Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., today criticized a statement from the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia that characterized federal prosecutors as Trump's lawyers.

"This is insane. If you wonder why some of us think the rule of law is about to fall, it’s this," Murphy said. "The U.S. Attorney for DC is not 'President Trump’s lawyer' and its job is not to 'protect his leadership' nor prosecute people who 'refuse to put America first.'"

Edward R. Martin Jr., the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement posted on X today that federal prosecutors stood against The Associated Press, which has sued three Trump administration officials over its media access to presidential events.

Managers within the Environmental Protection Agency sent employees model responses today to Musk’s demand for bulleted-list explanations of what work they did last week.

“As empathy for their staff, they sent examples,” said one agency employee who shared two of the managers’ own responses with NBC News. The employee asked NBC News not to publish the managers’ messages in full out of fear of reprisal.

One portion of the message discussed work done to answer questions from lawmakers about specific EPA-related issues, and others included developing a timeline for revising regulations and assessing program budgets.

Current and former FBI officials expressed shock and dismay today over the news that Trump has selected a right-wing podcaster and ardent FBI critic to be the bureau’s deputy director, even as the man picked for the job said he was ready to put partisanship aside.

On his podcast, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino — who once called the FBI “irredeemably corrupt”— thanked the president for the appointment and suggested that he was prepared to step out of his role as a MAGA warrior. But even as he did so, he repeated the baseless charge that the Justice Department had been “weaponized,” a claim he has frequently brandished to criticize the agency he will now help lead.

“I get it if you are a political opponent of mine that has been involved with proudly celebrating a weaponized justice system, how you don’t understand how a guy like me who discusses partisan content in an opinion show and go and do (an) unquestionably nonpartisan job,” Bongino, a former Fox News host, said. “I’m going to ask you a simple question: Have you seen what I did before I came here?”

Read the full story here.

Trump indicated this afternoon that his administration plans to proceed with tariffs on key U.S. trading partners Canada and Mexico.

The president was asked about an upcoming deadline he set this month in which he delayed implementation of tariffs on the two countries for 30 days.

"We’re on time with the tariffs, and it seems like that’s moving along very rapidly. We’ve been mistreated very badly by many countries, not just Canada and Mexico. We’ve been taken advantage of," Trump said at the joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House.

"The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule," Trump said. "So the tariffs will go forward, yes, and we’re going to make up a lot of territory. All we want is reciprocal. We want reciprocity."

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the third anniversary of Russia's war in Ukraine, said today that Vladimir Putin alone is responsible for the conflict.

“Blame for this human catastrophe rests solely on Vladimir Putin. Here’s how we know: If Russian forces laid down their arms, Europe would be at peace. If Ukrainian forces laid down theirs, Putin’s aims would not stop with Kyiv. Mistaking this fact is as embarrassing as it is costly," McConnell said in a statement.

The comment from the former GOP leader, who announced last week that's not seeking re-election, comes as Trump has made favorable comments about Putin and critical ones of Zelenskyy.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., indirectly criticized Trump for saying Ukraine "started" the war with Russia, posting an article about the president's comments and writing, "This is all embarrassing."

"We are better than this," Bacon continued. "Moral clarity: Russian invaded its neighbor because it wanted its territory and couldn’t stand the thought of an Ukraine run by a democracy."

The post did not directly name Trump, but the article highlighted the president's comments condemning Ukraine and its president, Zelenskyy.

Trump told reporters today that "European troops may go into Ukraine as peacemakers" to ensure that parties comply with any ultimate agreement, adding later that he believed Putin would accept the move.

"I think that'll be a very good day when we can go in as peacekeepers, as opposed to what's going on right now with everybody being killed," he said.

When asked whether he would persuade Putin to accept European troops as peacekeepers, Trump said, "Yeah, he will accept that."

Macron pushed back on some of Trump's remarks at the White House this afternoon when the U.S. president suggested that Europe was offering a loan to Ukraine.

"Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office alongside Macron before their bilateral meeting. "They get their money back."

Macron responded by correcting Trump, saying that, in fact, Europe had paid.

"No, in fact, to be, to be frank, we paid," Macron said. "We paid 60% of the total efforts."

Trump told reporters during a visit with Macron that the U.S. and Ukraine are "very close to a final deal" on rare earth minerals.

The Trump administration has pitched that the U.S. have partial ownership of Ukraine's rare earth minerals. The country's president, Zelenskyy, had declined to immediately sign a document presented by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the issue.

Trump was also asked by a reporter whether he would call Russian President Vladimir Putin a dictator, a term he has falsely used to describe Zelenskyy.

"I don't use those words lightly. I think that we're going to see how it all works out," he said. "Let's see what happens."