Live updates: Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as intel chief; judge unfreezes Trump's federal buyout plan

A spokesperson for the American foreign Service Association (AfSA), the union representing foreign service officers, said it is reviewing Trump's recent executive order that aims to ensure the "faithful implementation" of his foreign policy agenda and threatens "professional discipline, including separation," for noncompliance. 

“Our members carry out the foreign policy initiatives of the president, regardless of party,” the spokesperson for AfSA said. “We hope that any administration would value the expertise and knowledge of the foreign Service, including its ability to provide advice on foreign policy matters.”

The spokesperson added that AfSA “will always defend the integrity and non-political nature of the foreign Service so that our members can continue to serve the American people.”

Trump issued an executive order today that said "failure to faithfully implement the President’s policy is grounds for professional discipline, including separation," and directed the secretary of state to "implement reforms" in recruitment and evaluation to make sure the workforce is committed to executing Trump's foreign policy agenda.

A federal judge in Boston today dissolved his temporary freeze on the Trump administration’s unprecedented offer for millions of federal workers to resign, allowing the controversial “fork in the road” program to proceed.

U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. had temporarily halted the administration’s offer of mass buyouts to millions of federal workers last week, just hours before the Thursday deadline for employees to accept the offer. That order came after labor unions representing government workers filed suit alleging that the administration did not have the legal authority to offer such buyouts.

Read the full story here.

Bondi announced at a news conference today that the Justice Department has filed charges against the state of New York and several of its leaders over immigration policies that she said violate federal law.

“New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today,” Bondi said.

Among the state’s policies Bondi called “unconstitutional” is New York’s "Green Light” law, which allows anyone over age 16 to apply for a driver's license, regardless of citizenship or lawful status in the United States. The license is a standard New York license that can’t be used for domestic flights or other federal purposes, according to New York's Department of Motor Vehicles.

Trump is now the chair of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, the president and the John f. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced.

"President Donald J. Trump was just unanimously elected Chairman of the Board of the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The President stated, 'It is a Great Honor to be Chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with this amazing Board of Trustees. We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!'"

The Kennedy Center also announced the change in a news release, which said that several Trump allies are now serving on the board, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino and second lady Usha Vance, among others.

Speaking with reporters after Gabbard's swearing-in ceremony, Trump praised Musk, who is leading the Department of Government Efficiency.

"I want to commend Elon," Trump said. "I think he's got the credibility to do it; I know he does."

Trump also took aim at judges who have scuttled some of his administration's efforts as his administration faces a slew of lawsuits in response to maneuvers to reshape the government and dramatically reduce the federal workforce.

Trump wants to close the Education Department "immediately," calling it a "complete con job," he told reporters in the Oval Office this evening.

Trump repeated the claim that the United States is ranked "40 out of 40" in education achievement compared with other countries despite spending "more per pupil than any other country in the world" as justification for eliminating the department.

"We’re ranked No. 40," Trump said. "So if we’re ranked No. 40, that means something’s really wrong, right?"

The department, which says its elementary and secondary programs serve more than 50 million students in about 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools, has long been a target for Trump.

The Trump administration is considering tapping into Defense Department funding to hire contractors in a move that would vastly expand the scale and scope of immigrant arrests and deportations in the United States, according to three sources familiar with the matter. 

The defense contracts would allow civilian-run companies to quickly and rapidly expand temporary detention facilities, such as those that house migrants in tents, as well as to staff the facilities and provide transportation between arrest locations and detention areas. Such a move could also increase the number of airplanes available used to deport immigrants, as well as staff the flights, the sources said.

Read the full story here.

After Tulsi Gabbard was sworn in, Trump opened the door to Ukraine's ceding territory in its war with Russia, telling reporters that Zelenskyy is going to "have to do what he has to do" when he was asked whether he would support Ukraine's ceding or exchanging territory in a bid to end the war.

Trump also said that after his call with Putin today, he plans to continue speaking with him and to eventually meet.

"I'll be dealing with President Putin, largely on the phone, and we ultimately expect to meet. In fact, we expect that he’ll come here, and I’ll go there, and we’re going to meet, also probably in Saudi Arabia," Trump said.

Blanche testified that it was "absolutely" right for the Jan. 6 rioters who attacked law enforcement officers to have been prosecuted.

Those defendants were among the 1,500 whom Trump granted full pardons on his first day in office. Blanche said he hadn’t been consulted about the pardons.

"Any sort of assault by anybody of law enforcement should never be tolerated and should be investigated," Blanche said. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi swore in Gabbard this afternoon as director of national intelligence after a Senate voted 52-48, largely along party lines, to confirm her.

Trump signed Gabbard's certificate and took a picture with her.

Todd Blanche, the Trump criminal defense lawyer he nominated to be deputy attorney general, said at his confirmation hearing today that he's still Trump's lawyer.

"My attorney-client relationship with President Trump remains, yes," Blanche said in response to a question from Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. He added that he is involved with "no active matters."

Schiff then asked about new Attorney General Pam Bondi's directive that Blanche's office would be involved in a review of the investigations of Trump and whether that was "a blatant conflict of interest."

At the White House press briefing today, press secretary Karoline Leavitt used some of the strongest language we’ve heard from the White House so far about judges blocking Trump’s executive action.

“The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges in liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block President Trump’s basic executive authority," Leavitt told reporters.

She went on to say the judges are acting as "judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law” and added that the Trump administration sees their rulings as “the continuation of the weaponization of justice against President Trump.”

Musician Ben folds said he's resigning his role at the John f. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he was artistic adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra.

"Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as artistic advisor to the NSO," folds said in a statement today, the day the organization's board of trustees voted to install Trump as chairman of the board.

"Not for me," folds added in his statement before he recognized several of the people he worked with.

"Mostly, and above all, I will miss the musicians of our nation's symphony orchestra — just the best," he said.

Several immigrant rights groups, including Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, the American Civil Liberties Union Americans for Immigrant Justice, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., today challenging the Trump administration's policy of sending immigrants from the interior of the United States to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

“It’s hard to imagine that in this country we are actually shipping immigrants to a remote island and denying them access to lawyers, but literally nothing seems off limits to this administration,” said Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney for the ACLU in the lawsuit. 

The complaint alleges that detainees moved from the United States to Guantánamo do not have access to attorneys. 

During her press briefing Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the White House's decision to bar an Associated Press reporter from the Oval Office on Tuesday because the news agency's style guide still referred to the body of water south of the U.S. and east of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico.

In an executive order earlier this week, Trump ordered that the body of water now be referred to as the "Gulf of America."

"I was very upfront in my briefing on Day 1 that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable," Leavitt told reporters Wednesday. "And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that."

In a statement Wednesday, Associated Press executive editor Julie Pace said: "It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the first Amendment."

The Environmental Protection Agency set dates for remote and telework employees to return to the office, adding details to another dramatic change to working conditions at the agency.

“The agency hereby rescinds all regular telework and remote work agreements,” read a mass email to EPA staffers, obtained by NBC News. The email outlined exceptions for military spouses, medical telework and those with agreements to perform remote work overseas. 

The agency’s schedule for employees to return to work, depending on their union representation and whether they were teleworking or had remote access agreements, ranges from feb. 24 — May 5. 

Republican businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson announced today that she is running for governor in Arizona, touting support from Trump in the race. 

“I thank President Trump for his strong endorsement and look forward to working with him to secure our border and make Arizona safe again,” Taylor Robson said in a statement announcing her run, which made repeated mention of the president.

“Katie Hobbs has made it harder to live, work, and raise a family safely in this state,” she added, referring to the state’s Democratic governor, who is up for re-election next year. “Like President Trump, I know how to create jobs. And like President Trump, I will not rest until our border is secure and Arizona families are safe.”

Taylor Robson’s press release pointed to Trump’s comments at a Turning Point Action event in Arizona in December as evidence that she has Trump’s backing in the race. 

Read the full story here.

House Republicans released a budget resolution Wednesday that calls for cutting taxes by up to $4.5 trillion and sets a goal of slashing federal spending by $2 trillion.

The blueprint comes one day before the House Budget Committee is scheduled to consider it. If it’s approved by the panel and the full House chamber, the Republicans can get started on crafting a massive party-line bill to pass Trump’s agenda.

Read the full story here.

An employee at the Consumer financial Protection Bureau was told they were fired around 9 p.m. last night, but the letter that arrived in their inbox didn’t even include their name, according to a copy obtained by NBC News.

The “Notification of Termination During Probationary Period” letter was addressed to “[EmployeefirstName] [EmployeeLastName].” It was filled with other apparent placeholder text such as “[JobTitle],” “[Division]” and “[AppointmentDate].”

“This is to provide notification that I am removing you from your position of [JobTitle] and federal service consistent with the above references,” Adam Martinez, the bureau’s acting chief human capital officer, said in the letter.

The employee who received the letter found it galling.

Trump said that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone today about ending the war in Ukraine and that Putin indicated he would be willing to negotiate directly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social about their first known call of his second term. Less than two hours later, Trump said he had also spoken to Zelenskyy.

Read the full story here.

Mike Ware, one of eight inspectors general fired by Trump who filed suit against the administration seeking their reinstatement, told MSNBC’s Ali Vitali that the group wanted to stand up for independent and transparent government oversight.  

“IGs are independent, we are nonpartisan, which means that we are the taxpayers’ advocates within each of the government agencies,” said Ware, who served as inspector general for the Small Business Administration. “We save taxpayers about $100 billion a year, and we help improve the programs and their agencies.”

Ware said federal inspectors general are stewards of government transparency who are tasked with protecting the American people from fraud and abuse. They hold leaders accountable and look for ways to make the government more efficient, he said. 

The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., federal court, alleges the firings were unlawful and in contradiction with the protections afforded to inspectors general, which were strengthened in 2022 by Congress.

A member of the singing von Trapp family, made famous in “The Sound of Music,” suggested in a now-viral facebook post that Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk's aggressive actions aimed at reshaping the executive branch since the November election echo what happened during the takeover of Germany and Austria by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

“If you think this can’t happen again and, in the USA, think again,” francoise von Trapp wrote in the post, which went up on friday and has been shared by more than 50,000 people. “There are clear indicators that recent actions taken by Trump and Elon Musk mirror those of Adolf Hitler when he took over Germany.”

Musk’s “comments and actions demonstrate that he supports the far right — as evidenced by his Nazi salute and also his investment and promotion of Germany’s far-right AfD party,” von Trapp wrote, referring to a gesture Musk made at a Trump inaugural event that many said resembled a Nazi salute. "He seems to believe that as the richest man in the world, he is above the rule of law and the US constitution."

She also referred to Trump's consideration of El Salvador’s offer "to house not only deportees, but U.S. citizens convicted of crimes in its new detention camp built to hold 40K inmates."

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced today that she will vote to confirm Kennedy as the nation's health secretary after receiving assurances from him about his stance on vaccines. 

“I continue to have concerns about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies, which initially caused my misgivings about his nomination,” Murkowski wrote in a post on X, saying she changed her mind after Kennedy told her he would not discourage vaccination efforts. 

Murkowski’s statement, which came as the Senate was advancing Kennedy's nomination to a final vote, follows other moderate Republican senators who have voiced their support for Kennedy in recent days. 

Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., encouraged members of the Coast Guard to contact him with concerns about what he called “rapid and reckless changes” in a letter sent today that was shared first with NBC News. 

“I’m sure you have heard and seen the recent policy changes affecting the Coast Guard, and many of you have felt the whirlwind effects in very tangible ways,” Carbajal, the top Democrat on the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, wrote in the letter.

He listed off changes such as “pausing enforcement of harassment policies, banning transgender servicemembers, and eliminating positions, personnel, and organizations that address diversity, equity, and inclusion.” 

Carbajal also cited reporting from NBC News that former Coast Guard Commandant Linda fagan, who was removed from her post during Trump’s second day in office, was evicted from her home at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling last week with three hours' notice.

Eight inspectors general who were fired by Trump filed a lawsuit today charging their terminations were unlawful and seeking their immediate reinstatement.

“In this action, the duly appointed Inspectors General of eight major U.S. agencies — the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Agriculture, Education, and Labor, and the Small Business Administration — seek redress for their unlawful and unjustified purported termination by President Donald Trump and their respective agency heads,” their complaint, which was filed in Washington, D.C., federal court, said.

The eight were part of a group of over a dozen IGs who were notified they were being fired “due to changing priorities” in a two-sentence email from the Office of Presidential Personnel four days after Trump was sworn in to office.

The suit says the firings are “contrary to the rule of law,” including protections for inspectors general that were strengthened by Congress in 2022. 

Read the full story here.

The Senate agreed to move ahead with a vote on Robert f. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to be the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy was able to overcome Democratic and some Republican pushback over his anti-vaccine activism, including from the Republican chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who is a physician.

The Senate action sets up a final vote tomorrow on Kennedy's nomination, which is likely to be confirmed, giving Trump another Cabinet victory.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams' attorney, Alex Spiro, said at a news conference this morning that Trump "was not involved at all" in the Justice Department memo that dismissed the mayor's federal corruption case.

Adams met with Trump last month ahead of his inauguration.

Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop five criminal counts, including bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, from Adams’ case Monday night.

After he cast the only GOP vote against Tulsi Gabbard's nomination to serve as director of national intelligence, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement that Gabbard’s controversial track record makes her “unworthy of the highest public trust.”

“The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the President receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment,” McConnell said, citing Gabbard’s defense of Edward Snowden and positions on U.S.-China relations and the Russia-Ukraine war as making her untrustworthy. 

“Entrusting the coordination of the intelligence community to someone who struggles to acknowledge these facts is an unnecessary risk,’ McConnell said. “So is empowering a DNI who only acknowledged the value of critical intelligence collection authorities when her nomination appeared to be in jeopardy.”

following Gabbard’s confirmation, McConnell said he will join the Americans who make up the intelligence community in “hoping that she rises to the immense responsibilities of her office.” 

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., ranking member on the DOGE subcommittee, mocked Republicans for focusing on the DOGE efforts when inflation is still up and they've proposed a budget that would increase the debt limit by trillions.

"Inflation has risen unexpectedly as food and energy prices have soared. What's going on, guys, I thought you were gonna tackle inflation and food and energy prices?" she said in her closing statement. "Isn't that what the executive orders were supposed to do? Oh, wait — or is dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion in our federal agencies and putting an ideological agenda and trying to fire the federal workforce your actual agenda?"

Stansbury said that while they were in the hearing, "getting lectured on fiscal responsibility," Republicans released their budget proposal, which she said would increase the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who's no longer in Senate Republican leadership, voted against Tulsi Gabbard's nomination to serve as director of national intelligence.

McConnell also voted against Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, but he was ultimately confirmed by the Senate.

The Senate confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence, after the former Democratic congresswoman overcame skepticism from some GOP senators.

The vote marks another victory for Trump, who has had all of his Cabinet-level nominees approved by the Senate so far.

Todd Blanche delivered his opening statement at a Senate confirmation hearing for him to serve as deputy attorney general, which he called his "American dream."

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., used a photo of Elon Musk as a prop during the subcommittee hearing as he castigated DOGE and its activities.

"I find it ironic, of course, that our chairwoman, Congresswoman Greene, is in charge of running this committee. Now in the last Congress, Chairwoman Greene literally showed a d--- pic in our oversight congressional hearing, so I thought I'd bring one as well," he said, referring to when Greene showed sexually explicit images of Hunter Biden during a hearing.

Garcia then displayed an image of Elon Musk at the dais. "This, of course, we know, is President Elon Musk. He’s also the world’s richest man. He was the biggest political donor in the last election. He has billions of dollars in conflicts of interest, and we know that he is leading a power grab also abided by and encouraged by Donald Trump," he said.

Garcia blasted Musk and DOGE for attempting to abolish the Education Department, eliminate medical research at the National Institutes of Health, as well as activities at the Consumer financial Protection Bureau.

The U.S. agreed to send Alexander Vinnik, a convicted money launderer, back to Russia as part of the terms of the exchange that freed American Marc fogel, a U.S. official tells NBC News. 

Vinnik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering last year. He will leave behind in the U.S. $100 million worth of digital assets as part of the agreement, as well. Vinnik is currently in U.S. custody and awaiting transport back to Russia, which is expected by the end of the week. 

The administration is pleased with how the deal — exchanging a nonviolent felon, while claiming his assets, for a wrongfully detained school teacher, the U.S. official suggested. “We didn’t swap the merchant of death for a basketball player,” the official said, referring to the Brittney Griner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout in 2022. 

The official said the administration believes the deal indicates that Russia is trying to send a positive message and could be willing to work with the U.S. on issues of greater global significance. 

Read the full story.

The director of government affairs at the Project on Government Oversight, Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, testified at the DOGE hearing that federal spending appropriated by Congress is difficult to track.

"We have an extraordinarily hard time tracking federal dollars from end to end," he said. "This is due in large part to a broken chain of data, collection of reporting information and the ability to monitor and track in real time what is happening with federal dollars."

Hedtler-Gaudette explained that it's an "informational black hole" where "a lot of impropriety happens."

"It's where waste, fraud and abuse live, and yes, this is where improper payments often happens, but more importantly, we also don't have a good, clear and consistent way of understanding what is happening with tax dollars at the end point," he said.

federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told the House financial Services Committee that the central bank has had "no contact" with Elon Musk's DOGE team.

When pressed by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., if Powell would “let DOGE into the federal Reserve," he responded by saying, "I don't have anything for you on that."

The federal Reserve operates as an independent central bank, with its chair and board members typically serving across multiple administrations. The fed is meant to be isolated from politics or the ideas and wishes of individual presidents so that it can set monetary policy in the most effective way.

The senior director of federal affairs at the foundation for Government Accountability, Stewart Whitson, said in his opening statement that Congress needs to act if lawmakers want reforms made by DOGE to be permanent.

“There’s only one big problem with the DOGE effort — most of its work can be undone by a future president with a stroke of a pen," Whitson said.

During a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, one of Elon Musk’s recent claims of wasteful government spending was touted as a prime example of improper spending and waste.

Stewart Whitson, senior director at foundation for Government Accountability, claimed that DOGE had uncovered “59 million dollars paid to luxury hotels to house illegal immigrants.”

Later in his remarks, he made another sweeping claim: "All of these insane projects have one thing in common. They were all approved and funded by unelected bureaucrats," Whitson said.

The money in question, as reported earlier this week, was part of a federal grant — funded by Congressional appropriation — given to New York City to help fund the shelter of migrants, many of them families with children, in shelters, tent facilities, and hotels.

Read more here.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., slammed Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency in her opening statement at the first hearing of the new House subcommittee tasked with overseeing efforts to cut government waste.

Musk and Trump are "recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government, shuttering federal agencies, firing federal workers, withholding funds vital to the safety and well-being of our communities and hacking our sensitive data systems," Stansbury said.

The lawmaker referred to Musk standing near the resolute desk in the Oval Office yesterday as he spoke about his team's work and mission.

"What is really going on here? Why did Republicans block Elon Musk from appearing before this very committee last week?" she said.

"Why is the administration so eager to allow Elon Musk and his hackers to have access to proprietary and private information in the Treasury payment systems?" she asked, focusing on a point of litigation over DOGE's activities. "Why are colleagues across the aisle shielding them as they are clearly breaking the law?"

At the first hearing of the new House subcommittee created to coordinate with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., argued in defense of the nongovernmental agency by stating the nation is overrun with massive debt.

"The American people are in debt slavery to everyone who owns our debt," Greene said in her opening statement.

“Our massively growing debt and interest are the chains and hackles harnessed to every American and their children and every generation to come," she continued. "Let us be brutally honest about how this massive debt came to be in the first place. It came from Congress and from elected presidential administrations, and I believe, enslaving our nation, in debt is one of the biggest betrayals against the American people by its own elected government.”

Greene said that the Americans' anger over the debt is "what gave birth to the concept of DOGE."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said today that it is “unrealistic” to aim for a return to Ukraine’s borders as they were before 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and supported separatists who took over swaths of the country’s east.

The remarks are the clearest indication yet that the United States will support a negotiation between Ukraine and Russia in which Ukraine cedes territory that’s already been seized by the Kremlin.

Read the full story.

U.S. Secret Service Deputy Director Ron Rowe, who led the agency's response to the July assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July, is retiring.

“Deputy Director Ronald Rowe, a valued executive and leader of the United States Secret Service, has announced his decision to retire after 26 years of dedicated service," the agency said in a statement. "He is currently enjoying a well-deserved break before his retirement."

Rowe instituted a number of security changes in response to the failures around that incident and after a second assassination attempt on Trump in florida.

Rowe became acting director after the July attempt, but resumed his role as deputy director when Trump selected his former detail leader, Sean Carr, as the new Secret Service director.

Two sources told NBC News it was Rowe’s choice to depart. 

Trump's Education Department has rescinded guidance issued by the department in the final days of the Biden administration that said compensation provided to college athletes under name, image and likeness deals must be made proportionally available to male and female athletes.

In a statement today, acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said the guidance was "overly burdensome, profoundly unfair, and it goes well beyond what agency guidance is intended to achieve."

"Without a credible legal justification, the Biden Administration claimed that NIL agreements between schools and student athletes are akin to financial aid and must, therefore, be proportionately distributed between male and female athletes under Title IX," he said.

Trump has again switched positions on the federal Reserve, indicating in a social media post this morning that interest rates need to come down.

“Interest Rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!! Lets Rock and Roll, America!!!” the president said in a morning post on Truth Social.

Read the full story here.

More than 170 Democratic lawmakers in the House and the Senate are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House budget director Russell Vought to boot members of the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency from the Consumer financial Protection Bureau and restore its systems and operations.

"Dismantling this law enforcement agency has long been a priority of the big financial institutions it was created to regulate, and this effort to seize control of the CfPB’s inner workings is the clearest example yet that President Trump is willing to reward the billionaires who backed him, even at the expense of ordinary Americans," the lawmakers wrote in a letter yesterday to Vought and Bessent.

A House subcommittee overseeing Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency will hold its first hearing today titled “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and fraud.”

The hearing features three expert witnesses: Stewart Whitson, a former fBI special agent and senior director of federal affairs at the foundation for Government Accountability; Haywood Talcove, CEO at Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions; and Dawn Royal, director at the United Council on Welfare fraud.

The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is under the jurisdiction of the House Oversight Committee.

EMILY's List, a group that supports Democratic women who favor abortion access, endorsed former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland today in her bid to be New Mexico’s next governor.

“Deb has a proven track record of fighting for her constituents on reproductive freedom, climate change, and building an economy that puts working families first. Deb has shattered glass ceilings throughout her career and we are honored to continue to support her in this election,” EMILY's List President Jessica Mackler wrote in a statement.

Haaland launched her campaign yesterday in a race that is expected to lean toward Democrats. She hopes to succeed Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is wrapping up a second term and is not eligible for a third consecutive one.

In the months after the Jan. 6 attacks, a hard-charging federal prosecutor in Manhattan eagerly oversaw efforts to find and arrest Capitol rioters in the New York area, his former colleagues say, and even proposed to the Justice Department that his office should play a central role in the investigation.

His name: Emil Bove.

Bove, whose prominence soared when he was one of Trump’s defense lawyers last year, is now the Trump-appointed acting deputy attorney general, essentially the chief operating officer of the Justice Department. 

He has been leading an effort to identify everyone who worked on Jan. 6 cases and remedy what Trump called “a grave national injustice” by rooting out “those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent” when they investigated Trump and Capitol rioters.

Read the full story.

Lawyers challenging Trump’s aggressive use of executive power in the courts are turning to a familiar weapon in their armory: an obscure but routinely invoked federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act.

While lawsuits challenging such provocative plans as ending birthright citizenship and dismantling federal agencies raise weighty constitutional issues, they also claim Trump failed to follow the correct procedures as required under the wonky 1946 statute.

Trump fell afoul of the law in some high-profile cases that reached the Supreme Court during his first term, raising the possibility he could suffer the same fate this time around.

Read the full story here.

Robert f. Kennedy Jr. needs to clear one final hurdle before his confirmation vote in the Senate.

After Gabbard's confirmation vote this morning, the Senate will immediately move to a procedural vote on Kennedy’s nomination for health and human services secretary.

Kennedy is expected to secure the simple majority needed to advance. If that happens, his confirmation vote might not take place until 7 a.m. tomorrow — unless an agreement among all 100 senators changes those plans.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination for director of national intelligence at 11 a.m. ET.

The vote, initially scheduled for 12:30 a.m. ET, was postponed because of a snowstorm in Washington last night.