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(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats sparred with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday over whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be returned to the United States, as well as the Department of Homeland Security’s spending.

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia, asked if the Trump administration would comply with the Supreme Court’s decision that the U.S. government must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, Noem replied that the government is following the law but didn’t say yes or no.

“What I would tell you is that we are following court order,” Noem shot back. “Your advocacy for a known terrorist is alarming.”

Van Hollen said he isn’t “vouching for the man” but rather due process.

“I suggest that rather than make these statements here, that you and the Trump administration make them in court under oath,” he added.

Van Hollen then accused Noem of a political speech, and Noem said she would suggest Van Hollen is an “advocate” for victims of illegal crime.

Last month, after Abrego Garcia’s family filed a lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the U.S. The Supreme Court affirmed that ruling on April 10.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pressed Noem on whether she read the Supreme Court decision, noting that the court ruled 9-0 that the U.S. must facilitate his release.

“Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador. It is up to the president of El Salvador to make the decision coming back,” Noem replied. “It’s been a big topic of conversation between all of us. … The president has been very clear on this issue, as the secretary of state and I have as well. Abrego Garcia is not a citizen of this country and is a dangerous individual.”

Earlier in the hearing, Murphy blasted Noem, saying, “Your department is out of control.”

“You are spending like you don’t have a budget. You’re on the verge of running out of money for the fiscal year. You are illegally refusing to spend funds that have been authorized by this congress and appropriated by this committee,” he said. “You are brazenly violating the law every hour of every day. You are refusing to allow people showing up at the southern border to apply for asylum. I acknowledge that you don’t believe that people should be able to apply for asylum, but you don’t get to choose that.”

He added that DHS will run out of money by July on immigration and argued that the department isn’t giving migrants due process.

“What you are doing both the individuals who have legal rights to stay here, like Kilmar Abrego Garcia or students who are just protesting Trump’s policies is immoral, and to follow the theme, it is illegal. You have no right to deport a student visa holder with no due process, simply because they have spoken in a way that offends the president. You can’t remove migrants who a court has given humanitarian protection from removal,” he said.

Noem also noted that the Biden administration let in upward of 20 million people into the country illegally.

Noem was also asked about the Trump administration’s plan for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Noem has said she wants to get rid of FEMA and return the funds to the states.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., asked Noem to “tread lightly” on dismantling FEMA, marking the first time a Republican has raised caution about the president’s plan to dismantle FEMA. Moore Capito said she is “concerned” that there could be issues with small states “subject to a lot of natural disasters, flooding,” in providing relief.

“I think it’s [a] vital function, and I’m concerned, if you turn it all over to the states, capacity for the state to really handle this is something that — so I would ask you to tread lightly,” she added.

On CISA, she said previously it was operating as the “ministry of truth” during the Biden administration and that the Trump administration is returning CISA to accomplish the stated goals of DHS.

“They were out doing election security missions where censorship and deciding what was truth and what wasn’t truth, and we have eliminated those functions within CISA,” Noem said. “CISA was created to be an entity that supported small and medium businesses and also critical infrastructure, our electrical grid, our water systems that are vulnerable to hacking attempts and influence from foreign countries but enemies of the United States of America.”

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., noted that there were 15 employees out of 3,000 who were working on misinformation.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump unveiled the framework for a trade agreement with the United Kingdom on Thursday, marking the first such accord with any nation since the White House suspended some of its far-reaching “Liberation Day” tariffs last month.

The Trump administration will adjust 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, and will lower auto tariffs from 25% to 10% on the first 100,000 British vehicles sent to the U.S., Trump said.

The agreement left in place 10% tariffs that the U.S. slapped last month on imported goods from nearly all foreign countries.

In exchange, the U.K. will ease trade barriers targeting a set of products, including ethanol, beef and machinery, among other products, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. That additional market access amounts to $5 billion worth of trade, the White House said.

The U.S. also secured a $10 billion purchase of Boeing airplane parts and a “secure supply chain” for pharmaceuticals, according to information shared by Trump on social media on Thursday.

The U.K. will fast-track U.S. imports through customs inspection, Trump said.

The U.S.-U.K. agreement left some details to be worked out later, setting the two countries on a path toward a wider deal, Trump said.

Addressing reports at the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump touted the agreement.

“This deal is working out for both countries,” Trump said, noting the “final details are being written up.”

In remarks made over a speaker phone on Trump’s desk, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said negotiations between the two sides moved toward an agreement in recent weeks.

“This is a really important deal,” Starmer said. “There are no two countries that are closer than our two countries.”

Starmer acknowledged some details still need to be “ironed out.”

The roughly $68 billion in imported goods from the U.K. last year accounted for about 2% of U.S. imported goods, U.S. data showed. The U.S. exported nearly $80 billion worth of products to the U.K. last year, which accounted for almost 4% of U.S. goods exports.

Dozens of nations face potential so-called “reciprocal tariffs,” but the U.K. is not among them, since the U.K. buys more than it sells to the U.S. The White House paused the reciprocal tariffs until July, as it seeks to strike trade agreements with dozens of countries.

Testifying before a House subcommittee on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration had commenced negotiations with 17 of the top 18 U.S. trade partners, excluding China. Those countries account for the vast majority of U.S. foreign trade, Bessent said.

Bessent is set to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, for initial trade negotiations with China on Saturday. The U.S. last month imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, prompting 125% retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products.

On Thursday, Trump said the negotiations between the U.S. and China would be “very substantive,” voicing a willingness to lower the tariffs on Chinese goods.

“It couldn’t go higher,” Trump said. “You know it’s coming down.”

Trump’s tariff escalation last month roiled markets and triggered recession warnings on Wall Street.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned Trump’s tariff policy could cause higher inflation and an economic slowdown.

“If the large increase in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they’re likely to generate a rise in inflation and a slowdown of economic growth,” Powell said Wednesday.

Still, key indicators suggest the economy remains in “solid shape”, Powell said.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office that he will soon announce a new nominee for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, replacing his pick, Ed Martin.

“He is a terrific person. He wasn’t getting the support from people that I thought,” Trump said during a White House event. “I’m very disappointed in that. But I have so many different things that I’m doing now with the trade. One person, I can only lift that little phone so many times in a day. But we have somebody else that will be great.”

Trump said his administration will “have somebody else that we’ll be announcing over the next two days who’s gonna be great.”

Trump tapped Martin in mid-February to stay on permanently as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, a role that requires Senate confirmation.

But Martin’s past, specifically his defense of Jan. 6 rioters and inflammatory rhetoric around the Capitol attack plagued his nomination.

Martin had to apologize in an interview for his past praise of a Jan. 6 rioter who had a lengthy history of antisemitic statements and had infamously posted photos of himself dressed as Adolf Hitler.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a key Republican vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told ABC News this week he would not support Martin and that he had relayed his opposition to the White House.

The opposition from Tillis, who is up for reelection next year, combined with that from all Democrats, could block Martin’s nomination from getting out of committee.

Trump stood by choosing Martin and called the waning support for him “disappointing” — but that ultimately the decision was up to senators.

“They have to follow their heart and they have to follow their mind,” Trump said when asked about Martin’s uphill battle in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Martin has been acting interim U.S. attorney since Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20. In that time, he has moved to fire or demote career attorneys who investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and has sent letters to top Democrats and other political opponents threatening them with potential criminal investigations.

Martin’s term as interim U.S. attorney, which can only last 120 days, is set to expire on May 20.

-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Joe Biden, on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday, said President Donald Trump has had the “worst 100 days” of any president.

Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden are joining the co-hosts live in-studio to discuss life post-presidency, the Democratic Party’s losses in 2024, and the current political landscape as President Donald Trump passes the 100-day mark of his second term.

It’s their first joint interview since leaving the White House.

The Bidens have kept a relatively low profile since leaving Washington in January, though the former president is beginning to ratchet up his public appearances.

Joe Biden’s first major speech since departing the White House came last month in Chicago, when he rebuked the Trump administration’s approach to Social Security, accusing officials of “taking a hatchet” to the agency and more broadly causing “so much damage” to the federal government. Biden has appeared occasionally since.

In his first post-presidency interview, broadcast on the BBC on Wednesday, Biden sharply criticized the current administration on a host of issues: He likened Trump’s push for a peace deal that would have Ukraine cede territory to Russia to “modern-day appeasement,” and blasted Trump’s threats to acquire Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.

“What president ever talks like that?” Biden said. “That’s not who we are. We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity — not about confiscation.”

Trump, for his part, routinely criticizes Biden as “the worst president in American history” and blames him for various difficulties in his own administration, including recent stock market turmoil and a decline in U.S. gross domestic product.

Biden’s presidency marked the culmination of a career in public service that spanned more than five decades, including 36 years as a senator and eight years as vice president. He leaves behind a complex legacy, punctuated by Trump’s historic victory in November.

Biden and his team were criticized for his decision to seek reelection and later withdraw after a poor debate performance against Trump that moved some Democrats to publicly question his ability as he approached the age of 82 to campaign for and serve another term.

Even still, Biden and his allies have maintained a belief that he could have beaten Trump had he stayed in the race. He’s said he decided to drop out and endorse then-Vice President Kamala Harris to help unify the party.

Asked by the BBC if he should have dropped out earlier, Biden said it wouldn’t have had an impact on the outcome.

“I don’t, I don’t think it would have mattered. We left at a time when we had a good candidate, she’s fully funded,” Biden said.

“I meant what I said when I started, that I think I’m prepared to hand this to the next generation, a transition government,” Biden added. “But things moved so quickly that it made it difficult to walk away from the ticket and it was a hard decision. But regret that? No, I think it was the right decision. I think that, well, it was just a difficult decision.”

Jill Biden, 73, who has also begun stepping up public appearances, has also emphasized she believes her husband would have been able to serve four more years.

“Sure,” she told the Washington Post in an interview before the Bidens left the White House in January. “I mean, today, I think he has a full schedule. He started early with interviews and briefings, and it just keeps going.”

More broadly, the Bidens’ appearance on “The View” comes as Democrats are in the midst of rebuilding their coalition and retooling some parts of their message; and grappling with what role — if any — the former president should play in the future of the party.

Two key electoral races this year will stress test those changes: gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. It’s unclear if Joe Biden will be involved in campaigning.

Both Joe Biden and Harris have signed with the CAA talent agency.

Meanwhile, Jill Biden, who retired from her longtime teaching career in December, was recently named as chair of the recently launched Milken Institute’s Women’s Health Network, which will promote research and investments for women’s health.

Speaking about the initiative in Los Angeles on Monday, Jill Biden said that she does not think the federal government will be as involved with women’s health investments and research as it used to be.

“I think this is really an opportunity for business, for private equity to, you know, it doesn’t seem like the federal government is really going to be as involved as they were … I think we all have a part to play in every aspect of this,” Biden said when discussing what excited her about the initiative.

She was seemingly referencing federal government cuts, which have heavily hit health research initiatives as well, although she did not call out the White House or any figures explicitly.

-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Republican-led House is voting Thursday on Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman’s motion to send legislation formalizing the Gulf of Mexico’s proposed name change to Gulf of America back to committee.

The legislation, which was introduced by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, codifies an executive order from President Donald Trump to rename the body of water.

Its fate in the Senate is more of a challenge, given that it will need bipartisan cooperation to overcome a filibuster.

“Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper or other record of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico shall be deemed to be a reference to the ‘Gulf of America,'” the bill text states.

The measure also instructs each federal agency to update each document and map in accordance with the name change, which Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum will oversee.

“Codifying the rightful renaming of the Gulf of America isn’t just a priority for me and President Trump, it’s a priority for the American people. American taxpayers fund its protection, our military defends its waters, and American businesses fuel its economy,” Greene argued in a post on X.

One of Trump’s first executive orders when he started his second term was to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

Speaker Mike Johnson has endorsed the bill, which is expected to clear the lower chamber in a party-line vote.

“We’ve been working around the clock to codify so much of what President Trump has been doing … to make sure that we put these into statutory law so that it can’t be reversed and erased by an upcoming administration,” Johnson said at a news conference on Tuesday.

House Democrats, including Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have criticized the measure.

“Why is the top thing that House Republicans — going to do this week on their legislative agenda renaming the Gulf of Mexico?” Jeffries said at a news conference Monday. “Because Donald Trump and House Republicans are on the run. They are on the run.”

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