Live updates: Trump signs executive order targeting transgender athletes; president’s remarks on Gaza cause backlash

A bipartisan group of five former USAID administrators condemned the Trump administration's move to dismantle the foreign assistance agency, saying in a joint statement that it was to "the detriment of all Americans."

The statement — signed by J. Brian Atwood, Peter McPherson, Andrew Natsios, Gayle Smith and Samantha Power, who most recently led the agency after Biden nominated her — calls for congressional action to protect the agency.

"While we don’t agree on all issues, we wholeheartedly agree that USAID and America’s foreign assistance programs are vital to our interests, that the career men and women of USAID have served each of us well, and that it is the duty of the Administration and congress to swiftly protect the Agency’s statutory role," they wrote.

"Failure to maintain the global engagement that foreign aid enables, to honor the men and women of our civilian service as we do those in the military, or weaken and even destroy the Agency is to the benefit of neither political party and the detriment of all Americans," they added.

The Trump administration evicted former coast Guard commandant Linda Fagan from her home with three hours of notice yesterday — not even enough time to gather her personal effects — according to two people familiar with the incident.

Fagan, a four-star admiral and the first woman to lead a branch of the military, was removed from her post as the coast Guard’s top officer on Trump’s second day in office. Officials at the Homeland Security Department — which oversees the coast Guard — cited border security issues and an “excessive focus” on diversity, equity and inclusion among the reasons for her dismissal.

Fagan made a convenient target for a new president who wanted to flex his muscle. The process for firing her was less complex than for dismissing chiefs of the four main branches of the military. More than that, the move allowed him to send signals about his anti-DEI agenda and desire to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and goods into the United States.

Read the full story here.

Former USAID speechwriter Kristina Drye, who said she found out that she had been terminated this morning, told NBc News' Hallie Jackson that there's a "sense of despair" within the humanitarian agency as it is being targeted by the Trump administration.

She said that because the USAID website has gone dark, she doesn’t have access to writing samples or awards she’d include in a job application.

Hundreds of agency contractors have already been fired or furloughed as the agency’s operations are grinding to a halt.

More than 40,000 government employees have accepted the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, and the number is growing, a source familiar with the plans told NBc News.

The person said the Office of Personnel Management doesn’t plan to release deferred resignation numbers until after tomorrow's 11:59 p.m. ET deadline for workers to take the offer.

A White House official confirmed the figure.

The beginning of Trump’s second term has been marked by a flurry of executive orders aimed at fundamentally reshaping the government, America’s place on the global stage and the day-to-day lives of people in the country.

Trump had signed more than 50 executive orders as of yesterday morning, the most in a president’s first 100 days in more than 40 years.

The orders, which Trump critics say greatly exceed his constitutional authority, range from tariffs on Mexico, china and canada to pauses on foreign aid and crackdowns on illegal immigration to bans on transgender people serving in the military and the use of federal funds for gender-affirming medical care for minors.

See a table with the full list of Trump's executive orders.

Staffers with Musk's advisory Department of Government Efficiency whose work involves the Treasury Department are not sharing Americans’ personal information with him, a Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge at a court hearing today.

“The allegation that that information is being shared with third parties outside of Treasury is incorrect,” Justice Department lawyer Bradley Humphreys said.

The hearing centers on a case filed this week by a collection of retirees and government workers who are asking a judge to block DOGE staffers from accessing Treasury systems that house the sensitive personal information of millions of Americans.

Trump hasn’t been attending the swearing-in ceremonies for his cabinet officials in the last two weeks, having Vice President JD Vance and others take part in the ceremonial moments — until today, when Attorney General Pam Bondi took her oath of office.

It was a notable shift as he welcomed Bondi — a Florida Republican and former member of Trump’s personal legal team — whose confirmation process revolved mostly around whether she would make decisions independently from the White House.

It’s not the first time those questions have come up when a president tapped a personal lawyer or ally to the Justice Department.

Read the full story here.

U.S. Agency for International Development employees and contractors are discussing potential lawsuits targeting the unprecedented attack on the federal agency by Trump’s administration, according to four sources familiar with the talks.

Lawsuits based on loss of income could be used to bring up weighty constitutional claims over presidential power in the face of congressional legislation that set up and funds the agency and its programs.

They would be the latest in a stream of lawsuits against Trump’s aggressive and unprecedented use of executive action, with more expected to follow as he seeks to unilaterally reshape the federal government without the approval of congress amid claims he lacks the legal authority to do so.

Read the full story here.

Senate Democrats said they will hold the Senate floor all night in an attempt to delay a confirmation vote for Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author who is Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

They could end up giving floor speeches for all 30 hours of the allotted debate period before a final vote.

Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, said in a video on X this afternoon: “I’m on my way to the Senate floor. We’re going to have more than 35 United States senators on the Democratic side opposing Russ Vought’s nomination.”

“We’re going to take the floor for 30 hours,” he added.

Leaders of the pro-Palestinian movement that rallied opposition to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2024 election are standing by their strategy amid new criticism that they weakened the Democratic ticket after Trump said he wants to “take over” the Gaza Strip.

Trump’s remarks, which shocked prominent officials in Washington, sparked a new round of recriminations among Democrats over advocacy groups' pressure campaign against Biden and Harris in the presidential contest over the Israel-Hamas war, even though Trump’s record on the Middle East had been more hostile to the Palestinian cause.

Layla Elabed, a co-chair of the “uncommitted” movement — which declined to endorse Harris, Trump or any candidate in the election — said she felt “sad, angry and scared for our communities” after Trump’s remarks yesterday, when he also said Palestinians have “no alternative” but to live elsewhere.

But she maintained that both sides were to blame.

Read the full story here.

Guatemala has agreed to accept immigrants deported from the United States who are not actually from Guatemala, U.S. and Guatemalan leaders announced today.

At a news conference with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo announced that Guatemala has offered to increase the number of deportation flights from the United States it allows and receive non-Guatemalans as they make their way back to their home countries. 

“At this point, we have agreed to increase the number of flights of deportees by 40% both of returned nationals, as well as deportees from other nationalities for their subsequent repatriation,” Arévalo said, adding that the two countries are still “working on the details” of the offer.

At an event in the East Room this afternoon, Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

After a closed-door meeting with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Republican senators seemed eager to get clarity about what Trump meant and voiced their opposition to having any U.S. troops on the ground and spending taxpayer dollars in Gaza. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South carolina said Trump’s plan for the United States to take ownership of Gaza “will be very problematic,” adding that “the idea of Americans going in on the ground and Gaza is a nonstarter for every senator.”

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told reporters, “I’m very opposed to any U.S. troops on the ground there. And I don’t want to spend taxpayer dollars in Gaza.”  

Sen. Ted cruz of Texas said that senators had a "robust discussion" with Witkoff but that "the precise details of the proposal are not clear."

Senate Budget committee chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.c., said that Senate Republicans will proceed with their own reconciliation bill going down the multiple-track approach instead of the one-bill strategy and that the committee plans to start the process “as early as next week.”

Speaking with reporters after the Senate GOP lunch today, Graham said the bill, focused on border and defense spending, will be “about $300 billion” and will need to go through a committee process to examine how to offset the spending with various cuts and reforms.

Graham said that he had spoken with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and that they are both "of the opinion that it’s time for the Senate to move."

Graham said it was "very important" that congress supply "border czar" Tom Homan the funding needed "to complete the plan that President Trump promised."

Trump said his administration would block transgender women athletes from competing in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and “deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes.”

"In Los Angeles in 2028, my administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes, and we’re just not going to let it happen, and it’s going to end, and it’s ending right now, and nobody’s going to be able to do a damn thing about it," he said.

The president said his administration will "make clear" to the International Olympic committee "that America categorically rejects transgender lunacy."

"We want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject," Trump said.

The International Olympic committee and the Los Angeles Organizing committee for the 2028 Games did not provide comments to NBc News.

Sen. Mitch Mcconnell, R-Ky., is “fine,” his office said after he was seen using a wheelchair following a fall at the capitol.

“Sen. Mcconnell is fine. The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular schedule of work,” a spokesperson said. Mcconnell, 82, had polio as a child.

The spokesperson added that Mcconnell is using a wheelchair “purely as a precautionary measure.”

Reporters witnessed Mcconnell falling down while he was walking down a small set of stairs leaving the Senate chamber on his way to a Republican caucus lunch.

Read the full story here.

A representative of the Department of Government Efficiency project, or DOGE, has been tapped to monitor “efficiency” at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a VA spokesperson confirmed today.

The VA said it has one DOGE employee who is “solely focused on improving VA performance and efficiency.” 

That employee’s tasks include “identifying wasteful contracts, improving VA operations and strengthening management of the department’s IT projects,” the VA spokesperson said. 

The DOGE employee will not have access to veterans’ or VA beneficiaries’ data, the spokesperson added.

Trump’s unprecedented announcement that he was planning to seize control of the Gaza Strip and oust 2.2 million Palestinians, temporarily at least, has provoked shock and disbelief around the world, with some officials and analysts saying it would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

Many wonder whether it’s even possible practically, suggesting instead it might be more a diplomatic gambit or a distraction technique than an actual policy plan.

Regardless of its intention or viability, the alleged plan to transform the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave on Israel’s western flank into the “Riviera of the Middle East” has been condemned outside of far-right circles in Israel and the United States.

“This is the most foolish idea any American president has put forth in the modern history of the United States,” said Fawaz Gerges, a veteran Middle East expert and professor at the London School of Economics. “It is beyond any kind of rational thinking, any kind of policy feasibility.”

Read the full story here.

Asked whether Trump’s plan for Gaza is consistent with his promise to reduce U.S. involvement in conflicts abroad, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump expects America’s Arab partners to play an essential role in the effort and insisted no commitment had been made to put U.S. troops on the ground.

“This is an out-of-the-box idea. That’s who President Trump is. That’s why the American people elected him, and his goal is lasting peace in the Middle East for all people in the region,” Leavitt told reporters at a briefing at the White House today. She said that Trump has been advised that the United States must be closely involved in any rebuilding of the area “to ensure stability” but that “that does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza.” 

“It does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort,” she continued. “It means Donald Trump, who is the best dealmaker on the planet, is going to strike a deal with our partners in the region.”

The central Intelligence Agency has sent a list of all recently hired employees in an unclassified email to comply with the president’s executive order to reduce the federal workforce, a U.S. official told NBc News.

The move alarmed former intelligence officials and security experts, who said such a list sent over unclassified email could be exploited by America’s adversaries with disastrous results.

“Any foreign intelligence service worth its weight could apply research and analytic tools to marry up these names and initials with other public records to identify and target many of them,” a former senior intelligence official said.

The New York Times first reported on the list being sent to the White House in an unclassified email.

The list used the first names and first initial of last names of those hired in the past two years, the official said. The names are of employees who are still on probation. The spy agency’s probationary periods can extend for years. 

Under Trump’s executive order on shrinking the federal workforce, the spy agency had to meet a deadline to provide the list to the Office of Personnel Management. But the office does not have a classified communications network, so the cIA sent an unclassified email with only the initials of the last names of the new employees.

The number of names on the list remains secret. The cIA in recent years has been pushing to recruit employees with chinese language skills.

Asked about the unclassified email, a cIA spokesperson told NBc News that the “cIA is complying with the executive order.”

The Trump administration has extended so-called buyout offers to employees of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a spokesperson for the agency told NBc News.

The deferred resignation offer, claiming to provide eight months of pay and benefits, is expected to be presented to the workforce at all U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. 

The cIA has made a similar offer to its workforce, NBc News reported yesterday. That spy agency’s new director, John Ratcliffe, made the move “to ensure the cIA workforce is responsive to the Administration’s national security priorities,” a cIA spokesperson said in an email. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Guatemala city today that Trump made a "very generous" offer in his proposal to rebuild the Gaza Strip.

"I think it’s one people need to think about seriously. It was not meant as a hostile move," Rubio said. "It was meant as, I think, a very generous move, the offer to rebuild and to be in charge of the rebuilding of a place many parts of which, right now, even if people move back, they would have nowhere to live safely, because there are still unexploded munitions and debris and rubble."

"It’s an enormous, an enormous undertaking," Rubio also said. "And the only thing President Trump has done, very generously, in my view, is offer the United States' willingness to step in, clear the debris, clean the place up from all the destruction that’s on the ground, clean it up of all these unexploded munitions."

In a 53-47 party-line vote, the Senate voted to begin the 30-hour debate clock on the confirmation of Russell Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, to lead the Office of Management and Budget. 

Vought, who served as both deputy director and director of the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term, has faced scrutiny for his role in designing Project 2025. Vought authored a chapter of the ultra-conservative blueprint for a second Trump presidency that argued “the President’s budget is in fact a powerful mechanism for setting and enforcing public policy at federal agencies.”

Vought has also drummed up congressional concern over his belief that the president is not legally required to spend federal dollars as appropriated by congress, a stance that violates the 1974 Impoundment control Act. Under the act, the president can’t refuse to spend the money that has been appropriated by congress and signed into law and the OMB cannot legally withhold appropriated money at the direction of the president.

During his confirmation hearing last week, Vought faced intense scrutiny over his interpretation of the law, which was at the center of Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2019. Vought said he does not believe the law is constitutional when pressed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-conn. 

Trump and his supporters have heralded his use of tariff threats to extract concessions on drug trafficking and border security from canada and Mexico. 

Yet, experts say, some of the measures agreed to by America’s two largest trading partners and close allies are less substantial than what has been trumpeted. 

Read the full story.

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has disbanded cultural clubs in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order last week to abolish programs and initiatives that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion across the Defense Department and the coast Guard. 

A memo dated Tuesday by col. chad R. Foster, the deputy commandant of West Point, said the academy was issuing changes “in accordance with recent Presidential executive orders.”

The memo listed sanctioned clubs that were disbanded including the Asian-Pacific Forum club, Japanese Forum club, Latin cultural club, National Society of Black Engineers cub, Native American Heritage Forum, and Society of Women Engineers club, among others. 

Read the full story.

Trump is expected to sign today an executive order prohibiting transgender women from competing in women’s sports. The measure, according to the White House press schedule, is called the “No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order.”

The timing does not appear to be coincidental: Wednesday is the 39th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, which was started in 1987 as a way to celebrate female athletes and inspire girls to participate in sports. 

The issue of transgender women participating in women’s sports was a consistent and divisive topic leading up to the November elections. On the campaign trail — and even after he won the election — Trump referred to trans women as men and pledged to “keep men out of women’s sports.” 

Read the full story.

Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, the former chair of the House Intelligence committee, told MSNBc’s Andrea Mitchell he expects “very little support in congress" for Trump’s proposal to move Gaza under American control, noting “there would be great concerns.”

Turner described the idea as the product of “the president, in his style and his way of causing leaders around the world to shift the focus of the world, to turn to, ‘OK, so what, what is going to be the solution for Gaza?’”

Turner said congress is prioritizing “long-term security and safety for Israel,” saying the only path to sovereignty and autonomy for both Israel and Palestine is that they “be free from the satellite or terrorist groups and organizations of Iran.”

Asked for his thoughts on a recent New York Times report that Iran is developing plans for a faster way to develop a nuclear weapon, Turner said he “absolutely” believes Iran is working to build a rough style of bomb and bolster its nuclear capabilities.

In a memo to the FBI workforce today, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said he's not seeking to penalize every agent who worked on Jan. 6-related investigations.

"Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties," Bove, Trump's former personal lawyer, wrote in the memo. 

"The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI," he wrote. 

The earlier memo he referred to called for the acting FBI director to provide him with lists of a “[A]ll current and former FBI personnel assigned at any time to investigations and/or prosecutions" relating to "events that occurred at or near the United States capitol on January 6, 2021" — a list that would include thousands of agents.

The Senate has voted 55-44 to confirm Scott Turner to be the next Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary. Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., joined all 53 Republicans in supporting the nomination.

Dozens of Head Start programs, which provide childcare and preschool education to low-income children, have been unable to access previously approved federal funding, putting some programs at risk of having to close their doors in the coming days, according to a survey by the National Head Start Association. 

The programs say they haven’t been able to draw down the funds to pay for expenses, like payroll and utilities, since a federal funding freeze was announced in the second week of the Trump administration. The freeze started last week with an Office of Management and Budget memo, which was then quickly rescinded. 

Read the full story.

Protesters are gathered outside the capitol today to express their opposition to Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development.

House Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar, of california, said at his weekly news conference that Democratic members will refuse to support funding for Trump's initiatives if the administration doesn't present clear implementation plans.

"We will try to find common ground where it is possible," Aguilar said, without pointing to specific proposals. "But what we will not do is engage in an effort that gives Donald Trump money to direct our federal government that he has no plan to utilize or implement."

"If we're going to pass a law, we need to know that the law is followed," he added. "And it doesn’t appear that House Republicans are in a position to push back against Donald Trump to protect vital funding that supports our communities."

Aguilar also said Trump’s Gaza proposal would “make our country less safe” and specified that any involvement of troops would “make Americans a target.” He added that the plan was not “thoughtful” and joked that it could include “hotels and resorts and casinos.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., said he's "intrigued" by Trump's plan to claim and rebuild Gaza and "open to the possibility" of congress providing the use of military force for the effort.

Asked by NBc News if taking and owning sovereign land is feasible, Johnson said, "I don’t know how this could possibly turn out, but let’s explore the possibility."

As for providing the use of military force, Johnson said he was "open" to it.

During a House Oversight committee hearing this morning, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.c., used a transgender slur while slamming USAID, the international humanitarian aid arm of the federal government, for a program that provides support to transgender people and the agency's DEI initiatives. 

When Mace concluded her remarks, the committee's ranking member Rep. Gerry connolly, D-Va., voiced his concern over her use of the word, which he said “is considered a slur in the LGBTQ community and the transgender community.”

Before connolly was able to finish his remarks, Mace interjected again with the slur, saying “t---, t---, t---. I don’t really care. You want penises in women’s bathrooms, and I’m not going to have it.”

In a narrow vote, Democrats on the House Oversight committee failed in a bid to subpoena Elon Musk to testify before the committee.

Rep. Gerry connolly of Virginia, the top Democrat on the panel, called Musk's role in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency "puzzling" and said he should testify before the committee.

"Who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement, and have sweeping changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight or concurrence?" connolly said at a hearing titled "Rightsizing Government."

Ohio's state treasurer, Robert Sprague, a Republican who had been preparing to announce a bid for governor, said today he has changed his plans — and urged his supporters to back Vivek Ramaswamy instead.

"Should he enter the race for governor, I'm going to support Vivek in his run for governor because I support his intellect, his drive, the outsider mentality that he has in trying to reform our state and move us forward and charting a new direction for all of us," Sprague said in a video posted to X this morning.

A source close to Sprague told NBc News that the term-limited treasurer will announce a run for Ohio secretary of state this afternoon.

Trump joined Pam Bondi in the Oval Office as she was sworn in as attorney general by Supreme court Justice clarence Thomas.

An enhanced enforcement operation targeting undocumented immigrants is underway in the Denver area right now, and Immigration and customs Enforcement official confirmed to NBc News.

This is not standard activity, the official said, but instead is similar to the large-scale arrests we saw last week in chicago and New York.

A planned roundup in Aurora, colorado — a city that became a focus on Trump's immigration rhetoric during his campaign — was postponed last week following media leaks.

The Drug Enforcement Administration posted a video on social media of federal agents serving a search warrant this morning.

A federal judge in Maryland has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s executive order seeking to limit birthright citizenship.  

“The executive order conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment, contradicts 125-year-old binding Supreme court precedent and runs counter to our nation’s 250-year history of citizenship by birth,” U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman said. “No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation. This court will not be the first.” 

The judge issued her ruling from the bench after an hourlong hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, this morning. This case was brought by an immigrant rights organization and five undocumented pregnant women who currently live in the United States and plan on giving birth here.

“citizenship is a most precious right, expressly guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the constitution,” Boardman said. “It is said that the right to U.S. citizenship is a right no less precious than life or liberty.” 

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Trump's proposal to move Gaza under United States control is "unrealistic," and "basically impossible," during an interview on MSNBc this morning.

Schultz said the president's proposal, which includes asking countries in the Middle East to provide refuge to Palestinians who would be displaced, would only make Israelis "less safe."

"We don’t need to inflame another generation of terrorists hell-bent on Israel’s and Jews' destruction," Schultz said.

"You do not have countries in the region who are willing to take some Palestinians, and we have to make sure that we work together to establish an orderly process of rebuilding Gaza so that we can ensure that Israel and Israelis are more safe, not less safe.”

An old cIA guide on how to sabotage fascism has been downloaded more than 260,000 times on Project Gutenberg, a virtual library of free ebooks, within the last 30 days.

“Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” written in 1944 and declassified in 2008, is now the No. 1 most downloaded ebook on the site.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, announced this morning that he will bring articles of impeachment against Trump for what the congressman called the president's “dastardly deeds.”

“I rise to announce that I will bring articles of impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done,” Green said on the House floor this morning.

Green, echoing bipartisan pushback to Trump's proposal that the U.S. take control of Gaza, also said “ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not a joke, especially when it emanates from the president of the United States.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development declared almost all direct hires around the world will be placed on administrative leave after the Trump administration made changes to the organization that crippled the group’s mission. Meanwhile, the cIA became the latest agency to offer buyouts to nearly its entire workforce. NBc’s Ryan Nobles reports for "TODAY" on how it’s all a continuation of the government overhaul steered by Elon Musk.

The Senate commerce, Science and Transportation committee voted 16-12 to advance Howard Lutnick's nomination for commerce secretary to the full Senate for a vote.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., joined all Republicans on the committee in reporting out the billionaire financial services executive's nomination.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., weighed in on Trump’s plan on Gaza, saying it’s a “surprising development” but “one that we’ll applaud.”

Asked if he supports Trump’s proposal, Johnson said, "We’re trying to get the details of it, but I think this is a good development.

"We have to back Israel 100%, and so whatever form that takes, we’re interested in having that discussion," Johnson said. "But it was a surprising development, but I think it’s one that we’ll applaud."

Members of congress on both sides of the aisle raised concerns about the proposal after Trump aired the idea, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Lindsey Graham, R-S.c., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Thom Tillis, R-N.c.

A two-state solution is “the only possible option” for Palestinians, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

“The settlement in the Middle East can only be made on a two-state basis,” he told reporters today.

Responding to Trump’s remarks that the U.S. should take control of Gaza, Peskov referred to statements from Jordan and Egypt that “such an idea was not acceptable.”

“For now, that’s how we view what is happening in the Middle East,” he said.

Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz said in an interview this morning that the idea to take control of the Gaza Strip came about because no one else had proposed realistic plans for the future of the area.

Waltz said Trump has been "thinking about this for quite some time" and has received a number of briefings.

"President Trump says, hey, you know he’s a builder. You can’t clear all this rubble, deal with all the underground damage from all the tunnels Hamas has built, start an actual rebuilding process that others should pay for, by the way, in the region underneath 2 million people, so they have to go somewhere," Waltz said in an interview on Fox Business.

"He’s been asking leaders in the region. We’ve talked to the Saudis, we’ve talked to the Egyptians, we’ve talked to the Jordanians. Of course, we have Bibi Netanyahu here. What’s the plan?” he said.

One employee at the centers for Disease control and Prevention said Musk’s effort “feels like a coup to me.” This person expressed anger and dismay that their representatives weren’t doing more to combat it.

“I’m also pretty repulsed by my representatives not standing up to him,” this person said, calling out Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., “I cannot believe that senators aren’t storming offices, using all of the Senate procedural rules they can to hold up things on the floor to insist that these hearings for cabinet members not proceed until we have some sort of clarity from the courts on whether or not what Elon Musk is doing can actually continue to happen.”

“There’s so much outrage in my personal and professional circles that I don’t see reflected in my representatives,” this person added. 

NUUK, Greenland — Greenland’s parliament passed a bill yesterday that bans political parties from receiving contributions “from foreign or anonymous contributors” after Trump expressed his wish that the United States take over the vast and mineral-rich Arctic island that belongs to Denmark.

The bill is aimed at protecting “Greenland’s political integrity” and will take effect immediately, according to a translation of a parliamentary document in Danish outlining the measure.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined the chorus of congressional critics of Trump for saying yesterday that the U.S. would take control of the Gaza Strip.

In a post on X this morning, Paul said the U.S. has "no business" becoming an occupying force once again in the Middle East.

"I thought we voted for America First," Paul wrote.

The Defense Department is developing plans to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria, two U.S. defense officials told NBc News on Tuesday.

Trump and officials close to him recently expressed interest in pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, the officials said, leading the Pentagon to begin drawing up plans for a full withdrawal in 30, 60 or 90 days.

Read the full story.

After  Trump proposed the United States take over the Gaza Strip to turn it into “the riviera” of the region, leaders in the Middle East are reacting with shock. NBc’s Richard Engel reports for "TODAY."

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account this morning that he wants to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, nearly seven years after he withdrew from the landmark agreement reached by the Obama administration that sought to curb Iran's nuclear program.

"I want Iran to be a great and successful country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon," Trump wrote. "Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens,' ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED."

Trump's bromance with Russian President Vladimir Putin has noticeably fizzled in his new term, though he has yet to reveal the extent to which he’ll pressure Russia to end its grinding war with Ukraine.

Since taking office, Trump has dropped talk of Putin’s strategic “genius“ and “savvy.” In a conspicuous rhetorical shift, Trump has instead been warning that the Russian president he once called “very smart“ is leading his country to ruin by prolonging the war.

“He [Putin] should make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on his first day back in the White House. “I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal. I think Russia is going to be in big trouble.”

A federal judge agreed yesterday to temporarily block prison officials from transferring three incarcerated transgender women to men’s facilities and terminating their access to hormone therapy under an executive order signed by Trump.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.c., granted the inmates’ request for a temporary restraining order. He issued a written ruling several hours after a hearing where a plaintiffs’ attorney argued that Trump’s order discriminates against transgender people and violates their constitutional rights.

The judge is presiding over a lawsuit filed on behalf of three transgender women who were housed in women’s facilities before Trump signed the order Jan. 20, his first day back in the White House.

Read the full story here.

Outraged Palestinians condemned Trump‘s claim that the U.S. would seek ownership of the Gaza Strip and they would have no choice but to leave their home in the war-torn enclave. 

In Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, Narmin Nour El Din, 29, told an NBc News crew that all Palestinians would vehemently reject Trump’s suggestions.

“All the Palestinians refuse the idea and we will be insistent on our land,” she said standing outside a tent encampment.

“We ask Trump to leave the people to live in their land and to make the land more beautiful. To help the people here,” she said. “Not to take Gaza from them.”

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As part of the Trump administration’s push to expand U.S. energy production, federal officials will review and consider redrawing the boundaries of national monuments created under previous presidents to protect unique landscapes and cultural resources.

The review — laid out in an order Monday from new Interior Secretary Doug Burgum — is raising alarm among conservation groups concerned that Trump will shrink or eliminate monuments established by his predecessors, including Democrat Joe Biden.

Burgum gave agency officials until Feb. 18 to submit plans on how to comply with his order.

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NBc News’ Kelly O’Donnell reports on the “stunning moment in the East Room” where Trump, joined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggested that the U.S. “will take over the Gaza Strip.”

An Iranian spokesperson said Trump’s claim that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons is “a big lie” that has been “repeatedly proven false and is easily verifiable.”

Speaking to the Islamic Republic News Agency, spokesperson Esmail Bagahei emphasized that Iran is a member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT, an international agreement that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and technology, adding that the country’s nuclear program was also under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Bagahei’s comments came a day after Trump renewed his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran by signing an executive order that cracks down on the country’s nuclear program and limits its oil exports to other nations.

Republican governors and state lawmakers are rushing to explicitly align themselves with or mimic some of the most prominent actions Trump has taken since he was sworn in.

As state legislatures have convened across the country in recent weeks, elected GOP officials have sought to advance bills designed to help facilitate Trump’s mass deportation plans — some of which are named after or specifically reference the president.

And governors and lawmakers in at least 11 states have attempted to create their own version of the Department of Government Efficiency, the outside advisory commission that Trump put tech billionaire Elon Musk in charge of to find ways to cut federal spending. 

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