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What's going on today
- President Donald Trump fired the inspector general at the U.S. Agency for International Development a day after his office released a report critical of the administration's moves to gut USAID.
- Trump met with the king and the crown prince of Jordan at the White House, where King Abdullah II reiterated his "steadfast opposition" to moving Palestinians out of Gaza — a key component of Trump's plan to take over the war-torn strip.
- Tech billionaire Elon Musk later accompanied Trump in the Oval Office as Trump talked about giving his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, more power.
- An appeals court rejected the Trump administration's bid to reinstate a funding pause after a judge ordered the government funds unfrozen.
- The Senate this afternoon postponed planned evening votes on confirming Trump's controversial nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and advancing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination for health secretary. Those votes will now be held tomorrow morning.
Trump says another prisoner will be released tomorrow
After he welcomed Marc Fogel to the White House, Trump said another prisoner will be released tomorrow.
"Somebody else is being released tomorrow that you will know of," he said.
The U.S. envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, also teased an impending release on CNN tonight.
"We have another American coming in tomorrow,” Boehler said, adding that the person's identity is "going to be a surprise for tomorrow."
Additional details about the person, including what country they will be returning from, were not immediately available.
Russia continues to hold Stephen Hubbard and Ksenia Khavana, two Americans deemed wrongfully detained by the U.S. government.
Marc Fogel arrives at the White House, meets with Trump
Marc Fogel, the American who was held by Russia for 3½ years before he was released today, has arrived at the White House.
Trump walked out to await Fogel’s arrival, and the two shook hands and had an emotional exchange. Fogel thanked the president profusely.
They then held hands for a moment before Fogel shook hands with members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa.
Two ICE officials demoted amid administration's frustration over pace of deportations
Two top officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been demoted amid frustration by Trump administration officials that the agency isn’t arresting or deporting people quickly enough, three administration officials confirmed to NBC News.
The sources said Russell Hott and Peter Berg, the top two officials in ICE’s enforcement division, have been reassigned.
Todd Lyons, who previously led the ICE field office in Boston, has been named acting head of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, two of the officials said.
A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment this evening.
The Washington Post first reported the shakeup.
NBC News reported last week that Trump and border czar Tom Homan had expressed anger and frustration over the pace of deportations. Trump denied that on Sunday, telling reporters, “I think they’re doing an incredible job.”
Trump’s border czar is ‘begging’ for money for immigration crackdown, Senate budget chief says
Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, and budget director, Russell Vought, pleaded with Senate Republicans at a meeting this afternoon to send the administration more money to carry out their immigration crackdown plans.
“Tom Homan said, ‘I am begging you for money,’” Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters. “Russ Vought said that ‘we’re running out of money for [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. We can’t rob other accounts any longer.’”
Graham said the Trump administration is asking for an additional $175 billion for immigration enforcement, including ICE agents, detention beds and deportation resources.
Japan requests exemption from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs
The Japanese government said it had requested an exemption from Trump's new tariffs on steel and aluminum.
“We will carefully examine the details of these measures and their impact on our country and firmly take necessary action,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo.
Though Trump has said there will be no exemptions, he said yesterday that he was considering one for Australia, citing the U.S. trade surplus with it.
Australia was exempted from steel and aluminum tariffs during the first Trump administration, while the United States and Japan negotiated a duty-free quota arrangement during the Biden administration.
Union president bashes Trump's latest DOGE executive order
The American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing 800,000 federal and Washington, D.C., government workers, criticized a new executive order from Trump that directs federal agencies to coordinate with DOGE on making job cuts.
The group’s national president, Everett Kelley, said in a statement that efforts to whittle the federal workforce through "reckless, unjustified cuts" were aimed at rewarding "Musk and Trump's billionaire buddies."
“Firing huge numbers of federal employees won’t decrease the need for government services. It will just make those services harder or impossible to access for everyday Americans, veterans, and seniors who depend on them,” Kelley said.
Democrat accuses Trump FBI pick Kash Patel of secretly ordering firings
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee has sent a letter to the Justice Department inspector general accusing Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, of secretly orchestrating the firings of FBI officials a day after Katel told the committee under oath that he was not aware of any plan to do so.
“If these allegations are true, Mr. Patel may have perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote.
Durbin said he has spoken to whistleblowers who told him that Patel has been relaying instructions to White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, who then relayed Patel’s instructions to acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
As Trump outlines his plan to relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries, Arab voters in Dearborn, Michigan, who supported him as a candidate are reacting to his comments about controlling the Gaza Strip.
Trump fires USAID’s inspector general after his office released a report critical of the administration
The inspector general at the U.S. Agency for International Development was fired today, a day after his office released a report detailing the negative impact of the Trump administration’s dramatic downsizing of the agency, according to a letter obtained by NBC News.
Paul Martin, who had been USAID’s inspector general since 2023, was notified of his dismissal by email.
“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development is terminated, effective immediately,” Trent Morse, deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel, informed Martin in an email obtained by NBC News. “Thank you for your service.”
Justice Sotomayor defends courts amid criticism from Trump and his allies
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said today that courts must use their “soft power” to persuade people to comply with rulings on contentious issues.
She made the comments at an event at Miami Dade College in Florida in the wake of a growing chorus among some allies of Trump, including Vice President JD Vance, who have pushed back against recent court rulings that have stymied some of his aggressive executive orders.
The criticism has prompted concern that the administration could defy certain court rulings it disagrees with, with some describing the nation as being on the verge of a constitutional crisis.