Trump is urging lawmakers return to Washington and end the DHS shutdown, White House says
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The funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security is the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.
What to know today
- DHS FUNDING: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said today that President Donald Trump is encouraging members of Congress to return to Washington to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security. The funding lapse at DHS crossed into new territory yesterday when it became the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.
- ICE DEPLOYMENTS: White House border czar Tom Homan said yesterday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will remain at airports until TSA officers are back to normal operations.
- U.S. EMBASSY IN VENEZUELA: The Trump administration is reopening many of its services at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas after a yearslong hiatus imposed by now-deposed leader Nicolás Maduro, who is being held by the U.S. on narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.
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Jan. 6 rioters accuse police of excessive force in class action lawsuit
Several participants in the Jan. 6 riot have filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government, seeking millions of dollars in damages over their claims that police used excessive force against the pro-Trump mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
The lawsuit, filed in Florida on Friday, alleges that police “indiscriminately launched explosive munitions, chemical agents, and impact projectiles into a peaceful crowd and physically assaulted members of the crowd” as rioters stormed the Capitol to contest the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill to rename Palm Beach airport after Trump
Trump’s name might soon land on yet another public building.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis today signed into law a bill passed by the Legislature that would rename Palm Beach International Airport as President Donald J. Trump International Airport.
The name change, scheduled to take effect July 1, must still be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the bill text.
The FAA said in a statement today that while changing an airport name is a “local issue,” it “must complete some administrative tasks to include updating navigational charts and databases.”
Trump posts video with design plans for his presidential library
Trump tonight posted a video of what appear to be AI-generated plans for his presidential library.
The video on Truth Social shows a large skyscraper with a golden entrance and gold lettering on it. Inside is a lifesize replica of Air Force One, a golden statue of Trump raising his fist.
The end of the video says “Designed by Bermello Ajamil, a Woolpert Company.” Bermello Ajamil is a Miami-based architecture and engineering firm.
Along with the video, Trump posted a link where people can donate to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation Inc.
More than half of Senate Democrats call for hearing on strikes that hit Iranian school
Twenty-five Senate Democrats are calling on Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., to hold a public hearing on the strikes on an Iranian school that killed 168 people, most of whom were children.
The letter, sent Friday and released today by the office of Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said: “Massive civilian casualty incidents like the attack in Minab are devastating to the Iranian civilian population and risk both undermining U.S. national security interests and rallying domestic support for the Iranian regime.”
NBC News has reported that outdated intelligence most likely led to the deadly strike. It is increasingly likely that a U.S. munition was used in the strikes, a preliminary investigation from the Trump administration found, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the investigation.
In the letter, Democratic senators asked for an investigation to determine who was responsible, how the target was selected and what safeguards are in place to prevent another such strike in the future. A spokesperson for Wicker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
14 ICE detainees have died so far in 2026
So far this year, 14 people have died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, including a Mexican man who was found unresponsive last week at a facility outside Los Angeles, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security.
As of mid-February, ICE was holding more than 68,000 immigrants, among the highest numbers ever, according to federal data. The figure fluctuates as immigrants get deported and others are taken into custody.
Last year, ICE reported 33 total in-custody deaths, and in 2024 there were 11.
Throne with a golden toilet appears near the Lincoln Memorial
Maxine Wallace / The Washington Post via Getty Images
A golden toilet atop a throne appeared in front of the Lincoln Memorial today, following Saturday's nationwide "No Kings" protests against Trump.
Travelers across the country are still dealing with delays at airport security, days after Trump signed an executive memo approving back pay for TSA officers. The Department of Homeland Security says the officers could start getting paychecks as soon as today or tomorrow. NBC News' Priscilla Thompson reports for the "TODAY" show.
Treasury launches anti-fraud initiative with rewards for tipsters
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched an initiative today targeting health care and benefits fraud, offering a major financial incentive to whistleblowers who tip off the government to successful cases.
In a notice submitted to the Federal Register, the Treasury Department said rewards for whistleblowers could reach up to 30% of the government’s fine.
The proposed rule to pay whistleblowers is part of a crackdown on fraud that targets Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state health care benefit programs. The initiative includes a push for financial institutions to identify and report suspicious transactions that could be related to health care fraud.
“As promised, Treasury will reward whistleblowers who provide timely, actionable information on fraud, sanctions violations, and other significant illicit finance activity,” Bessent said in a statement. “President Trump has been clear that Americans have a right to know that their tax dollars are not being diverted to fund acts of global terror or to fund luxury cars for fraudsters. At Treasury, we follow the money, and we strongly encourage individuals to come forward with credible tips to help safeguard our financial system.”
Bessent visited Minnesota earlier this year, when he said the Treasury Department is taking steps to target fraud nationwide.
White House says U.S. hasn't formally changed its sanctions policy toward Cuba
The White House press secretary said today that the U.S. has not formally changed its sanctions policy toward Cuba.
Leavitt made the comment when a reporter at the press briefing asked about Trump saying yesterday that he had no problem with a Russian oil tanker delivering relief to Cuba.
"As the president said last night, we allowed this ship to reach Cuba in order to provide humanitarian needs to the Cuban people," Leavitt said. "These decisions are being made on a case-by-case basis, and as the administration has said, Cuba's nonfunctional economy cannot be fixed unless they undergo dramatic political and leadership change."
"But there has been no formal change with respect to sanction policy. So you could expect more tankers to go to Cuba," she added.
Karoline Leavitt pressed on international law after Trump's threat to destroy civilian infrastructure in Iran
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. military "will operate within the confines of the law" when asked about the president's threat this morning to target Iran’s electric generating plants, oil wells and “possibly” desalination plants.
Asked by NBC News why Trump was threatening to destroy civilian infrastructure, which could potentially amount to a war crime under international law, Leavitt said Trump has made it “quite clear” to Iran that “their best move is to make a deal, or else the United States Armed Forces has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, and the president is not afraid to use them.”
“Of course this administration and the United States armed forces will always act within the confines of the law,” Leavitt added. “But with respect to achieving the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump is going to move forward unabated, and he expects the Iranian regime to make a deal with the administration.”
Leavitt declined to answer a follow-up question about which of the president’s objectives would be helped by the destruction of desalination plants.
White House says Trump is encouraging lawmakers to return to D.C. to fund DHS
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at today's briefing that Trump is encouraging lawmakers to return to Washington to pass funding for the Department of Homeland Security amid the shutdown.
"The president just can't keep signing presidential memorandums and proclamations every time Congress fails to do its job and every time Democrats are holding our entire country hostage picking and choosing which programs and agencies they want to fund just because they don't like this administration's policies," Leavitt said.
Trump signed an executive order to pay TSA workers during the shutdown.
"The president has stepped in to do the right thing at this moment in time, but the president is also encouraging Congress to come back to Washington to permanently fix this problem and to fund and reopen the Department of Homeland Security entirely," Leavitt said.
The House and the Senate left for a two-week spring recess after they passed different legislation to fund DHS, meaning the department will remain unfunded until both chambers pass a spending measure.
Trump says White House ballroom plans include ‘massive’ underground military complex
Trump confirmed yesterday that the military is building a “massive complex” under the White House ballroom.
The information “has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed, but the military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that’s under construction, and we’re doing very well,” Trump told reporters on Air Force Once. “So we’re ahead of schedule.”
News outlets previously reported that a military bunker under the East Wing would be renovated. The East Wing was demolished in October for Trump’s $400 million ballroom, sparking criticism from many Democrats and preservation advocates.
DHS to resume asylum adjudication of most nationalities
The Trump administration will resume reviewing asylum cases after it paused applications following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., in November by an Afghan man who received asylum last year.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the DHS agency that approves asylum and other immigration applications, will resume the screening process except for the 39 countries in Trump’s expanded travel ban.
“USCIS has lifted the adjudicative hold for thoroughly screened asylum seekers from non high-risk countries," a spokesperson for the immigration agency said in a statement. "This move allows resources to focus on continued rigorous national security and public safety vetting for higher-risk cases.”
CBS News first reported the administration's resumption of asylum application screening.
NYT lawyer asks judge to enforce order in Pentagon access lawsuit
A lawyer for The New York Times urged U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman this morning to force the Defense Department to comply with his order 10 days ago requiring the Pentagon to strike several provisions from its press pass application and return passes to the newspaper's reporters.
The lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., said the Defense Department has responded to the judge's order in “bad faith,” physically ripping down a “Correspondent’s Corridor” sign inside what was formerly the Pentagon’s workspace for journalists and turning a Pentagon press access badge into a “worthless piece of plastic.”
“Not only are they not following the order, they are retaliating against the court’s orders,” Boutrous said.
“They know what they were supposed to do,” he added.
Boutrous brought up two issues that he found particularly egregious. The first was what he called an “inquisition panel” that a revised press policy published after the court’s order said would determine whether journalists were aware they were in violation of any of the Pentagon’s press policies. Those policies include prohibiting gathering information from non-press office Pentagon staff members not previously authorized for release.
“Talk about a chilling effect!” he said.
The second issue was related to the Pentagon's announcement last week about a new location for Pentagon journalists to gather, with Wi-Fi, power and workspace in an annex just outside the actual Pentagon itself.
Boutrous said that to physically get to the annex, journalists need to show a Pentagon press pass and that the only way to get there without going through a corridor inside the Pentagon itself would be to walk a long way around the building or take a shuttle bus.
As it stands now, however, reporters can’t board the shuttle bus without showing the Pentagon pass, and to get the pass in the first place, they must agree to all of the Pentagon’s press access rules that they are fighting over in court.
“How weird is that?” Friedman said in response. “What’s going on here?”
Justice Department lawyer Sarah Welch countered Boutrous' argument by saying the Defense Department "has complied in good faith.”
Welch confirmed that the annex is not currently operable but said it is “contemplated for the future,” with no date in mind.
She also re-emphasized the Pentagon's main argument, saying the new policy "is not retaliatory. It’s responsive.”
Boutrous urged the judge to act quickly on the issue, saying, “Time is of the essence."
“There’s a war going on,” he said.
Ex-Rep. Mark Sanford says he's mounting comeback bid
Former Republican Rep. Mark Sanford, best known for ending his tenure as governor amid revelations he was having an affair, says he's running again for the U.S. House.
Sanford has already made one successful comeback bid, winning a 2013 House special election a few years after resigning the governorship and serving until he lost re-election during the 2018 midterms. He told The Post and Courier today he's running to represent the 1st Congressional District again as its incumbent, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, runs for governor.
While Sanford, who ran an unsuccessful presidential bid against then-President Trump in 2020, hasn't yet filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, he has filed a statement of intention to be a candidate with the state of South Carolina.
Senators urge Trump administration to boost ethics training on insider trading
More than 40 Democrats in the House and Senate signed a letter to top administration regulators and ethics officials today asking for government-wide training on insider trading in prediction markets.
The letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Office of Government Ethics comes after weeks of increasing scrutiny regarding potential insider trading by government employees using prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi.
U.S. to restart operations at embassy in Venezuela
The Trump administration is formally resuming operations at the embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, the State Department announced today.
U.S. Ambassador Laura F. Dogu's team "is restoring the chancery building at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas to prepare for the full return of personnel as soon as possible and the eventual resumption of consular services," the news release said. The department did not specify the anticipated timeline for the resumption of operations.
The U.S. had closed its embassy in Venezuela in 2019 when now-deposed leader Nicolás Maduro broke off diplomatic relations. The U.S. had been engaging with the county's leadership through a special unit at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia.
Maduro and his wife were captured by the U.S. military in January and are being held in the U.S. Venezuela is now being led by Maduro's former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who was sworn in a interim president in January.
Usha Vance on disagreements with JD Vance, 2028 and shopping at Costco
WASHINGTON — Second lady Usha Vance on Friday said that she and her husband, Vice President JD Vance, don’t always see eye to eye on every issue, but that the room for disagreement creates space for “open-minded” conversations.
“I’m not his staffer. I’m not involved in this in any professional sense. … There’s no expectation that we are going to see eye to eye on everything,” Vance said.
“The expectation is that we are going to be open-minded and have a conversation, and that I’ll provide meaningful input from, you know, the perspective of someone who loves him and wants him to succeed. So even if we don’t agree, it’s — I think it’s always very productive.”
‘I blame them all’: Travelers frustrated with Washington as shutdown drags on
Amid the long lines and delays at the country’s airports, travelers say they feel deeply sympathetic to the airline workers who have been caught up in the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security — and deeply frustrated with politicians in Washington for letting it all happen.
“These are the people who are suffering enough,” Lizabeth Garza-García, 45, of Fort Worth, Texas, said of Transportation Security Administration agents as she was waiting in line at San Diego International Airport. “We don’t want another 9/11. ... I’d like these people to get funded.”
How a Democratic Senate candidate leapfrogged her opponents and surged to victory
It was January, just two months until Illinois’ Democratic Senate primary. And Quentin Fulks saw a critical opening.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and her two chief rivals had all voiced opposition to the aggressive operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But Stratton made a sharp distinction; she said she wanted to abolish ICE outright, while Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly took more nuanced positions.
Fulks, who led the main super PAC backing Stratton, quickly aired a TV ad promoting Stratton as the only major candidate seeking to get rid of ICE.
“We beat them to the punch on that issue,” he said. “The PAC went up first.”
Looking to limit birthright citizenship, Trump turns to an 1884 Supreme Court ruling against a Native American man
In a moment that could take on new significance almost 150 years later, Omaha election official Charles Wilkins on April 5, 1880, refused to register John Elk to vote on the grounds that he was Native American, and therefore not an American citizen.
Elk — believed to have been a member of what is now known as the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska — objected, saying he had severed all ties with his tribe and had willingly subjected himself to the authority of the United States.
He launched a legal challenge, arguing among other things that he was a citizen at birth because he was born within United States territory.
But the Supreme Court, in the 1884 case called Elk v. Wilkins, ruled against him, saying that Native Americans born within the territory of the United States did not have birthright citizenship. They had the same status as “the children of subjects of any foreign government born within the domain of that government,” the court said.
Trump’s administration is now citing that case as it defends his plan to end automatic birthright citizenship, putting a new spin on the long-standing interpretation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case Wednesday.
Trump says his ‘preference’ would be to ‘take the oil in Iran’
Trump said he would like to “take the oil in Iran” and is considering seizing the export hub of Kharg Island, which is responsible for more than 90% of Iran’s oil exports.
In an interview yesterday with the Financial Times, Trump said his “preference would be to take the oil.”
“To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” he said.
Sen. James Lankford doesn’t rule out supporting ground operations in Iran
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., did not rule out supporting the deployment of U.S. ground troops in Iran, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that “we’ve got to be able to know what the objectives are and what they’re actually carrying out.”
Asked by moderator Kristen Welker whether he would support Trump sending troops into Iran, Lankford said it was important to “finish” the job.
DHS funding lapse is now the longest government shutdown in U.S. history
The ongoing funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security crossed into new territory yesterday when it became the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.
The DHS shutdown is now in its 44th day, breaking the previous record when the department and the rest of the federal government went without funding from October until mid-November. This time around, the rest of the federal agencies and departments are funded.
2028 election Sen. Cory Booker says he’s ‘definitely not ruling out’ a possible presidential run
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said he is not ruling out the prospect of running for president in 2028, but that he is focused on running for re-election to the Senate this year.
“I hope New Jersey will support me for another six years,” Booker told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” yesterday.
Booker, who has served in the Senate since 2013, has already run for president once, in the 2020 election cycle. That year, he dropped out of the Democratic primary in early January, citing a lack of funds to continue his campaign.
Trump says he has ‘no problem’ with a Russian oil tanker delivering relief to Cuba
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — Trump said he has “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island, which has been brought to its knees by a U.S. oil blockade.
“We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need… they have to survive,” Trump told reporters last night as he flew back to Washington.
When asked if a New York Times report that the tanker would be allowed to reach Cuba was true, Trump said: “I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether it’s Russia or not.”
Border czar says ICE may not leave airports once TSA officers are paid
Border czar Tom Homan said yesterday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would remain at airports until TSA officers are able to resume normal operations.
“We’re going to continue an ICE presence there, and until the airports feel like they’re in 100%, you know, in a posture where they can do normal operations,” Homan said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “So if less TSA agents come back, that means we’ll keep more ICE agents there.”
