What's going on today
- Several House Republicans say they want compassion and more information from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, with some indicating they plan to bring up the issue during a previously scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump tomorrow.
- Federal agencies are giving mixed responses to Musk's directive demanding that federal workers explain in an email what they accomplished in the last week or risk being considered as having resigned -- a move Trump termed "genius" in remarks to reporters. The responses from government employees are expected to be fed into an artificial intelligence system to determine whether those jobs are necessary, three sources told NBC News.
- Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss issues including the war in Ukraine, where the two have expressed starkly different views. Macron has argued that any negotiated end to the war must come with “strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians,” while Trump has termed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator" and declined to name anything Russia should be willing to concede to achieve peace.
- Trump and France's president also discussed trade. The European Union, of which France is a member, said this month that it would “respond firmly” if Trump hits it with tariffs. Trump has since signed a memo calling for "fair and reciprocal" trade tariffs on all major U.S. trading partners.
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Former Veterans Affairs employee sues over firing
An employee for the Department of Veterans Affairs who worked in the North Atlantic District of the Office of General Counsel at the VA until being terminated for what the agency called “poor performance,” sued the department in federal court this evening and asked for her job back.
In the suit, Gail Schechter said she started working for the VA in 2006 with no break in service but had only been with the department’s Office of General Counsel since May 2024, making her a probationary employee who wasn't afforded the job protections of permanent employees for the first one to two years on the job.
The Trump administration has fired thousands of probationary workers across numerous federal agencies in the past few weeks.
On Feb. 13, according to the lawsuit, Schechter received an electronic communication informing her that she was being terminated for poor performance. That was the first communication she ever received that her performance was unsatisfactory, the suit said.
“The evidence in this case will demonstrate beyond debate that Plaintiff was an excellent performer, and that Defendant’s motives in terminating her employment had nothing to do with her skills, ability, or efforts,” the court filing said.
Shechter included dozens of pages of glowing annual reports, emailed compliments from coworkers, and positive customer service ratings as exhibits in the suit.
Trump endorses Ramaswamy for Ohio governor
Hours after he officially declared his candidacy for governor of Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy scored Trump's endorsement for the job.
"I know him well, competed against him, and he is something SPECIAL," Trump wrote of his one-time rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in a post on Truth Social. "He’s Young, Strong, and Smart! Vivek is also a very good person, who truly loves our Country. He will be a GREAT Governor of Ohio, will never let you down, and has my COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!"
Ramaswamy helped draw up plans for Trump's Department of Government of Efficiency, or DOGE, a cost-cutting initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk. But Ramaswamy left the project before its work kicked off last month to return home to Ohio and prepare for the governor's race.
Musk offered his own "full endorsement" in a post on X tonight.
Trump's endorsement will likely cement Ramaswamy as the front-runner in a GOP primary that includes Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. Trump won Ohio three times by comfortable margins and his endorsements previously helped JD Vance and Bernie Moreno win messy Senate primaries in the state.
Fake video of Trump kissing Musk’s feet displayed at HUD office in Washington
Some employees at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development were greeted by an unusual sight in their offices today: a fake video of Trump with his mouth on the toes of his billionaire adviser Elon Musk.
The video was displayed on internal television monitors at the HUD headquarters in Washington, D.C., according to two HUD employees who confirmed the prank to NBC News.
The video appeared to have been created with the help of artificial intelligence and poked fun at the power dynamic between Musk and Trump. It showed an AI likeness of Trump massaging and kissing the feet of someone resembling Musk, with a caption superimposed over the video: “Long live the real king.”
Justice Department appeals after judge blocks termination of DEI-related grants
The Justice Department appealed a federal judge’s ruling that blocks the Trump administration from terminating DEI-related grants. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is being asked to weigh in.
U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson issued a ruling Friday, blocking the Trump administration from requiring federal contractors and grant recipients to certify they do not engage in “equity-related” programs.
The Maryland judge deemed the term too nebulous to enforce, writing: “The possibilities are almost endless, and many are pernicious.”
Postal workers rally to protect USPS from privatization
Members and supporters of the National Association of Letter Carriers rallied today in Washington, D.C., to fight back against the potential privatization and dismantling of the U.S. Postal Service with a clear message: "Hell no!"
“We’re not going to privatize the Postal Service,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told the crowd.
“Irrespective of political identification, the American people understand the criticality of the Postal Service in their lives, and they’re not going to allow Donald Trump and Elon Musk to mess with it,” Connolly, D-Va., added.
NALC President Brian Renfoe told NBC News that not only would threatening the independence of the USPS "clearly violate" federal law, but privatization could also adversely affect rural Americans.
"Private businesses exist to make money," said Renfroe. "So where it would be profitable, they’d be interested in delivering; where it was not profitable, they would not. And in rural areas, it’s not going to be profitable for a private service to do what this public service does, so it would harm them disproportionately."
The USPS employs 640,000 staffers who help deliver 376 million pieces of mail to 169 million addresses nationwide each day — without it, 51 million rural households and businesses would be at risk of not having guaranteed postal delivery service.
The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service has retained outside counsel to fight any executive order by Trump aimed at trying to take over USPS, according to two sources with knowledge of the board’s plans. Trump said last week that his new commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, “will be looking” at the U.S. Postal Service.
"I think it’s very clear this administration has no interest in protecting public service, working people, or really the public good — they want to throw us away to create an unreliable, inefficient, expensive, private delivery service," Renfroe told a fired-up crowd of dozens, arguing that defending the Postal Service should be a nonpartisan issue.
"These ideas are, of course, dangerous. They’re anti-worker. You could say they’re anti-American. You know what else they are? Illegal," he said.
Dan Bongino’s yearslong history of FBI criticism and conspiracy theories
Dan Bongino, the conservative podcaster named deputy director of the FBI, has spent the past seven years publicly criticizing the agency he will now help run, pushing conspiracy theories about corrupt FBI leadership and agents who were out to get Trump.
A survey of Bongino’s podcast transcripts by NBC News from 2017 to 2025 found that he made the FBI a regular target on his show, routinely claiming that the bureau colluded with the so-called deep state, an alleged shadowy network of entrenched federal and military operatives. Those themes figured heavily on “The Dan Bongino Show,” a syndicated radio show and daily podcast that is among the most popular in the U.S.
Along the way, Bongino has gone from a relatively unknown conservative pundit to one of the most followed and recognizable pro-Trump voices in all of media, commanding an audience of millions across various platforms.
D.C. police say they sent an arrest warrant on Rep. Cory Mills but the U.S. Attorney has not signed it
The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., sent an arrest warrant on Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., to interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin’s office on Friday, a spokesperson for MPD told NBC News, but the warrant has not been signed by the federal prosecutor.
The case could essentially die at this point, the spokesperson said, meaning it may never result in criminal charges. The status of the warrant was first reported by NBC Washington.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment this evening. Trump appointed Martin to his position on interim basis and has since nominated him to hold it in a permanent capacity.
Metropolitan Police said last week they were investigating Mills over a report of an alleged assault at an apartment building. Mills, who was not arrested, denied wrongdoing, saying law enforcement was called for help to “resolve a private matter” at his home and was “confident investigation will clear this matter quickly.”
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said Friday that there is an internal police investigation into how the situation was handled.
Some Republicans plan to raise DOGE concerns during Trump meeting
Several House Republicans said they want more compassion and information from the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency after they were confronted by angry constituents at town halls last week over the speed and scope of federal budget cuts. Some say they plan to press Trump on the issue during a meeting tomorrow.
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told NBC News wants to use a previously scheduled meeting at the White House tomorrow to “bend” Trump’s ear on the issue. The entire House Republican sophomore class is meeting with Trump tomorrow, according to McCormick.
“If we have layoffs at the CDC, some people are going to be affected. The question is, do we give people time to adjust to their lives? And I think that’s my biggest concern, is that we’re being compassionate,” said McCormick, who represents a congressional district near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta.
McCormick also said he plans to urge Elon Musk to show more compassion when executing federal budget cuts and layoffs.
“Ironically, the first time I ever met Elon Musk, he was asked, ‘What could Republicans do better?’ And his response was… ‘I think you guys could come across as more compassionate.’ So I’m going to use his own words when I when I talk to him,” McCormick said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said he vowed to his constituents that he would try get more information from the administration about exactly who and what is being cut, and the potential impacts. Congressional Republicans have largely been in the dark and given little heads-up about DOGE’s next moves, which has caused some frustration, he said.
“It would be better, I think, for members to have real specific information. Because we don’t have it. I don’t have it,” he said. “We don’t know what they’re looking at, and we don’t know what the numbers… I’m learning about this when I see a broadcast as much as anyone else right now, because we haven’t been briefed on it.”
White House liaison for the Justice Department reassigned after clash with Pam Bondi's chief of staff
A senior official at the Department of Justice confirmed to NBC News that Paul Ingrassia, the White House’s liaison to the DOJ, has been reassigned.
The move was first reported by ABC News after Ingrassia clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle.
The official said Mizelle fell out with Ingrassia over Ingrassia’s belief that anyone who worked under former Attorney General Merrick Garland, including career employees, could not be trusted. Ingrassia also sought to hire people who were loyal to Trump.
Ingrassia’s LinkedIn says he is now the White House liaison for Department of Homeland Security.
ABC News reported that Ingrassia complained directly to Trump about Mizelle and suggested to the president that Mizelle was hurting Trump’s political agenda.
Protesters filled the Iowa state capitol as House lawmakers began fast-tracking a bill that would remove civil rights protections for transgender people from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.