Trump says key Education Department programs will shift to other agencies

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In response, Trump rescinded his executive order that targeted the firm and could have cost it significant business.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.

Read the full story here.

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 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 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.”

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.

Read the full story here.

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.

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.

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.”

Read the full story here.

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.

Trump expressed confidence at the White House this afternoon that the war in Ukraine will imminently reach an end despite Russian President Vladimir Putin not yet agreeing to a ceasefire proposal negotiated in part by the U.S.

"We had a couple of good conversations today, and maybe we can get that death march stopped as soon as possible," Trump told reporters.

It is unclear exactly what conversations Trump was referencing, but earlier this week he spoke to both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump revealed after his call with Putin on Tuesday that the Russian leader agreed to temporarily pause attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Putin, however, declined to immediately accept the 30-day ceasefire proposal endorsed by Trump and accepted by Zelenskyy. The president told reporters today that he did not give Putin a deadline to accept the ceasefire proposal, but Trump was confident an agreement would be reached.

The Department of Health and Human Services has identified more than 100 federal advisory committees that it has “scheduled to be terminated,” including panels that advise on infant and maternal mortality, organ transplants, blood products, sickle cell disease and cancer research.

The move is in response to an executive order from Trump that seeks to reduce the size of the "federal bureaucracy." The committees targeted are not mandated by Congress but provide a forum for medical experts and scientists to get together and advise the agency on health care policy.

The full list of advisory committees was obtained by NBC News.

An email sent to agency staff this afternoon asked employees to indicate if any of the committees were “absolutely necessary” and if so, to describe the specific administrative priority being met, why the committee is essential, whether it is in the public interest, and confirm that the agency head agrees that the committee should not be terminated.

One of the deportees sent to El Salvador on a finding he was a member of a Venezuelan gang wasn't Venezuelan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said in court today.

Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, one of the attorneys for Venezuelan nationals combating Trump's efforts to deport them using the wartime Alien Enemies Act, said he would be submitting a court filing alleging the government made numerous mistakes with its deportation flights on Saturday.

He said several of the deportees were sent back to the U.S. after being taken to El Salvador, which had agreed to imprison alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang. One of those returned was not actually Venezuelan, Gelernt said.

Others were women, which the country had refused to take, the attorney said.

Trump’s Justice Department filed a motion seeking to disqualify U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell from presiding over a case challenging a Trump-issued executive order that targets prominent Seattle-based law firm Perkins Coie for its past legal work. 

The DOJ motion comes after Howell granted the law firm’s request for a temporary restraining order that sought to prevent parts of Trump’s executive order, which the firm argues is designed to punish its lawyers for their work investigating Trump’s link to Russia during the 2016 election cycle on behalf of the Democratic opposition, from taking effect. 

In granting the temporary restraining order, Howell said the executive order “threatens the very foundation of our legal system” by punishing lawyers for doing work the administration deems unfavorable to its image. 

Now, the DOJ wants Howell off the case, alleging “this Court has repeatedly demonstrated partiality against and animus towards the President.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was grilled by town hall attendees today about the congressional response to sweeping policy changes from the administration. The town hall was in Franklin County, Iowa, this morning, with over 120 people in attendance, according to an X post by the lawmaker, 

In a clip posted by the Des Moines Register, one attendee asked: “Where is Congress?” while sharing frustrations about Elon Musk trying “to ruin the country.” 

Several federal judges expressed frustration this week with how Trump’s administration is pushing forward his sweeping agenda, as the president and his allies got even more aggressive in their criticism of the judiciary.

Read the full story here.

The General Services Administration is launching a new artificial intelligence tool for government use, designed to support staff at the agency in their regular, daily work, with the goal of rolling it out to other federal agencies in the near future. 

GSA began building the technology 18 months ago under the Biden administration, focusing on the security and privacy of the AI tool, a GSA spokesperson tells NBC News.

The decision to develop the tool internally was driven by concerns within the department about the risks of using commercially available AI tools, according to a GSA official familiar with the development of the tool. The tool was ultimately built internally to ensure it meets government security requirements.

Read the full story here.

The Trump administration is stepping up its review of federal agencies’ contracts with consulting companies, warning in a letter to the 10 highest-paid consulting firms doing government work that they must submit scorecards justifying their contracts without using consulting “jargon or gobbledygook,” according to a letter obtained by NBC News.

The letter — sent by Josh Gruenbaum, who leads cost-cutting efforts at the GSA — requests new information on the companies’ billions of dollars worth of government contracts, broken out by agency.

Each firm that received this letter must detail their pricing structure and look for cuts that can be made using “simple layman terms (a 15 year old should be able to understand what service you provide and why it is important),” Gruenbaum wrote.

The U.S. denied allegations that a French scientist was turned away at the border over his political beliefs.

Philippe Baptiste, the French minister of higher education and research, said the unidentified researcher was denied entry to the U.S. earlier this month while traveling to a conference near Houston.

U.S. authorities found his phone “contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policies,” Baptiste said in a statement.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said that was “not true.”

“The French researcher in question was in possession of confidential information on his electronic device from Los Alamos National Laboratory,” in violation of a nondisclosure agreement, she wrote on X last night, “something he admitted to taking without permission and attempted to conceal.”

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., are demanding information from the Defense Department about Elon Musk's meeting this morning at the Pentagon.

"Did the Pentagon today provide Mr. Musk with a top-secret briefing today on U.S. war plans for China?" Warren and Duckworth asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a letter obtained exclusively by NBC News.

They sought additional details about the briefing, including whether the Pentagon changed its original plans for the meeting after initial public reports came out about it. The two senators also asked what clearance processes were in place for Musk to receive the information that he did.

The complaint filed by a bipartisan coalition alleging that a political group affiliated with Elon Musk violated state campaign finance laws as part of its spending efforts in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race will move forward.

Following a preliminary review, the Wisconsin Ethics Commission found that the complaint was “sufficient to proceed to consideration by the Commission,” according to an email from the commission obtained by NBC News.

According to Wisconsin statutes, that effectively means that the commission found the complaint to contain “sufficient allegations to establish that a violation” of certain Wisconsin campaign finance laws “has potentially occurred.”

Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, who has long called for the federal government to open up more documents about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, refrained from immediately weighing in on the tranche of files released this week by the Trump administration.

"Oliver is holding off on commenting on anything regarding the JFK files until he’s able to familiarize himself with the new materials," a representative for Stone said in an email to NBC News this week.

Stone directed the 1991 film "JFK," a dizzying exploration of the conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy's killing. The movie focuses on former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison (played by Kevin Costner) who distrusted the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

The director has said the movie was intended to serve as a "counter-myth" and a deep dive into the country's "untold history." It surveys a sprawling cast of potential culprits, including the CIA, the Mafia, Cuban freedom fighters and the military-industrial complex amid the war in Vietnam.

The batch of Kennedy files released this week did not immediately appear to contain any narrative-shifting bombshells about Kennedy's killing, though some of the files reveal the 35th president's skepticism of the CIA.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to call a snap federal election on Sunday that is expected to be held on April 28, The Globe and Mail reported, with the campaign likely to be dominated by anger over Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports and calls to make Canada the 51st state.

Carney has not yet made a final decision on April 28 as the election date, the newspaper reported yesterday, citing two sources who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss campaign plans and strategy. His office has not responded to an NBC News request for comment.

Carney, the newly elected leader of Canada’s governing Liberal Party, became prime minister last Friday after his predecessor and fellow Liberal, the highly unpopular Justin Trudeau, stepped down after almost a decade in power amid criticism over his response to 25% tariffs that Trump has imposed on Canadian imports.

The center-left Liberals are now in a tight race with the Conservative Party, after Trump’s actions and rhetoric prompted a surge in Canadian nationalism and support for the Liberals that erased the Conservatives’ double-digit lead in the polls in a matter of weeks.

Trump said this afternoon that people who were deported to El Salvador by his administration went through a rigorous vetting process.

"I was told that they went through a very strong vetting process, and that that will also be continuing in El Salvador, and if there’s anything like that we would certainly want to find out," Trump said in response to a reporter asking about reports that some who were deported weren't criminals.

"These were a bad group. This was a bad group, and they were in bad areas, and they were with a lot of other people that were absolutely killers, murderers, and people that were really bad with the worst records you’ve ever seen," Trump added. "And, but we will continue that process, absolutely we don’t want to make that kind of a mistake."

Families of the Venezuelan immigrants who were recently deported say they were shocked to see their loved ones sent to a megaprison in El Salvador and deny that they have links to the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua, NBC News reported this week.

Trump criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who ran as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket last year, while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office this afternoon.

“He lost an election. He played a part. You know, usually a vice president doesn’t play a part, they say. I think Tim played a part. I think he was so bad that he hurt her, but she hurt herself,” Trump said.

Trump’s comments come as Walz has re-emerged on the national stage this week. The Minnesota governor returned to Wisconsin for the first time since the 2024 campaign to rally support for the Democratic candidate in the state's highly contested Supreme Court race.

During the Wisconsin event and in an interview on California Gov. Gavin Newsom's podcast, Walz urged Democratic governors to stand up to what he called Trump's "unconstitutional mandates."

Trump also blamed Harris' loss in part on Joe Biden. "Joe hurt them both. They didn’t have a great group. I would probably put him at the bottom of the group," Trump said.

In his Oval Office remarks, a reporter asked Trump about NBC News' reporting that Biden is eager to help the Democratic Party get back on its feet by fundraising, campaigning or whatever else is needed.

Trump said he'd welcome it.

"I hope so," Trump said.

Trump still uses his former opponent as a frequent foil. He has invoked Biden in some form more than 400 times since his Jan. 20 inauguration, according to an NBC News analysis.

Following his executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, Trump said Friday that the Small Business Association will “immediately” begin overseeing student loan servicing. He also said the Department of Health and Human Services will handle nutrition programs and programs for children with disabilities.

Yesterday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said those areas would remain under the Education Department.

Completely eliminating the department would require the approval of Congress, and Trump has said he hopes Democrats will vote in favor.

America PAC, the super PAC founded by billionaire Elon Musk ahead of the 2024 election, is reviving its controversial petition-gathering program to promise Wisconsin registered voters $100 if they sign its conservative-leaning petition ahead of next month's state Supreme Court race.

The new petition says signers are "rejecting the actions of activist judges who impose their own views and demanding a judiciary that respects its role," language that mirrors Musk and other Trump allies (as well as the president himself) who have lambasted judges they believe are stymying Trump's agenda. A post on X from the group says voters can also receive $100 for each signature that comes from their referral.

America PAC ran a similar petition drive in swing states ahead of the presidential election, but that drive was coupled with an entry into a $1 million raffle for signers. Philadelphia's district attorney sued Musk and the group over the sweepstakes, but was unsuccessful.

It's the latest attempt by Musk to use his virtually unlimited personal wealth to further his political aims. However, like last year's petition, the $100 only goes to people who sign the petition and is not explicitly linked to any promise to vote or to back a certain candidate or political party.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will continue to deport immigrants to a megaprison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador if the individuals have a final order of deportation, a Homeland Security spokesperson told NBC News.

The order by Judge James Boasberg only blocked the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants subject to Trump's presidential proclamation from the U.S. to El Salvador without final orders of removal.

The DHS spokesperson said that Venezuelan people who ICE arrested this week could face possible deportation to El Salvador if they are ordered deported by an immigration judge. 

U.S. ally South Korea is struggling to remove its Department of Energy designation as a “sensitive country” after being added to the list in January.

The designation, which takes effect April 15, puts South Korea on the lowest tier of the watch list along with countries such as China, Iran, Russia and North Korea. Countries may appear on the list for national security, nuclear nonproliferation or terrorism support reasons, and they are subject to additional review before their nationals are granted access to DOE facilities, according to the department’s website.

“We will negotiate toward removing South Korea from the list as much as possible, but if that doesn’t work, we will create a constructive alternative,” Ahn Duk-geun, the South Korean trade minister, told reporters yesterday upon arriving in Washington.

Protesters gathered outside a VA medical center in Saginaw, Michigan, on Thursday to oppose the Trump administration’s sprawling cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The protesters held signs reading “Keep your promise” and “Hands off our Veterans,” waving and cheering as cars passed to draw attention to the thousands of VA employees who have been fired from the agency, which provides health care and other critical services to millions of veterans.

Carly Rose Hammond, a member of the Saginaw City Council, told NBC 25 that now is the time for the nation to stand up for the veterans who fought for its freedoms.

The Trump administration has appealed more than 15 decisions by federal judges to circuit courts since Jan. 20.

That includes one appeal filed overnight by Elon Musk and DOGE, appealing Judge Theodore Chuang’s order to reinstate USAID systems and access, to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The administration has also appealed, for example, a ruling to reinstate National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox, a Democrat, as well as another ruling to reinstate Cathy Harris, who was fired as a Democratic member of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., met a friendly crowd at a town hall last night in a Trump-won county.

The congressman received a standing ovation when he arrived, and many of the attendees appeared to agree with his comments.

But one constituent was booed by the crowd after he said he was a "little disappointed" that the congressman voted against the House Republican spending bill that was approved last week.

The congressman was able to get them to stop booing, saying he appreciates the constituent’s perspective, then explained why he voted against the bill.

Beijing said it welcomed a visit by Sen. Steve Daines, a strong Trump supporter, but did not say whether he would meet with senior Chinese officials as the world’s two biggest economies take turns imposing tariffs on each other.

China welcomes Americans “from all walks of life, including members of the Congress, to visit China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular briefing in Beijing today, adding that China believes both the U.S. and China benefit from the “steady, sound and sustainable” development of their relationship.

Daines, a Montana Republican, is the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump returned to the White House in January. He arrived in the Chinese capital yesterday after meeting with top leaders in Vietnam and said he would be talking with Chinese officials about curbing the international flow of fentanyl, the U.S. trade deficit with China and fair market access for American farmers and ranchers.

His office said earlier that Daines would be coordinating closely with the White House and would be “carrying President Trump’s America First agenda,” The Associated Press reported.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in the presidential race has given rise, again, to whispered worries in the Democratic Party about female candidates and electability — resurrecting a fraught conversation that bubbled for years after Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton.

The whisper campaign has started to some extent in New Jersey, where this year’s governor’s race will be one of Democrats’ first big electoral tests since Trump won his second term.

Read the full story.

Former President Joe Biden has told some Democratic leaders he’ll raise funds, campaign and do anything else necessary for Democrats to recover lost ground as the Trump administration rolls back programs the party helped design, according to people close to him.

Biden privately met last month with the new Democratic National Committee chairman, Ken Martin, and offered to help as the party struggles to regain its viability amid polling that shows its popularity has been sinking, the people said.

Read the full story.

NEW DELHI — India’s IT ministry has unlawfully expanded censorship powers to allow the easier removal of online content and empowered “countless” government officials to execute such orders, Elon Musk’s X has alleged in a new lawsuit against New Delhi.

The lawsuit and the allegations mark an escalation in an ongoing legal dispute between X and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over how New Delhi orders content to be taken down. It also comes as Musk is getting closer to launching his other key ventures Starlink and Tesla in India.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, is seeking information from the Securities and Exchange Commission over its decision to relax federal regulations around meme coins weeks after Trump and first lady Melania Trump released their own versions.

The SEC defines a meme coin as a type of crypto asset inspired by internet memes, characters, current events, or trends. In a staff statement last month, the agency said because of its view that meme coins are typically purchased for entertainment and social interaction rather than financial value, owners of the asset do not have to abide by federal regulations.

Trump denied a New York Times report that his adviser Elon Musk is set to be briefed by the Pentagon today on the U.S. military’s plan for any potential war with China.

“China will not even be mentioned or discussed,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform late last night.

Musk, who is leading the Trump administration’s effort to slash the size of the federal government, is scheduled to visit the Pentagon today for a meeting and briefing, three defense officials told NBC News. Two of the officials said Musk was expected to be briefed on China but that the briefing would be unclassified. None of the officials could confirm the Times report, which cited two U.S. officials.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also denied the report, saying in a post on X that it would be “an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.”

Japan said there had been “no change” in plans to enhance the deterrence and response capabilities of the U.S.-Japan alliance, despite news reports that the Pentagon is considering canceling a planned expansion of U.S. forces stationed in Japan.

The move to cancel the expansion, as outlined in draft documents seen by NBC and CNN, would save about $1.18 billion, part of larger cuts to defense spending that could include restructuring the U.S. military’s combatant commands and headquarters and giving up U.S. command of NATO military operations for the first time in almost 75 years.  

The Japanese government’s top spokesperson, Yoshimasa Hayashi, told reporters in Tokyo today that Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba confirmed the expansion plan during Ishiba’s visit to Washington last month.

The U.S. and its longtime ally Japan, which hosts more than 50,000 U.S. service members, have been intensifying military cooperation in recent years in an effort to address growing security threats from China and North Korea.

China called on the U.S. to protect Chinese nationals studying in the U.S. after a member of Congress requested several universities to disclose detailed information about their Chinese students, citing potential national security risks.

In a letter to six universities, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., accused China’s ruling Communist Party of establishing a “well-documented, systematic pipeline” to embed researchers in leading U.S. institutions for “sensitive” technologies. The universities are Carnegie Mellon, Purdue University, Stanford University, the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland and the University of Southern California.

“America’s student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing,” Moolenaar said in a statement, in what he called a “direct threat” to American national security.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that educational cooperation is “in the interests of both parties.”

LAS VEGAS — At the first stop of their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour out West, two of the Democratic Party’s most unabashed progressive lawmakers had plenty to say about President Donald Trump. But they also had some strong words for their own party.

“This isn’t just about Republicans. We need a Democratic Party that fights harder for us, too,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. told the fired-up crowd gathered at the Craig Ranch Amphitheater to see her and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “But what that means is that we as a community must choose and vote for Democrats and elected officials who know how to stand for the working class.”

While Ocasio-Cortez did not mention any Democratic leaders by name, the crowd broke out into multiple “Primary Chuck” chants — a reference to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who backed down from a funding fight with Trump last week.

Read the full story.

Tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk is scheduled to visit the Pentagon today for a briefing that will include a discussion on China, according to two defense officials. 

The briefing will be unclassified, the officials said.

The New York Times reported last night that Musk would be briefed on the U.S. military’s plans for any potential war with China, citing two U.S. officials. One official also confirmed that the briefing would be focused on China, and another only confirmed that Musk would be at the Pentagon today, according to the Times’ report.

Read the full story.

Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks at the Oval Office at 11 a.m. ET with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The White House did not specify the focus of their remarks.

In the evening, Trump is slated to head to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.