Trump administration live updates: Senate delays ICE and Border Patrol funding vote; DNC releases 2024 autopsy report
Catch up with NBC News Clone on today's hot topic: Trump Nih Cdc Director Congress Budget Ballroom Funding Live Updates Rcna346230 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone. Our editorial team reformatted this story for clarity and speed.
Senate Republicans might advance the funding bill without a $1 billion provision for the Secret Service that would go toward the White House ballroom project.
What to know today
- ICE AND BORDER PATROL FUNDS: The Senate is leaving D.C. without having taken a previously planned vote on whether to advance an Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol funding bill after a Justice Department briefing with Republican lawmakers on its new "anti-weaponization" fund complicated consideration of the legislation.
- 2024 AUTOPSY REPORT: Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin released the party’s autopsy report on the 2024 election today after having faced intense pressure to do so. The report details problems that plagued the Democratic Party in the last presidential election.
- AI EXECUTIVE ORDER: President Donald Trump unexpectedly canceled the signing of a landmark executive order on AI that was scheduled for this afternoon. He told reporters that he scrapped the plans at the last minute because the executive order as written could interfere with American competitiveness on AI.
- IRAN WAR POWERS: House members will leave Washington without having voted on an Iran war powers resolution tonight, though they will have to when lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.
Coverage of this live blog has ended. For the latest news, click here.
Pressure on DNC Chair Ken Martin builds amid questions over how he handled the 2024 autopsy
The Democratic National Committee plunged into a fresh round of chaos today after Chair Ken Martin was forced to release an autopsy report he commissioned about the failed 2024 presidential campaign.
Instead of quelling speculation about the findings and outrage over Martin’s initial insistence on keeping it secret, the release aggravated an extended public relations and management nightmare.
After months refusing to make the autopsy public but saying the DNC was learning important lessons from it, Martin today gave a different story: Actually, he said, the report wasn’t complete, and he didn’t stand behind it. The document that was released was filled with DNC annotations rebutting various assertions.
Now, jittery donors are second-guessing whether they can trust the DNC with their money, according to two sources with knowledge of internal discussions. Martin spent part of the day on the phone with them talking through his decision-making.
Bipartisan bill to build women’s history museum falls after GOP amendment
Both sides of the aisle came together today to oppose what had been a decadelong bipartisan effort to build a women’s history museum in Washington.
The legislation, which specified the museum’s site, was nearing the finish line but lost dozens of Democrats who had supported it just a month ago. It failed in the afternoon on a 204-216 vote, in which six Republicans joined all Democrats in voting no. Eight other Republicans did not vote.
Recent GOP revisions to the bill prompted scores of Democrats to speak out against the legislation in its current form, saying they would not vote for it as it stood.
The legislation, authored in February 2025 by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., had as many as 231 co-sponsors, including 127 Democrats.
Candace Owens apologizes to Hunter Biden for past attacks on his drug addiction: 'I just saw you as a caricature'
Candace Owens apologized to Hunter Biden for calling him names and attacking him in past years over his drug addiction in a podcast interview that aired this evening.
Biden spent much of the nearly two-hour interview reflecting on his addiction and the public backlash he faced over it. He told Owens that he has been sober since June 1, 2019.
"I feel like I have to say, like, I’m really sorry that I contributed to that, like, I just feel really s-----, like, I feel guilty, because, like, hearing you talk about, I mean, basically having the worst moments of your life," Owens responded.
"I just saw you as a caricature, and it was, it was definitely like I said, like feeling gaslit by the political machine," she continued. "I just, like, really want to say like genuinely, like, I’m so sorry that I just didn’t even consider he’s a crackhead, and, like, you know, like that’s actually a very relatable thing."
Biden began to tear up during the conversation, telling Owens, "I told you before we started, I cry very easily."
"I did partake in just the inhumanity of 'just look at this guy at the worst moment of his life,'" Owens said. "Like with prostitutes, he’s on crack, he’s on drugs, and we should make fun of him, because it makes us feel good or it makes us feel like we’re somehow beating the machine, and that was, I think, a really warped viewpoint."
"For you to say that to me, I truly mean it, but just from a purely selfish point of view, means the world," Biden said.
Noah Wyle joins lawmakers to advocate for legislation supporting healthcare workers
Noah Wyle, the star of the medical TV show “The Pitt,” joined members of Congress and healthcare workers at a Capitol Hill rally advocating for legislation to help people in the medical field.
Wyle and the group were advocating for legislation to support healthcare workers. His mother, one of those workers, was in attendance. They were joined by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Reps. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., and Steven Horsford, D-Nev.
Wyle, who plays Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch on the Emmy-award winning HBO show, called himself a “Trojan horse” for the speakers who came before him.
Asked by NBC News how the stories he has heard shape the plot of “The Pitt,” Wyle said his character’s struggles are meant to shine a light on the mental health of medical professionals. Wyle added that “hopefully it will call more attention to the need to support people that are in these jobs."
Reps. Suozzi, Fitzpatrick introduce bipartisan bill to block federal funds from going to DOJ's 'anti-weaponization' fund
Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., introduced bipartisan legislation today aimed at prohibiting federal money from being used by the Justice Department's "anti-weaponization" fund.
“We introduced legislation today to make sure that money appropriated here to the DOJ cannot be used — which by the way, the executive branch doesn’t have any money in their own right,” Fitzpatrick told NBC News this evening. “Every dollar that the executive branch has comes from the Congress.”
Fitzpatrick sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche yesterday demanding answers about the fund's legal authority, what money was going into the fund and who is eligible to receive it.
“This administration is acting like they’re out of touch with that reality of how people are feeling, and this is just another manifestation with that,” Suozzi said this evening.
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns over the fund, especially over questions of who is eligible to receive compensation.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the fund was a "big issue" earlier today when he was asked what role it played in the Senate's postponing a vote on a critical funding bill.
GOP lawmaker says Rep. Tom Kean told him he'll return to Congress in June
Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the House Republicans’ campaign arm, said Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J., called him this afternoon to say he would return to the Capitol in June.
“I got no details about his condition, but I talked to him,” Hudson, R-N.C., told reporters as he left the House floor. “He sounded like the same old Tom. He said he’ll be back in June.”
Hudson said he didn’t ask Kean why he had been gone. “I think he’ll address it when he’s back,” Hudson said, adding that Kean assured him that he is running for re-election.
Kean spoke to the New Jersey Globe today in his first interview since he last voted at the Capitol on March 5. “My doctors are confident that I’m on the road to a full recovery,” he said.
Two county Republican chairs in Kean’s New Jersey district also confirmed to NBC News that Kean called them today.
“He’s doing great,” Joe LaBarbera, chair of the Sussex County Republican Committee, said in a phone call. “We had a great talk, and he says he’s going to win this election and he’s very confident. And he said, ‘Stand by.’ He goes, ‘We’re going to be hitting the road.’”
LaBarbera said he hadn’t been concerned about Kean’s absence. “His team assured me that everything was fine and that it was a private matter. I took it, I took it at value, because nothing Tom’s ever said or done has ever let me down.”
LaBarbera said that before his absence Kean was usually “always on speed dial whenever you need him.”
Carlos Santos, chair of the Union County Republicans, also confirmed in a text message that he spoke to Kean.
Trump backs amendment to highway bill that would make daylight saving time permanent
Trump said he supports an amendment to the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act, or the highway act, that would tack on a separate measure to make daylight saving time permanent.
“It’s time that people stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding it would be “a very nice WIN” for Republicans.
Trump thanked the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who authored the Sunshine Protection Act — the original bill that would make daylight saving time year-round.
The Energy and Commerce Committee voted 48-1 today to send the highway bill with the Sunshine Protection Act language to the House floor.
The bill would lock states into the time observed between March and November unless a state exempted itself before the act went into effect.
A version of the Sunshine Protection Act is in committee in the Senate, where it’s sponsored by Rick Scott, R-Fla. That bill stalled following an effort to fast-track it after Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the change to daylight saving time could have overlooked negative consequences.
Trump’s $1.8B fund isn’t officially open yet. That hasn’t stopped applications.
Applications are already rolling into the Justice Department from hopefuls aiming for some of the nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, even though the process can’t officially begin until commissioners are chosen to decide how the money is doled out.
The fund was announced this week, part of an unprecedented settlement between Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization and the government he oversees over the leak of his tax returns. He agreed to drop legal claims in exchange for creating the fund.
It’s not clear yet how people are expected to formally apply. The pool of possible applicants is substantial, according to a Justice Department overview that was sent to GOP Senate offices today.
“Literally tens of millions of Americans were subjected to improper and unlawful government targeting, including extensive government censorship and aggressive lawfare,” according to the overview.
House Republicans pull Iran war powers resolution from floor vote
The House is no longer voting on an Iran war powers resolution tonight, though it will have to when lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.
After the last-minute change, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee asked on the House floor why the resolution wasn’t being considered.
“Are we not voting on it because the American people are sick and tired of this illegal war?” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., asked.
“You guys don’t have the guts or the balls to vote on this,” he then yelled to applause from Democrats.
The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, would direct the president to remove U.S. forces from Iran “other than those elements of the Armed Forces that may be necessary to defend the United States or an ally or partner of the United States from imminent attack.”
Last week, an Iran war powers resolution failed when the vote tied, with three Republicans voting for it. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, the only Democrat to vote against it last week, said in a statement that he would support Meeks’ new resolution.
Just before that, Republicans lost a vote on authorizing a location for the women’s history museum. Eight Republicans have consistently been missing during this vote series.
Asked by NBC News whether Republicans would have lost the war powers vote had it happened today, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said: “Well, we just had some members that weren’t there for it who wanted to be recorded on it. So we’re going to be giving them that opportunity when we get back.”
Meeks offered his war powers resolution on the House floor yesterday, starting a legislative clock for when GOP leaders have to bring it up for a vote. While it was originally scheduled for a vote today, it was skipped over.
When the chamber returns, it will be at the end of the legislative clock and will have to vote on the resolution.
Mitch McConnell calls Trump's anti-weaponization fund 'utterly stupid, morally wrong'
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., bashed Trump's nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund that was announced by the Justice Department this week.
“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — Take your pick,” McConnell said in a statement.
The fund is being met with increasing opposition from congressional Republicans, on top of widespread condemnation from Democratic lawmakers.
Trump says he’ll ‘try’ to attend son’s wedding this weekend but it’s ‘not good timing’
Trump's RSVP to his son’s wedding this weekend is still pending.
Speaking to reporters at the White House today, Trump said that due to the Iran war and “other things,” he wasn’t sure if he’d be attending the nuptials of Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson.
Asked by NBC News whether he would be in attendance, the president said it “is not good timing for me.”
“He’d like me to go,” Trump said of his eldest son. “But it’s going to be just a small, little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it. I’m in the midst — I said, you know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things. That’s one I can’t win on.”
Some senators express concern after Blanche meeting
As Senate Republicans left their closed-door briefing with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, which lasted over an hour and a half, several expressed frustration about the administration's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund — though the majority declined to answer questions from reporters.
“I think the administration is putting itself in a bad spot,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said. “Do you really think that the American people like the president suing himself, basically, then making a deal that benefits himself with a broad immunity for not just IRS dealings, but anything else, and along the way, setting up this fund, which, without appropriated dollars, how does that appear to the American people?”
“Congress has had no input,” he added.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. said his message to Blanche was, “We need the White House help to build consensus on this.”
Asked if he was satisfied with Blanche’s explanation of the fund, Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, said, “No.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also said “no” when asked if Blanche changed her mind about the fund, which she previously said she opposed.
John Bolton says DOJ 'anti-weaponization' fund is a 'gross violation' and he won't apply for it
John Bolton, a White House national security adviser in Trump’s first term, said he will not apply for payments from the Trump administration’s newly created "anti-weaponization" fund.
Bolton told NBC News: “I wouldn’t apply even if I had a chance of receiving any assistance, which I’d don’t think I do. This idea is a gross violation of the purposes of the judgment fund. I hope someone has standing to challenge it in court.”
In October, a federal grand jury indicted Bolton, charging him with eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information.
Since he left his White House position in 2019, Bolton has become an outspoken critic of Trump. In 2020, he published a book called “The Room Where It Happened,” which disparaged Trump’s foreign policy moves and leadership style.
Former Epstein assistant identified three people involved in abuse, Comer says
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said Sarah Kellen, a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, gave the committee “three names of people that were involved” in Epstein’s abuse.
Comer said they were “new names" to the committee. He called today’s closed-door transcribed interview with Kellen “the most substantive and productive interview that we’ve had.”
The interview has ended. Comer said the committee will release the transcript “as quickly as possible.” He said that while there will be some redactions, the “men that were, that were abusers, alleged abusers, then, you know, we’ll, the whole world will see that.”
A spokesperson for Comer confirmed that the new names will not be redacted in the transcript.
In her opening statement, obtained by NBC News, Kellen told the committee that Epstein “groomed me, sexually and psychologically abused me, controlled me, manipulated me, dominated me, and gaslit me until I could no longer tell which thoughts were mine and which were his.”
She said she was “reminded every day how powerful he was how influential he was and that to turn on him or disobey him would mean losing everything: my job, my home, everyone I knew in the world, even my life.”
Kellen said she “finally extricated myself from Jeffrey Epstein’s grasp in 2013, when I became engaged to a man who gave me, for the first time in my life, a piece of footing outside of someone else’s control.”
'It would have been nice if they had consulted,' Thune says after 'anti-weaponization' fund interferes with funding bill vote
Senate Republicans will work with the Justice Department to safeguard the "anti-weaponization fund" after it derailed consideration of an ICE and Border Patrol funding bill that they had hoped to pass tonight, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters this afternoon.
"I think we need to get, we need to get some, some clarity, yeah, about how this is going to work,” Thune said, adding that using legislation to put guardrails on the fund “would be one option.”
He said dealing with the fund "became a more complicated and bumpy path than we had hoped for."
“It would have been nice if they had consulted, and I think they probably would have gotten plenty of advice from lots of folks about it, but it’s water under the bridge now, and you know, you play the hand you’re dealt,” Thune said.
He said they are consulting with their members and the Justice Department but added that “the administration is going to have to come up with some, some suggestions and ideas about the best way to do that.”
Thune admitted that Trump’s endorsements against Republican incumbents in recent weeks played into the dynamics that led today's vote to fall apart.
“I think it’s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what’s happening in the political atmosphere around us,” he said, adding that "there’s a political component to everything we do around here, so yeah, it’s — you can’t, you can’t disconnect those things.”
Exclusive: Michael Cohen says he will apply for payments from DOJ's 'anti-weaponization' fund
Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer who served nearly three years in prison on tax evasion and other charges, told NBC News he plans to apply for a payout from the Justice Department's so-called anti-weaponization fund. He said he's working through the process on his own and will submit a letter directly to the Justice Department.
“Nobody told me or called me up to say, ‘Hey, you should do this,'" he said. "I saw it on television. I saw Michael Caputo put it in via a letter.”
Caputo, a longtime Trump ally, posted on X a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche asking the Justice Department for $2.7 million and calling out “the machinery of government," which he said “was clearly politically weaponized against my family.”
Cohen said: "My understanding is that there actually is no formal application that exists. You do it via letter to the Department of Justice, and I have drafted that letter — I’m on my third rendition of it. I wanted it to be perfect.”
Blanche announced the fund this week, after Trump agreed to end his lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns.
“What Trump complains about happened to him happened to me twice,” Cohen said, referring to his tax returns’ being unlawfully leaked by an IRS contractor in 2018. John C. Fry pleaded guilty in 2019 to downloading Cohen's personal financial information from the Treasury Department's FINCEN system and leaking it to lawyer Michael Avenetti, who in turn gave it to a reporter.
“As I write in my letter, if the weaponization fund truly exists to support individuals destroyed by politically motivated law enforcement tactics, selective prosecution, government leaks, abuses of power and intentional destruction of reputation, then there is perhaps no clearer example than what happened to me," he said.
House will also leave D.C. today
The House will also leave town today after the Senate did not proceed with voting on the ICE and Border Patrol funding bill, according to a notice sent to members. The House was waiting for the Senate to take up the legislation first.
The last House votes of the week will be 4:30 p.m. ET today. It will include a vote on an Iran war powers resolution.
Federal judge tosses voter roll lawsuit in Maine
A federal judge in Maine has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against the state for failure to provide voter registration data, writing that there are proper ways to work with states like Maine to obtain voter registration data, but the avenue of litigation like this is not one of them.
U.S. District Judge Lance Walker said that, typically, the “federal government curiosity in state voter rolls would ordinarily be worked out through cooperation and negotiation in observance of the delicate balance of sovereign authorities, thereby avoiding a clash between sovereigns.” But that is not the route the Department of Justice took.
This is the 8th federal judge nationwide to dismiss DOJ’s lawsuit on this issue.
Martin apologizes to DNC members in a call after report release
Hours after he released the DNC's controversial, delayed 2024 autopsy report, Martin told DNC members in a call that Paul Rivera, the report’s author, no longer “is with or advises the DNC in any capacity,” according to a source on the call.
“I apologize. Being a leader at any level means you own every single mistake —those of your creation and frankly those not of your creation,” Martin said. “This was a major mistake. I own it, and now it's time for us to move forward at the DNC, and I hope that you'll move forward with me.”
Martin did not give an option for members to weigh in.
Senate to leave town without voting on ICE and Border Patrol funding bill
The Senate is leaving town without having voted on a bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol after discussions about the Justice Department's new "anti-weaponization" fund complicated consideration of the legislation, two Republican leadership sources told NBC News.
“I think the administration is putting itself in a bad spot,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said today after a Justice Department briefing about the fund with Republican senators.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s briefing lasted over an hour and half, and Republicans came out tight-lipped and appeared frustrated, saying they are working on how they could put guardrails on the fund.
The Justice Department announced this week that it was creating the fund after Trump decided to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns.
Trump administration's nearly $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund draws bipartisan backlash
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are expressed concern over Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund designed to provide payments to those who claim they were targeted by previous administrations, potentially including Jan. 6 rioters. Standing in the way of the fund may be a tough ask for rank-and-file Republicans who do not want to cross Trump. NBC News’ Ryan Nobles reports for "TODAY."
Sen. Thom Tillis says 'anti-weaponization' fund is a 'payout pot for punks'
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., called the administration's $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund a "payout pot for punks."
Tillis said he would do "everything" he could to keep the fund out of Republicans' reconciliation funding bill, which the GOP hopes to vote on tonight.
“These people don’t deserve restitution; they — many of them — deserve to be in prison,” Tillis said of the people who might use the fund.
He added that his GOP colleagues who feel the same need to “speak up.”
“This is beyond the pale. This is not good for my colleagues. There’s no one positive thing that could be spun out of this between now and November. This is bad policy, it’s bad timing, and it’s bad politics,” he told NBC News.
Critics of the fund have expressed concern that it could be used to provide payouts to people who assaulted police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol or members of far-right extremist groups.
Rep. Tom Kean hasn’t been seen in his N.J. district, where voters are split on his mysterious absence
Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s colleagues in Washington and constituents in New Jersey all seem to be asking the same question: Where is the congressman and when will he return?
Kean, 57, hasn’t voted in the Capitol in almost three months due to what his office has described as a “personal medical issue.” His office has not offered more information but insists he’ll recover fully and return to work “soon.”
Rep. Tom Kean at the Capitol in 2023. Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images file
Kean also hasn’t been seen publicly here, in his district, or even appeared in any video statements since he last voted March 5. And he canceled a planned appearance at a local chamber of commerce event that was to take place next week, raising intense speculation about his mysterious absence.
NBC News knocked on Kean’s door, but no one answered.
NBC News also spoke to two of Kean’s neighbors in his affluent suburban district outside of Newark, who both said they hadn’t seen him in months. Another constituent, who works at a tobacco shop in downtown Westfield, told NBC News: “I used to see him around town years ago at the restaurants. I haven’t seen him lately at all.”
Pennsylvania governor told DNC chair he was unhappy about unreleased 2024 report
Before the DNC's release of its 2024 election autopsy report today, DNC chair Ken Martin had been pummeled in public for months after he promised to release the report and then reversed course in December, saying he would not do so.
Those concerns stretched to the top levels of the Democratic Party. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Martin spoke about a week ago about the unreleased autopsy.
At the time, according to two sources with knowledge of the call, Shapiro relayed he was unhappy that Martin had not released the report and was not being transparent. Martin was rattled by this call, according to the sources.
The DNC declined to comment on the episode.
Trump warns Supreme Court against ruling against him on birthright citizenship
Trump railed against birthright citizenship in his remarks in the Oval Office ahead of an expected decision on the issue this term by the Supreme Court.
"We’re the only country in the world that has it. You step into our country and you’re all of a sudden a citizen," he said.
"This decision by the Supreme Court is a very big one," He continued, "They’ll probably rule against me because they seem to like doing that, you know."
Trump said he's "not happy with some of the decisions" by the justices and said it would be a "disgrace" if the high court rules against him on birthright citzenship.
"We’re a laughing stock, and if the Supreme Court approves that decision, they have done a great disservice to the United States of America, just like they did a great disservice by costing us $149 billion on tariffs by saying do it a different way," he added. "We should have won that case on tariff."
Trump confirms he postponed the signing of an AI-related executive order
Trump confirmed to reporters that he was delaying the signing of an artificial intelligence-related executive order.
Asked by a reporter why he delayed the signing, which was first reported by Axios, Trump said it was "because I didn't like certain aspects of it."
"I postponed it," he said. "I think it gets in the way of, you know, we're leading China, we're leading everybody, and I don't want to do anything that's going to get in the way of that lead."
Trump was set to sign an executive order this afternoon.
After GOP strips ballroom funding from bill, Trump says he doesn't need the money
Trump said that he doesn't need congressional funding for his planned White House ballroom because he and others are paying for it.
“I don’t need money for the ballroom. You know, I’m making a gift to the ballroom," Trump said when asked whether he's losing control of the Senate after Republicans had to strip funding for the ballroom for their reconciliation bill.
Work continues Tuesday at the construction site of the White House ballroom. Alex Brandon / AP
“The ballroom is being built," Trump continued. "If they want to spend money on securing the White House, I think it would be very, very much a good expenditure. But the ballroom is being built."
Asked what will happen if Congress doesn't provide funding for the security aspects of the ballroom, Trump said, "Then the White House won't be a very secure place."
Republicans have removed the planned $1 billion in ballroom funding from their reconciliation bill after the Senate parliamentarian said that it would require 60 votes to be wrapped into the legislation.
House to vote on Iran war powers resolution this afternoon
The House will vote on another Iran war powers resolution today during the chamber’s 4:30pm vote series, according to the floor schedule.
The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks, would direct the president to remove U.S. forces from Iran “other than those elements of the Armed Forces that may be necessary to defend the United States or an ally or partner of the United States from imminent attack.”
Last week, an Iran war powers resolution failed when the vote tied, with three Republicans voting in favor.
Rep. Jared Golden, the only Democrat to vote against the resolution last week, said in a statement that he will support the new resolution today from Meeks.
Several Democrats in the Progressive Caucus have introduced additional war powers resolutions the past few weeks so those will become eligible for floor consideration soon, forcing Republicans to continue to vote on the war with Iran.
Hearing with top NIH officials concludes
The hearing NIH chief Bhattacharya and other top health officials has concluded after about an hour-and-a-half of testimony from him and several top officials at the agency.
Sen. Patty Murray expresses concerns that NIH cuts 'have dismantled our infectious disease research and developmental pipeline'
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she was concerned about funding cuts for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the agency losing staff, including top officials.
"I know you're scrambling to rehire, but it just seems like we have dismantled our infectious disease research and developmental pipeline, and we will pay the price," she said.
Bhattacharya said that "we've shifted the folks of NIAID to address diseases and conditions that people actually have" and shifted priorities to allergy and immunology.
NIH director Jayanta Bhattacharya speaks on Capitol Hill today. Drew Angerer / AFP via Getty Images
"That shift means that we need some new leadership," he said. "The folks you're talking about are still at the NIH, but they've been assigned to places where they can help with the changed mission of the NIAID to focus on infectious diseases and on allergy immunology."
Kennedy fired the director of NIAID, Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, last year. She previously said it was because of her defense of vaccines and speaking out against the cancellation of National Institutes of Health research.
Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan ends independent bid for Michigan governor
Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan today ended his independent campaign for governor in Michigan, citing national headwinds that are boosting Democrats.
“If we were even in the polls and behind in fundraising, we have a path to winning. If we were behind in the polls and even in fundraising, we have a path. But we’re behind in both,” Duggan wrote on his campaign website. “It’s just not right to ask our volunteers, faith leaders, unions, elected officials and donors to continue in a campaign that, in my heart, I no longer feel good about our chances to win.”
The former mayor served in Detroit as a Democrat, but in 2024 launched an independent bid for governor, promising to push back against “the political fighting and the nonsense that once held Detroit back.”
Bhattacharya dodges questions on flavored vape policy
Bhattacharya refused to opine on the Trump administration’s recent authorization of flavored vapes and its new pathway for tobacco companies to begin selling them.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked the NIH director whether he thought the policies would make it easier to peddle flavored vapes to children in middle and high school.
“The role of the NIH isn’t to set policy,” Bhattacharya said. “It’s to do research to document the ways to address these health problems.” He added that “having kids have more access to vaping does not make sense to me.”
Durbin then asked the NIH center directors at the hearing if any of them thought the Trump administration had made a “sensible decision.” None responded affirmatively.
The administration’s moves to make flavored vapes more widely available played a role in the resignation of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s senior spokesperson, Richard Danker.
The Trump administration has said that vapes could help people quit smoking, but public health experts say research hasn’t demonstrated that benefit.
Supreme Court non-decision saves Alabama inmate from execution
The Supreme Court dodged a decision in a death penalty case on Thursday, but in doing so, handed a win to Alabama inmate Joseph Smith.
In an unusual outcome, the court split 5-4 in deciding not to decide the appeal brought by Alabama over the state's attempt to reimpose the death penalty in Smith's case.
The non-ruling leaves in place an appeals court decision that said Smith cannot be executed because he is intellectually disabled.
The legal dispute was over how courts should assess IQ scores that are used to determine if an inmate is eligible for the death penalty. Under a 2002 Supreme Court precedent, intellectually disabled people cannot be executed.
Smith was originally sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of Durk Van Dam.
In a dissenting opinion, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas said the court's non-ruling "rewards Smith's efforts" to argue that he was not eligible for the death penalty even though several IQ tests suggested he is "not insufficiently intelligent to be executed."
NIH diabetes director says funding cuts will delay research
Dr. Griffin Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, testified that the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts would delay research into type 1 diabetes.
“A reduction in funding will have consequences, of course,” he told Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “We’d have to either delay or postpone many of our efforts, including our TrialNet effort.”
TrialNet, an international research network of scientists and medical experts, led to the approval of the first drug to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes.
Collins questioned the necessity of the funding cuts.
“For the life of me, I cannot understand why the budget would propose a $167 million cut for your institute,” she said.
DNC releases 2024 autopsy, with chair apologizing for ‘creating an even bigger distraction’
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin released the party’s autopsy report on the 2024 election after coming under intense pressure to do so.
Martin had been pummeled in public for months after he promised to release the report and then reversed course in December, saying he would not do so.
“For full transparency,” Martin said today, “I am releasing the report as we received it, in its entirety, unedited and unabridged. It does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards, but I am doing this because people need to be able to trust the Democratic Party and trust our word.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin criticizes the Trump administration, saying it has 'waged war on science'
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., used her opening remarks to accuse the Trump administration of having "waged war on science."
Baldwin, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, said that "in the midst of an emerging Ebola outbreak, we have a leadership vacuum at the world's premier infectious disease institute and across our health agencies," adding that the issue was of "great concern."
"Over the past 16 months, the Trump administration has waged war on science, and I'm not talking about isolated policy disputes or partisan disagreements," she said.
"I'm talking about systematic dismantling of long-standing research programs, and the deliberate erosion of research institutions that make America the global leader in biomedical innovation," she said. "Across the country, researchers, universities, cancer centers, children's hospitals, and patients are experiencing disruptions because this administration has thrown NIH into chaos."
She pointed to the administration's cuts to health-related grants and the workforce at NIH.
"This chaos has ramifications across the country," she said. "Hiring freezes are hollowing out research labs and forcing institutions to rescind job offers to young scientists. Clinical trials are being canceled or postponed."
Hearing featuring NIH director kicks off
The Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing featuring testimony from the NIH chief has begun.
Bhattacharya serves as the director of the National Institutes of Health as well as the acting director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Five other health care officials will appear alongside Bhattacharya to take questions from lawmakers.
Blanche to meet with Senate Republicans on DOJ's 'anti-weaponization' fund
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will brief Senate Republicans in the Capitol at 11 a.m. today as Republicans debate whether to include language putting guardrails on the so-called "anti-weaponization" fund in the reconciliation bill they are currently crafting, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The conversation comes as a growing number of Republicans have expressed concerns about the fund and who will get paid from it. The reconciliation bill Republicans are hoping to pass as soon as tonight could include language related to the fund because it could technically fall within the jurisdiction of the section of the bill crafted by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate Democrats also plan to introduce amendments related to the fund to be voted on when the unlimited amendment vote-a-rama happens related to the bill, again as soon as tonight. What those amendments will be will depend on what, if any, guardrails Republicans include in the bill when it’s released.
Why Democrats have soured on a women’s history museum bill set for a House vote
A decadelong bipartisan effort to build a women’s history museum in Washington is nearing the finish line, but a bill to make it happen now has a lot less Democratic support than it did just a month ago.
The House is set to vote Thursday on legislation that would secure a location on the National Mall for the previously approved Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. Recent GOP revisions, though, prompted scores of Democrats to say they won’t vote for the measure in its current form.
The legislation, authored in February 2025 by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., has 231 co-sponsors, including 127 Democrats. At the end of last year, the bill had such strong bipartisan backing that even Republicans had grown frustrated with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for not bringing it to the floor.
But Democratic support for the bill has dwindled in recent weeks as House Democrats say an amended version would give President Donald Trump unilateral control over the museum’s ultimate site and its construction.
Iran-U.S. diplomacy intensifies as Trump seeks ‘right answers,’ Tehran signals gaps ‘reduced’
A new burst of diplomatic action intensified today in a push to break the deadlock between the United States and Iran.
Tehran was responding to Washington’s latest proposal, which had “reduced the gaps to some extent” between the two sides, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.
Taiwan welcomes idea of Trump talking to its president, which would be a major break in protocol
HONG KONG — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te would be “happy” to speak with Trump, the Beijing-claimed island’s foreign ministry said today, after Trump suggested the two leaders might talk in what would be a major break in U.S. presidential protocol and likely antagonize China.
It is not clear whether there are any concrete plans for a call between Trump and Lai, but Trump has said twice in the past week that he would like to have one.
“I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Democratic group launches ICE attack against Rep. Angie Craig in Minnesota Senate primary
A Democratic outside group is unleashing an early attack on one of the contenders in the hotly contested Minnesota Senate primary, underscoring how the fight for the future of the party is reaching new heights.
The Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association is launching a $2 million advertising effort, shared first with NBC News, criticizing Democratic Rep. Angie Craig for votes on immigration enforcement during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Colorado Democrats censure Gov. Jared Polis for commuting election denier’s sentence
Colorado Democrats voted yesterday to censure Gov. Jared Polis, a fellow Democrat, for commuting the prison sentence of an election denier who had been serving nine years in state prison for tampering with voting systems.
“Reducing her sentence now, under pressure from Donald Trump, is not justice,” the Colorado Democratic Party said in a statement. “It sends a message to future bad actors that election tampering has consequences, unless you’re friends with the president. That’s a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set.”
Last Friday, Polis reduced former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ nine-year sentence, saying her term was disproportionate to the crime. Peters will be eligible for parole June 1.
The move sparked backlash from state and national Democrats.
Trump to announce actions rolling back Biden-era EPA rules
Trump will announce actions at 11 a.m. ET to roll back Biden-era EPA rules related to refrigerants.
The agency's updated regulation would address "costly overreaching restrictions limiting the type of refrigerants American businesses and families can use," according to a White House official.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement that the Biden-era rules the administration is reversing "didn’t protect human health or the environment and instead piled on costly, unattainable restrictions beyond what the law requires."
"Our actions allow businesses to choose the refrigeration systems that work best for them, saving them billions of dollars," he said. "This will be felt directly by American families in lower grocery prices.”
Sen. Dick Durbin warns DOJ against ‘doling out compensation to rioters’ in new Trump fund
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee urged the Justice Department yesterday to reconsider its openness to providing money from the Trump administration’s new $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to Jan. 6 rioters who attacked police defending the Capitol.
“The notion of the federal government doling out compensation to rioters who sought to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and violently assaulted members of the United States Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department on January 6, 2021 is absurd and offensive,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a letter first shared with NBC News.
In congressional testimony earlier this week, Blanche did not rule out the possibility that Jan. 6 defendants convicted of violent offenses against police during the attack on the Capitol could receive money from the fund.
In his letter, Durbin demanded transparency about who is eligible to receive money from the pool. He asked that the Justice Department hand over documents, communications and materials that detail the eligibility requirements for the fund by May 28, including the specific considerations made for people who participated in the Jan. 6 riot.
Former prosecutor emailed herself the unreleased Jack Smith report, DOJ alleges
A former federal prosecutor was indicted on charges she emailed herself confidential files from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents, the Justice Department said yesterday.
Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, was charged with four counts related to stealing, concealing and altering government property and records, according to the nine-page indictment.
Senate Republicans plan to take $1 billion fund toward White House ballroom out of spending bill
Senate Republicans are looking to remove a $1 billion provision for the Secret Service that would go toward the White House ballroom project from their proposed ICE and Border Patrol spending bill, Sen. John Kennedy told NBC News yesterday.
Kennedy, R-La., left a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans saying they plan to remove the ballroom funding after it became clear that the votes were not there to pass the bill with the provision included.
“We were told that, and again, I haven’t looked at the text, but we’re told that the ballroom money is out,” Kennedy told reporters. “My understanding is that the security money has come out, and my understanding is it’s because the votes aren’t there.”
The $72 billion spending bill had earmarked $1 billion in part to fund “security” adjustments within the White House, including those added specifically to the East Wing Modernization Project for “above-ground and below-ground security features.”
The bill faced pushback from the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, over the weekend. McDonough wrote that the bill would need to pass a 60-vote threshold, thus negating the advantage of including it in the reconciliation package, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate to pass.
A growing number of Republicans have spoken out about including the ballroom funding, making it even more unlikely the measure could pass as written.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would not confirm the funding was pulled from the bill, but he said, “I think there are issues related to the East Wing modernization project.”
Thune said they are still discussing whether the entire $1 billion in Secret Service funding will come out of the bill or whether Senate Republicans will just take the money for the ballroom and the East Wing modernization project out.
Senate to vote on advancing ICE and Border Patrol funding bill
The Senate is expected to take a procedural vote to advance the bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of Trump’s term.
Once senators vote to proceed to the measure, they will will start up to 20 hours of debate divided between the two parties.
Following the conclusion of debate, the chamber would move to unlimited amendments, known as a vote-a-rama, and then final passage.
The bill would go to the House next, which would need to pass it before it’s sent to Trump for his signature.
Top health official Jay Bhattacharya to testify before lawmakers
Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health, will testify before lawmakers this morning about the administrations budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. Bhattacharya is also the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bhattacharya took over as CDC acting director earlier this year after the former director, Susan Monarez, was ousted. Monarez had told lawmakers that she was fired when she refused Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s pressure to pre-approve vaccine recommendations. Kennedy denied her allegations.
Bhattacharya also faced backlash after the CDC delayed and ultimately canceled the publication of a study showing that Covid vaccines reduced the likelihood of severe illness.
At NIH, he has faced criticism over the cancelation of research grant funding and clinical trials. In addition, he faced backlash over a series of firings, resignations and retirements that led to a partial leadership vacuum.
Rahm Emanuel proposes down payment assistance for people who complete national service
As he explores a White House run in 2028, Rahm Emanuel is proposing a program pairing help buying a first home with invigorating interest in national service.
The new initiative Emanuel is to roll out on Thursday, first shared with NBC News, would provide $25,000 for first-time homebuyers’ down payments if they have contributed two years of national service.
Emanuel — a former congressman, Chicago mayor, ambassador to Japan and White House chief of staff — said the program could be funded by fixing a specific part of a “rigged” tax system that allows taxpayers to claim a mortgage interest deduction on a second home. Under his initiative, taxpayers would be limited to claiming the interest deduction only on their primary residence.
“You should not be subsidizing people who have a second home,” Emanuel said in an interview. “We need people to start off on the American dream. Build a family. No more mortgage deductions for second homes, it goes to people for their primary home. And if you do two years of service, we’re going to give you the resources for a down payment.”
According to his estimates, limiting mortgage interest deductions to primary residences would save $108 billion over 10 years, with roughly 450,000 taxpayers claiming the mortgage interest deduction on a vacation home or investment home. Qualifying national service under the proposal would include time spent in AmeriCorps, conservation corps, public health, disaster relief and military service.
The proposal is just the latest in a series from Emanuel, who has churned out numerous initiatives since he first said he was mulling a White House run last year. In this case, the idea addresses economic anxieties among young people and highlights the growing disparity of wealth in America.
Emanuel pointed to polling showing that just 30% of young Americans believe they’ll be better off financially than their parents. Meanwhile, the average age of a first-time homeowner was 40 years old, an all-time high.
“The system is rigged,” Emanuel said. “You’re not paranoid, it’s rigged against ya!”
The new proposal comes on the same day that Emanuel and his wife, Amy, are honoring a cohort of students in ROTC programs with a scholarship they started and named after Admiral Lisa Franchetti.
Last year, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth fired Franchetti, who served as chief of naval operations from 2023 to 2025 and was the first woman to serve in that position. In his 2024 book, Hegseth called Franchetti a “DEI hire.” Emanuel said he worked with Franchetti while he served as ambassador in Japan, which has the largest overseas U.S. naval presence in the world.
“I worked with her extensively and when I saw what happened I was so offended, given her record,” Emanuel said. “Lisa was fired in a political purge … I’m not going to let Donald Trump and Hegseth be the last word.”
