Highlights from Trump's first Cabinet meeting
- President Donald Trump held the first Cabinet meeting of his second term, which was attended by Elon Musk, who heads the administration's Department of Government Efficiency and isn't a Cabinet member.
- At the meeting, Trump backed Musk's message that all federal employees send an email about their accomplishments last week or be fired. Separately, his administration told federal agencies today to come up with plans in the next few weeks for additional layoffs and reorganization.
- Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are close to a final agreement on Ukraine's provision of rare earth minerals to the U.S. in return for security guarantees.
- The Supreme Court heard arguments today in a case brought by a straight woman from Ohio who filed a reverse discrimination claim, which the justices appear likely to allow her to pursue.
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DOJ seeks to dismiss case by FBI employees
The Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss a case filed by several FBI employees, along with the agency’s union, seeking to block the agency from compiling a list of agents who participated in the Jan 6 riot probes.
Former FBI Acting Director Brian Driscoll informed FBI staff members earlier this month that the Trump administration was seeking the names of every FBI agent who worked on Jan. 6 investigations, a number he estimated is in the thousands.
Driscoll initially resisted efforts to provide the administration that list amid concerns that it could make the agents involved more likely to be targeted as Trump promises to continue firing agents at the agency. He ultimately decided to comply with the administration's request, current and former FBI officials said.
The Justice Department said in its filing today that the court should dismiss the consolidated case due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure by the plaintiffs to state a claim.
“These two consolidated cases seek a prophylactic injunction against the Executive based on an asserted fear that a public disclosure by the Department of a list containing Plaintiffs’ names and work on January 6 matters might occur at some point in the future, but they fail to provide any supporting facts to establish either their standing to sue or the existence of any actionable underlying claim,” the department wrote in the filing.
The Justice Department also claimed in its filing that the creation of such a list would be well within its legal right.
"Neither the creation of the list by the FBI at the Department’s request, nor the FBI’s sharing of the list with the Department, constitutes a violation of any of the Constitutional or statutory provisions Plaintiffs identify in their pleadings," the filing read.
House speaker criticizes attendees at Republican town halls
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in an interview on CNN this evening that town hall attendees captured in viral videos confronting Republican lawmakers over the work of DOGE were all "paid protestors."
"The videos you saw the town halls were for paid protesters in many of those places," Johnson told CNN's Kaitlan Collins. "These are Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats."
Johnson made the remark in response to a question about potential election backlash over the DOGE spending cuts.
Collins refuted Johnson's characterization of the town hall attendees as "paid protestors," noting that Republicans have since acknowledged the complaints from their constituents.
"One Republican acknowledged they were constituents. That's fantastic, OK, but they had Democrats come and fill the seats early," Johnson said. "This is an old playbook that they pulled out and and ran, and it made it look like that.
Johnson's downplaying of the town hall complaints comes after Republican leaders urged lawmakers to avoid in-person town halls due to the negative headlines over the cuts.
Earlier today, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles met with Senate Republicans to address concerns regarding Musk's DOGE operation, with some urging greater transparency in the organization's work.
Supreme Court temporarily blocks lower court's USAID order
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 Friday at noon.
Republican senators air DOGE concerns to top White House official
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles worked to alleviate concerns by Senate Republicans Wednesday over Elon Musk’s dismantling of the federal bureaucracy, as lawmakers increasingly raise questions about the Department of Government Efficiency’s work.
“Everybody’s concerned when you have people cutting out of your state,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said. “But we all understand, it’s — that’s just part of it, you know, we’re way over, bloated we got to cut back.”
Wiles met with the lawmakers during a visit to Capitol Hill for a lunch with members of the Senate Republican Steering Committee, a group that includes many of the party’s most conservative senators.
DOGE staff gains access to HUD systems containing sensitive personal data
DOGE staff have attained access to systems and records within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to two agency employees who spoke with NBC News, requesting anonymity to speak candidly about controversial issues.
DOGE staff at HUD sought and gained access to the agency’s Enforcement Management System, known as HEMS, along with extensive data about HUD contracts and vendors.
ProPublica first reported on DOGE access to HEMS. Within this system, HUD stores confidential records and personally identifiable information about hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. who may have been victims of housing discrimination.
Some of the records within HEMS include data about people who suffered domestic violence along with their current addresses.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner earlier this month launched a DOGE task force aimed at reviewing the department's spending. to remove "waste, fraud and abuse."
In a statement praising the task force, Turner said it "already identified $260 million in savings." It is unclear exactly what the savings are, and some of DOGE's previous assessments of savings have been inaccurate.
Federal judge grills Trump’s Justice Department over argument that Jan. 6 pardon covers a separate gun case
A Justice Department prosecutor struggled in court on Wednesday to articulate the administration’s view of the full intention of President Donald Trump’s mass pardon of Jan. 6 rioters, as the government argued that Trump’s pardon should apply to separate criminal conduct committed by Capitol rioter Dan Wilson in Kentucky in 2023.
U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, a Trump appointee, questioned Justice Department attorney Jennifer Leigh Blackwell about the government’s shifting position on the application of Trump’s Jan. 6 pardon.
Wilson pleaded guilty in May 2024 to three separate crimes: one charge of conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, for his conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; and two gun charges related to conduct in Kentucky in 2023, when his home was searched as part of the investigation into the Capitol riot.
Trump pardoned Wilson, along with more than 1,500 other Jan. 6 defendants, for the crimes they committed or were accused of during the Capitol riot. Wilson was then freed from prison — but the government told the court early this month that Wilson was “erroneously released,” and Wilson had been ordered to return to Bureau of Prisons custody to finish serving out his sentence on the gun charges. The “plain language” of Trump’s pardon, the government told the court, makes clear it “does not extend to those convictions.”
Then the government changed its mind.
Commerce secretary suggests postal workers could collect census data
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested during an interview tonight that postal workers could replace those tasked with collecting census data to potentially cut costs.
"We’ll do a better job," Lutnick said during a Fox News interview with Bret Baier.
NBC News previously reported that the Postal Service was preparing for potential takeover by the Commerce Department after Trump said Lutnick “will be looking” at the U.S. Postal Service.
Lutnick also suggested that the U.S. Postal Service could play a role in delivering Social Security forms, which he said would eliminate the need for thousands of Social Security Administration workers.
"We just don’t need them. We actually can do real customer service," he said.
Lutnick says he thinks Trump's tariffs will cut costs for Americans
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a Fox News interview this evening that he believes Trump's pro-tariff stance will ultimately cut costs.
Asked during a Fox News interview with Bret Baier if he thinks Trump's approach to tariffs will lower costs for Americans, Lutnick said he did.
"I do believe it," Lutnick said, adding that while moving car manufacturing abroad lowers costs, it has negative consequences for those living in states like Michigan and Ohio.
"You're going to see unbelievable growth from the American economy and you're going to balance the budget," he said.
NBC News previously reported that some companies have already indicated that shoppers are likely to see some prices rise amid Trump's tariff plans and that auto insurance premiums could also go up.
Forest Service chief announces retirement amid flurry of staff cuts
Citing frustration over the recent staff cuts, U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore announced today he is retiring after 45 years with the department effective March 3.
The announcement comes on the heels of the Trump administration firing roughly 2,000 probationary staffers at the Forest Service. That’s on top of the 1,000 people fired at the National Park Service and 700 rangers taking the Trump administration's “fork in the road” buyout offer.
The terminations have left employees and supervisors bewildered and anxious about the future of the agencies, and short-staffed going into the busy spring tourism season.
"The past several weeks has been incredibly difficult," Moore wrote in a memo to staff. "As part of a broader effort to reduce the size of the federal government, we parted ways with colleagues we worked alongside, who successfully contributed to our mission, and who were valued members of our Forest Service team."
In 2021, Moore became the first Black person to lead the agency after overseeing 18 national forests in California. The Forest Service plays a pivotal role in maintaining public lands amid increasingly deadly fire seasons and deploys elite firefighters to conflagrations across the U.S.
Most recently, wildland firefighters helped contain the Palisades and Eaton fires in the greater Los Angeles area, and Forest Service investigators are helping determine what sparked the Palisades Fire.
“I have been silent these last few weeks because these decisions are being made at a level above our organization, and I was and am learning about the changes the same time as many of you,” Moore went on. “Our focus now is on how we respond and adapt to new priorities and continue delivering on our mission with the workforce we have.”
"Take care of yourselves and each other," he added.
Trump signs executive order directing agencies to 'terminate or modify' contracts, justify payments and freeze employees' credit cards
Trump signed an executive order today that directs the heads of agencies to, with the help of the Department of Government Efficiency, "build a centralized technological system within the agency to seamlessly record every payment issued by the agency pursuant to each of the agency’s covered contracts and grants, along with a brief, written justification for each payment submitted by the agency employee who approved the payment."
The order also directs agencies to review contracts and grants and, in accord with applicable law, "terminate or modify" those contracts and grants to cut federal spending "or reallocate spending to promote efficiency and advance the policies of my Administration."
The order also moves to freeze agency employees' credit cards for 30 days, with exceptions for credit cards for employees involved in disaster relief "or other critical services" identified by the agency head in consultation with DOGE.
