What's going on today
- President Donald Trump formally announced a 25% tariff on all steel imports today, reigniting concerns about a potential global trade war.
- Trump's Cabinet-level nominees continue to have votes this week, beginning with his controversial pick for intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, who has a procedural vote this evening.
- Trump's sweeping plan to slash federal spending is hitting more legal roadblocks. A federal judge in Boston extended a pause on Trump's plan to push millions of federal workers to resign.
Trump: 'All hell is going to break out' if Hamas doesn't return all hostages by Saturday
Trump said tonight that if Hamas does not return all the hostages it is holding by noon Saturday, “all hell is going to break out.”
Trump said he thinks Israel should “cancel” the ceasefire if all hostages are not returned by then.
“If they’re not returned, all of them — not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two. Saturday at 12 o’clock. And after that, I would say all hell is going to break out,” Trump told reporters as he signed executive orders in the Oval Office.
Asked to elaborate on what he meant, he said: “You’ll find out, and they’ll find out, too. Hamas will find out what I mean. ... These are sick people, and they’ll find out what I mean Saturday at 12.”
'He reports to me': Trump insists he has 'guardrails' on Musk
Trump was asked in an interview that aired tonight whether he needs to impose guardrails on Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
"I think I have guardrails. Yeah, Elon is somebody that I have a lot of respect for, but you have to have guardrails. He reports to me, and he’s doing a fantastic job," Trump told Fox News' Bret Baier in an interview that was taped over the weekend. "I wanted somebody who’s extremely intelligent. He’s that. He’s also a good cost-cutter."
Trump has praised maneuvers by DOGE to dismantle government agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Many of those efforts have already hit legal roadblocks.
Unions say Trump administration isn't complying with order in USAID case
The Trump administration is not fully complying with a court order to reinstate U.S. Agency for International Development employees who were abruptly placed on administrative leave, their attorneys alleged in a court filing today.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols' order Friday had temporarily directed that "USAID employees currently on administrative leave shall be reinstated" and "shall be given complete access to email, payment, and security notification systems."
The unions representing the employees in the lawsuit said they "understand that, in some cases, members have had systems access restored consistent with this Court’s order. But Plaintiffs and their attorneys understand that access has not been restored to many others. Those members, therefore, cannot assess whether they have been reinstated from leave."
They asked the judge to hold an emergency hearing. Both sides are due in Nichols' Washington, D.C., courtroom Wednesday for a hearing on extending restraining order.
Trump signs order imposing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum
Trump today signed an order that imposes a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports to the United States.
“This is a big deal,” Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office. “The beginning of making America rich again.”
The tariffs come just a week after Trump promised to suspend tariffs on Canada and Mexico. They echo steel and aluminum tariffs he imposed during his first administration, though at that point they were imposed explicitly on national security grounds.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for top intelligence official, clears key Senate hurdle
Reporting from Washington
The GOP-controlled Senate tonight voted to advance Tulsi Gabbard's nomination to be Trump’s director of national intelligence, putting her on a path to be confirmed this week.
The party-line vote was 52-46, with all Republicans present voting in favor of Gabbard. Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., did not vote. Last week, Gabbard’s nomination to be the nation’s top-ranking intelligence official squeaked through the Senate Intelligence Committee on a party-line 9-8 vote.
“The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission, collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a floor speech today. “That’s what Tulsi Gabbard is committed to ensuring if she is confirmed to be DNI, and I believe she has the knowledge and leadership capabilities to get it done.”
Trump signs executive order ‘going back’ to plastic straws
Trump signed an executive order meant to return to widespread use of plastic straws, reversing an environmental effort by former President Joe Biden to increase the use of paper straws within the federal government.
“We’re going back to plastic straws. These things don’t work. I’ve had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation. So we’re going back to plastic straws. I think it’s OK,” Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office.
DOGE to review Department of Housing and Urban Development contracts
Elon Musk’s government efficiency initiative, DOGE, has been operating within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to correspondence viewed by CNBC and NBC News.
A senior adviser to DOGE, Scott Langmack, sent out an e-mail widely within the agency to inform employees the Musk-led group would be conducting a “comprehensive contract review” across HUD and would need employees to personally vouch for every single contractor or vendor they work with, as well.
Langmack and HUD were not immediately available for comment when CNBC asked.
DOGE also sought information about whether there were any “DEI components” to contracts held by the department.
The Senate recently confirmed Scott Turner as HUD's new secretary. Among other things, the department enforces fair housing law and provides rental assistance to qualifying low-income households.
Last year, according to data tracked by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the U.S. supply of affordable housing fell short of needs by 7.3 million rental homes for extremely low-income renters. That group includes people whose incomes fall at or below the federal poverty guideline or who earn only 30% of their area median incomes, whichever is greater.
Trump names Richard Grenell interim executive director of Kennedy Center
Trump has named Richard Grenell interim executive director of Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
“I am pleased to announce that Ric Grenell will serve as the Interim Executive Director of The Kennedy Center. Ric shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST. RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump announced he was dismissing several trustees from the Kennedy Center’s board last week and named himself the center’s chair.
The center said in a statement Friday that the White House had not formally notified it of the leadership changes to its board, adding that while there is nothing in its Congress-established governance that would bar Trump from removing board members, the chair must be voted on by board members.
Trump tapped Grenell as his presidential envoy for “special missions” after the election. Most recently, Grenell met with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, returning from Venezuela with six Americans who had been detained in the country.
Trump pardons former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Trump issued a full pardon to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich today.
Blagojevich, 68, who was a Democrat while he was in office, had served eight years in prison on charges stemming from his effort to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat after Obama won the 2008 presidential election.
“It’s my pleasure,” Trump said in remarks in the Oval Office, adding, “I think he’s a very fine person. This shouldn't have happened to him.”
Sen. Susan Collins says she's supporting RFK Jr.'s nomination
Reporting from Washington
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters this evening that she plans to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be health and human services secretary.
She had been skeptical about Kennedy, citing his anti-vaccination stances as an area of concern.
Collins also told reporters that she spoke with Kennedy about announced cuts to the National Institutes of Health.
“He said he would re-examine them, and he seemed to understand the concerns that I was raising about what it would mean for very important ongoing biomedical research, including clinical trials,” Collins said.
Kennedy is expected to be confirmed Thursday.
Musk vows clawback of FEMA ‘luxury hotel’ payments
Elon Musk said today that his Department of Government Efficiency had uncovered a $59-million payment to hotels in New York City to house migrants — spending that was already public and appropriated by Congress.
“That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals! A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds,” he wrote in a post on X, the social media platform he owns.
No clawback request has been made as this afternoon, said Liz Garcia, deputy press secretary in the New York City mayor's office, and the money isn't a new expenditure, either.
FEMA has been a growing target of conservative ire, with Trump recently saying he thinks states should shoulder the burden of disaster recovery. The agency’s spending was also the subject of far-right misinformation and conspiracy theories, particularly around Hurricane Helene and the ensuing recovery.
The $59 million Musk mentioned is part of the $237 million FEMA awarded the city last year, reimbursing it for expenses incurred housing migrants from mid-November 2023 to late October 2024, according to data from the city. Some $19 million of it was spent on hotels, while $26 million was spent on services including food and security for migrants in those hotels. For shelter-related expenditures, $13 million covered the cost for migrants and services. The money was appropriated by Congress, with support of the previous administration.
The city has spent $7 billion on housing migrants in the last few years, many of whom are seeking asylum in the U.S. The city started housing migrants in hotels — often vacant following the pandemic — in addition to existing emergency shelters. Garcia said the hotels are not luxury accommodations, as Musk claimed, and that those housed there are typically families with children.
The average cost for a hotel room in New York City topped $400 last fall, while the average daily hotel rate for certain migrants was $156 according to a July 2024 Comptroller report, though security and food costs drive the nightly cost to the city to be more than double that total.
Domestic equipment manufacturers blast Trump's tariff plan
An industry group representing U.S. equipment manufacturers says Trump's plan to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports represents "a clear and present danger" to the American businesses that rely on those materials.
In an interview with NBC News, Kip Eideberg, senior vice president for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, said the steel tariffs imposed by Trump in his first term caused equipment prices to surge as much as 8%, with projections for as many as 20,000 jobs lost over a 10-year period.
"It did absolutely the opposite of what the president said they would do," said Eideberg, whose trade group represents farm equipment and tractor producers, mining equipment makers, construction segments and forestry firms.
While most steel used by American manufacturers is domestically produced, much of the material that comes from outside the U.S. would likely be a specialized blend that cannot easily be reproduced here, he said.
Eideberg warned that the mere uncertainty surrounding Trump's tariff proposals is likely to cause firms to freeze hiring and investment plans.
"The idea that people are buying cheaper steel that's flooding into the U.S. to cut costs is not true," he said. "In fact, [the tariffs] will drive the costs of domestic steel."
Trump's attempt to shrink CIA could put country at risk, ex-officials say
A group of former national security officials who worked for or with the CIA has sent an anonymous letter to the leaders of the Senate and House intelligence committees warning that the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal workforce could lead to the loss of experienced intelligence personnel and damage intelligence sharing with allied spy services.
The letter is titled “The Steady State,” a retort to Trump supporters’ portrayal of a “deep state” of federal civil servants who have allegedly plotted to sabotage him in the past.
“The Steady State is made up of approximately 200 former national security officials, who have worked for or with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to protect our nation,” the letter says. It focuses on the Trump administration’s “buyout” options to employees at the CIA, offering the workforce eight months pay if they resign immediately or take early retirement.
“First, this initiative will result in the systematic elimination of institutional expertise and experience within the CIA,” the letter says. “Intelligence work is not simply about raw information; it requires deep institutional knowledge, historical context, and long-standing analytic rigor — traits that are honed over decades of service. The forced departure of experienced officers will create an intelligence vacuum that cannot be easily filled.”
The letter also warns that America’s partnerships with allied spy agencies could be damaged if a large number of seasoned employees at the CIA were to leave.
“A mass exodus of experienced personnel will erode these relationships, weaken intelligence sharing, and reduce the CIA’s ability to effectively operate overseas,” the letter says, adding such departures would damage the country’s ability to counter China, Russia, Iran and other adversaries.
NBC News has spoken to two of the organizers of the letter. The CIA and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Democratic lawmakers have issued similar warnings, saying that the country’s national security could be jeopardized if experienced, skilled employees at the CIA or intelligence agencies accept the offers to leave.
“If our best people quit, who is going to do those jobs?” the vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, said in a speech on the Senate floor last week.
Judge finds Trump administration violated court order halting funding freeze
A federal judge in Rhode Island said that the Trump administration violated his order halting a sweeping federal funding freeze and ordered the government to “immediately restore frozen funding.”
U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell handed down the order after the plaintiffs in the case, a coalition of 22 states, said the government had not restored funding in several programs despite his Jan. 31 order temporarily halting the wide-ranging Office of Management and Budget directive that had caused chaos and confusion across the country.
“The States have presented evidence in this motion that the Defendants in some cases have continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds,” McConnell wrote, even though his order lifting the freeze had been “clear and unambiguous.”
Trump administration asks FBI for list of probationary employees
FBI field offices and headquarters have been asked to provide a list of their probationary employees and justifications for keeping them, multiple sources told NBC News.
Getting rid of probationary employees would be a tremendous blow to the bureau, which laid out a lot of money to train agents who went through Quantico. It would also affect a wide array of nonagents, including intelligence analysts, which could have yearslong consequences, especially given that the bureau has long struggled to recruit employees with technological skills.
Trump said Friday that he plans to fire some of the FBI personnel involved in Jan. 6 cases. No evidence of misconduct by any of those agents has surfaced, and the majority of the cases resulted in convictions before Trump pardoned the rioters.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins condemns NIH research cuts as 'poorly conceived'
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, sharply criticized the Trump administration's cuts to indirect funding for medical and public health research, calling the idea "poorly conceived" in a statement.
The cuts, which impose an arbitrary cap on the indirect costs included in NIH grants, "would be devastating, stopping vital biomedical research and leading to the loss of jobs," Collins said.
Collins said she has contacted Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose nomination for health and human services secretary is pending before the Senate, to express her "strong opposition to these arbitrary cuts in funding for vital research at our Maine institutions, which are known for their excellence."
"He has promised that as soon as he is confirmed, he will re-examine this initiative that was implemented prior to his confirmation," Collins said.
Collins, who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, noted that the committee's 2024 spending legislation bars the use of funds to modify the indirect NIH costs being targeted by the administration.
Collins' statement comes after an Al.com report this morning that said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., also raised a warning flag about the move, saying the cuts could have an adverse impact on "life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions like those in Alabama.”
Schumer outlines how Democrats plan to fight Trump's agenda
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, detailed how his caucus will respond to the Trump administration’s executive actions "across multiple fronts."
“Senate Democrats have a responsibility to fight back on behalf of American families as Republicans look the other way in obedience to Donald Trump. And we are,” Schumer said in a letter to Senate Democrats this morning. He cited Trump's efforts to cut the federal workforce, revoke birthright citizenship, fire inspectors general and target consumer protection agencies as some of the areas of concern.
Schumer relayed a plan that hinges on four areas: increasing oversight aimed at protecting federal workers, supporting litigation that challenges Trump’s agenda, using the government funding fight as leverage, and encouraging grassroots mobilization.
Schumer noted the Senate Democrats' launch of a whistleblower portal for federal employees and said they are making oversight inquiries. The caucus plans to hold what Schumer called independent “spotlight” hearings to probe the legality and implications of Trump's orders. Because they are in the minority, Senate Democrats can't call hearings themselves and will have to hold such hearings outside the scope of actual committees.
As lawsuits from state attorneys general and advocacy groups that seek to stop Trump’s executive actions continue to mount, Schumer said Democrats in the upper chamber are “working overtime” to support the legal challenges.
“We must not relent. Our committees and my office are in regular communication with litigants across the country, including plaintiffs, and are actively exploring opportunities for the Democratic Caucus to file amici curiae that support their lawsuits,” Schumer said.
Democrats will also use the March 14 deadline to fund the government as a point of leverage, Schumer said. He added that a coordinated effort to widely communicate the impact of the Trump administration’s actions and encourage grassroots mobilization is another way Senate Democrats can push back.
“These mobilization efforts are having real effect — look no further than the OMB freeze that was rescinded after the public outcry,” Schumer said. “But we must not rest.”
Trump administration sued by 22 states over funding cuts to research projects
Twenty-two state attorneys general filed a lawsuit today against the Trump administration’s decision to slash research funding by limiting how it pays out universities and research institutes for “indirect costs.”
The lawsuit, which lists both the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services as plaintiffs, said the effect of the indirect rate changes announced Friday would be “immediate and devastating.”
The NIH announced the cuts Friday as the Trump administration tries to shrink the size of government and cut federal spending, stating that the amount of indirect funding allowed for research projects would be capped at just 15%, cutting it by a little more than half from the average percentage for such funds.
The lawsuit, filed at the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts this morning, argues that the cuts violate the Administrative Procedure Act, which it said prohibits the NIH from making large-scale or categorical cuts to its indirect cost reimbursements.
"These reimbursements cover expenses to facilitate biomedical research, like lab, faculty, infrastructure, and utility costs," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said in a release. "Without them, the lifesaving and life-changing medical research in which the United States has long been a leader, could be compromised."
Mayes added that the cuts would "have disastrous and exponential consequences for innovation and progress, curbing our ability to combat disease and protect Americans for generations to come.”
The lawsuit details the kinds of funding cuts each state faces, citing both private and public research offices which will lose funding through the executive order.
"Without relief from NIH’s action, these institutions’ cutting edge work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt," the lawsuit said.
Ohio governor nominates ex-football coach Jim Tressel for lieutenant governor
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has nominated Jim Tressel, a former star college football coach who guided Ohio State University to a national championship, to be his next lieutenant governor.
“I want someone who every single day is working to come up with ideas, and this is a guy with ideas,” DeWine, a Republican, said at a news conference today. “And they’re thoughtful and they’re based on what he has seen and what he has learned.”
Tressel, 72, must first be confirmed by the state Legislature. He would succeed Sen. Jon Husted, whom the governor recently appointed to fill the Senate vacancy left by Vice President JD Vance.
Trump says Palestinians wouldn’t be allowed back into Gaza under his plan
Trump said Palestinians wouldn’t be permitted to return to Gaza as part of his plan for the U.S. to take ownership of the war-torn territory.
In a pre-taped interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, a clip of which was released Monday, Trump was asked about his proposal to “own” and rebuild Gaza, first announced last week during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.
“We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities — could be five, six, could be two, but we’ll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump said in the interview, a portion of which aired before the Super Bowl on Sunday. More clips from the interview will air Monday night.
Trump continued, “In the meantime, I would own this — think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land.”
Asked if Palestinians would have the right to return to the land, Trump said, “No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing, much better.”
How a land law sparked Elon Musk’s accusations of ‘genocide’ against his home country
Trump has signed an executive order cutting U.S. aid to South Africa, following claims he has made about the country discriminating against white farmers.
“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,” the president said in an initial post on his social media platform Truth Social earlier this month. “Massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see.”
The president’s executive order on Friday included an offer to resettle white South Africans whom he called “victims of unjust racial discrimination.” A White House summary of the order said that “as long as South Africa ... allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers, the United States will stop aid and assistance to the country.”
How courts determine when the executive branch exceeds its powers
NBC News’ Danny Cevallos breaks down the pending court cases against the Trump administration and NBC News’ Kelly O’Donnell reports on the expected tariffs and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shutdown in the upcoming week.
N.H. judge joins other judges in temporarily blocking the birthright citizenship order
A New Hampshire judge has issued an immediate injunction pausing Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship.
Other judges have also issued temporary restraining orders on the executive order nationwide, saying it is unconstitutional.
District Judge Joseph N. Laplante said he would issue a longer preliminary injunction later explaining his reasoning, The Associated Press reported.
Asylum-seeker taken into custody during Denver ICE raid
Luis Fernando says his brother was taken into custody by ICE agents and is being held despite showing them court paperwork showing he is an asylum-seeker. KUSA’s Angeline McCall reports.
Democrats blast House Republicans for staying mum on egg prices
House Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with House Democratic leadership, today accused House Republicans of spending years “squawking about egg prices under the Biden-Harris administration.”
“But now that the price of eggs is soaring to new highs under the Trump Administration, they haven’t made a peep,” said their release, which was shared first with NBC News.
During the 2022 and 2024 election cycles, Republicans often cited rising egg prices as a key metric they were looking at while explaining their plans to lower inflation.
In 2022, Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., wrote in a post on X that egg prices had gone up almost 50% between the previous Christmas and that year, adding, “I am committed to fighting inflation.”
In 2024, Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., blamed “the Biden-Harris economy” for rising egg, bread and cereal prices, writing in a post on X, “Kamala Harris represents a more extreme version of the economic agenda that’s crushed taxpayers in #VA02... enough is enough!!”
The Agriculture Department predicts that egg prices could rise another 45% this year.
“House Republicans have egg on their faces,” House Majority PAC national press secretary Katarina Flicker said in a statement.
Trump announces he's dismissing members of boards of visitors for U.S. military academies
Trump said in a post on Truth Social this morning that he's dismissing members of the boards of visitors for U.S. military academies.
"Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years," Trump wrote, without elaborating.
"I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard," he said. "We will have the strongest Military in History, and that begins by appointing new individuals to these Boards. We must make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN!"
Trump didn't provide additional details or specific reasons for the dismissals.
The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
It’s unclear if Trump has the power to dismiss all the members of the boards, who are appointed not just by him, but also by the vice president, speaker of the House and congressional committees.
The board for the Air Force Academy, for example, has six members appointed by the president, three by the vice president, four by the House speaker and then lawmakers designated by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House Armed Services Committee. That board includes the ranking members on those committees, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Adam Smith, D-Wash.
The board of visitors at West Point includes several presidential appointees including former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a Republican, who led the Pentagon under President Barack Obama. He has made critical comments about Trump in the past, including that he's an "embarrassment."
The Naval Academy's board of visitors includes retired Lt. Col. Amy McGrath, a Democrat who has run for Congress, as well as John S. McCain IV, a son of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
The boards consider issues including the morale, curriculum, discipline and physical equipment at each academy.
Trump's chief economist calls for lowering aggregate demand, increasing labor supply to address inflation
Trump could seek to address persistently rising costs in the economy by reducing overall demand and increasing the labor supply, his chief economist said this morning.
In an appearance on CNBC, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Trump would try to increase the supply of workers in the labor force by lowering businesses' taxes to make it easier for them to hire.
"He wants inflation under control," Hassett said. "To do that, you have to increase supply and reduce aggregate demand. So you got to cut spending and you got to increase supply."
Hassett continued: "The way you increase supply is you lower the marginal tax rate on labor, and you lower the marginal tax rate on new investments. And so for labor, if you look at the people who aren’t working who really want to be, it’s people who have really ridiculously high Social Security tax rates. If we’ve got somebody who can work more overtime, that’s increased labor supply, that helps them make a higher income, and it helps reduce inflation, because we have more supply."
The idea of addressing inflation by reducing consumer demand — and possibly sparking a recession, or at least increasing unemployment and lowering relative wages and purchasing power — had been a politically toxic red line for the Biden administration. But Trump may feel emboldened enough by GOP control in Washington that he can push through such a proposal.
It's also not clear how many more marginal workers can brought in from the sidelines given an aging population and the current push for automation among many firms. And Trump — as well as Biden before him — has been working to reduce the labor supply by shoring up immigration.
Australia says its steel and aluminum exports create U.S. jobs
SYDNEY — Australia’s trade minister said its steel and aluminum exports to the U.S. create “good paying American jobs” and are key to shared defense interests, as Canberra presses Washington for an exemption to Trump’s planned tariffs.
Trump said yesterday that he would introduce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., on top of existing metals duties, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.
Trade Minister Don Farrell said today that Australia, a key U.S. security ally in the Indo-Pacific, was making the case for “free and fair trade, including access into the U.S. market for Australian steel and aluminum” in meetings with the Trump administration.
“Australian steel and aluminum is creating thousands of good paying American jobs, and are key for our shared defense interests,” he said in a statement.
Federal judge in Boston to hold hearing over DOGE buyouts
A federal judge in Boston will hold a hearing on Elon Musk’s DOGE’s “Fork directive” today, which offers buyouts for federal workers.
The buyout’s deadline was originally last Thursday, but the judge stayed the deadline until today. Several labor unions are challenging the buyout program’s legality.
At least 65,000 federal workers have agreed to take buyouts so far, out of a workforce of over 2 million people. The Trump administration hopes to get 10% of the workforce to take buyouts.
Five former Treasury secretaries sound alarm on DOGE in NYT op-ed
Five former Democratic Treasury secretaries have published an op-ed in The New York Times warning Elon Musk's DOGE effort poses a threat to democracy.
Robert E. Rubin, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew and Janet L. Yellen say DOGE may violate the Constitution if it attempts to halt payments previously appropriated by Congress.
"We take the extraordinary step of writing this piece because we are alarmed about the risks of arbitrary and capricious political control of federal payments, which would be unlawful and corrosive to our democracy," they say.
They cite an opinion written by Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that said, “Even the president does not have unilateral authority to refuse to spend the funds,” and by Chief Justice John Roberts, who said, “no area seems more clearly the province of Congress than the power of the purse.”
“The role of the Treasury Department — and of the executive branch more broadly — is not to make determinations about which promises of federal funding made by Congress it will keep, and which it will not,” they write.
Musk responded to an X post from Summers linking to the op-ed:
"Listen Larry, we need to stop government spending like a drunken sailor on fraud & waste or America is gonna go bankrupt. That does mean a lot of grifters will lose their grift and complain loudly about it. Too bad. Deal with it."
Trump says he has directed U.S. Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing rising cost
Trump says he has directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post last night on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
The move by Trump is the latest in what has been a rapid-fire effort by his new administration to enact sweeping change through executive order and proclamation on issues ranging from immigration, to gender and diversity, to the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
Legal experts warn of ‘constitutional crisis’ as JD Vance and Elon Musk question judges’ authority over Trump
Legal and constitutional experts warned yesterday that the United States could be headed toward a “constitutional crisis” or a “breakdown of the system” after Vice President JD Vance suggested judges don’t have jurisdiction over President Donald Trump’s “legitimate power.”
“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal,” Vance wrote on X, adding, “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
It wasn’t clear what judge or court order Vance was referring to or whether he was making a broad statement. Several of Trump’s sweeping agenda items have met legal roadblocks since he took office.
Senate Democrats launch portal for federal worker whistleblowers for oversight effort of Trump
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and another top Senate Democrat have launched an online portal for whistleblowers to submit complaints in an effort to oversee the Trump administration.
Schumer and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, sent an open public letter to federal workers and public servants encouraging them to report “wrongdoing, abuses of power, and threats to public safety.”
"As Senate Republicans refuse to fulfill their constitutional duty to provide a check on the Executive Branch, Senate Democrats remain steadfast in our commitment to uncovering the truth," their open letter says. "We are prepared to issue demand letters, preserve public records, conduct public hearings, and pursue legal action where necessary. If you would like to submit a whistleblower complaint."
The letter notes that the Whistleblower Protection Act prohibits retaliation against federal employees who disclose evidence of wrongdoing.
Trump administration asks federal court to lift order restricting political appointees' access to Treasury databases
The Trump administration asked a federal court in New York last night to lift an order that restricts political appointees' access to Treasury Department payment databases.
"Limiting access by Treasury’s senior leadership, as just described, is overbroad and unnecessary to maintain the status quo," lawyers at the Justice Department wrote in a memo filed in court.
They continued, "Nonetheless, it is important that high-level political appointees, such as the Secretary, his Chief of Staff, the Deputy Secretary, and the Undersecretaries, can receive data from such systems to the extent necessary for the performance of their job duties."
The lawyers wrote that banning political appointees from staying informed about issues within their jurisdiction would "significantly interfere with these officials’ ability to conduct their duties as they pertain to emergent issues related to Treasury’s payment systems."
The court on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order to limit access to a number of Treasury systems to civil servants and not political appointees, which would include Elon Musk and members of his Department of Government Efficiency team, which is targeting numerous government departments and agencies for cuts.
Union sues Russell Vought over DOGE access to CFPB and attempts to shutter bureau
A union filed two lawsuits against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s acting director, Russell Vought, yesterday after Vought issued a series of directives halting much of the bureau’s activity.
The filings cap a tumultuous weekend for the CFPB as bureau functions were ordered paused and employees were told that the headquarters building in Washington will be closed this week, according to an email NBC News obtained from two current employees.
One lawsuit urged a judge to block the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing employee information, while the other asked a judge to block Vought’s directives. Vought had instructed employees in an email Saturday to “cease all supervision and examination activity,” “cease all stakeholder engagement” and pause all pending investigations, among other orders.
China's tariffs on U.S. goods go into effect
Reporting from Hong Kong
Retaliatory Chinese tariffs on some U.S. products take effect today, raising concern about a trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
The tariffs affect $14 billion worth of U.S. goods, including a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas, and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural equipment and some vehicles. They were announced last week minutes after a 10% U.S. tariff on all Chinese goods imports went into effect in what Trump called an “opening salvo” against what he says are Beijing's unfair trade practices.
The fact that the Chinese tariffs targeted only some U.S. products had raised hopes that the two countries could reach a deal similar to those the U.S. struck with Canada and Mexico before pausing 25% tariffs on goods from the two U.S. allies. But no agreement appears to have been reached before the Chinese tariffs went into effect at 12:01 a.m. today Beijing time (11:01 a.m. yesterday ET).
Trump announces blanket tariffs on steel and aluminum, reciprocal tariffs on other countries
Trump said yesterday that he will announce reciprocal tariffs this week, as well as a 25% blanket tariff on steel and aluminum imports.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, adding that the same tariff would be applied to aluminum.
“Aluminum, too,” Trump added, when a reporter asked him whether it would also be subject to tariffs.
Trump said he would most likely make a formal announcement tomorrow or Wednesday about reciprocal tariffs on “every country,” while an announcement about steel tariffs would happen today. Reciprocal tariffs would go into effect “almost immediately,” he said.
Hegseth heads to Europe
Pete Hegseth is traveling abroad for the first time as defense secretary, making his way to Europe.
Hegseth will begin a five-day trip during which he will participate in a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Belgium, visit troops in Germany and hold meetings with senior leaders in Poland.
His trip comes during tension between the United States and NATO as Trump demands that allies to pay more toward defense.