Live updates: Trump seeks huge defense spending increase in budget request
This version of Trump Blanche Bondi Doj Dhs Shutdown Congress Elections Live Updates Rcna266472 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone was adapted by NBC News Clone to help readers digest key facts more efficiently.
Democratic lawmakers trashed the request for proposing cuts to domestic spending.
What to know today
- MILITARY BUDGET REQUEST: President Donald Trump is proposing $1.5 trillion for the military in his 2027 budget request, a 42% increase from current levels, while seeking a $73 billion cut to domestic programs, the White House said this morning. The blueprint also includes a request for money to reopen Alcatraz Island as a working prison.
- DEMOCRATS OPPOSE CUTS: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, and other Democrats involved with budget decisions panned Trump's spending blueprint, including a proposed $73 billion cut to domestic programs, saying the administration's plan reflected the wrong priorities.
- BLANCHE ASCENDENT: Trump named Todd Blanche, the Justice Department's No. 2 and previously his criminal defense attorney, to lead the DOJ as acting attorney general after firing Pam Bondi from the top spot.
- EPSTEIN AND OTHER PROBES: Hours after his appointment, Blanche suggested in a Fox News interview that the Jeffrey Epstein case files should not be a focus of the department going forward and declined to answer a question about continuing investigations of Trump's perceived enemies.
Georgia lawmakers end session without resolving voting system dispute
Georgia lawmakers did not delay the required implementation of a new elections system by July before their legislative session ended Friday, raising urgent questions about how votes in the battleground state will be cast and counted in the November midterm elections.
Fueled by conspiracy theories about Georgia’s election system, state lawmakers voted two years ago to stop using touch-screen voting machines, which generate a QR code that is used to tally votes.
That change is set to go into effect after Georgia’s primary elections, but the lawmakers haven’t allocated funds for a new or modified system and the state hasn’t procured one. State officials said in 2024 that changes to the current system could cost tens of millions of dollars, while a total replacement could run as much as $300 million.
Even if the state could find the money elsewhere, experts warn against changing voting systems in the middle of an election year.
The state House passed a bill Thursday to push the July 1 deadline back to 2028, but the state Senate did not approve the fix before adjourning for the year.
The absence of a legislative fix sets the state up for likely litigation over how the November elections are run and could fuel further doubts about the integrity of the election system.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito fell ill last month during event in Philadelphia
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito became ill during an event in Philadelphia on the evening of March 20, a spokesperson for the high court said today.
“Out of an abundance of caution, he agreed with his security detail’s recommendation to see a physician before the three-hour drive home,” the spokesperson said.
Alito, 76, underwent an examination and received fluids for dehydration, the spokesperson said, adding he returned home that night, which was previously planned.
“Justice Alito was thoroughly checked by his own physician, and he returned to work the following Monday for oral argument,” the spokesperson added.
Alito has attended all oral arguments since the episode and has participated throughout them, including for the birthright citizenship case on Wednesday.
Evangelicals widely backed Trump. Now pastors denounce his ICE crackdown after it hit their churches.
After the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown intensified over the past year, members and leaders of Latino evangelical churches are reeling from the effects of the stepped-up enforcement actions. Now this key electorate that helped Trump return to the White House finds itself caught in the crosshairs of his mass deportation agenda.
Judge rejects request to reconsider his decision to block subpoenas of Jerome Powell
A federal judge in Washington has rejected U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s request for the court to reconsider his quashing of subpoenas related to an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Chief Judge James Boasberg argued in an order today that nothing in Pirro's request for reconsideration "changes the Court’s view of the appropriate legal framework, most of which the Government does not even contest."
He wrote that the government’s arguments “do not come close” to convincing the court that a different outcome is warranted in this case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office could appeal Boasberg’s rulings to the D.C. circuit court.
Last month, Boasberg blocked subpoenas issued by the Justice Department in January to Powell as part of an investigation into the management of the central bank's renovation of its D.C. headquarters. The subpoenas were related to Powell's testimony to the Senate in June 2025 about the renovation. Boasberg said that the government "has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime."
Powell was then defiant about stepping down from the Federal Reserve board until the Trump administration ends its probe into his testimony.
RFK Jr. expected to testify before Senate HELP Committee
Health Secretary Robert F. Kenneder Jr. is expected to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Senate Finance Committee for budget hearings on April 22, two sources familiar with the plans tell NBC News. The hearing date will not be officially noticed by both Committees until the week prior.
Kennedy will field questions from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chairman of the Health committee, for the first time since the senator invited him to appear for an oversight hearing in September.
Cassidy’s repeated public clashes and initial hesitation to support Kennedy have become a focal point of his re-election campaign, as he faces a Trump-endorsed primary challenger, Rep. Julia Letlow. The Louisiana Senate primary election is on May 16.
ICE detains president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque
The president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque was detained by federal immigration agents, drawing accusations yesterday from local officials and religious leaders that the arrest was motivated by his criticism of Israel.
Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by nearly a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who surrounded his car on Monday in Milwaukee after he left his home, according to the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.
'Fight this budget tooth and nail': Congressional Democrats pan Trump's 2027 request
Democrats in the House and Senate are criticizing Trump's 2027 budget request this morning.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement that Democrats will "fight this budget tooth and nail to ensure it never becomes law." He criticized its proposed allocation of $1.5 trillion in military spending while cutting "programs that Americans and seniors care about and rely on."
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said the blueprint fails to help working Americans, arguing that it "doesn’t address how to tackle the high price of gas or groceries that Americans are facing every day, our skyrocketing debt, or the looming Social Security insolvency."
His House counterpart, Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., wrote in a post on X that the budget shows that "Trump doesn't care about working Americans." He added, "He’s asking Americans to foot the bill for his reckless war in Iran while cutting their health care, housing, education, and more. This budget is the epitome of 'America Last.'"
Republicans will need to negotiate with Democrats on the general annual appropriations bills, which are based on the budget that Congress ultimately decides, because they are subject to the filibuster in the Senate.
Trump budget calls for $152M to reopen Alcatraz as a working prison
Trump's 2027 budget proposal released this morning is seeking money to reopen Alcatraz Island, in the San Francisco Bay, as a working prison.
The spending blueprint for the Justice Department says it "affirms the President’s commitment to rebuild Alcatraz as a state-of-the-art secure prison facility, providing $152 million to cover the first year of project costs."
Congress would need to approve that request in a spending bill for DOJ.
Trump said in a social media post in May 2025 that he directed the Bureau of Prisons, FBI and Department of Homeland Security "to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders."
Alcatraz served as a federal prison from 1934 to 1963, according to the National Park Service, which operates Alcatraz Island as a museum. Some of its most infamous inmates included Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.
According to the FBI, 36 men tried 14 escapes while the prison was open and nearly all were caught or didn't survive. They include bank robbers Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, on whose story the 1979 Clint Eastwood film "Escape from Alcatraz" was based.
Rubio accuses China of ‘bullying’ for holding up Panama-flagged ships after canal clash
Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused China yesterday of “bullying” by detaining or holding up dozens of Panama-flagged ships — though for a short period of time — after the Central American country seized control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal earlier this year from a subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company.
China denies the allegations. Panama has been caught in a broader rivalry between the United States and China after Trump accused Beijing last year of running the Panama Canal. The Trump administration sees the critical maritime trade route as strategically important, both commercially and militarily, and Trump has talked about retaking the Panama Canal since his campaign.
“China’s decision to detain or otherwise impede Panama-flagged vessels engaged in lawful trade destabilizes supply chains, raises costs, and erodes confidence in the global trading system,” Rubio said on social media. “The United States stands with Panama against any retaliatory actions against its sovereignty and will always support our partners in the face of bullying.”
Of the 124 ships detained in Chinese ports for inspection in March, 92 — or nearly 75% — were Panama-flagged, according to public data from Tokyo MOU, a regional port state control organization comprising 22 member authorities in the Asia-Pacific region. The Panama-flagged ships were typically detained for a few days — as short as one day or as long as 10 days — before being released.
That is up drastically from the previous two months, when 19 out of 45 ships — or more than 40% — held in February were Panama-flagged, and 23 out of 71 — or over 30% — in January hung the Panama flag.
America’s “repeated wrongful allegations only reveal its attempt to take control of the canal,” said Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington. In a statement, he did not address the uptick in the number of Panama-flagged ships held up in Chinese ports.
It comes amid the backdrop of Panama’s supreme court ruling in January that the concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings over the Balboa and Cristóbal terminals was unconstitutional.
White House praises jobs report
White House spokesperson Kush Desai reacted to the March jobs report published this morning, writing in a post on X, “America remains on a solid economic trajectory” and “Americans can rest assured that after the short-term disruptions of Operation Epic Fury are behind us, America’s economic resurgence is set to only accelerate.”
But experts warn the Iran war has already shifted the economic landscape in the weeks since the surveys for the March report was conducted.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt reposted Desai's statement and in a separate post wrote, “The March jobs report smashed expectations!”
First group of 12 deportees from the U.S. arrives in Uganda, lawyers say
Twelve people deported from the U.S. arrived in Uganda yesterday, the Uganda Law Society said, making it the first group known to arrive in the East African country since it signed a deal with the U.S. allowing the transfers.
The deportees, who arrived on a private charter flight, were “effectively dumped in Uganda through an undignified, harrowing and dehumanizing process,” the law society said in a statement, adding that it was challenging the process in court.
Uganda is one of at least seven African nations that have agreed to accept migrants deported from the U.S. as part of Trump’s crackdown on immigration. The deals have been criticized by rights groups who cite the deportees’ lack of cultural ties to the third countries, where some have been held in maximum-security prisons, and the risk that those countries could send them back home to face possible persecution.
According to a February report by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to third countries, mostly Venezuelans who were sent to El Salvador.
Trump proposes $1.5 trillion for the military in 2027 budget request
Trump is proposing $1.5 trillion for the military in his 2027 budget request, a 42% increase from current levels, the White House said this morning.
The request for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, calls on Congress to pass a $1.1 trillion appropriations bill for the military and then approve another $350 billion under what's known as a budget reconciliation process. That process allows the majority party in Congress to advance legislation that deals with taxes, spending or the debt by a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing the filibuster to pass bills along party lines.
The $350 million would be "for critical Administration priorities such as increasing access to critical munitions and further expansion of the defense industrial base," the White House said in a release.
The budget blueprint also calls for $73 billion in reductions to domestic programs.
The proposal is only a blueprint, and the funding ultimately passed by lawmakers typically differs from an administration's original request.
FBI labels suspected China hack of law enforcement data ‘a major cyber incident’
The FBI has labeled a suspected Chinese cyber intrusion into a government surveillance system a “major incident” that poses risks to U.S. national security, according to a senior law enforcement official and a source with knowledge of the matter.
The hack compromised sensitive information related to domestic law enforcement, the sources said, and the FBI recently informed lawmakers about it.
Trump says anti-fraud raids have begun in Los Angeles
Trump announced this morning that raids "have already started" in Los Angeles under Vice President JD Vance's new anti-fraud initiative.
Trump added that Vance's efforts would focus on Democratic-led states, something the president said initially when he rolled out the new initiative last month.
"We will call him the 'FRAUD CZAR,' and his focus will be 'EVERYWHERE,' but primarily in those Blue States where CROOKED DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS, like those in California, Illinois, Minnesota (Somalia beware!), Maine, New York, and many others, have had a 'free for all' in the unprecedented theft of Taxpayer Money," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president did not provide evidence for his claims of fraud in those states.
Last month, Trump named Vance to lead the administration’s new anti-fraud task force, which aims to identify the misuse of federal funds. He led the first meeting of the task force last week, and swore in Colin McDonald as assistant attorney general in charge of anti-fraud enforcement Wednesday.
Trump claimed in his post that successfully eliminating fraud would “literally” balance the U.S. budget.
The Government Accountability Office estimates that the U.S. loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud. The U.S. faces a cumulative debt of $24 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while the budget deficit in fiscal year 2025 was $1.78 billion, according to the administration.
Trump and the White House have made this claim before, including during the president’s State of the Union address. Trump announced the anti-fraud initiative in his State of the Union speech.
Karoline Leavitt pressed on SAVE America Act at Turning Point USA event
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed about the Trump administration’s claims of widespread voter fraud at a Turning Point USA event last night, with some audience members booing the student who asked whether it’s worth pursuing Trump’s top legislative priority, the SAVE America Act.
“Voter fraud is incredibly rare,” the student said before citing statistics from the Heritage Foundation and the Brennan Center for Justice. “So my question to you is, is it worth it to risk millions of Americans from voting in order to prevent a few hundred cases of voter fraud?”
The crowd responded to the question with a mix of cheers and boos.
“First of all, thank you for the question. There’s no need to boo. It’s an honest question. I’m happy to give you an honest answer,” Leavitt said.
“First of all, I have not seen the data you provided, so I’d like to go check it myself and make sure that it’s actually accurate in the way that you’re citing it. And there is certainly much more, I believe, voter fraud in this country,” Leavitt said. “And why are you OK with any voter fraud in the United States of America?”
There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S.
The SAVE America Act, which has been stalled in the Senate, would require voters to show proof of citizenship, by passports or birth certificates, to register to vote. It would also mandate that voters show photo identification when they cast their votes, including photocopies of pertinent IDs for those voting by mail.
March jobs report expected to show labor market stabilizing before Iran war
The March jobs report is expected to show the U.S. labor market remained relatively stable last month, but experts say the Iran war has already shifted the economic landscape in the weeks since the data that inform today’s report was collected.
Surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics were completed by March 12. At the time, the full brunt of the war — for which Trump has laid out an uncertain timeline — had yet to hit the job market.
Hegseth has intervened in military promotions for more than a dozen senior officers
Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration policies or officials, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process.
The process within the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines is structured to ensure the most qualified officers get promoted. Hegseth’s decision to intervene in the process has raised concerns among some officials within those military branches and the White House, the nine U.S. officials familiar with the situation said.
“There is not a single service that has been immune to this level of involvement by Hegseth,” one of the U.S. officials said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth forces out Army’s top officer
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, four U.S. military officials said.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed George’s departure in a statement yesterday, saying on X that George, the Army’s top officer, would be “retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately.”
“The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement,” Parnell added.
Hegseth has long eyed removing George, who took the chief post in September 2023. Hegseth has removed other senior officials he believes are associated with previous administrations. George was senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden administration.
In addition to dismissing the Army chief of staff, Hegseth fired two other Army generals yesterday, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the action.
They are the chief of chaplains, Maj. Gen. William Green, and the commanding general of Army Transformation and Training Command, David Hodne
Todd Blanche sidesteps question about DOJ investigations into Trump foes
The newly named acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, sidestepped last night when he was asked about Trump’s perceived political foes.
In an interview on Fox News, Blanche did not directly answer a question about whether he would pursue cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James, former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
“We don’t talk about investigations, but I can tell you that the Department of Justice is working hard every day. It was working yesterday, and we’re going to keep working tomorrow,” Blanche told Fox News’ Jesse Watters, while he acknowledged that Trump is frustrated and said “everybody” is frustrated.
The Justice Department under Bondi pursued but failed to secure convictions of Trump’s top political targets. NBC News has reported that some Trump allies saw that as a contributing factor to her dismissal.
Todd Blanche says the Epstein files shouldn’t be a part of ‘anything’ at DOJ going forward
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said tonight that the Justice Department should turn the page on the Epstein files.
“I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the last year of this Justice Department, it will — should not be a part of anything going forward,” he told Fox News’ Jesse Watters in an on-air interview.
Trump has said it’s time for the country to move on from the files. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office in February, Trump said about Epstein: “I think it’s really time for the country to get onto something else.”
Bondi came under widespread criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans, including the MAGA base, for her handling of the Epstein files. The House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena this year for her to testify before the panel. It’s unclear whether she will testify now that she’s no longer attorney general.
From Trump’s attorney to the Epstein files: Todd Blanche’s rise to attorney general
Blanche, whom Trump named to temporarily lead the Justice Department after Bondi was ousted yesterday, has held two critical positions in his last two jobs.
Most recently, he served for more than a year as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 spot overseeing the department’s daily operations. But just as crucially, he was also Trump’s personal attorney.
Blanche helped Trump survive multiple criminal cases between his terms in office, defending him from prosecutors and appearing by his side during his conviction in New York in a hush money case. The president has said he did nothing wrong.
Blanche, 51, a Denver native, is “a very talented and respected Legal Mind,” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the move.
