El Salvador won't return Maryland man to the U.S.; more confusion over tariffs
This version of Rcrd77028 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone was adapted by NBC News Clone to help readers digest key facts more efficiently.
The administration said "most" tomatoes imported from Mexico will carry a 21% tariff starting this summer, a day after Trump indicated that recent tech exemptions might end.
What to know today
- The president of El Salvador said at a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House that he would not return a Maryland man who the administration mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Trump officials are under a court order from a federal judge to detail their efforts to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States.
- The government said it was freezing more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard University after the school rejected demands from the Trump administration.
- The Commerce Department said the United States would impose a 21% tariff on "most" tomatoes imported from Mexico, starting in July. Trump said yesterday he would soon announce tariffs on semiconductors, increasing the odds that recent exemptions on duties for smartphones and computers won't last long.
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Polling shows growing number of Republicans identify with the MAGA movement
As Trump nears the 100-day mark of his second term, recent polling from NBC News shows how he has consolidated the Republican Party not just around himself, but also around his broader “Make America Great Again” movement.
Thirty-six percent of registered voters identified themselves as MAGA supporters in the March NBC News poll. It’s a significant increase from past NBC News polling — up from 23% of respondents in a merged sample of all of NBC News’ polling across 2023 and 27% of respondents in a merged sample of its 2024 polling.
The overall share is powered by the 71% of Republicans who now call themselves MAGA supporters.
NBC News’ polling already showed signs of a shift afoot between the beginning of the 2024 presidential primary and the final weeks before Election Day, as the GOP consolidated around Trump. In January 2024, days after Trump won nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, just 20% of registered voters said they aligned with the MAGA movement. But in NBC News’ combined polling in October and early November, that number had ticked up to 29%.
Trump envoy says U.S. negotiations with Iran will hinge on verifying its nuclear program
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said tonight that negotiations with Iran will focus on “two critical points”: verification of its uranium enrichment program and its weaponization.
“This is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program and then ultimately verification on weaponization. That includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there, and it includes the trigger for a bomb,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview.
Trump said last week that Tehran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and he refused to rule out military action if talks with the country are not successful.
Pam Bondi sidesteps question on legality of sending U.S. citizens to prisons abroad
Attorney General Pam Bondi sidestepped a question during an interview tonight about whether it would be legal to send Americans to a prison abroad, as Trump suggested today.
"These are Americans who, he is saying, who have committed the most heinous crimes in our country, and crime is going to decrease dramatically because he has given us a directive to make America safe again. These people need to be locked up as long as they can, as long as the law allows," Bondi said, without directly answering the question from Fox News host Jesse Watters.
"We’re not going to let them go anywhere, and if we have to build more prisons in our country, we will do it," she added.
Trump had said at the White House today, joined by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, that Bondi is “studying the law" for the proposal, which some legal experts have said is illegal and unconstitutional.
The Trump administration made a $6 million deal with El Salvador last month to jail people alleged to be Tren de Aragua gang members.
Education Department sued over layoffs and canceled contracts at its research arm
The American Education Research Association sued the Education Department tonight over what it called an “evisceration” of the Institute of Education Sciences, a research arm of the department.
The association argued that the Institute of Education Sciences has been responsible for collecting and analyzing education data, funding studies and research projects and ensuring high-quality research is available to researchers, educators, policymakers and the public. After DOGE’s involvement at the Education Department, 90% of staff members were terminated in the research division, according to the lawsuit.
The suit wants a federal judge in Maryland to rule that termination of the research staff was unlawful and that canceling educational research contracts en masse was a violation of statuary and constitutional requirements.
“Never before have there been such brazen attacks on education science, data, and research,” said Felice J. Levine, executive director of the American Education Research Association, in a statement. “The decimation of the Institute of Education Services is nothing short of a fundamental harm to the education research community. Without an IES and the federal education statistical agency it houses, the studies and evidence-based findings produced by our members are gravely undermined. Our graduate students are stalled in their work and upended in their progress toward a degree. Practitioners and policymakers also suffer great harm as they are left to drive decisions without the benefit of empirical data and high-quality research.”
Saikat Chakrabarti, a former campaign worker for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spoke with NBC News’ David Noriega about running against Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker.
Town hall attendees press Rep. Laura Friedman over Abrego Garcia's deportation
Speaking about the Trump administration’s sending people to El Salvador, Rep. Laura Friedman, D-Calif. was interrupted tonight by two attendees at a town hall in Glendale, California.
Friedman said things were “still playing out” as she described the Supreme Court's order for the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. During her remarks, two people in the crowd stood up and interrupted her.
“I don’t believe that you have pushed hard enough. I don’t believe that you have fought large enough,” one of them yelled.
As the crowd erupted, with some calling for the two people to sit down, Friedman said: “Every single day in Washington and at home, every day I am doing literally everything that I know how and that I think will actually make a difference.”
Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from ending protections for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans
A federal judge in Massachusetts tonight temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending protections for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans living in the country who are not U.S. citizens.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said she is concerned that the Trump administration revoked, without case-by-case review, the previously granted protections and work authorizations for thousands of immigrants who relied on the program to continue residing and working in the United States.
She also ordered all revocation notices sent to program participants from the four countries to be put on hold pending further order of the court.
“The court finds that Plaintiffs have standing to challenge the shortening of" their participation in the program,” Talwani wrote in her order. She noted that the plaintiffs were permitted to legally work if they received work authorization and could apply for "adjustment of status or other benefits."
If their current legal status is allowed to lapse in the next two weeks, Talwani said, they "will be faced with two unfavorable options: continue following the law and leave the country on their own, or await removal proceedings.”
The programs, when it was at full force, allowed for up to 24,000 people to participate for a temporary period of up to two years, during which they can seek humanitarian relief or other benefits and receive work authorization.
As Talwani wrote in her order, the program specified further that those “who are not granted asylum or other immigration benefits will need to leave the United States at the expiration of their authorized period ... or will generally be placed in removal proceedings.”
Florida GOP tries to crack down after Ron DeSantis’ state staff helped raise political cash
At least twice over the past year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ top government staffers have helped him directly raise campaign contributions, a practice members of his own political party now want to end.
A proposal championed by Republicans in the Florida state House would bar state employees — those who work for the governor or otherwise — from conducting most traditional campaign-type activities during working hours, including soliciting campaign contributions.
The legislation was introduced last week after NBC News first reported last month that two top staffers in the governor’s office were calling state lobbyists to raise money for a DeSantis-aligned political committee that would almost certainly help his wife, Casey, run for governor if she jumped in the race, as she has suggested she is considering.
In addition, NBC News reported last year that several top DeSantis administration officials were trying to raise political cash for his failed presidential campaign.
'Un-American': AOC blasts Trump's comments about imprisoning Americans abroad
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Trump's comments today about potentially sending Americans to a prison in El Salvador were "un-American."
"It’s bone-chilling. Every day there’s something new, and today we just saw President Trump express openness to taking U.S. citizens and sending them off without due process to foreign prisons," Ocasio-Cortez said in Idaho as part of the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
At the White House today, alongside Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Trump said he'd "like to include" American criminals among those deported to a prison in El Salvador. His administration agreed last month to pay the country $6 million to jail alleged Tren de Aragua gang members for a year.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers say the U.S. is responsible for bringing their client home
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers responded to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s saying in the Oval Office today that his country had no intention of returning the Maryland resident to the United States.
“Mr. Abrego Garcia was unlawfully removed from his home and his family in Maryland. His deportation violated a standing immigration court order. The Supreme Court has since made clear that the U.S. government must facilitate his return. Yet days later, no plan has been announced, no steps made public, and no indication given that action is being taken. Instead, it seems the government’s position is that no action is necessary,” his lawyers said in a statement.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said the issue is in U.S. hands and urged the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to act.
“Let us be clear: the responsibility to return Mr. Abrego Garcia lies squarely with the United States government. His deportation was not just an administrative error—it was a constitutional failure,” his lawyers said.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that the government must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
In remarks to the media later in the week, Trump said he would ensure Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States if the Supreme Court ordered him to do so, but he would not commit to follow orders from a lower court.
Trump administration freezes over $2 billion after Harvard rejects demands
The federal government said tonight it is freezing more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard University after the school said it would not accept Trump administration demands that included auditing viewpoints of the student body.
The administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced the cuts in a statement that called out “the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges.”
It said $2.2 billion in multiyear grants and $60 million “in multi-year contract value” to the Ivy League university would be frozen.
Earlier today Harvard rejected the administration’s demands.
U.S. to impose a 21% tariff on 'most' tomatoes from Mexico this summer
The Commerce Department announced today that it intends to impose a 20.91% tariff on “most imports of tomatoes” from Mexico starting in July.
The department said in a news release that it is withdrawing from a 2019 agreement that suspended an antidumping investigation on fresh tomatoes from Mexico, effective in 90 days.
“The current agreement has failed to protect U.S. tomato growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports, as Commerce has been flooded with comments from them urging its termination," the release said. "This action will allow U.S. tomato growers to compete fairly in the marketplace.”
Mexico, a top U.S. trading partner, has already been hit with a 25% tariff on most of its goods imported into the United States, and Trump threatened on Truth Social last week to place additional tariffs on Mexico over a water dispute dating to a treaty from 1944.
The tomato tariff was announced amid a tariff landscape riddled with confusion, in which Trump has imposed — and in some cases, reversed — far-reaching tariffs.
Trump officials provide new details about efforts to preserve 'Signal-gate' messages
The Trump administration has provided further details about its efforts to preserve documents related to the "Signal-gate" incident, in which a journalist was accidentally added to a high-level chat about U.S. military plans to strike targets in Yemen.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg last week ordered the administration to provide details about efforts to preserve documents related to the chat, first brought to light by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. In court exhibits, the Defense Department, the State Department, the CIA and the National Intelligence Director’s Office provided new information that varied in depth.
The Defense Department said today that it searched Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s phone on or about March 27 and took screenshots of the existing Signal messages, which it then “preserved in a record keeping system within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.”
The CIA said it, too, reviewed its director’s personal Signal account on March 31 and took “a screenshot” that it stored in an agency record system. That screenshot, however, reflects “information available at the time” of the screenshot and does not include substantive messages, instead capturing only the name of the chat, “Houthi PC small group,” and “administrative notifications from 26 March and 28 March relating to changes in participants’ administrative settings in this group chat, such as profile names and message settings.”
The National Intelligence Director’s Office and the State Department provided fewer details, mentioning only the date when searches of the relevant devices began and, in ODNI’s case, the date the undefined “preservation actions” began.
Rep. Nancy Mace says she is 'very close' to deciding whether to run for governor
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said today that she is "very close" to deciding whether she will enter the South Carolina governor's race.
“I am definitely thinking about running for governor,” Mace told reporters after a closed-media Republican meeting in Greenville.
"I’ve got a lot to weigh. I mean, I’ve got older children, I’ve got a great congressional career, and I’m talking to voters, and I’m talking to potential backers — all the things that you do before you decide to run. We’re very close to making a decision, though," she added.
Mace also said that she had spoken with Trump about the possibility of a bid for governor and that if she does run, she will "be working very hard to get his support."
Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. His term ends in January 2027.
Trump painting that displaced Obama portrait was gifted by the father of a Parkland shooting victim, White House official says
The painting of Trump that displaced a portrait of former President Barack Obama in the White House’s Grand Foyer was painted by artist Marc Lipp, according to a White House official.
The painting by Lipp, who is based in South Florida, was gifted to the White House via the Blue Gallery by Andrew Pollack, a school safety activist who has been outspoken in his support for Trump and whose daughter was killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.
The White House official said that since Trump's official portrait has not yet been completed, Trump elected to hang Lipp’s painting in the meantime.
The painting — depicting a bloodied Trump with his fist in the air after the July assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania — took the spot where Obama's portrait had been displayed.
Memo outlines Trump administration's plan to cut State Department funding by nearly 50%
The Trump administration has proposed cutting the State Department’s funding by nearly half from last year’s budget, according to a memo obtained and reviewed by NBC News.
The memo, dated April 10, was issued by Douglas Pitkin, director of the State Department’s bureau of budget and planning, and Pete Marocco, the former director of foreign assistance at the State Department, who was key in the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
For fiscal year 2026, the Office of Management and Budget is recommending a total of $28.4 billion for State Department and former USAID activities, a decrease of $26 billion, or 48%.
The Washington Post first reported the memo.
The memo did not detail plans to close consulates or embassies overseas. The State Department’s civilian pay and hiring freezes will continue through fiscal year 2026 “except for USAID integration,” according to the memo.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has until noon tomorrow to submit a response to OMB with any proposed changes to the funding plans.
OMB spokeswoman Alexandra McCandless said in a statement, “No final funding decisions have been made.”
A final budget is expected before Congress later this month.
American Foreign Service Association President Tom Yazdgerdi called the proposed cuts "reckless and dangerous."
"Slashing nearly half of the State and USAID activities that our members carry out — alongside hiring and pay freezes and the elimination of Congressionally-mandated priorities — is not fiscal prudence," Yazdgerdi said in a statement.
Citing El Salvador's president, U.S. again claims it lacks authority to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia
In the Trump administration's court-ordered daily status update on efforts to facilitate bringing Abrego Garcia back to the United States, the Trump administration cited Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s comments at the White House earlier today in arguing that it doesn't have the authority to return Abrego Garcia.
Joseph Mazzara, acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, wrote in a sworn declaration that DHS “does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.”
Mazzara cited Bukele’s comments at the White House earlier today, when he compared returning Abrego Garcia to the United States to smuggling him in, calling the question of returning him “preposterous.”
“How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?” Bukele said, sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office.
Republican attorneys and Jan. 6 prosecutors call for investigation of Ed Martin
A group of former Jan. 6 prosecutors and conservative attorneys today asked a disciplinary board to investigate interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, arguing that Trump's pick for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., has a “fundamental misunderstanding of the role of a federal prosecutor.”
The letter, addressed to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel at the U.S. District Court of Appeals, says Martin’s actions “threaten to undermine the integrity of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the legal profession in the District of Columbia.”
“In word and in deed he has portrayed himself as an advocate for private and political interests of others, in violation of his oath of office and the Rules of Professional Conduct,” the letter says.
Martin's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment tonight.
Martin announced today that Neil W. McCabe, a former Project Veritas employee who has worked for the right-wing outlets Breitbart News and One America News, was joining the office as director of external affairs, according to an email seen by NBC News.
In the email, Martin thanked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for detailing McCabe, who is working as a public affairs noncommissioned officer, to the U.S. attorney’s office.
U.S. businesses sue to block Trump tariffs, say trade deficits aren't an emergency
A group of five small businesses sued Trump today seeking to block new tariffs that he has imposed on foreign imports in recent weeks.
The lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade alleges that Trump has illegally usurped Congress’ power to levy tariffs by claiming that trade deficits with other countries constitute an emergency.
“Congress has not delegated any such power,” the suit says. “The statute the President invokes — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (‘IEEPA’) — does not authorize the President to unilaterally issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs.”
The Liberty Justice Center, which is representing the owner-operated companies, said Trump’s so-called Liberation Day tariffs of at least 10% on imports from most countries, as well as higher rates for scores of other nations, “are devastating small businesses across the country.”
College football championship trophy breaks in two when Vance tries to lift it
Vice President JD Vance tried to hoist Ohio State’s national championship trophy to the tune of the U.S. Marine Band’s playing “We Are the Champions” — but the trophy broke in two, with its base falling to the ground. Vance then helped reassemble the trophy.
The awkward moment took place near the end of an event at the White House with members of the team, its coach and Trump to celebrate the team's national championship in January, when it defeated Notre Dame 34-23.
Trump and Vance, a former U.S. senator from Ohio who attended Ohio State University, welcomed the Buckeyes at the White House to honor the school's first football national championship in a decade.
Vance later made light of the moment, saying on X, "I didn’t want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it."
Speaker Mike Johnson calls arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro's house 'inexcusable'
House Speaker Mike Johnson today condemned the arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's official residence in Harrisburg.
"The shocking attack on Governor Shapiro and his family is inexcusable, and such evil cannot be tolerated," Johnson, R-La., said on X. "The perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Cody Balmer, 38, a suspect in the attack, was charged with criminal attempt — criminal homicide, aggravated arson, burglary and terrorism, among other counts, according to a filing from the Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, district attorney’s office.
ACLU files another challenge to Alien Enemies Act deportations
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a third lawsuit to prevent Venezuelan immigrants detained under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act from being deported without proper notice and hearings.
The filing, in a federal court in Colorado, is on behalf of two Venezuelans held at the Denver Detention Center and others suffering similar harm.
One plaintiff, identified as D.B.U., is 32 years old, according to the lawsuit. He was arrested in an immigration raid at a party that federal officials portrayed as a Tren de Aragua gathering. He has one tattoo of the name of his niece and “strongly disputes” being a Tren de Aragua member, the suit says.
The second plaintiff, identified as R.M.M., 25, came to the United States after Tren de Aragua killed two family members. He has tattoos but has never been a member of the Venezuelan gang, the lawsuit says.
The Supreme Court last week allowed the Trump administration to renew deportations under the Alien Enemies Act as long as the detainees get a chance to challenge their detention and to dispute whether the 18th century wartime law can be applied to them. Two federal judges have temporarily blocked deportations of anyone identified as removable under the Alien Enemies Act and who is detained in south Texas and south New York judicial districts. The detainees must be given notice and due process, the judges have said.
In its Colorado suit, the ACLU asked for a similar block against deportations planned under the Alien Enemies Act and for 30 days' notice of any intent to remove the plaintiffs and the chance to contest their designations as alien enemys.
Chuck Schumer says Kilmar Abrego Garcia 'should be returned to the U.S. immediately'
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., today urged the Trump administration to ensure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States from El Salvador after the Supreme Court ordered the U.S. government to "facilitate" his return.
"The law is clear, due process was grossly violated," Schumer said in a statement. "He should be returned to the U.S. immediately."
"Due process and the rule of law are cornerstones of American society for citizens and noncitizens alike and not to follow that is dangerous and outrageous. A threat to one is a threat to all," he said.
Schumer also criticized Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who appeared with Trump at the White House today.
"President Bukele’s comment today is pure nonsense," Schumer said.
Bukele said today that he would not return Abrego Garcia, saying: "Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous."
Trump floats legally questionable proposal to deport U.S. citizens
If an immigrant who the government claims is a gang member can be deported to El Salvador without any due process rights, then why not a U.S. citizen?
That was the nightmarish scenario immigration advocates and constitutional law experts were considering today after Trump again pushed a provocative plan to deport U.S. citizens who have been convicted of unspecified crimes.
Trump discussed the issue in the White House with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who has agreed to deposit people deported from the United States in a notorious prison.
“We always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters,” Trump told reporters. “I’d like to include them.”
Maryland senator says Trump officials are 'snubbing their nose' at the courts in Abrego Garcia case
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told reporters this afternoon that Trump administration officials are "clearly just snubbing their nose at the courts, including the Supreme Court," in Abrego Garcia's case.
"And the courts, in my view, need to exercise their ability to sanction people who ignore court orders," Van Hollen said after Trump's meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele at the White House today.
Bukele told reporters during the Oval Office meeting that he doesn't have the power to return Abrego Garcia after Trump officials said such a decision is solely El Salvador's to make.
Last week, the Supreme Court said the Trump administration should "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return.
“The Trump administration’s position, in my view, is absolutely unsustainable, as is the position of the president of El Salvador,” Van Hollen said, adding he hoped to meet with Bukele while he's in the United States.
"If we can’t meet here, I do intend to go to El Salvador to discuss the release of this individual who is illegally detained in El Salvador. And I believe the president of El Salvador will recognize why it’s important to allow him to return," Van Hollen said.
Democratic senator urges Trump administration to comply with Supreme Court order on Abrego Garcia
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, is calling on the Trump administration to comply with the Supreme Court's directive to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man the administration said it mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
“I call on the Trump Administration to immediately take steps to comply with the Supreme Court’s order to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia, among others, to the United States and to urge it to also seek the release from CECOT of all migrants deported by the Administration with no credible criminal record," Shaheen said in a statement, using the acronym for the prison in El Salvador where Abrego Garcia was sent.
Shaheen cited reports that that many of those sent to the notorious prison "have no criminal record," which she said should concern all Americans.
“It is imperative that we keep our country safe by detaining and deporting criminal gang members illegally in the United States, but how we do so matters. Disregarding the rule of law, ignoring unanimous rulings by the Supreme Court and subjecting individuals to detention and deportation without due process makes us less safe as a country," she said.
More than 60% of CEOs expect a recession in the next 6 months as tariff turmoil grows, survey says
A growing majority of America’s top executives now expects the U.S. economy to enter a recession in the near future, according to a survey released today.
Of the more than 300 CEOs polled this month, 62% said they forecast a recession or other economic downturn in the next six months, according to Chief Executive, an industry group that runs the survey. That’s up from 48% who said the same in March.
After Trump-Bukele meeting, fate of mistakenly deported Maryland man remains uncertain
Trump and El Salvador’s president offered no firm answers on the possible return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States. The Supreme Court had ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Garcia’s return.
Biden to deliver first major speech since leaving office
Former President Joe Biden will deliver his first public speech tomorrow in Chicago since departing the Oval Office at a national conference of the disability aid group Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled.
Biden's remarks come as Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern about protecting Social Security benefits amid recent cuts to the agency's workforce.
Former Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., former Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and former governor and Social Security Administrator Martin O’Malley, D-Md., will join Biden at the conference.
Trump floats deporting 'homegrown criminals' out of the U.S.
Trump floated deportations of "homegrown criminals" out of the U.S. in remarks at an Oval Office meeting with the president of El Salvador, which would mark a sharp departure from legal norms and would be guaranteed to be challenged in court.
"I'd like to go a step further. I said it to Pam, I don't know what the laws are, we always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking, that are absolute monsters," Trump said, referring to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
"I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country, but you'll have to be looking at the laws on that, Steve, OK?" Trump added, appearing to refer to White House adviser Stephen Miller.
When asked later whether his proposal included U.S. citizens, Trump said "if they're criminals" and listed crimes before concluding, "yeah, that includes them."
"Why, do you think they're a special category of person?" Trump added. "They're as bad as anybody that comes in."
Bondi, Trump added, “is studying” whether U.S. citizens who have committed crimes can also be deported outside of the country.
NBC News has reached out to the White House for information about Trump's proposal.
Young voters’ indignation at older leaders spurs Democratic primary challenges
As Democratic voters say their party needs to change and young voters grow more skeptical of traditional party politics, a crop of candidates in their 20s and 30s is stepping in to challenge older Democrats for their seats in Congress.
The primary challengers stepping up against veteran Democrats in recent months are emphasizing young-voter issues and railing against the ways they feel the Democratic Party has failed — from how it’s pushed back on President Donald Trump’s early actions to addressing the rising cost of living.
Salvadoran president says he can't return Abrego Garcia
Sitting in the Oval Office with Trump, El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, said he couldn’t return a Maryland man whom the administration said was mistakenly deported and sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, and whose release the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate.
“How can I return him to the U.S.?” Bukele said, before asking reporters if he should “smuggle him” into the country during a back and forth over the man's release. "I don’t have the power to return him to the United States,” he said.
Members of Trump's Cabinet weighed in on the discussion, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, who moments earlier said it was “up to El Salvador if they want to return him."
"That’s not up to us," Bondi said, before adding that "if they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during the meeting that he didn’t understand “the confusion” over Abrego Garcia, adding that U.S. foreign policy is the president’s to determine and no U.S. court “has a right” to make those decisions for him.
Biden condemns arson attack on Gov. Shapiro's home
Former President Joe Biden condemned the arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro's home, saying that he and the former first lady were "disgusted."
"We are relieved that they are safe and grateful to the first responders," Biden said. "There is no place for this type of evil in America, and as I told the Governor yesterday, we must stand united against hatred and violence."
Nvidia to mass produce AI supercomputers in Texas as part of $500 billion U.S. push
Nvidia, the AI chipmaker that powers much of today’s AI boom, today announced a push to produce NVIDIA AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S. for the first time.
The company said it plans to produce up to $500 billion of AI infrastructure in the U.S. via its manufacturing partnerships over the next four years.
The news comes after Trump, in a push to take on trade deficits and pressure companies to on-shore more manufacturing to the U.S., imposed high reciprocal tariffs on a long list of countries. Trump placed a 32% tariff on products from Taiwan, where Nvidia largely manufactures its GPUs, and 145% tariffs on products from China, a move that threatened to take a toll on tech giants like Apple, which makes iPhones and most of its other products in China.
El Salvador's president arrives at the White House
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has arrived at the White House for his meeting with Trump, who greeted him as he stepped out of his vehicle.
Zelenskyy pleads with Trump to visit Ukraine after deadly Russian missile attack
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded with President Donald Trump to visit his country to “understand what Putin did” after two Russian ballistic missiles tore into a city, killing 34 people and injuring 119 others Sunday.
“Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” Zelenskyy said while referring to Trump in a CBS interview broadcast Sunday.
He also referred to his catastrophic White House meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February that unraveled into a live-on-air clash, with Vance leading some of the strongest attacks on Zelenskyy during the extraordinary exchange.
“It seems to me that the vice president is somehow justifying Putin’s actions,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I tried to explain, ‘You can’t look for something in the middle. There is an aggressor and there is a victim. The Russians are the aggressor, and we are the victim.’”
National Economic Council director says Trump is looking at more than 10 potential trade deals
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said this morning that Trump is looking at more than 10 potential trade deals that have been offered to the United States.
Hassett said members of the Trump administration's trade team are speaking to "just about everybody on earth."
"I think that we’ve got more than 10 deals where there’s very, very good, amazing offers made to the U.S.," Hassett told reporters outside the White House.
He said that Trump, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and others "are stewing over whether those deals are good enough."
Hassett also said that they're debating if they would announce agreed-upon deals simultaneously or one at a time.
What we know about suspect in arson at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence
The man charged in connection with an arson at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home over the weekend allegedly climbed the residence’s fence, used a hammer to break a window and threw Molotov cocktails in to start the blaze, prosecutors revealed.
Cody A. Balmer, 38, was charged with attempted criminal homicide, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism and other counts in connection with the early Sunday morning attack, the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Supreme Court avoids confronting Trump so far, even when it rules against him
When the Supreme Court last year wrestled with whether to grant then-former President Donald Trump broad immunity from prosecution, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch stressed the ruling did not just apply to Trump but was “for the ages.”
His comment during the April 2024 oral argument encapsulates how at least some members of the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, appear to view Trump, now in office again, as just another Republican president — even as commentators and lower court judges, both Republican and Democratic appointees, have raised the alarm about what they view as unlawful policies and conduct.
Chaos, confusion and reversals: The story of Trump’s second term so far
As he prepared to take office for a second time, Trump made it clear to his economic team that his tariffs needed to be imposed quickly.
One candidate for a top position suggested to him during the transition that it might be a better idea to move more deliberately. He didn’t get the job, a person briefed on the matter said.
The chaotic start of his presidency has been characterized by a rash of reversals and retreats as he hastens to execute his agenda while his party controls both houses of Congress and his political capital is at its peak.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen seeks a meeting with Salvadoran president on Maryland man's deportation
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said today that he has requested a meeting with El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, to discuss what the Trump administration has said was the mistaken deportation of a Maryland man to a prison in the Central American country.
Van Hollen also said he would visit the country himself if the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was not back in the U.S. within days.
The senator "urgently" requested the meeting in a letter to Milena Mayorga, El Salvador's ambassador to the U.S.
"I have met with Mr. Abrego Garcia’s wife, mother and brother and, as you can imagine, they are extremely worried about his health, safety, and continued illegal confinement, as am I," Van Hollen said in the letter.
Bukele is in the U.S. this week and will meet with Trump this morning.
Van Hollen said in a statement that if Abrego Garcia is not returned to the U.S. by midweek, the senator would travel to El Salvador this week to check the man's condition and discuss his release.
NBC News has reached out to El Salvador's embassy in the U.S. for comment on Van Hollen's letter.
GOP former Rep. Mike Rogers launches another Michigan Senate run
Former Rep. Mike Rogers launched another campaign for the Senate in Michigan today, becoming the first major Republican candidate to jump into one of the most competitive races of the 2026 midterm elections.
The Michigan race is expected to be key to the battle for the Senate, with Republicans looking to grow their majority. With Sen. Gary Peters retiring, Democrats will be defending an open Senate seat.
Trump administration says man mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador is 'alive and secure'
The Trump administration responded over the weekend to U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis' demands for daily status reports on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who the administration said was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador.
Xinis had asked the government to detail Abrego Garcia's whereabouts and conditions and explain any efforts taken to bring him back to the U.S.
“It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador,” wrote Michael G. Kozak, a State Department official, in a sworn declaration. “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”
Abrego Garcia's lawyers urged the court to order the government to take specific steps to bring the Maryland man back to the U.S., including by requesting his release and providing transportation back to the U.S.
The government objected to the requests yesterday, pointing to El Salvador's Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's visit with Trump today as a reason it can't provide further information.
"Defendants will continue to share updates as appropriate," the administration officials wrote. "Any further intrusion into this sensitive process — and any directive from the Court to take action against the nation of El Salvador — would be inconsistent with the care counseled by the Supreme Court."
The battle for the Senate takes shape, with both parties waiting on governors to boost their chances
The fight for the Senate in 2026 is beginning to take shape, with more candidates launching campaigns in recent days and additional announcements expected in the coming weeks. But both parties are still waiting to see if they can convince a governor to try to flip one of their top targeted states next year.
Democrats will have to reach into GOP territory to net the four seats they need to flip the chamber, while also defending competitive seats they currently hold in Georgia, Michigan and elsewhere. Republicans, meanwhile, are looking to grow their 53-47 majority in next year’s elections while defending blue-leaning Maine, battleground North Carolina and some redder states.
Republicans set to largely avoid town halls during the congressional recess
Members of Congress are back in their districts for a two-week recess, potentially bracing for more anger from constituents.
But voters in Republican districts might not have much of a chance to question their representatives.
Weeks after Rep. Richard Hudson, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, advised Republican members of Congress not to hold in-person town halls, it appears that most of them are heeding his advice.
Trump says tariffs on imported semiconductor chips coming soon
Trump said yesterday that he would be announcing the tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, adding that there would be flexibility with some companies in the sector.
The president’s pledge means that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China likely will be short-lived as Trump looks to reset trade in the semiconductor sector.
