Here's what's happening today
- President Donald Trump said the Small Business Administration will take over the Education Department's student loan portfolio and that the Health and Human Services Department will be handling services for students with disabilities.
- Elon Musk visited the Pentagon this morning for a meeting and a briefing. Trump denied a New York Times report, citing two U.S. officials, that said the briefing included a discussion of plans for any potential war with China.
- The judge who temporarily blocked the Trump administration's deportation flights under a rarely used wartime law had more harsh words for Justice Department lawyers at a hearing today, where he said their court filings consisted of "intemperate and disrespectful language."
Trump revokes access to classified material for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Biden officials
Trump in a memo tonight rescinded any existing security clearances and access to classified information for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris and various other officials.
“I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information,” the executive memo reads. “I hereby direct every executive department and agency head to take all additional action as necessary and consistent with existing law to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals and to immediately rescind their access to classified information.”
Representatives for Harris and Clinton did not immediately return a request for comment.
The memo also states that the people named — 15 in all — will not have access to classified briefings or the ability to access secure U.S. government facilities without an escort.
Legal community shaken by a powerful law firm’s decision to give in to Trump’s demands
On Thursday, the powerful law firm Paul Weiss caved.
It agreed to give Trump’s administration $40 million in free legal work for causes the president supports and, according to a social media post from Trump, get rid of any internal diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
In response, Trump rescinded his executive order that targeted the firm and could have cost it significant business.
The agreement shocked many in the legal community, and for Rachel Cohen, an associate at another large firm — Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP — it was the final straw.
Democrats are facing outrage from their constituents at town halls who believe their elected officials are not doing enough to counter the Trump administration’s agenda. NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin has more on the backlash.
Trump offers support for conservative candidate in Wisconsin Supreme Court race
Trump offered his support tonight for conservative judge Brad Schimel in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
"All Voters who believe in Common Sense should GET OUT TO VOTE EARLY for Brad Schimel," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "By turning out and VOTING EARLY, you will be helping to Uphold the Rule of Law, Protect our Incredible Police, Secure our Beloved Constitution, Safeguard our Inalienable Rights, and PRESERVE LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL."
Schimel is facing Susan Crawford, a state judge in Dane County who once worked in the administration of former Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat.
The election, scheduled for April 1, will decide the ideological tilt on the seven-judge court. It also could play a role in cases tied to abortion rights, unions and congressional maps.
Trump suggests he didn't sign the document invoking the Alien Enemies Act
Trump appeared to indicate today that he did not sign a proclamation last week that invoked the Alien Enemies Act his administration used to justify recent deportation flights that have since sparked an intense court fight.
He made the remark after being asked about a federal judge's concerns about his use of the wartime law to deport Venezuelan immigrants despite being ordered not to.
Judge James Boasberg questioned during a court hearing today why Trump’s proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act was “signed in the dark” as he investigates whether the administration violated his ruling ordering a halt to the deportations.
In his remarks to reporters, Trump said, “I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it. Other people handled it.” The president then praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying, “He wanted them out, and we go along with that. We want to get criminals out of our country.”
Trump signed a document last week invoking the Alien Enemies Act to immediately detain and deport members of a Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua, which he accused of unlawfully infiltrating the United States.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment tonight, but it told CNN in a statement that in his comments Trump “was obviously referring to the original Alien Enemies Act that was signed back in 1798.”
“The recent Executive Order was personally signed by President Trump invoking the Alien Enemies Act that designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in order to apprehend and deport these heinous criminals,” the White House said.
Victims of ‘romance scams’ turn to Congress for help
Four years after getting divorced, Beth Hyland, 54, decided it was finally time to start dating again. She had never used dating apps, but her work colleagues had found luck meeting significant others online.
“So, I thought I’d try it,” Hyland told NBC News in an interview this month. Eventually, she met someone who appeared to be her perfect match: “Richard,” who claimed to be a French project manager for a construction company, began texting and talking on the phone constantly with Hyland.
But “Richard” wasn’t who he said he was. Hyland just didn’t know it yet — and her story, and hundreds like it, would soon inspire federal legislation in Congress.
Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., have introduced a bill that would require dating apps and social media companies to remove or flag scammers from their platforms and issue notifications to users who interact with those accounts.
Unions sue over Trump's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for Global Media
A group of labor unions sued the Trump administration today over the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent federal agency that oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty, Radio Free Asia and other outlets.
Former Voice Of America White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, the American Federation of Government Employees, The NewsGuild-CWA and others alleged that the Trump administration violated federal law protecting the freedom of journalists and the separation of powers when it closed the agency. (Some NBC News employees are members of The NewsGuild-CWA.)
The plaintiffs asked the court to return the agency and its employees, contractors, and grantees to their status before Trump signed an order dismantling the agency.
U.S. Agency for Global Media, the agency's acting director Victor Morales, and adviser for the agency Kari Lake, were named as defendants in the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York. A spokesperson for the U.S. Agency for Global Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment tonight.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley, whose union represents Voice Of America employees, said the outlet "was founded to spread the truth and fight propaganda from lawless authoritarian regimes—so it’s no surprise that the Trump administration is trying to dismantle it."
"This blatant political takeover isn’t just an attack on our members’ jobs—it’s an assault on press freedom, journalistic integrity, and democracy the world over,” Kelley added.
Sen. Andy Kim touts opposition to Republican funding bill during town hall in GOP-leaning district
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., spoke to a crowd of roughly 500 people during a packed town hall event in one of the state's Republican-leaning districts.
It was a bid by the first-term senator to both outline the consequences of Trump’s policy efforts and draw attention to the recent decrease in the number of Republican town hall events amid voter backlash to the administration’s actions.
“If they’re not going to have town halls and face to their, their constituents, then I will,” Kim told NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin ahead of this evening's event at Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg. “That’s a way where we can go on the offense, be able to show that we can mobilize and be able to engage and see our work, not just as legislators, not just as political leaders, but as movement leaders trying to be able to harness and shape this energy.”
The town hall was one of roughly 30 events being held by congressional Democrats this week as the party seeks to more actively counter Trump’s agenda. Several of those events in Western states featured Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Energy was indeed high at Kim's event, where the crowd appeared mostly supportive of the senator, praising in particular his opposition to a Republican funding bill despite other Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, helping advance the measure before it passed.
“I still strongly disagree with Sen. Schumer in terms of that approach,” Kim said to loud cheers from the crowd.
One attendee asked when Congress is "going to take equal balance or power from this executive branch", pointing to Trump's effort to eliminate the Department of Education this week despite the need for lawmakers to pass legislation to that effect.
"They know that they cannot do that without Congress’s approval, and we are mobilizing that way," Kim said. "I will tell you, I will do everything I humanly can to be able to stop them from gutting our Department Education."
Kim told NBC News that Democrats must provide a roadmap for people looking to "fight back" against Trump's agenda.
"One thing I’m taking away from today is people want us to show our own plan, be able to have our own budget up against the Republican budget. Say, 'Here is a budget that we are putting forward that is about protecting health care, protecting Medicaid, protecting the students, protecting people who are vulnerable,'" Kim said.
"I think that’ll help us be able to show not just what we’re against and what we’re trying to stop, but what our vision for this country is," he added.
How the White House is handling Elon Musk and potential conflicts of interest
As the public face of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk has an expansive portfolio that spans across the many levers of government — and that could intersect with his wide range of business interests.
But unlike another high-profile “special government employee” working in Trump’s White House, AI and crypto czar David Sacks, there’s no evidence that Musk has obtained a conflict of interest waiver. Such a waiver would outline the steps he’s taken to avoid overlaps between his business interests and his government work, include an explanation from the White House counsel about why they feel comfortable with Musk’s arrangement, and it would identify areas where Musk has the green light to weigh in despite his business holdings.
Instead, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News that Musk has already pledged he’d avoid potential conflicts of interest and like all Trump-appointed “special government employees,” he’s “abiding by all applicable laws.”
Trump administration fires nearly all employees in civil rights branch at DHS
Nearly all of the employees working in the Department of Homeland Security's civil rights division were fired, a DHS spokesperson confirmed to NBC News today.
The spokesperson said the offices "have obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS’s mission."
"Rather than supporting law enforcement efforts, they often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations," the spokesperson said in a statement. "DHS remains committed to civil rights protections but must streamline oversight to remove roadblocks to enforcement. These reductions ensure taxpayer dollars support the Department’s core mission: border security and immigration enforcement.”
The firings were first reported by The New York Times.
The fired employees had worked to investigate allegations of civil rights abuses of citizens and immigrants by DHS personnel, including Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and conditions in CBP and ICE facilities.