Dan Bongino says he's accepted deputy FBI director position
Conservative media personality Dan Bongino said today that he has accepted Trump's appointment as deputy FBI director.
In a statement posted to X, Bongino thanked Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, adding that his decision to accept the role "is driven solely by a commitment to service and a belief that law enforcement and national security institutions must be strengthened."
"There are dedicated people in the FBI who take their oath to the constitution seriously," he said in the statement. "They deserve leadership that will back them up, protect their mission, and ensure they can do their jobs."
Deputy directors traditionally have a history as career FBI agents, but Bongino has never served in the FBI. Bongino has instead touted baseless theories about the bureau he will now help lead.
Australia treasurer heads to U.S. to seek tariff exemption
The treasurer of Australia is headed to Washington to meet with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for talks on trade policy, including potential exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs.
“Trade and tariffs will be part of the conversation, but not the whole conversation,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, adding that he does not expect to reach a final agreement during his visit.
Trump said this month that he would consider exempting Australia from 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, citing the U.S. trade surplus with the country. Australia, a key U.S. security ally in the Indo-Pacific, received an exemption from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs during Trump’s first term.
“We will meet at an important time for the global economic outlook,” Chalmers said in a statement yesterday. “The United States-Australian economic partnership brings significant benefits to both sides.”
Ukraine marks three years of war as Zelenskyy faces uncertain future
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was surrounded by allies on Monday as he marked three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded his country. There was one notable absence: a representative from Washington.
Although backed by much of Europe, Ukraine faces an increasingly uncertain future as President Donald Trump dramatically breaks with traditional United States foreign policy and is increasingly sympathetic to the Russian invaders.
As Ukraine’s allies lamented the conflict’s toll, they also extolled the defence of the liberal European project and its centrality to the war in Ukraine.
Democratic House member chides 'Bad DOGE' in new bill
A new bill in Congress marks another long-shot effort from Democrats to discipline DOGE.
The pithily-titled “Bad DOGE Act” — evoking the dog meme that ultimately evolved into an actual government group — targets the government efficiency entity for operating outside its scope while demanding, in part, greater data protection standards and basic proof of Elon Musk’s "special government employee" status.
“It’s meant to address the abuses of power, the illegalities, the blatant attacks on our Constitution that Elon Musk and DOGE are engaged in right now,” freshman Democratic Rep. Dave Min said of the bill he plans to introduce on MSNBC's "Way Too Early."
The White House executive order that created DOGE authorizes it to perform a project of data modernization, which Min says it has overstepped with federal firings and attempts to close entire agencies without the say-so of Congress.
Part of why DOGE has been able to act behind the scenes is because of a legal maneuver from the White House that shields the entity from FOIA and other transparency mandates: putting the project under the existing Digital Service, in the Executive Office of the President, means it’s subject to the Presidential Records Act, but not FOIA requests.
With Democrats in the minority in both chambers of Congress and GOP support squarely behind Musk’s effort, the bill has no chance of passing.
Acknowledging those realities, Min instead hopes it will spur a conversation with colleagues across the aisle.
“I’m hoping that we can get some Republicans on this bill,” he said, referencing the slim majority the GOP has in the House, adding that he hopes they remember “the oath that we all took when we entered office. … It doesn’t say anything about Donald Trump or the president in the oath we took, it’s about the Constitution of the United States.”
Trump taps conservative podcaster Dan Bongino to be deputy FBI director
Trump on Sunday announced the selection of conservative commentator and former Fox News host Dan Bongino to serve as deputy FBI director, filling a position typically held by a career FBI agent with an influential media personality who has called for mass firings at the bureau.
Bongino will lead the bureau alongside Kash Patel, who was narrowly confirmed as FBI director by the Senate last week.
“Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel,” Trump said in a social media post. “Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly.”
How a low-profile federal board could host appeals for thousands of fired government workers
Thousands of federal workers fired in recent days by the Trump administration may be able to use an appeals process to get reinstated in their jobs — and potentially receive back pay. But the process could take months and come with future challenges from the White House.
Fired workers can appeal their terminations to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which was created in the 1970s to help ensure a merit-based employment system for the federal workforce. The obscure body consists of around 60 administrative judges who adjudicate cases brought by federal workers who claim they were wrongly terminated. Three Senate-confirmed board members hear challenges to rulings by those judges.
Trump to participate in call with G7 leaders to mark anniversary of Russia-Ukraine war
Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron will start their day with a call with the heads of the Group of Seven leading economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
According to the White House, the call will mark the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine and will come as Trump moves to directly negotiate an end to the war with Russia.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called reports that the U.S. is not consulting Ukraine and European leaders as it seeks an end to the war untrue, saying in an interview that he personally has kept G7 leaders up to date.
"I met with the foreign ministers of all of the key countries and our allies in Europe, both in the G7 setting, G7+1 with the EU, and then a separate meeting with what they call the Quint, which is the key countries involved," Rubio told Catherine Herridge in an interview Friday.