White House press secretary says Trump will sign Black History Month proclamation
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will sign a proclamation honoring Black History Month.
"It’s in the works of being approved, and it’s going to be ready for the president’s signature to signify the beginning of that tomorrow," she said.
NBC News obtained a memo from the Defense Intelligence Agency that indicated it has ordered a pause of all activities and events related to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month, Juneteenth, LGBTQ Pride Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day and other "special observances" to bring the agency into alignment with Trump's cancellation of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
12 attorneys general call Trump's DEI statements 'misleading' to the American people
A dozen attorneys general from blue states called Trump's recent executive orders seeking to dismantle federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs "unnecessary and disingenuous."
"We strongly oppose the President’s attempts to weaponize decades-old policies, which have been supported by Democratic and Republican administrations alike, to combat historical inequities faced by underrepresented communities and the ongoing, insidious discrimination that still exists in our country," they said in a joint statement.
Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office ending DEI programs at federal agencies, leading to hundreds of thousands of federal workers being put on leave. On Thursday, Trump blamed DEI hires within the Federal Aviation Administration for the fatal plane crash in Washington, D.C.
In their statement, the attorneys general from Connecticut, California, Delaware, Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Washington said the orders "have nothing to do with combatting discrimination."
"The Trump administration has longstanding civil rights laws at its disposal to combat real discrimination, and we would be willing partners if it chose to pursue this path," they said. "Instead, the administration is targeting lawful policies and programs that are beneficial to all Americans."
"Contrary to President Trump's assertions," they said, the DEIA policies Trump has attacked "do not diminish the importance of individual merit, nor do they mean that employers are lowering their standards, hiring unqualified candidates, or engaging in race-and-sex-based preferences."
Defense agency bans Black History Month and other ‘special observances’
The Defense Intelligence Agency has ordered a pause of all activities and events related to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month, Juneteenth, LGBTQ Pride Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day and other “special observances” to comply with Trump’s executive order, according to a memo obtained by NBC News.
It comes as the Trump administration has made it a top priority to go after any programs perceived to be related to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government.
Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, RFK Jr.: Latest confirmation vote count
Lawmakers are weighing the fates of some of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel. With none expected to receive a single Democratic vote, the nominees will need strong support from Republicans, but it remains unclear if all three have cleared that threshold. NBC’s Ryan Nobles reports for "TODAY."
USAID removes pictures of global missions from walls
U.S. Agency for International Development officials have removed artwork on the walls of the agency's offices to ensure the decor aligns with the new administration’s "America First" mission, multiple current and former USAID employees told NBC News.
The removal of the images depicting the agency’s various global missions is reflective of the near total freeze on foreign aid, the placing of dozens of senior civil servants on leave, and the furloughing of hundreds of contractors that carry out the work of the agency, the employees said.
The taking down of artwork is not typical in the change of administrations.
New EPA administrator vows to link 'American innovation' with 'environmental stewardship'
In his first video remarks as EPA administrator, former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., sounded an optimistic note, expressing his dual goals of safeguarding environmental stewardship alongside the pursuit of “exciting” opportunities in American innovation and U.S. energy dominance.
"We must connect the greatness of American innovation with the greatness of conservation and environmental stewardship," Zeldin said in the video posted to X. "We will and we must ensure our nation is energy dominant, whether bringing back American auto jobs, or turning the U.S. into the AI capital of the world."
At the same time, Zeldin vowed that his EPA would "respect the rule of law" and protect human health and the environment, calling it a cause that's personal to him, harking to his early years growing up on the east end of Long Island, "an area almost completely surrounded by water."
“I am committed to this cause. President Trump is committed to this cause," he said. "And I’m confident we will be able to look back on this moment four years from now and feel extraordinarily proud of our effort, our progress, and our achievements."
Trump is reversing the Justice Department’s civil rights policies
Trump kicked off his second presidential term with dozens of executive orders, many of which focus on hot-button culture war issues, from transgender and abortion rights to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The job of enforcing the administration’s position on those issues will largely fall to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
During past handovers between Democratic and Republican administrations, the Civil Rights Division has undergone major policy shifts. During the George W. Bush administration, for example, the division focused resources on fighting religious discrimination. After Barack Obama took office, the division prioritized preventing racial and ethnic discrimination.
The scale of the expected civil rights policy changes between the Biden and Trump administrations may eclipse those of past transitions.
RFK Jr. wants to ‘Make America Healthy Again,' but he harks back to a time that wasn’t the healthiest
During RFK Jr.’s two-day confirmation hearings for health secretary, he repeatedly compared the health of Americans in 2025 to the 1960s, specifically the years during his uncle John F. Kennedy’s presidency, from 1960 to 1963.
“When my uncle was president, 3% of Americans were obese, and today 74% are obese or overweight,” he said in his prepared statement for the Senate committees.
When promoting the theme of “Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy hasn’t explicitly identify when America was at its healthiest.
The 1960s might be a touchstone of American health in Kennedy’s view, but many in the U.S. weren’t at their healthiest during those years. In 1960, heart disease was the leading cause of death for adults, men and women, the same as it is now, but the number of people who died from a heart attack was 1 in 2 in the 1950s.
Now, it’s an estimated 1 in 8.5, according to the American Heart Association. Heart attacks have become less deadly, partly because of prescription medications and surgical procedures such as angioplasty.
In the statement, Kennedy said: “Diabetes is 10 times more prevalent than in 1960.”
According to government research, from 1960–1962 and 1999–2000, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. population increased from 1.8% to 5.8%. In 2023, 11.6% of the U.S. population had a diagnosis of diabetes.
Tobacco use reached its peak in 1964, when more than half of men smoked and most smokers, both men and women, began smoking in their teens, setting a deadly stage for lung diseases and many other types of cancer.
In 1960, the life expectancy for men and women in the U.S. was 69.7 years, according to U.S. Census data. Last year, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that life expectancy at birth was 78.4 years.
Life expectancy increased for most of the last six decades, although those improvements have taken a hit in recent years, mostly due to opioid drug overdoses, Covid and deaths from cardiovascular disease. At the same time, fewer people are dying from chronic lung disease because of a steep drop in smoking since the 1960s.
Kennedy has also criticized the number of vaccines recommended for children now compared to the early 1960s, when children were routinely given vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis vaccine, polio and smallpox. The CDC currently recommends vaccinating children for 14 potentially deadly infectious diseases, including measles, rubella, diphtheria, polio and pneumococcal disease before the age of 2.
Smallpox was declared eradicated around the world in 1980, thanks to vaccination. After the measles vaccine was approved in 1963, the highly contagious and deadly infection was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, until the anti-vaccination movement began to take hold among parents.
Trudeau : 'We won't back down' if Trump implements tariffs
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada has been responding to what Trump is "focused on and what is motivating him to consider applying tariffs as early as tomorrow.”
“Right now, we’re showing the new American administration that they have a strong partner in Canada when it comes to upholding border security, all while simultaneously underscoring that we won’t back down, that if tariffs are implemented against Canada, we will respond. We won’t relent until tariffs are removed and, of course, everything is on the table.”
However, Trudeau warned that Canada “could be facing difficult times in the coming days and weeks” if Trump does follow through with his promise of 25% tariffs.
Trudeau was speaking at the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, a group of Canadian business executives and politicians that he launched to evaluate how to respond to Trump’s tariff threat.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker blocks Jan. 6 rioters from state jobs after Trump pardons
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is blocking those who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol from working in state jobs, ignoring Trump’s attempt to offer them a clean slate last week in a sweeping set of pardons and commutations.
Late Thursday, Pritzker directed the state’s Department of Central Management Services, the state’s primary hiring authority, to restrict hiring those who took part in the attack on the Capitol, saying their “infamous and disgraceful conduct ... is antithetical to the mission of the State.”