The Trump administration is expected to process all outstanding payments to USAID contractors within the next 30 to 45 days, federal lawyers said in a new court filing this morning.

The filing was a joint status report submitted by the Trump administration and plaintiffs in two similar cases that represent USAID contractors. A preliminary injunction hearing for the cases is scheduled for this afternoon.

The plaintiffs said in the joint status report that the Trump administration hasn't complied with a court-issued temporary restraining order that blocked the federal government from holding up payments to USAID contractors and laid out deadlines for the administration to comply.

The administration, meanwhile, said that the government is continuing to process payments and said "it is expected that payments already requested by non-Plaintiffs will be processed within 2 weeks for State and 30-45 business days for USAID."

Trump reversed his position on tariffs again, saying in a post to Truth Social that after speaking with Mexico's president, he would issue an exemption on tariffs for most goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico.

Trump added that the tariff reprieve would last until April 2.

"Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl," Trump added. "Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!"

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, again criticized DOGE after saying she met with Alaskan USAID employees this week.

"They not only informed me of the confusing and callous handling of personnel matters by OPM and DOGE, but they also painted an incredibly troubling picture of what the world looks like without humanitarian assistance from the United States," she wrote in a post on X.

"Although I support measures to find inefficiencies within the agency, USAID’s mission to keep people healthy and safe in even the most remote corners of the world should not be eliminated," she continued.

Murkowski previously criticized DOGE's handling of government cuts. The administration and DOGE have zeroed in on USAID, hitting the agency with steep cuts.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested new action is coming from Trump to issue exemptions to the sweeping 25% tariffs he imposed Tuesday on most goods imported into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada.

No official decision has been made, but Lutnick said on CNBC that he was expecting an announcement later today on a broad exemption that would apply to goods compliant with the USMCA trade deal reached during Trump’s first term.

The commerce secretary said the exemption would last for one month and that additional tariffs would come on April 2, when Trump has said he will unveil a broad swath of reciprocal tariffs. 

“My expectation is the president will come to the agreement today, and hopefully we will announce this today, that USMCA-compliant goods will not have a tariff over the next month until April,” Lutnick said in an interview today on CNBC.

Read the full story here.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols of Washington, D.C., has denied a motion for a temporary restraining order brought by a group representing contractors working with USAID that is seeking to halt the Trump administration's efforts to gut the agency.

Nichols, appointed by Trump, agreed with the government, saying that this was a contract dispute, not a dispute over constitutional powers, as the plaintiffs had claimed. He said the plaintiffs’ injuries are directly connected to a disruption in contracts, adding that this case lacks jurisdiction. 

The plaintiffs had requested that the contractors be returned to the terms and conditions of employment they had; the authorization for contractors to resume and continue the work they were previously performing; the reversal of the termination of contract notices sent to contractors; and the restoration of contractors' access to U.S. government facilities, security, email, computer and communications systems, while the case played out. 

This comes as the Trump administration and plaintiffs submitted a joint status report this morning in a similar case involving USAID contracts, with a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled in the case this afternoon before Judge Amir H. Ali in Washington, D.C.

The CIA has started to fire some recently hired officers, as the Trump administration’s effort to quickly slash the federal workforce has moved to the spy agency, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Some employees received word that they would be let go this week, the sources said. The officers were instructed to report to a location away from the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where they were told to hand over their credentials, the sources said.

It remained unclear how many intelligence officers would be sacked.

Read the full story here.

The decision by Canadian provinces to pull American liquor from store shelves is “worse than a tariff” and a “disproportionate response” to the 25% tariff on Canadian imports imposed by the Trump administration, the chief executive of the maker of Jack Daniel’s said.

Provincial governments across Canada, which control liquor sales, have said they will stop buying U.S. liquor products in protest of the U.S. tariff, which took effect on Tuesday. Canada immediately retaliated by imposing its own tariffs of up to 25% on some U.S. goods.

President Donald Trump is considering a major change to the U.S.’ participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to three current and former senior U.S. officials and one congressional official. 

Trump has discussed with aides the possibility of calibrating America’s NATO engagement in a way that favors members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense, the officials said.

As part of the potential policy shift, the U.S. might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the defense spending threshold, the officials said. If Trump does make that change, it would mark a significant shift away from a core tenet of the alliance known as Article 5, that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them. 

Read the full story here.

As Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., finished reading the censure to Rep. Al Green, several Republicans yelled “order” at the Congressional Black Caucus members who were singing “We Shall Overcome.” 

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, started yelling “Shame on you” back at Republicans, including Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., who was seated in the front row. 

Johnson called the House to order and told the Democrats to clear the well, which they did not. He then recessed the House.