Trump says Russia-Ukraine peace deal will happen 'fairly soon or it won’t be at all'

Sen. Alex Padilla of California, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said tonight that committee staff members "have verified that mass emails" from a human resources email address at the executive branch's Office of Personnel Management "were sent to multiple legislative branch offices and agencies.”

Padilla said he has sent a letter urging Musk and the acting director of OPM to cease emailing them as the recipients are not under their jurisdiction.

“Neither the White House nor DOGE nor OPM have any authority or legitimate purpose to mass email legislative branch offices and agencies demanding information from employees or to threaten adverse personnel actions,” the letter reads.

Trump has named Hung Cao, who was the Republican nominee for the Senate in Virginia last year, to be undersecretary of the Navy, he announced tonight.

"Hung is the embodiment of the American Dream. As a refugee to our Great Nation, Hung worked tirelessly to make proud the Country that gave his family a home," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"With Hung’s experience both in combat, and in the Pentagon, he will get the job done," he added.

Cao, a retired Navy captain, sought to unseat Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., last year but lost. He ran against Rep. Jennifer Wexton in 2022 but lost that race in Virginia's 10th Congressional District.

A federal judge today ordered at least one official from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to testify and provide documents in response to a lawsuit against the Trump administration by the American Federation of Labor and other unions.

It will be the first time someone involved with DOGE has been required to answer questions under oath from an attorney outside the government, potentially providing new insights into the operations of an organization that U.S. District Judge John Bates of Washington, D.C., characterized as “opaque” in his order.

The unions that filed the lawsuit are seeking to block DOGE from accessing Labor Department data, arguing that access to such sensitive information systems would violate the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

In his ruling, Bates said the request for information “will not overly burden” the DOGE official tasked with responding to the order.

Read the full story here.

The Trump administration filed a “notice of change of material facts,” saying it informed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that the State Department notified the plaintiffs that it has “immediately terminated” its refugee contract with the bishops conference as of today.

The Trump administration said it was doing so because the "award no longer effectuates agency priorities.” The administration goes on to say the termination of the agreement is a “contract dispute seeking more than $10,000” and is within the “jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims under the Tucker Act,” not the judge presiding over the case.

The bishops conference and the Trump administration had a court-ordered mediation session today, and as of now, they are set to appear tomorrow for a preliminary injunction hearing.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cut about 5% of its staff today as the Trump administration continues its effort to slim the federal workforce. 

It wasn’t immediately clear which workers had been targeted. The National Weather Service is a division of NOAA. The NOAA website said the agency has about 12,000 workers in total.

Francis Tarasiewicz, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Rhode Island, said he received a “pre-canned” email this afternoon notifying him he’d been terminated and saying his performance hadn’t lived up to expectations. 

“The hardest part for me is it’s my first month at the weather service and I had a meeting with my supervisor today, and he just told me how good I was doing,” Tarasiewicz said, adding that it took about six months to get hired. “To actually see it on an email and that I was fired for poor performance an hour after I’d been told the complete opposite was baffling and frustrating.”

Tarasiewicz said he'd started work at 5:30 a.m. and had worked on four to seven forecasts and airport forecasts, collected meteorological reports across the Northeast and briefed emergency management officials about weather conditions.

A federal judge today ordered the Office of Personnel Management to rescind earlier instructions telling agencies to “promptly determine whether these employees should be retained at the agency.” 

The directions, communicated in a Jan. 20 memo and a Feb. 14 internal email, are “illegal” and “should be stopped, rescinded,” U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California said. 

Read the full story here.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of well-established vaccines, said today that his department is tracking an outbreak of measles that has infected more than 100 people and killed a child in Texas. But he played down the consequence of the resurgence — 25 years after the disease had been thought to have been eradicated in the United States.

“We’re following the measles epidemic every day,” Kennedy said during Trump’s first Cabinet meeting since Trump was sworn in Jan. 20. “Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. ... So it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.”

Read the full story here.

Asked whether Starmer persuaded him not to impose tariffs on the U.K., Trump told reporters: "He tried; he was working hard. He earned whatever the hell they pay him over there.”

After allowing those in the room to laugh, Trump turned to a more serious note, telling reporters: "I think there's a very good chance that in the case of these two friendly countries, I think we can very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn't be necessary. We'll see.

"I'm very receptive to it," he added.

Trump said at his news conference that negotiations to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia are proceeding quickly.

"We’re working very hard to get that war brought to an end. I think we’ve made a lot of progress, and I think it’s moving along pretty rapidly," he said.

He added: "I want to thank all of the people that are here that have been working on it, and we’ll let you know what happens. It’ll either be fairly soon or it won’t be at all."

Trump said he updated Starmer about the peace talks during their meeting at the White House.

Asked whether he supports Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which expects member nations to come to one another's defense in the case of an attack, Trump told reporters: "I support it. I don't think we're going to have any reason for it."

"I think we're going to have a successful peace. I think it's going to be a very long-lasting peace," he added.

Trump said at his news conference with Starmer that he has accepted King Charles' invitation to visit and meet with him.

Starmer said he presented the king's invitation earlier today.

According to Starmer, it is the first time a U.S. president has been offered a second state visit.

One of the Justice Department's highest-ranking spokespeople, Joshua Stueve, submitted a resignation letter today, citing a "hostile and toxic work environment."

Stueve, senior communications adviser and spokesperson, said his last day will be tomorrow.

In his letter, obtained by NBC News, Stueve wrote that the outcome of the presidential election didn't influence his decision.

Former Vice President Mike Pence explained a viral moment at Jimmy Carter's memorial service involving his wife, Karen.

When Donald and Melania Trump walked into the Washington National Cathedral for the service in early January, Pence stood up to shake their hands, but Karen Pence remained sitting and ignored the incoming president and first lady.

“What I can tell you is, you know, I had a cordial exchange with the president and the first lady," Pence said on SiriusXM when host Steve Scully asked about the interaction.

"The president was coming down the row. Many people have seen it on television. And he greeted me and I stood up, extended my hand, and I said, ‘Congratulations, Mr. President.’ And I saw his countenance softened and he kind of lowered his voice and said, ‘Thanks, Mike,'" Pence said. "And the first lady reached out and I said, ‘Congratulations, Melania.’ And all I can tell you for sure is that my wife loves her husband, and her husband of 40 years married this year, respects his wife. We’ll just leave it at that.”

The Senate voted 51-47 to move Linda McMahon’s nomination for education secretary to a final vote. The vote was along party lines, and she needed a simple majority to advance.

McMahon’s final confirmation vote is scheduled for Monday evening, when the Senate returns.

“Look, I said what I said,” Vice President JD Vance told a reporter when asked about a recent speech condemning what he called “infringements on free speech” in the U.K. and other E.U. countries.

The remarks stoked uproar at the time, and Starmer, in the Oval Office with Vance and Trump, looked on as Vance reiterated the claim.

“We have had free speech for a very long time in the U.K.,” the British prime minister shot back. “I’m very proud of that.”

During an Oval Office meeting with Trump and Starmer, the president was asked whether the U.S. would come to the aid of British troops if they were attacked by Russia while on a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.

"You know, I’ve always found about the British, they don’t need much help. They can take care of themselves very well," Trump said after clarifying the question.

After some murmurs around the room, Trump admitted that his answer, "sounds like it’s evasive but it’s not evasive."

Asked by a reporter if he stands by his earlier comments calling Zelenskyy “a dictator,” Trump demurs.

“Did I say that?” Trump asks. “I can’t believe I said that. Next question.”

FBI Director Kash Patel, on a conference call with FBI leaders, proposed a marketing and recruiting partnership with the UFC, the popular mixed martial arts combat league, a source familiar with the call said. Patel told agents he wants to develop a formal relationship with UFC, which he said could advise the FBI on fitness training and provide a source of new recruits, the person said.

UFC President Dana White is a longtime friend of the president.

This was first reported by ABC News and the WSJ.

During their Oval Office meeting, Starmer corrected Trump's claim that European countries who provided aid to Ukraine “get their money back.”

"We don’t get the money back," Trump added, before blaming former President Joe Biden for not giving military aid in the form of a loan.

“We’re not getting all of [our aid back],” Starmer told Trump, adding: “Quite a bit of ours was given, was gifted.”

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, a gun violence survivor, wrote a letter to FBI Director and acting ATF Director Kash Patel, saying that the “amount and severity of gun crime in America is largely in your hands.”

Giffords, who was shot and nearly killed at a constituent meeting in Arizona in 2011, requested that Patel meet with her and a small group of gun violence survivors.

“Countless lives depend on your choice to rise above Washington’s partisan noise and competently lead tens of thousands of public servants, whose charge is fighting crime,” she wrote. “In your two jobs, putting ‘America First’ requires letting others handle the politics. Any official who occupies these two critical positions has a patriotic duty to place public safety above all else.”

She added, “Important positions such as yours leave long legacies. It is my sincere hope for you that decades from now, you and your family will look back on your tenure with pride at the lives you helped save. If that positive legacy is what you desire, failure — playing politics while guns remain the leading cause of death for American children and teenagers — is not an option.”

Crowds of supporters gathered outside the now-shuttered USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C., Thursday morning in a show of solidarity with recently terminated agency employees who were entering the building to clear out their desks as Trump’s dismantling of the agency reaches its final stages.

The crowd, holding up handmade signs including messages like "Thank you for your service," "We love USAID" and "compassion > cruelty" surrounded multiple building entrances. Supporters cheered as former USAID workers emerged with boxes of their possessions.

The outpouring of support comes days after thousands of USAID workers in the Washington office received letters notifying them of their termination and assigning them 15-minute windows to clear out their desks, a move first reported by The Associated Press.

The Trump administration announced earlier this week that it will eliminate 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts, a move that will cement the United States’ retreat from foreign assistance abroad and leave few existing USAID projects in its wake. 

Trump, as he greeted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House, said he was confident that Ukraine and Russia would secure a peace deal to bring the war to a close.

“We can,” Trump said when asked by a reporter if a deal could still be achieved. “We will.”

Starmer is in Washington to meet with Trump at a critical time in the U.S.-U.K. alliance, and as Ukraine continues to press for security guarantees from the U.S. and allied nations. 

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., was selected by Democrats to deliver the party's response to Trump's joint session address next week.

"Elissa Slotkin has dedicated her life to defending our country, serving the American people, and fighting for Michigan. As nothing short of a rising star in our party, Elissa has proven she can get things done: whether it’s fighting for lower costs, affordable healthcare, standing up for our economic and national security, or advocating for all families across Michigan," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Slotkin won the competitive Michigan Senate seat in November.

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker visited the White House today.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a picture with Butker, saying in the post to X, "You never know who you’re going to see at the White House! Great meeting Harrison Butker @buttkicker7 today!"

Butker made a controversial commencement speech in 2024, in which he told college graduates that he guessed most female students were "most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world." He criticized what he referred to as "diabolical lies" told to women.

Following criticism, Butker doubled down, saying he did not think he had to apologize for his comments.

Democratic lawmakers are investigating DOGE for what they call "alarming security failures" involving personal and national security information.

They wrote in a letter to Elon Musk today that his DOGE employees "fed sensitive data into artificial intelligence software, ordered an unauthorized email server to be connected to the government network, and have accidentally been given 'write' access to the U.S. Treasury payment system."

"DOGE employees do not appear to fully understand much of the information to which they have been given unfettered access, and given the cavalier and incompetent ways that they have handled this data, these individuals represent a clear threat to national security and the nation’s economy," said the letter, spearheaded by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, slammed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements downplaying the measles outbreak in West Texas as “glib,” referring to his previous false claims linking vaccines to autism.

Kennedy had said during a meeting with Trump’s Cabinet at the White House that “we have measles outbreaks every year.”

“It's come back in large part because parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children. Why? Because they've been scared of vaccine safety,” Offit told MSNBC today. “He has been shouting from the rooftop for 20 years that vaccines cause autism and, for that reason, we now have a generally undervaccinated population in many areas that put them at risk of this.”

Senators in the Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency Caucus, whose name is a play on Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, headed to the White House this morning to meet with that team's leader. 

The meeting was expected to be just with Musk, not Trump, according to two of the multiple senators and aides who confirmed the visit. Senators anticipate returning to Capital Hill by noon for a vote.

The visit comes after Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, attended a lunch yesterday with Senate Republicans, where the main topic of conversation appeared to be how DOGE works and the future of Musk’s efforts to slash the size of the federal government.

Some Senate and House Republicans have expressed frustration with the “chainsaw” approach Musk is taking to the federal government, particularly without communicating the cuts in advance to the Hill. 

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., said Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was "paranoid" for saying on CNN last night that people confronting GOP lawmakers over DOGE at town hall-style meetings were all “paid protesters.”

Johnson had also claimed the attendees were Democrats “who went to the events early and filled up the seats.”

“That’s enormously paranoid,” Houlahan told MSNBC. “Their job is to have these town halls and to listen to the feelings and concerns of their community. And the idea that somehow these are plants is ridiculous.”

When Trump meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war will be at the top of their agenda. The meeting comes amid a deepening rift between the U.S. and Europe over issues surrounding the war. NBC News’ Kelly Cobiella reports.

A judge ruled that the Trump administration would not be blocked from firing 19 CIA employees who were working on diversity, equity and inclusion-related programs at the agency.

The ruling was made by a federal judge in Virginia after the CIA employees sued.

Judge Anthony Trenga said that if fairness and morals were the standard by which he had to rule, he may have made a different decision, but the law dictated otherwise. 

“They had the misfortune of being last assigned to a DEI program,” Trenga said, calling it a “difficult situation.” 

Trump said today that 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico would go into effect Tuesday.

In a post on his Truth Social app, Trump said the tariffs were needed to combat the continued flow of illicit drugs into the United States.

“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA,” he wrote, adding that the tariffs would be imposed “until it stops, or is seriously limited.”

Trump also said reciprocal tariffs on major trading partners, which he threatened earlier this month, were set to take effect April 2.

Major stock indexes retreated on the news after notching earlier gains this morning. 

Read the full story.

ARLINGTON, Va — Virginia could be one of the states most affected by Trump’s moves to shrink the federal workforce, and this year’s race for governor will test whether the slashing approach is a political loser, winner or nonissue in a state that is home to more than 340,000 federal workers, according to census data. 

Already, there are signs of how the disruption could shape the state’s political climate: NBC News spoke with more than a dozen voters around the state who participated in past NBC News polls and said they were not strongly aligned with either party. All were aware of the ongoing federal layoffs, with some expressing deep concern about the effect on Virginia workers and those receiving federal benefits, though most were not yet tuned into the governor’s race.

As one of two states that holds races for governor the year after a presidential election, Virginia has long been seen as an early warning indicator in national politics, highlighting trends that drive the next year’s congressional campaigns, as well as the remainder of a president’s term.

Read the full story.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted today to send two top Justice Department nominees to the Senate floor for a vote.

The panel voted 12-10 along party lines to advance Todd Blanche's nomination to serve as deputy attorney general, and 20-2 to advance Abigail Slater's nomination to serve as assistant attorney general. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, voted against her.

It's not clear yet when they'll receive a floor vote in the full Senate.

Blanche previously served as Trump's personal lawyer, serving as a lead attorney on his legal team during his New York criminal trial last year.

Slater had worked in Vice President JD Vance's Senate office, and Trump nominated her to lead the DOJ's antitrust division.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee voted to advance Trump's nominee for labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, to a full Senate vote.

A total of 14 senators voted in favor of her nomination, and nine were opposed.

Those who supported the nominee included three Democrats: Tim Kaine of Virginia, John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.

One Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against advancing her nomination.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., confirmed to NBC News that she plans to support Trump's labor secretary nominee, Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

"The Department of Labor plays an integral role in supporting workers and small businesses alike, and after hearing significant support from constituents, including members of labor unions in New Hampshire, I will support Representative Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination as Secretary of Labor," Hassan said in a statement, which was first reported by Politico.

"Though we may not agree on everything, after meeting with Representative Chavez-DeRemer and listening to her testimony during her confirmation hearing, I believe that she is qualified to serve as the next Secretary of Labor and I look forward to working with her to support New Hampshire’s workers and small businesses," Hassan added.

Chavez-DeRemer has also been endorsed by the Teamsters union.

Trump said this morning that his proposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada will go into effect Tuesday, and that China will be charged an additional 10% tariff on that date.

The sweeping 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada were paused Feb. 3 for one month. But the Trump administration had recently sown confusion about whether they would go back into effect when the delays expired.

In a Truth Social post, Trump clarified that they would. He claimed that illicit drugs “are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” despite pledges from both U.S. neighbors to boost their efforts to police their borders.

Read the full story.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, expressed optimism during a Fox News interview about a rare-earth mineral deal with Ukraine.

"I think it’s a really a good sign that President Zelenskyy will be here tomorrow," Witkoff said, referring to the Ukrainian president's expected visit to the U.S. "The president is eager to get this behind us and move on to get a peace deal done between Ukraine and Russia."

Witkoff has been involved in talks with Ukraine and Russia about ending the war. As part of the talks, Trump and Zelenskyy are working on a deal on Ukraine's provision of rare-earth minerals in return for security assistance.

Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat who represents a swing district in Michigan, said today that a recent town hall in a conservative area turned into an airing of concerns from right-leaning voters about DOGE, Musk and transparency. 

“We thought we were going to hear all kinds of pushback against me, you know, trying to hold Trump and Musk accountable,” she said during an interview on MSNBC's "Way Too Early."

“But what we heard was story after story from people who were terrified about the rampant cuts [and] who were horrified that an unelected billionaire, Trump’s top campaign donor, has potentially access to their taxpayer data."

"When I told them about my bill, The Clear Act and the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, they stood up and cheered because they were so grateful to see someone pushing back against this agenda, against something that completely cuts them out of this process," she added.

Yesterday, House Speaker Mike Johnson baselessly claimed that paid Democratic actors were behind the recent anti-DOGE sentiments toward Republican lawmakers at town hall-style events.

Trump has set his sights on abolishing the U.S. Education Department and has said he’d prefer to put education policy in the hands of the states. 

But that may not be so simple, with state officials and lawmakers saying they’re wildly unprepared for such a huge undertaking.

Read the full story.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who ran the European Council during Trump's first term, defended the E.U. after the president said yesterday that the bloc was formed "to screw" the U.S.

"The E.U. wasn’t formed to screw anyone. Quite the opposite. It was formed to maintain peace, to build respect among our nations, to create free and fair trade, and to strengthen our transatlantic friendship. As simple as that," Tusk said on X.

At his Cabinet meeting yesterday, Trump said he planned to slap 25% tariffs on imports from the E.U., saying that the union of countries was formed "to screw" the U.S.

"That’s the purpose of it, and they’ve done a good job of it," Trump added.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., said she tried to change Trump's mind over New York City's congestion pricing by appealing to him as a New Yorker.

"He's got property here. He understands — we want to make sure that this city keeps moving," Hochul said during an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today. "So I was just trying to appeal to him as a New Yorker, and say, 'This is good for New York.'"

She said that she hoped that Trump would "give us another chance to prove" that New York City is a "model" with congestion pricing, which she said would reduce traffic and "improve the quality of life dramatically for everyone who lives in this district."

Trump had celebrated the administration's push to end federal approval of the congestion pricing plan, which implements a car toll to raise money for the transit system.

A Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled for March to select the strains to be included in next season’s flu shot has been canceled, a panel member said yesterday.

Federal health officials notified members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the cancellation in an email, said committee member Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The email, Offit said, offered no explanation for the scrapped meeting.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cancellation comes as the United States is in the midst of a particularly severe flu season. So far, 86 children and 19,000 adults have died this season, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In less than two weeks, Trump has upended America’s long-standing role in the world.

At the United Nations on Monday, in the same hall where U.S. diplomats for decades confronted their Russian counterparts on behalf of the “free world,” Washington’s envoy joined Moscow in voting against a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The vote followed a week in which Trump seemed to side with Russia against Ukraine, announcing plans to negotiate a peace deal without Ukraine at the table, and blaming Kyiv for starting the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched with a full-scale invasion three years ago.

Governments in Europe and democracies around the world are treating Trump’s actions and statements not as provocative posturing, but as an earthquake.

Read the full story.

The Supreme Court is temporarily blocking District Court Judge Amir Ali’s order for the federal government to release more than $2 billion in frozen foreign aid funding by midnight tonight, giving the justices time to consider the case more fully. This means the government will not be in violation of any court’s order if officials don’t meet Ali’s deadline. 

Chief Justice John Roberts asked for any responses to the application to be filed before tomorrow at noon. 

Read the full story.

Trump this afternoon is expected to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House. The two will hold a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office followed by a press conference.

Starmer, as French President Emanuel Macron did during a visit Monday, is expected to reaffirm his support for Ukraine as Trump moves to quickly end the war through direct negotiations with Russia.

“The world is becoming ever more dangerous, and it is more important than ever that we are united with our allies," Starmer said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

The British Embassy said in a statement that Starmer "will reiterate the UK’s commitment to securing a just and enduring peace, bringing an end to Russia’s illegal war."