Trump muses about a third term and sending U.S. convicts overseas

Despite concerns about the future of research at the National Institutes of Health, current clinical trials can continue as scheduled, the agency’s acting director told staff scientists in an email today.

The clarification followed what staffers called “chaos” Wednesday when the Trump administration “paused” all communications from federal health agencies and suspended all government travel. The directive left NIH staff members with unanswered questions about their work and even whether they’d be able to continue caring for their patients.

The acting director, Matthew Memoli, a longtime infectious disease expert and flu vaccine researcher at the NIH, wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, that he sought to clear up “confusion on the scope of the pause.”

Read the full story here.

Three pregnant women from Seattle have sued the Trump administration over Trump's executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship.

The three women do not have permanent residency or citizenship status, and two of whom have applied for asylum. Their due dates would fall after the executive order goes into effect, 30 days after Trump signed it. As a result, their children would be considered without status.

The class-action suit, filed Friday, names Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman, among other government officials, as defendants.

Trump told reporters tonight that he plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "in the not too distant future," saying Netanyahu is coming to Washington to meet with him.

Asked for details about the timing, Trump responded: "Very soon."

Netanyahu made his last trip to the White House in July to meet President Joe Biden. He also addressed lawmakers at a joint session on Capitol Hill.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump announced that he signed four executive orders tonight.

The first reinstated members of the military who were terminated or forced to separate because of vaccination mandates; the second established a process to develop an "American Iron Dome," or a comprehensive missile defense shield around the United States; the third eliminated "gender radicalism" within the military; and the fourth eliminated DEI services and offices within the military.

Trump also announced he had signed a proclamation commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Trump said today that the sudden rise of the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek “should be a wake-up call” for America’s tech companies as the runaway popularity of yet another Chinese app presented new questions for the administration and congressional leaders. 

Trump said he still expected U.S. tech companies to dominate artificial intelligence, but he acknowledged the challenge posed by DeepSeek, a low-cost AI assistant that rose to No. 1 on the Apple app store over the weekend.

“The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser focused on competing,” he said as he traveled in Florida.

Read the full story here.

Google today said its maps will use names for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico favored by Trump — Mount McKinley and Gulf of America — when federal maps make the switch.

In an executive order signed on his first day back in office on Jan. 20, Trump ordered the interior secretary to make the changes within 30 days.

Trump’s order said the new names would need to be reflected in the federal Geographic Names Information System run by the U.S. Geological Survey, part of the Interior Department. Spokespeople for the survey did not immediately respond to requests for comment today.

Read the full story here.

Flights to the United States out of Kabul for Afghans who received special visas for their work with the U.S. government have been suspended, three sources with Afghan advocacy organizations said.

Last week, the State Department’s office overseeing refugee admissions informed nonprofit organizations in a memo that all refugee resettlement activities were suspended. But the memo said flights for Afghans who have special immigrant visas would continue.

However, the flights for Special Immigrant Visa holders are now halted, said Shawn Van Diver of the advocacy group #AfghanEvac and two other sources with knowledge of the matter.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that it has ended diversity, equity and inclusion activities and initiatives following Trump’s executive order last week aimed at halting DEI programs in the federal government.

The VA said in a news release that it placed nearly 60 employees solely focused on DEI on paid administrative leave and that it is working to cancel contracts for DEI-related training, materials and consulting services.

According to the VA, the workers’ combined salaries total more than $8 million, and the combined value of the contracts is more than $6 million.

A number of Senate Republicans have problems with Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, citing pro-union stances she has taken in the past that clash with the business community.

“I’m not going to support her,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a senior member of the committee that will oversee her nomination, told NBC News today. “I’m the national spokesman and lead author of the right-to-work bill. Her support for the PRO Act, which would not only oppose national right to work but would pre-empt state law on right to work — I think it’s not a good thing.

“And it’d be sort of hard for me, since it’s a big issue for me, to support her. So I won’t support her. I think she’ll lose 15 Republicans,” Paul added, predicting she would win some Democrats because “she’s very pro-labor.”

Read the full story here.

From cultural musicians’ being banned from performing to diversity-related posters’ being taken down, federal agency workers say professional groups meant to support employees, many of whom are from marginalized backgrounds, are under threat from Trump’s executive order that seeks to end government employee diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Several workers across federal agencies told NBC News that their employee resource groups (ERGs), which are voluntary, employee-led affinity groups, have been put on pause, with meetings and events abruptly canceled to comply with the executive order. Others involved in the ERGs said they pre-emptively shut down their groups themselves or removed their email distribution lists out of fear that any potential noncompliance with the directive could threaten their jobs.  

The impact, workers say, has been devastating, and it ha already begun to change the work environment for the worse.

Read the full story here.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., just teed up the next four Trump nominees who will get confirmation votes in the coming days:

• Lee Zeldin — Environmental Protection Agency administrator
• Doug Burgum — Secretary of the interior
• Chris Wright — Secretary of energy
• Doug Collins — Secretary of veteran affairs

The confirmation vote for Sean Duffy’s nomination for transportation secretary will happen next, at noon tomorrow. The rest of the votes will have to navigate procedural hurdles throughout the rest of the week.

More than 50 civil career servants and foreign service officers at the U.S. Agency for International Development were placed on administrative leave this afternoon effective immediately, two former USAID officials, one current agency official and one source directly familiar with the decision told NBC News.

In addition to striking at senior leadership in bureaus across the agency, the action specifically targeted senior attorneys, according to the two former USAID officials and one current official.

USAID employees were informed of the decision late Monday afternoon.

Read the full story here.

Trump said repeat criminal offenders could be moved overseas to countries where the United States would pay a small fee. He billed it as a cost-saving measure.

“I want them out of our country,” Trump said at a conference for House Republicans in Miami. “I also will be seeking permission to do so — we’re going to get approval, hopefully, to get them the hell out of our country … let them be brought to a foreign land and maintained by others for a very small fee.”

Trump added that doing so would avert using U.S. private prisons, which he said “charge us a fortune.”

The Senate confirmed Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund executive and top donor to Trump's campaign, as treasury secretary in a 68-29 vote tonight.

Sixteen Democrats voted with all Republicans to confirm him.

Trump, speaking to House Republicans in Miami today, mused about running again for re-election and how he’ll spend the money he has raised.

“I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100% sure,” he said. “I think I’m not allowed to run again.”

A House Republican last week introduced a measure that would set in motion the process to adopt a constitutional amendment allowing Trump to seek a third term.

The Justice Department said today that it fired several career lawyers involved in prosecuting Trump, escalating his campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies.

The employees worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation that led to now-dismissed indictments against Trump over his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Today, Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated the employment of a number of DOJ officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” a Justice Department official wrote to NBC News. “In light of their actions, the Acting Attorney General does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda. This action is consistent with the mission of ending the weaponization of government.”

Read the full story here.

An Indiana man who was recently pardoned for his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was shot and killed during a traffic stop by a sheriff’s deputy yesterday.

Matthew Huttle, 42, was involved in a traffic stop at 4:15 p.m. yesterday with a Jasper County sheriff’s deputy, a news release said. Huttle is alleged to have resisted arrest during the traffic stop and was found to have a firearm on him.

“An altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect,” the release said.

Read the full story here.

Speaker Johnson defended Trump’s slew of controversial executive orders and actions today, calling it a “new moment to re-evaluate everything the federal government does” and saying, “Everything is on the table.”

Addressing Trump’s decision over the weekend to fire 18 inspectors general at various federal agencies, Johnson replied: “Sometimes you need a fresh look.” Pressed by NBC News about Trump’s aggressive migrant deportations, Johnson said that voters gave Trump a “mandate to fix this problem” and that “everyone can take a deep breath.”

And about Trump’s recent comments that the Federal Emergency Management Agency needs to be overhauled or perhaps eliminated, Johnson, whose home state, Louisiana, has a long history of hurricane damage, pointed to “frustration” with FEMA leadership and said, “The president is right to assess that.”

Read the full story here.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and a member of the Danish Parliament representing Greenland issued a joint statement today saying the territory is "not for sale."

The statement said the United States must view Greenland as "an ally, not an asset."

“Of course, a businessman turned president would be interested. But Greenland is not for sale,” they said. “The United States, like Denmark, should recognize that the future will be defined by partnership, not ownership. To ensure our alliance reaches its full potential, Americans must view Greenland as an ally, not an asset. Open for business, but not for sale.”

In his first social media post since he left office last week, former President Joe Biden commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"It’s our responsibility to stand up to antisemitism and give hate no safe harbor," Biden wrote on X.

The acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Ed Martin, has announced a “special project” to investigate the use of the 1512 obstruction charge that was brought against hundreds of the more than 1,500 Capitol attack defendants pardoned by Trump, sources familiar with the matter said.

Martin said he was appointing two officials to look at the use of the 1512 charge and ordered them to issue a preliminary report by Friday.

“Obviously, the use was a great failure of our office ... and we need to get to the bottom of it,” Martin wrote before he asked workers to deliver “all files, documents, notes, emails and other information” about the use of the charge.

A group of immigrants rights organizations in Chicago sued the Trump administration yesterday to stop ICE raids in the city, arguing they “are retaliatory in nature and violate the First Amendment.”

The advocacy groups, represented by Just Futures Law and the Civil Rights Clinic of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, are seeking an emergency hearing to obtain a temporary restraining order against ICE as they seek a long-term end to the raids.

Chicago has designated itself a sanctuary city under the Welcoming City Ordinance, which means it does not ask its residents about immigration status, disclose that information to law enforcement authorities or deny city services based on immigration status.

Speaker Johnson said today he hasn't spoken to Trump after he threatened to withhold aid to California wildfire victims if voter ID laws are not established.

"We've got to work out the details of that. I have not spoken to the president about that issue since he said that," Johnson said. "Listen, there are a lot of issues going on in California, and we have been lamenting the lack of voter security there for some time."

Johnson said he plans to discuss the matter with Trump when they have dinner this evening at the House GOP Leadership Conference. He also called the idea a "commonsense notion."

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended Trump's recent firing of 18 inspectors general.

"We want to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse in every way possible. The president is committed to that, and we are, as well," Johnson said at Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida. "But sometimes you have to begin a new page and start with a fresh start."

The Trump administration said the terminations were an effort to let go of Biden-era officials who didn't "align" with the new administration.

Trump is expected to sign executive orders to restrict transgender people’s military service and crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the military.

The order about transgender service members and potential recruits will reinstate a policy Trump issued during his first term and rescind an order President Joe Biden issued that allowed trans people to enlist and permitted currently enlisted trans service members to get coverage for transition-related medical care. 

Read the full story there.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., defended his meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago before the inauguration amid criticism from some on the left.

Calling the visit a "positive experience," Fetterman said in an interview on ABC’s “The View” that Trump was "kind" and "cordial."

"I’d like more bipartisan kinds of things," he added. "You are going to agree with things, and you’re going to disagree on things. ... I’m going to pick my fights."

The two met at Trump's Florida property this month, and after the meeting, Trump called Fetterman a "common-sense person" in an interview with The Washington Examiner.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes can once again come and go from Washington, D.C., including the Capitol, a federal judge said in a court filing today.

U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta wrote that the court will vacate an order last week that added "location restrictions" to defendants because, he said, it would be "improper" for the court to modify their original sentences after Trump commuted them.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say 956 people were arrested in raids across the country on Sunday, and 2,681 arrests have been made since Trump’s inauguration. Border czar Tom Homan confirmed to NBC News that some of those arrests were “collaterals," not criminals.

Trump is expected to sign four executive orders today, including one related to Covid vaccine requirements within the military and one that would create a defense system for the U.S. like Israel's Iron Dome.

Under the first executive order, U.S. service members who were dismissed from the military for refusing to take the Covid vaccine would be reinstated with full back pay and benefits. The order said "government redress of these wrongful dismissals is overdue."

Another order would create an "Iron Dome for America," named after the air defense system that protects Israel from rockets and missiles. It would implement "a next generation missile defense shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next generation aerial attacks," according to the White House.

In his first interview since stepping down from a lead position at ICE, the agency’s former acting director, Patrick Lechleitner, told Andrea Mitchell he “couldn’t agree more” with Trump border czar Tom Homan’s argument that ICE should have unrestricted access to jails in sanctuary cities. 

“It’s when they release people and don’t tell us things become challenging,” Lechleitner said of jails releasing undocumented immigrants without communicating their immigration status to ICE. “All of a sudden, these individuals are very difficult to identify. They’re in the community. Now we have to get a fugitive operations team together.”

Homan made the case to NBC News for unrestricted ICE access to jails in sanctuary cities in an interview at the southern border last week. Homan declined to put a price tag on Trump’s sprawling mass deportation agenda, but said the estimated $86 billion is a “great start.” 

Lechleitner, when asked about the cost of sustaining the expansive ICE operations, said, “This is going to require a lot of money to keep this up and sustain it. That’s where Congress comes in.”

Corey Amundson, the head of the public integrity unit at the Justice Department, has resigned, NBC News has learned. 

NBC News reported last week that Amundson was among the DOJ officials who had been informed they were being reassigned to the effort to take legal action against so-called sanctuary cities.

Amundson would have had to sign off on parts of the Jack Smith investigation, under Justice Department policy.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Trump’s push to quickly overhaul the nation’s immigration system is at the center of a civil war between Republicans in Florida, with Gov. Ron DeSantis facing off against the GOP-dominated state Legislature.

DeSantis earlier this month called lawmakers back to Tallahassee for a special legislative session with the explicit purpose of aligning state law with an expected wave of immigration-focused executive orders from Trump.

But Republican leaders in both the state House and Senate, who had previously panned DeSantis’ plans as “premature,” abruptly ended the special session Monday morning and quickly called their own. 

The move effectively killed all the legislation already filed by DeSantis’ allies, and allowed Republican leadership to draw up their own immigration proposals, including language that puts the governor in a tricky political position. The plan from legislative leaders would take sweeping immigration oversight authority away from DeSantis and move it to Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, a statewide elected official who is eyeing a run for governor in 2026 and has had an icy relationship with DeSantis.

Read the full story here.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said agents detained almost 50 people, including suspected members of a Venezuelan gang, during a raid on a private party in Colorado. NBC Denver affiliate KUSA's Angeline McCall reports.

Navajo citizens in Southwestern states have reported “negative, sometimes traumatizing experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants” in the week since Trump issued a series of strict immigration-related executive orders, according to Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren. 

In a statement Friday, Nygren said that “recent reports of negative interactions with federal immigration agents have raised concerns that have prompted fear and anxiety among our community members,” noting his office has been inundated with calls from Navajo citizens in Arizona and New Mexico reporting interactions with federal immigration agents who have asked them for proof of citizenship. 

Nygren urged Navajo citizens to remain “calm and assured” in their interactions with federal immigration enforcement officials and announced that his office has set up a hotline to field related tips and complaints. 

“It’s best to be prepared,” Nygren said. He advised Navajo citizens to carry their certificates of Indian blood, official documents issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that designates Native American ancestry, when they are in public. Nygren also recommended citizens carry state-issued identification, like driver's licenses, saying “it can provide an additional layer of reassurance.”

Senate Democrats introduced a resolution today to condemn Trump's blanket pardons rioters found guilty of assaulting police officers in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

“I refuse to allow President Trump to rewrite what happened on January 6th—armed insurrectionists, incited by Trump himself, broke into the U.S. Capitol and violently assaulted Capitol Police officers in their attempt to overthrow a free and fair election,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who led the initiative alongside Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Andy Kim, D-N.J., said in a release.

Sen. John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania, was the final Democrat to sign the resolution, bringing it unanimous support from the chamber's Democrats.

Murray told NBC News she will try to get Senate approval of the resolution this week by a procedure known as unanimous consent, meaning if just one Republican senator objects, the measure won't be adopted.

One of the inspectors general fired by Trump last week, Hannibal "Mike" Ware, warned in an interview on MSNBC this morning that the president's terminations of 18 of them amount to a "threat to democracy."

He said the reason given for his firing was "changing priorities of the administration."

"The reason that is alarming is because IGs are not a part of any administration," Ware said. "IGs oversee how the priorities of the administration is being conducted to make sure that there is transparency in government, and to make sure that there’s no fraud waste and abuse, and how taxpayer funds are being expended."

Doug Emhoff will be returning to practicing law after ending his time as second gentleman in Washington, D.C.

Emhoff has joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, a corporate law firm, as a partner, a release from the firm today aid. His practice will focus on "advising corporations, boards of directors, and individuals on their most consequential business challenges, sensitive investigations, and complex litigation, including matters with significant reputational concerns that are international in scope, and emerging legal issues across industries and sectors," it said.

“I am delighted to be joining Willkie, where I am looking forward to working alongside trusted and innovative legal counselors,” Emhoff said in the release.

While the firm says Emhoff will split his time between New York and Los Angeles, it also added that he will continue to serve as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washingon.

Trump has signed an executive order seeking to circumvent federal and state laws dealing with California’s water system in an effort to provide the southern part of the state with necessary water resources to fight wildfires.

Almost immediately after the onset of the recent spate of wildfires in Los Angeles, “firefighters were unable to fight the blaze due to dry hydrants, empty reservoirs, and inadequate water infrastructure,” the executive order said.

Trump’s order said the wildfire disaster has affected the entire country and it’s in the nation’s “interest to ensure that California has what it needs to prevent and fight these fires and others in the future.”

“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to provide Southern California with necessary water resources, notwithstanding actively harmful State or local policies,” the order said.

Read the full story here.

On arriving at the Pentagon for his first day in the office as defense secretary, Pete Hegseth told reporters said he supports the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, who was under threat of being fired by Trump.

“I’m standing with him right now, I look forward to working with him," Hegseth said.

Trump had floated the idea of firing Brown, but after a meeting with him changed his mind. Trump's team originally considered firing any military leaders it deemed too focused on diversity initiatives. Brown's term ends in 2027.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state Military Department today to deploy the Texas Tactical Border Force to the Rio Grande Valley to coordinate with the U.S. Border Patrol.

Departing from military bases in Fort Worth and Houston this morning, the force will surge more than 400 additional soldiers, as well as C-130s and Chinook helicopters, to join thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers already deployed on the border. 

“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” Abbott said in a statement. “To support that mission, today, I deployed the Texas Tactical Border Force, comprised of hundreds of troops, to work side-by-side with U.S. Border Patrol agents to stop illegal immigrants from entering our country and to enforce immigration laws."

CLEVELAND — Vivek Ramaswamy has landed Vice President JD Vance’s top political advisers to guide his soon-to-be-launched bid for governor of Ohio, a source involved in the planning told NBC News.

The hirings followed conversations between Vance and Ramaswamy over the last two weeks, said this person, who was granted anonymity to share details of private discussions.

The hirings also signal that Vance’s team, which overlaps in places with President Donald Trump’s, is fully behind Ramaswamy and that Vance himself is comfortable loaning out his advisers’ talents to him. Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who has known Vance since their studies at Yale Law School, last week parted ways with the new Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, just as the federal spending watchdog project was getting off the ground.

“Expect Vivek to announce his candidacy in mid-February,” the source said.

Read the full story here.

The U.S. Air Force said yesterday that it will resume instruction of trainees using a video about the first Black airmen in the U.S. military, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, which has passed review to ensure compliance with Trump’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Trump, who took office Jan. 20, has prohibited DEI throughout the U.S. government and the U.S. military. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was sworn in Friday, has made eliminating DEI from the military a top priority.

Reuters reported Saturday that the video about the Tuskegee Airmen, as well as another about civilian women pilots trained by the U.S. military during World War II, known as “Women Air Force Service Pilots,” or WASPs, were not being taught in basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland pending a review.

Read the full story here.

Trump said Saturday that he has asked the king of Jordan to take in more Palestinians, adding that they should leave to “clean out” the Gaza Strip.

The president’s comments, which key figures from Israel’s far right have taken as a boost, came as thousands of Palestinians waited to return to their homes in northern Gaza after the Israeli government accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points.

“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday.

“I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” he added.

Read the full story here.

The Senate is expected to vote later today on Trump's nomination of Scott Bessent to serve as treasury secretary. The vote is set for 5:30 p.m.

The chamber voted Saturday to advance Bessent's nomination to a final confirmation vote. Saturday's vote was 67 to 23, with more than a dozen Democrats joining Republicans in supporting Bessent.

The White House said Colombia has agreed to Trump’s deportation terms, after a standoff led to the prospect of a trade war. The saga began earlier yesterday when Colombia denied entry to deportation flights from the U.S., prompting Trump to threaten retaliatory tariffs, among other measures. NBC Alice Barr reports for "Early TODAY."

Yesterday, Trump threatened retaliatory tariffs, among other measures, against Colombia when the country blocked military deportation flights from the United States.

Last night, the White House said that Colombia "has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay."

Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said in remarks delivered in Spanish that the country "will continue to receive Colombians deported, guaranteeing them dignified conditions as citizens subject to rights."

Trump is expected to join House Republicans at their annual retreat, which starts today.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said earlier this month that the president would join his chamber at the retreat, which is taking place today through Wednesday at the Trump National Doral golf club in Miami.