block the Justice Department from releasing the names of FBI agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases. The request came after all FBI agents were required to fill out a survey detailing any participation in the cases.
Justice Department officials said the survey was intended to gather data for an internal review. Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll submitted the survey results to the Justice Department earlier this week, with FBI employee ID numbers in place of agents’ names.
“Right now, but for the actions of acting Director Driscoll, the government would have all of the names of every agent who worked Jan. 6,” Margaret Donovan, a lawyer for the FBI Agents Association, said in court.
“We are one step away from getting those names released,” Donovan said.
A lawyer for the Justice Department pushed back on the idea that the agents' names would be released, repeating the department’s position that the survey results are only intended for use in an internal review of the Jan. 6 investigations, as required by an executive order from the White House.
Lawyers for both sides have indicated that in light of the survey results already being transmitted and the repeated statements from the Justice Department that names will not be publicly shared, they may be able to come to an agreement that preserves the status quo and gives each side more time to prepare legal briefs in the case. They’ll return to the courtroom this afternoon.
Trump administration plans to pressure IOC to devise a uniform trans athlete ban
Trump is ready to take his fight against transgender athletes to the International Olympic Committee.
Trump said Wednesday during a signing ceremony for an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from women’s sports that his administration wants the IOC to “change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject” ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
The order empowers the Secretary of State’s office to pressure the IOC to amend standards governing Olympic sporting events “to promote fairness, safety and the best interests of female athletes by ensuring that eligibility for participation in women’s sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.”
Agents say mass firings could dangerously weaken FBI in three ways
First-of-their-kind lawsuits, near-daily staff memos from the little-known acting FBI director and abject fear among agents that they could lose their jobs have distracted and destabilized the FBI workforce, a half-dozen current and former federal law enforcement officials with experience in the bureau told NBC News.
The tensions at the country’s most powerful federal law enforcement agency follow a Trump administration request for the names of thousands of agents assigned to work on Capitol riot-related investigations. Assurances from the administration that it will review agents’ conduct and not necessarily fire them have not quelled fears of mass firings.
If the new administration fires or punishes agents involved in the Jan. 6 investigations — referred to within the bureau as simply “1-6” — it could affect the FBI in three dangerous ways, the current and former law enforcement officials said.
Democratic lawmakers demand answers on plans to dismantle the Education Department
The top Democrats on the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over the Education Department are demanding information about the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle the department.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee ranking member Bernie Sanders of Vermont and House Education Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut sent the letter to the department's acting secretary along with other congressional Democrats.
The lawmakers are requesting information about any access being given to the department’s sensitive data and steps being taken to safeguard it, communications and details related to department employees placed on leave, and whether grant money has been blocked or terminated.
Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, will testify at her confirmation hearing before the Senate panel next Thursday.
Education secretary nominee Linda McMahon's confirmation hearing set for Thursday
Trump's pick for secretary of education, Linda McMahon, will sit before the Senate HELP Committee next Thursday for her confirmation hearing, the committee announced this morning.
Democratic committee members are expected to grill McMahon on the president's proposed plans to abolish the Department of Education, as sources familiar with the plans told NBC News that Trump is preparing an executive order to do so.
Trump has long promised to end the department. In September 2023, Trump posted a video saying that “very early in the administration,” he would be "closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states."
The push to close the Education Department, which was established during President Jimmy Carter's tenure in 1979, is also listed in Project 2025. Last month, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and David Rouzer, R-N.C., both filed bills that would eliminate the department, with Massie's proposal garnering 27 Republican co-sponsors.
House Republicans to meet with Trump on budget plans
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise will lead a group of House Republicans to the White House today for a meeting with Trump on their budget plans, according to the Louisiana lawmakers' spokespeople.
Yesterday, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Republicans in that chamber will proceed “as early as next week” with their own multitrack approach to a reconciliation bill. Johnson pushed back on that idea, saying the House “needs to lead this.”
House Republican leadership is in favor of a one-bill approach to reconciliation, which allows for the expedited consideration of tax and spending measures. At the GOP retreat in Miami last week, Johnson said the House Budget Committee would start the process by marking up a budget resolution upon its return to the Capitol. That meeting has yet to be scheduled.
The budget resolution is the first step of the reconciliation process.
Trump announces plan to create freedom of religion commission, task force to address anti-Christian bias
Trump announced at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton hotel this morning that he plans to create a freedom of religion commission and a task force to address anti-Christian bias.
"I will be creating a brand new presidential commission on religious liberty. It's going to be a very big deal, which will work tirelessly to uphold this most fundamental right. Unfortunately, in recent years, we've seen this sacred liberty threatened like never before in American history," Trump said.
The president said he would also have Attorney General Pam Bondi lead a task force at the Justice Department to address anti-Christian bias.
"The mission of this task force will be to immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the FBI, terrible, and other agencies," he said. "In addition, the task force will work to fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide."
Senate Judiciary Committee delays voting on Kash Patel's FBI director nomination for another week
The Senate Judiciary Committee is postponing a vote on Kash Patel's nomination for FBI director to next week at the request of Democrats on the panel.
The committee allows any of its senators to push the committee vote on a nomination by one week. Only one such delay is allowed.
Committee Democrats are planning to hold a press conference at Capitol Hill later this morning on the request.
The Judiciary Committee is now expected to hold its vote next Thursday, which, if successful, would send Patel's nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.
U.S. and Panama agree to expand military cooperation
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino agreed to expand cooperation between the U.S. military and Panama’s security forces, the Pentagon said, amid U.S. threats to "take back" the Panama Canal, which Trump says is under undue Chinese influence.
During a call yesterday, Hegseth and Mulino "agreed on the strong relationship and many security interests that the United States and Panama share, to include safeguarding the Panama Canal," a Pentagon spokesperson said.
Mulino, who met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the weekend, said after their talks that Panama was looking to end its involvement in China’s Belt and Road global infrastructure program, a move Rubio hailed as “a great step forward” for Panama’s U.S. relations.
Both Panama and China deny that Beijing has control over the U.S.-built canal, which has been governed and operated by the independent Panama Canal Authority since the U.S. transferred control of the canal to Panama in 1999.
Trump says Gaza would be ‘turned over’ to U.S. by Israel
Trump doubled down on controversial plans for the Gaza Strip today, saying the Palestinian enclave would be “turned over to the United States by Israel” once the war there ends.
The comments in a string of posts on Truth Social followed his proposal for the U.S. to “take over” and “develop” Gaza, which were derided by rivals and even questioned by close allies earlier this week.
Israeli officials did not immediately comment on the president’s latest comments, though in an interview on Fox News yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s initial proposal.
Trump says at National Prayer Breakfast: Americans need 'to bring religion back'
Trump told lawmakers at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning that there needs to be a focus on bringing religion back nationwide.
"We have to bring religion back. We have to bring it back much stronger," Trump said inside Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. "It's one of the biggest problems that we've had over the last fairly long period of time. We have to bring it back."
He also announced that he has signed an executive order to create a new national park full of statues of "the greatest Americans who ever lived."
"We’re going to be honoring our heroes, honoring the greatest people. It would be called the National Garden of American heroes," said Trump, who began scanning the audience of members of Congress, suggesting that some of them could be recognized.
Trump spoke about the attempted assassination against him last July in Butler, Pennsylvania, and suggested he was very close to actually being killed.
"My sons are shooters. They’re really good shooters, Don and Eric," he said, "And they said the chances of missing from that range with that gun are, Don equated it to a 1-foot putt."
The president also spoke about the recent plane crash in the Potomac River, alluding to obsolete equipment and understaffing as potential contributing causes.
"We should have had better equipment. We don't. We have obsolete equipment. They were understaffed for whatever reason," he said. "I guess the helicopter was high, and we'll find out exactly what happened, but ... the odds of that happening are extremely small."
Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin launches new ads in state Supreme Court race
Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin this week launched new ads in the state’s contentious Supreme Court race, highlighting conservative candidate Brad Schimel as a “common-sense candidate who will uphold law and order and safeguard our communities.”
The ad campaign, which includes digital and connected TV ads, is part of a larger seven-figure ad campaign the group launched in December.
AFP-WI has been backing Schimel, a Waukesha County circuit judge, in the officially nonpartisan race, which will determine whether conservative or liberal justices control the court.
In the connected TV ads, shared first with NBC News, a narrator tells viewers that Schimel will “follow the rule of law, not a partisan agenda” and adds that he’ll “protect our Wisconsin values.”
The race comes just two years after liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz won her seat on the court, flipping the court’s conservative majority in 2023.
If Schimel beats Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford, the liberal justices’ 4-3 majority will flip back to conservatives.
“AFP-WI knows what’s on the line this April, and that is why we are on the ground every day supporting Brad Schimel for Supreme Court. Brad is the clear, common-sense candidate who will uphold law and order and safeguard our communities,” the group’s state director, Megan Novak, said in a statement. “He’s not afraid to stand up against the radical policies that jeopardize our freedoms and Constitutional rights. We will continue to mobilize our grassroots efforts to ensure Brad—and Wisconsin—can declare victory this April.”
With less than two months to go before Election Day, though, Schimel’s campaign faced controversy this week when it was accused of doctoring an image of Crawford in a TV ad, potentially violating a state law requiring disclosure if political ads use content generated by AI.
The Schimel campaign later acknowledged editing the photo, which it said was intended to depict her looking "ashamed" over her judicial record.
Trump’s embrace of the world’s biggest tech CEOs reorients the ‘attention economy’
Trump was flanked at his inauguration by tech titans Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai, with the CEOs of Apple and TikTok nearby. He was surrounded not just by a handful of the wealthiest men on the planet — but also by executives who oversee platforms that, in some combination, virtually all Americans engage with.
For a president whose rise, fall and comeback are all intertwined with his innate ability to capture attention online and on TV, those executives hold the keys to algorithmic and policy tweaks that could depress or further enhance his political — and financial — standing. In turn, Trump could influence policy in emerging technologies in ways favorable or unfavorable to the executives and their companies, via his actions on domestic regulations and pressure on foreign governments to follow suit.
The dynamic — which flows downstream from a rightward shift in Silicon Valley after the Covid pandemic — has the chance to reshape what was long an adversarial relationship between Trump-era conservatives and Big Tech companies, which has been marked by years of disdain over content moderation practices and threats to strip legal protections.
Trump plan to move Palestinians from Gaza is 'ethnic cleansing,' Malaysia says
The forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip would constitute ethnic cleansing and a violation of international law, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said today, after Trump suggested that the U.S. could take control of the Palestinian enclave.
"Any attempt, whether direct or indirect, to unilaterally and forcefully impose solutions that disregard the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and infringes on their freedom is unacceptable, unjustifiable and will only further deepen one of the longest conflicts in the region," the ministry said in a statement.
Muslim-majority Malaysia, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, reiterated its support for a two-state solution as the best way to end the the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Neighboring Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, also rejected the idea of forcibly displacing Palestinians, expressing support for a two-state solution in a post on X.
Bill Gates defends USAID’s work after meeting with Trump and White House chief of staff
Billionaire Bill Gates, a philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, said he met with Trump at the White House yesterday to advocate for continuing foreign aid disbursements from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“I went by the White House because there’s a lot in this transition, what we keep, in terms of foreign aid, what we keep — it’s all kind of up in the air,” he told NBC’s “TODAY” show anchor Savannah Guthrie in an interview. “And I’m doing my best to make sure we keep the things that I think are very value-based.”
Gates said he had a “brief meeting” with Trump and a “long meeting” with chief of staff Susie Wiles, whom he called “very thoughtful.” He spoke to Guthrie at an event at George Washington University, where he was promoting his new book.
“I went through that ‘Hey, I’ve been out in the field with USAID,’” said Gates, who co-launched the nonprofit Gates Foundation in 2000.
“It’s unbelievable what an asset that is,” he said, referring to USAID’s operations around the world. “I know all the development agencies of all the countries, and this is the best of them.”
Fiji leader raises concern in Washington over deportation of Pacific Islanders
Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka raised concerns that the mass deportation of criminals from the U.S. posed a safety risk to Pacific Island states, in a meeting with the Congressional Pacific Islands Caucus chairman, Fiji’s government said today.
Rabuka is the first Pacific Islands leader to visit Washington to press the region’s concerns since Trump took office, with the U.S. withdrawal from international climate change commitments a major focus for the low-lying island states.
Rabuka will attend a presidential prayer breakfast today and is also expected to meet with Republican senators.
In a meeting with the acting undersecretary of state for international trade, Diane Farrell, Rabuka noted major investments by U.S. tech giants Google and Starlink in Fiji, adding that he hoped the U.S. freeze on foreign aid will not impact plans for U.S. Agency for International Development programs in the Pacific region for health, climate and security, the government said in a statement.
Today is the deadline for government employees to take buyouts
The Office of Personnel Management told about 2 million federal workers last week that they could take "deferred resignations," meaning they would agree to resign but receive pay through September.
More than 40,000 government workers are estimated to have accepted the offer, a source familiar with the plans told NBC News.
The deadline for workers to take the package is today.
What is the National Prayer Breakfast?
The annual tradition dates back decades, with members of both parties attending, and has its roots in Christianity.
"The vision of the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation is to promote and share the idea of gathering together in the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth, adopted by the Senate and House Prayer Breakfast Groups in the United States Congress," the group's website says.
Presidents usually attend the breakfast.