Unions file lawsuit over Trump's dismantling of USAID
Two unions representing federal workers filed a lawsuit tonight over the Trump administration's moves to dismantle USAID.
The lawsuit was filed against Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, USAID, the Treasury Department and the State Department.
"Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization. And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency,” said the lawsuit, which was filed by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees.
The 49-page lawsuit asks for “a temporary restraining order directing Defendants to reverse these unlawful actions and to halt any further steps to dissolve the agency until the Court has an opportunity to more fully consider the issues on the merits.”
Senate Republicans confirm Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought as White House budget director
The Senate voted along party lines tonight to confirm Russell Vought as the next head of the Office of Management and Budget despite fierce pushback from Democrats.
Although Democrats have been divided over various Trump nominees, they unified in opposition to Vought.
Democrats see Vought as the embodiment of a Trump agenda that they want to build their opposition message around — from his long-standing ties to Project 2025 to his support for slashing spending programs that benefit the middle class to his election denial.
ACLU says Trump ICC sanctions puts Americans 'at risk' for helping the court
The American Civil Liberties Union said an executive order Trump signed today sanctioning the International Criminal Court could jeopardize the free speech rights of Americans who help the court investigate atrocities anywhere in the world.
“The order also raises serious First Amendment concerns because it puts people in the United States at risk of harsh penalties for helping the court identify and investigate atrocities committed anywhere, by anyone,” the group said in a statement.
The order accused the ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency" when it issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and several Hamas leaders.
Democrats pitch bill to block Elon Musk from accessing Americans' sensitive personal data
Democrats believe they’ve found a political message that is resonating with the public: Elon Musk is illegally accessing the federal data of American taxpayers.
At outdoor rallies and in news conferences inside the Capitol this week, congressional Democrats are sounding the alarm about Musk and his DOGE team’s accessing Treasury Department payment systems that house Americans’ sensitive personal data. This week, DOGE officials also accessed systems and technology at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as Musk’s team seeks to tackle fraud and waste in government.
“Why does Elon Musk and his minions need access to the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates and bank account information of millions of Americans?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., asked at a news conference today. “Why does he need that information? What are they doing with it? And why aren’t House Republicans stopping them?”
Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., said at the news conference: “The actions that Musk and his IT goons have taken — they’re illegal, very clearly illegal, but, so far, unprosecuted actions — have already compromised millions of Americans’ privacy and data security. If we close this barn door today, how much is already burned down? We don’t know the answers to those questions.”
Casten and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a Treasury official during the Obama administration, said they will introduce the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, which would severely restrict who could access the Treasury Department’s payments systems in a bid to protect Americans’ sensitive personal information.
Hours later, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee raised concerns about DOGE’s accessing Social Security and health records at a separate news conference
“What is more important than health records? If an individual goes to a pharmacy, to the CVS or to Walgreens, they’re very guarded about the prescription that they might secure. That is their business,” said Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. “We have no idea now where this data might land.”
Musk today tweeted a video of himself from last fall detailing how he would tackle waste, fraud and abuse in the government.
“We’re going to make the spending lower. ... If we don’t, we’re going to bankrupt the country,” he said in the video from October. “We got to do something. It’s got to be some pretty big moves.”
Last night, the Trump administration agreed to restrict DOGE access to the Treasury payment system as a lawsuit filed by federal employee unions moves through the courts. The deal would allow only two DOGE officials to have “read-only” access to data at Treasury.
Casten said he worries that Musk and DOGE will use Americans’ data to punish Trump’s critics.
“What am I afraid of is that they are going to use data that they are legally not allowed to use to act as a bully. So what does that mean for my home state of Illinois, where our Gov. [JB] Pritzker has been very forceful in calling him out? If they take control of the stop payments, does Illinois all of a sudden not get their Medicaid reimbursement money?” Casten told reporters.
He added: “What might they do to someone who’s on a fixed income but had the strength of their convictions” to criticize Trump?
Netanyahu and Mike Johnson reschedule their meeting for tomorrow
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson tomorrow after Johnson's White House meeting conflicted with today's planned meeting, the speaker's office said.
They will meet at 10 a.m. ET and deliver remarks to reporters afterward, Johnson's office said in a news release.
Johnson, R-La., was unable to meet with Netanyahu because he was still at the White House with congressional Republicans who were working on a budget resolution plan.
Democratic senator says he was turned away from EPA after requesting meeting with DOGE reps
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he was turned away from entering the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters today after he asked for a meeting with representatives of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
“We just went in and asked for a meeting with the DOGE representatives, and we were denied and we were turned away,” Markey said at a news conference outside the building.
In response to questions about the event from NBC News, Markey spokesperson Abigail Goldring said he was joined by two House Democrats: Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Paul Tonko of New York.
Goldring said Markey was first denied entry by someone whom she described as a security guard.
"He then made the request outside of the EPA headquarters to meet with DOGE representatives, and in their absence, Administrator [Lee] Zeldin," Goldring said. "In the middle of his press conference, a representative for EPA approached a staffer for Sen. Markey and informed them that no meeting would be taking place with Sen. Markey or the members of Congress."
Molly Vaseliou, a spokeswoman for the EPA, said Markey had not taken the steps needed to enter the headquarters.
"In what world does walking into a federal building a demanding a meeting constitute 'requesting a meeting'? EPA’s federal triangle campus is not a public access building," Vaseliou wrote in an email. "Visitors must have business in front of the agency and EPA security protocol requires registration and clearance 48 hours ahead of a confirmed meeting."
Added Vaseliou: "There was no formal request for a meeting. This was clearly a publicity stunt."
Markey said at his news conference that he was seeking to question the DOGE representatives about whether they were freezing funding for clean air and water programs and blocking work within the agency.
"He did not get confirmation if DOGE is at the EPA, nor did he ever get someone from EPA to answer his basic questions about frozen funding," Goldring said.
Democratic lawmakers have portrayed the DOGE representatives as Musk's henchmen who are trying to obstruct typical government processes.
“Trump And Elon Musk and their unqualified, unelected, unwanted henchmen want to be able to carry out their attacks on your environment, your rights, your friends, your neighbors under the cover of darkness,” Markey said in a news conference. “We’re outside asking them to step out into the light of day.”
The White House accused Democrats of "gaslighting" on DOGE's mission.
"Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law," said Harrison Fields, a deputy press secretary for the White House.
After vowing to protect DOGE workers, Trump prosecutor is silent on employees targeted by ‘DEI watch list’
Trump’s interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia told Musk on his X platform this week that federal prosecutors were at his service should workers at DOGE face any threats.
“Dear @elon, Please see this important letter,” Ed Martin wrote Monday. “We will not tolerate threats against DOGE workers or law-breaking by the disgruntled.”
In the attached letter, Martin wrote that it was “good to work with the DOGE team” over the weekend, and he asked Musk to “utilize me and my staff to assist in protecting the DOGE work and the DOGE workers.”
But Martin has so far indicated no plans to investigate a conservative research opposition group that appears to be behind the website DEI Watch List, which has published the names and photos of federal health workers involved in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — at one point describing them as “targets.”
White House calls NCAA transgender student-athlete policy change 'a victory'
The White House applauded the NCAA's decision to change its transgender student-athlete policy, saying, "Promises made, promises kept."
“It’s a victory for the girls across America whose dreams of competing have been destroyed by extremists peddling a lie that biological sex can somehow be changed,” the White House said in a release. “It’s also a reflection of President Trump’s ongoing commitment to defending the rights of women and girls after a years-long assault.”
The NCAA issued the new policy restricting those assigned male at birth from competing in women's sports a day after Trump signed an executive order prohibiting such athletes from competing in female sports. The new policy restricts NCAA women’s sports to students assigned female at birth while permitting all student-athletes, regardless of sex assigned at birth, to compete in the men’s category.
The policy is effective immediately and applies to all NCAA athletes.
Marco Rubio says Trump administration 'not trying to be disruptive to people's personal lives' after putting staff on leave
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that the Trump administration was "not trying to be disruptive to people's personal lives" following its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and put staff members on leave.
"We’re not trying to — we’re not being punitive here, but this is the only way we’ve been able to get cooperation from USAID," Rubio told reporters in Santo Domingo during a joint media availability with Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader.
A reporter had asked about additional guidance for USAID employees facing uncertainty after the agency announced this week that nearly all direct hires around the world would be placed on administrative leave at 11:59 p.m. Friday.
Rubio said that USAID employees were given a 30-day period to return home and that exceptions would be made for special conditions, saying, "We didn’t list them all, but we’re willing to listen to those."
Some evangelical leaders challenge Trump’s immigration, foreign aid policies amid calls for unity
Trump called for unity in his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning — largely steering clear of addressing controversies around his actions cracking down on immigration and paralyzing federal efforts to distribute international aid.
But some evangelical leaders are speaking out against those policies, even though Trump has enjoyed broad support from the evangelical community.
The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, who is the president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, was among the faith leaders at the breakfast. He had been meeting with senators and government leaders since yesterday, he told NBC News, explaining to them how the pause on international aid and the gutting of USAID, which distributes those funds, jeopardize their missionary work abroad.