(SEATTLE) — President Donald Trump’s executive order challenging birthright citizenship will face its first legal test in a Seattle courtroom Thursday.
A federal judge will hear a request made by four Democratic-led states to issue a temporary restraining order against the executive order signed by Trump that purports to limit birthright citizenship to people who have at least one parent who is a United States citizen or permanent resident.
Trump’s executive order reinterpreting the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship — long promised by Trump on the campaign trail — is expected to spark a lengthy legal challenge that could define the president’s sweeping immigration agenda.
Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and two cities have sued Trump over the executive order, and the president faces at least five separate lawsuits over the policy.
In addition to the hearing in Seattle, a federal judge in Maryland is holding a hearing by telephone on Thursday in a challenge brought by two nonprofit groups and five pregnant undocumented women.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour — who was nominated to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 — scheduled Thursday’s in-person hearing in the case brought by the attorneys general of Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Illinois. In a federal complaint filed on Tuesday, the four attorneys general argued that Trump’s policy would unlawfully strip at least 150,000 newborn children each year of citizenship entitled to them by federal law and the 14th Amendment.
“The Plaintiff States will also suffer irreparable harm because thousands of children will be born within their borders but denied full participation and opportunity in American society,” the lawsuit says. “Absent a temporary restraining order, children born in the Plaintiff States will soon be rendered undocumented, subject to removal or detention, and many stateless.”
The lawsuit argues that enforcement of Trump’s executive order would cause irreparable harm to the children born from undocumented parents by preventing them from enjoying their right to “full participation and opportunity in American society.”
“They will lose their right to vote, serve on juries, and run for certain offices,” the complaint says. “And they will be placed into lifelong positions of instability and insecurity as part of a new underclass in the United States.”
Lawyers for the Department of Justice, now under new leadership, opposed the request for a temporary restraining order in a court filing Wednesday.
Taking effect next month, Trump’s executive order seeks to reinterpret the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship by arguing a child born in the United States to an undocumented mother cannot receive citizenship unless his or her father is a citizen or green card holder.
While most countries confer a child’s citizenship based on their parents, the United States and more than two dozen countries, including Canada and Mexico, follow the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil.”
Following the Civil War, the United States codified jus soli through the passage of the 14th Amendment, repudiating the Supreme Court’s finding in Dred Scott v. Sanford that African Americans were ineligible for citizenship.
“President Trump and the federal government now seek to impose a modern version of Dred Scott. But nothing in the Constitution grants the President, federal agencies, or anyone else authority to impose conditions on the grant of citizenship to individuals born in the United States,” the states’ lawsuit argued.
The Supreme Court further enshrined birthright citizenship in 1898 when it found that the San Francisco-born son of Chinese immigrants was an American citizen despite the Chinese Exclusion Act restricting immigration from China and prohibiting Chinese Americans from becoming naturalized citizens.
By seeking to end birthright citizenship, Trump’s executive order centers on the same phrase within the 14th Amendment — “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” — that the Supreme Court considered in 1898. Trump’s executive order argues that text of the 14th Amendment excludes children born of parents who are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, such as people who are unlawfully in the U.S.
While legal scholars have expressed skepticism about the legality of Trump’s executive order, the lawsuit could set the stage for a lengthy legal battle that ends up before the Supreme Court.
In this screen grab from a video released by the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station, a tortoise was sucessfully rescued after the owner’s home was destroyed by fire. Via San Dimas Sheriff’s Station/Instagram
(LOS ANGELES) — A beloved pet tortoise has been found safe in the wake of California wildfires.
The rescue occurred after the family’s Altadena home was destroyed in the Eaton Fire, according to the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station.
In a video the station shared Saturday to Instagram, a deputy was seen bringing the 100-pound tortoise, Rocky, to safety.
Rocky was found in a hole in the family’s backyard, the sheriff’s office said.
The family can be heard cheering and celebrating as a deputy carried Rocky over to them.
“Yay! Rocky’s home!” a woman can be heard saying in the video.
ABC News has reached out to Rocky’s family for comment.
(LONDON) — Russia is “very closely monitoring all the rhetoric” from Washington, a Kremlin spokesperson said, after President Donald Trump threatened to impose new sanctions unless Russia ends its war against Ukraine.
“We don’t see any new elements here,” Dimitry Peskov, the spokesperson, said on Thursday.
He added, “You know that in his first iteration of the presidency, Trump was the president of America who most often resorted to sanctions methods. He likes these methods. At least he liked them during his first presidency.”
The comments came the morning after Trump’s social media message to Russian President Donald Trump, calling on him to make a deal to “settle” Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL.’ NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!” Trump wrote in a new social media post.
Peskov on Thursday said financial actions against Russian assets held in the West would not go unanswered.
“We are very closely monitoring all the rhetoric, all the statements, we carefully record all the nuances,” he said.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — An alleged portrait is beginning to emerge of the 17-year-old boy who opened fire at his Nashville high school on Wednesday, killing one student and wounding a second student, according to police.
Solomon Henderson, who was armed with a pistol, fired multiple shots in the cafeteria at Antioch High School around 11:09 a.m., Nashville police said.
Henderson confronted a 16-year-old girl, Josselin Corea Escalante, in the cafeteria and shot and killed her, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at a news conference.
Another victim, a 17-year-old boy, was injured with a graze wound and has been treated and released from the hospital, Drake said.
The suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head while he was in the cafeteria, police said.
Another student was transported to the hospital after suffering a facial injury from a fall, police said.
The suspect rode the bus to school Wednesday morning and later went to the bathroom to “retrieve his weapon,” Drake said.
A motive is not known, police said.
“There are some materials on the internet that we’re looking at,” Drake said.
According to a detailed analysis conducted by SITE Intelligence, the suspected shooter praised mass shooters and showed an affinity for extremist views.
Online material allegedly written by Henderson “detailed the individual’s apparent far-right politics, shaped by fringe online forums,” SITE reported.
“Henderson was highly in fringe online communities, including several known neo-Nazi venues. Across these sites and his writings, Henderson expressed admiration for far-right and incel mass shooters,” SITE reported.
According to the intelligence group, Henderson claimed online that the school shooter in the Abundance Life Christian School attack in December, Samantha Rupnow, followed him on his X accounts. Additionally, documents online allegedly written by Henderson “detail his admiration” of Christchurch, New Zealand shooter Brenton Tarrant, the suspect in the Slovakian gay bar shooting in 2022 and other mass shooters, according to SITE.
The intelligence group reported that Henderson also appeared to “post photos of himself in attire commonly associated with neo-Nazis.”
As the investigation into the school shooting continues, officials said Wednesday it’s not yet clear where the suspect obtained the gun. Police have reached a parent of the suspect, the police chief said.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wrote on social media, “I’ve been briefed on the incident at Antioch High School and am grateful for law enforcement & first responders who responded quickly. … I join Tennesseans in praying for the victims, their families & the school community.”
The White House said it had been monitoring the shooting.
(SAN ANTONIO) — Seven police officers have been shot one after the other after responding to a call made from inside a home in San Antonio, Texas, police said.
The incident occurred Wednesday evening when police officers received a call from an apartment in San Antonio, Texas, from somebody reporting that their family member was in distress and needed immediate help, authorities said.
However, as police responded to the scene, they were shot one after the other in succession, according to San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus.
The first officer who responded was shot in the lower extremities with the second officer shot shortly after, police said.
A third responding officer subsequently arrived on scene and was shot before the last officer responded and was struck by a bullet in the upper torso, police confirmed.
No further details were given on the other three.
All of the officers were immediately taken to the hospital where they are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
The identities of the police officers involved have not yet been released but McManus said that each of them had between four to eight years of experience on the force.
The suspect — a male in his 40s — has also not yet been identified but police said they are working on trying to get the person out of the apartment with the assistance of a SWAT team.
Police said that the suspect involved in the shooting had been arrested on Jan. 18 for two charges of assault and a one DWI charge. He was currently out on bond, McManus said.
No other information was made available and the investigation is currently ongoing.
Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — In the days since President Donald Trump handed down pardons and commutations for the more than 1,500 of his supporters who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, federal judges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia have remained essentially silent while signing off on the hundreds of now-dismissed cases that for years crowded their court dockets.
On Wednesday, three judges with the D.C. District Court broke that silence on Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, with one eviscerating Trump’s proclamation that stated he was righting a “national injustice” that occurred through the prosecution of the pro-Trump mob.
“No ‘national injustice’ occurred here, just as no outcome-determinative election fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential election,” Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said in an order Wednesday. “No ‘process of national reconciliation’ can begin when poor losers, whose preferred candidate loses an election, are glorified for disrupting a constitutionally mandated proceeding in Congress and doing so with impunity.”
She added, “That merely raises the dangerous specter of future lawless conduct by other poor losers and undermines the rule of law. Yet, this presidential pronouncement of a ‘national injustice’ is the sole justification provided in the government’s motion to dismiss the pending indictment.”
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, also made clear in a dismissal order for one Capitol defendant that Trump’s sweeping pardons “will not change the truth of what happened on January 6, 2021.”
“What occurred that day is preserved for the future through thousands of contemporaneous videos, transcripts of trials, jury verdicts, and judicial opinions analyzing and recounting the evidence through a neutral lens,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “Those records are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies.”
Kollar-Kotelly further used her order to honor the law enforcement officers who responded to the Capitol that day, which she said “cannot be altered or ignored.”
“What role law enforcement played that day and the heroism of each officer who responded also cannot be altered or ignored,” she said.
“Grossly outnumbered, those law enforcement officers acted valiantly to protect the Members of Congress, their staff, the Vice President and his family, the integrity of the Capitol grounds, and the Capitol Building-our symbol of liberty and a symbol of democratic rule around the world,” she added. “For hours, those officers were aggressively confronted and violently assaulted. More than 140 officers were injured. Others tragically passed away as a result of the events of that day. But law enforcement did not falter. Standing with bear spray streaming down their faces, those officers carried out their duty to protect.”
She closed her order, stating bluntly, “All of what I have described has been recorded for posterity, ensuring that what transpired on January 6, 2021 can be judged accurately in the future.”
Trump’s Monday order commuted the sentences of 14 people and offered “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.” The order fulfilled a campaign promise the president repeatedly made on the campaign trail.
Howell’s statement came through her dismissal of a case against two violent Jan. 6 rioters, Nicholas DeCarlo and Nicholas Ochs, who admitted to throwing smoke bombs at officers trying to protect the Capitol building.
Howell refused to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” as requested by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, which would leave open the possibility the prosecution could one day be resumed, though their statutes of limitations will run out by the end of this administration.
“This Court cannot let stand the revisionist myth relayed in this presidential pronouncement,” Howell said. “Bluntly put, the assertion offered in the presidential pronouncement for the pending motion to dismiss is flatly wrong.”
Later Wednesday, the federal judge who oversaw Trump’s criminal case related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election joined the growing chorus of judges breaking their silence.
“No pardon can change the tragic truth of what happened on January 6, 2021,” said Judge Tanya Chutkan, another Obama appointee, in a brief order granting the dismissal of one rioter’s criminal case. “The dismissal of this case cannot undo the ‘rampage [that] left multiple people dead, injured more than 140 people, and inflicted millions of dollars in damage.’ … And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America’s sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power.
“In hundreds of cases like this one over the past four years, judges in this district have administered justice without fear or favor,” she added. “The historical record established by those proceedings must stand, unmoved by political winds, as a testament and as a warning.”
(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump returned to office as president on Monday, reassuming his duties as commander in chief. His position once again puts him in charge of the world’s most powerful military, which — often at his discretion — can either engage in lethal warfare or act as a deterrent and a force for peace.
How Trump behaved as commander in chief during his first administration may offer a guide for the next four years.
In Monday’s inauguration speech, Trump set the tone for a significant change in U.S. foreign policy that could have seismic implications for America’s friends and foes.
“Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission — defeating America’s enemies,” he said.
His recent comments about taking over the Panama Canal and Greenland — refusing to rule out the use of military force to do so — raised eyebrows, along with referring to neighboring Canada as “the 51st state.” He also signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as “Gulf of America” on Monday.
“It was an intent to grab that media attention and put himself at the center of the news cycle,” retired Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told ABC News. “This unpredictability means that all paths lead back to the Oval Office and his next statement.”
However, Trump’s slogans about making America great and putting America first may soon bump up against his need for the world to see him as a dealmaker. The war in Ukraine has been raging since 2022, but he’s promised to bring it to an end.
“Shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” he said last August. “I’ll get it settled very fast.”
Trump warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that if the war doesn’t end soon, Ukraine could get substantially more aid.
At the same time, he has told Ukraine it won’t receive more U.S. support unless it enters into peace talks. Last week, White House budget director nominee Russell Vought declined during his Senate confirmation hearing to fully commit to doling out $3.8 billion in aid that Congress has already approved.
China’s threats against Taiwan and international shipping may also embolden Trump to show Chinese President Xi Jinping that America believes it has the upper hand militarily.
“He will always defer to a solution that makes him appear strong and in charge,” Lute told ABC News. “So I don’t think that there’s an easy way to simply walk away from a big competition with China.”
The situation at the border between the U.S. and Mexico is also top of mind, with Trump declaring a national emergency in his inaugural address.
“I will end the practice of catch and release and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” he said.
The biggest difference in American foreign policy may be seen in the Middle East, and the war between Israel and Hamas. On Jan. 7, he created a deadline for a Gaza ceasefire deal in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages they took in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
“If the deal isn’t done before I take office, which is now going to be in two weeks … all hell will break out,” he said during a news conference.
Then, last week, the outgoing Biden administration — along with incoming Trump envoys — helped broker a ceasefire and hostage exchange that went into effect on Sunday. However, the agreement is fragile and fraught with pitfalls. In particular, it remains unclear who will govern Gaza if the peace lasts.
The images on the streets betray an uncomfortable reality. It’s still the gunmen of Hamas in charge — a situation unacceptable to the Israeli government. The Trump administration is also unlikely to accept Hamas being in control.
Beyond Gaza, the situation in the Middle East has gone through considerable changes since Trump was last president. Iran, a major power in the region, has seen many of its allies weakened by various conflicts.
Hamas has been left devastated and weakened by months of conflict with Israel. Lebanese political party and armed group Hezbollah — designated as a terror group by the U.S. — is a shadow of its former strength, with its leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in an Israeli strike in September.
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad also fled from his country, his family held power for more than 50 years, after his regime was toppled by a rebel offensive in December.
Amid this new balance of power, Trump wants to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Such a pact could bring peace and stability in the region — the Biden administration was working to broker this agreement prior to Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel.
The Trump administration faces immense international challenges — and America going it alone may not be a viable option.
(WASHINGTON) — Jan. 6 rioters convicted for role in Capitol attack speak out against Trump’s pardons
On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump followed through on his pledge to pardon those convicted for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, granting a sweeping unconditional pardon to more than 1,500 rioters and commutations for more than a dozen others.
Following the executive action, two people who pleaded guilty for their actions at the Capitol that day have spoken out against their pardons.
“This is a sad day,” Idaho resident Pamela Hemphill told Boise ABC affiliate KIVI. “The ramifications of this is going to be horrifying.”
Hemphill pleaded guilty to violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and was sentenced in May 2022 to 60 days of incarceration. She told KIVI she doesn’t want to be pardoned.
“I broke the law. I pleaded guilty because I was guilty,” she told KIVI. “And we know all of them are guilty.”
New Hampshire resident Jason Riddle, who admitted to entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, drinking from an open bottle of wine and stealing a book from the Senate Parliamentarian office, pleaded guilty to theft of government property and illegally protesting inside the Capitol. He was sentenced in April 2022 to 90 days in prison.
Riddle was struggling with alcohol at the time, and part of his probation included mandatory alcoholic treatment. The Navy veteran said he is grateful for his arrest.
“I am guilty of the crimes I have committed and accept the consequences,” he told ABC News. “It is thanks to those consequences I now have a happy and fruitful existence.”
At the time of his arrest, Riddle said he was an “obsessor” of Trump’s.
“I don’t need to obsess over a narcissistic bully to feel better about myself,” Riddle said. “Trump can shove his pardon up his a–.” As of early January, more than 1,580 individuals had been charged criminally in federal court in connection with Jan. 6, with over 1,000 pleading guilty, according to the Department of Justice.
Of course, not all of those convicted for their role in the Jan. 6 attack questioned Trump’s executive action. Stewart Rhodes, the head of the Oath Keepers, is among the 14 people whose sentences were commuted by Trump. He was serving an 18-year sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy for leading members of the Oath Keepers in an attempt to use the violent Capitol attack to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
“That was a bunch of nonsense,” Rhodes told ABC News while standing at a protest outside the DC Central Detention Facility after being released on Tuesday.
Rhodes, who was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6, said he isn’t disappointed that he didn’t receive a full pardon, and believes Trump will ultimately issue him one.
Asked whether the Jan. 6 defendants who were charged with assaulting police officers deserved a pardon, he said yes.
“Like I said before, it’s about defense of innocence. Because they were not given a fair trial,” Rhodes said.
Riddle, though, worried about the message the executive action sends to those convicted of assaulting police officers.
“If I was one of the people who crossed the line into assaulting police officers that day, I’d probably believe I can get away with anything I want now,” he said.
Asked during a press briefing Tuesday about pardoning violent Jan. 6 convicts, including one who admitted to attacking an officer, Trump said he would look into it and repeated his claim that the rioters were unjustly prosecuted.
“The cases that we looked at, these were people that actually love our country, so we thought a pardon would be appropriate,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive actions on immigration, the economy, DEI and more.
Federal agencies are being directed to place all employees working on DEI programs and initiatives to be put on paid administrative leave by Wednesday at 5 p.m. Meanwhile, legal challenges have been mounted against Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship and action that makes it easier to fire career government employees. Fallout also continues from his pardoning more than a thousand rioters convicted in connection with the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Meanwhile, lawmakers will continue to question and process the president’s Cabinet picks. New allegations against Pete Hegseth, tapped to lead the Pentagon, are being reported as the Senate moves toward a final vote on his nomination.
Trumps celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary
Trump and first lady Melania Trump are celebrating a major milestone Wednesday — their 20th wedding anniversary.
Trump took to his social media platform to wish his wife a happy anniversary.
The couple was married 20 years ago in a star-studded wedding in Palm Beach, Florida. The ceremony was held at Bethesda-By-the-Sea Episcopal Church and the reception was held at Mar-a-Lago.
The guest list included Bill and Hillary Clinton, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Simon Cowell, Usher, Billy Joel and others.
— ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
House Republicans launching select committee to investigate Jan. 6
Despite Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, House Republicans are announcing that they’re creating a new select subcommittee to continue Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s efforts to investigate the investigators, as some pundits have put it — to “bring all the facts to the American people.”
The work will fall under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee, with Loudermilk overseeing the select subcommittee.
Lawmakers who received a preemptive pardon from President Joe Biden — Sen. Adam Schiff, Reps. Jamie Raskin, Bennie Thompson and Zoe Lofgren, former Rep. Liz Cheney and other members of the Jan. 6 select committee — are sure to become a central focus of the GOP’s effort to probe “all events leading up to and after January 6.”
Earlier Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson strongly criticized Biden’s pardons, calling them “breathtaking” and “shocking.”
“It is disgusting to us. It probably proves the point, the suspicion that, you know, they call it the Biden crime family, if they weren’t the crime family, why do they need pardons?” Johnson said, adding that they will be “looking at it as well.”
– ABC News’ Arthur Jones II, Jay O’Brien, John Parkinson, and Lauren Peller
DOD preparing to send at least 1,000 more troops to border
According to U.S. officials, 1,000 to 1,500 additional troops are expected to be sent to the southern border, in addition to the roughly 1,500 currently there.
These additional forces will be operating under the U.S. Northern Command.
Troops have been on the border for years, and though there are only about 1,500 National Guard and reservists there now, that mission had been authorized to have up to 2,500 personnel. They serve in a support role to Homeland Security and Customs and
Border Patrol along the border and do not carry out law enforcement duties.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Biden’s letter to Trump revealed by Fox News
Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy read aloud on-air the content of the letter left by former President Joe Biden to President Donald Trump.
“As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years,” Biden wrote, according to Fox News. “The American people — and people around the world — look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.”
“May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding,” Biden wrote.
Trump held up the letter for reporters on Monday night as he signed executive orders in the Oval Office. He described it to reporters on Tuesday as “very nice” and that he appreciated it.
Federal DEI employees to be put on leave by 5 p.m. today
All federal employees working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives must be put on paid administrative leave by Wednesday at 5 p.m., according to a memo obtained by ABC News. The decision comes as the Trump administration shuts down the relevant DEI offices and programs across the federal government. Trump is also threatening “strong action” against DEI programs in the private sector, including possible civil compliance investigations.
Video captures JD Vance’s 1st time in Oval Office
House Speaker Mike Johnson posted a video on X of President Trump taking Vice President JD Vance into the Oval Office for the first time on Tuesday.
Trump can be seen walking ahead of Vance in the halls of the West Wing before showing him into the office. He introduced Vance to his communications adviser, Margo Martin, who was standing at the door to the Oval Office.
“Wow, this is pretty crazy,” Vance says as Johnson narrated the video. He later said it was “incredible.”
Bishop Budde defends ‘mercy’ sermon against Trump’s criticism, says she seeks ‘unity’
The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde on Wednesday defended her sermon at a traditional inaugural prayer service on Tuesday directly calling on President Trump to show “mercy” toward immigrants and trans people.
Speaking on ABC’s “The View,” she emphasized she was seeking to create “unity” and to “counter the narrative that is so divisive and polarizing.”
“I wanted to emphasize respecting the honor and dignity of every human being, basic honesty and humility and then I also realized that unity requires a certain degree of mercy — mercy and compassion and understanding,” she said, after Trump demanded she apologize.
“I was trying to speak a truth that I felt needed to be said, but to do it as respectful and kind a way as I could,” she added. “And also to bring other voices into the conversation … voices that had not been heard in the public space for some time.”
When asked if she had an opportunity to share her thoughts one-on-one with the president, Budde said she had not been invited but would welcome the opportunity.
“I can assure him and everyone listening that I would be as respectful as I would with any person, and certainly of his office for which I have a great deal of respect, but … the invitation would have to come from him,” she said.
Trump demands Putin to ‘make a deal’ to end war
Trump has sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin demanding he make a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
“It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL.’ NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!” Trump wrote in a new social media post.
Trump indicated that if a deal isn’t made quickly, he would impose high levels of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on Russia.
“Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a “deal,” and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump said.
Trump then threatened that it can be done “the easy way, or the hard way.”
— ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh
Mike Johnson says he won’t ‘second-guess’ Trump pardons for Jan. 6 rioters
Speaker Mike Johnson said he doesn’t question Trump’s decision to pardon more than thousand people convicted in connection to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including some violent offenders.
“The president’s made his decision, I don’t second guess those,” Johnson said at a news conference alongside House Republican leadership.
“And yes, you know, it’s kind of my ethos, my worldview, we believe in redemption, we believe in second chances,” Johnson said. “If you could — would argue that those people didn’t pay a heavy penalty having been incarcerated and all of that, that’s up to you.”
Other Republicans had mixed reactions to the news when asked by ABC News on Tuesday. Some claimed they’d “never” seen video of rioters attacking police. Others said Trump’s move was something they “just can’t agree” with
Trump OMB pick Russell Vought testifies at confirmation hearing
Russell Vought, who led the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term, is facing questions from senators on the Budget Committee.
Vought was involved in Project 2025, the controversial conservative blueprint for a second Trump term that Trump tried to distance himself from while on the campaign trail.
If confirmed, Vought would see through the implementation of a Trump executive order to terminate DEI programs in the federal government.
Trump team instructs DOJ to investigate state officials who obstruct immigration enforcement efforts
A top Trump administration official sent a memo to the Justice Department workforce ordering criminal investigations into any state and local actors who may attempt to obstruct enforcement of federal immigration laws, according to a copy obtained by ABC News.
The memo further details a series of policy changes being rolled out in the department as a result of multiple executive orders signed by Trump, including the establishment of a “Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group.”
As ABC News reported, multiple longtime senior level officials in DOJ’s Criminal and National Security Divisions were given an abrupt notice of their reassignment to the task force.
The move has already caused alarm among many current and former officials in the department who see it as an exodus of the department’s career “braintrust” on major national security and public corruption cases and a sign the Trump team is placing loyalty to the president’s agenda above the typical norms and expertise of officials.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
ICE updates terminology from noncitizen to ‘alien’
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is updating their terminology as a result of the election.
From now on, those they are arresting will be referred to as “alien” as opposed to “noncitizen” and those in the country without authorization will be referred to as “illegal alien” according to an internal ICE memo obtained by ABC News.
“ICE employees are directed to use the lexicon consistent with the immigration and nationality act and the language historically used by the agency,” according to the memo.
The Biden administration changed the language in 2021 when former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued terminology guidance. Trump’s used increasingly dark rhetoric on the campaign trail when talking about migrants, including calling some of them “animals.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Refugee arrivals to US ‘suspended until further notice,’ State Department memo says
Refugee arrivals to the United States are “suspended until further notice,” as a result of the president’s executive order, a State Department memo obtained by ABC News says.
“All previously scheduled travel of refugees to the United States is being cancelled, and no new travel bookings will be made. RSCs [Resettlement Support Centers] should not request travel for any additional refugee cases at this time,” according to the memo sent on Tuesday. “Additionally, all refugee case processing and pre-departure activities are also suspended.”
A source familiar with the data says approximately 10,000 refugees had travel booked.
Refugee processing is also canceled.
– ABC’s Luke Barr
13 Senate Democrats say they’ll work with GOP on border security
Thirteen Senate Democrats sent a letter to Majority Leader John Thune committing to working with Republicans in “good faith” toward providing the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to pass certain immigration measures.
“As we have shown, Democrats and Republicans can work together on real bipartisan solutions. We can solve big challenges when we work together, and there is much work to do to improve border security, protect Dreamers and farmworkers, and fix our immigration system to better reflect the needs of our country and our modern economy,” the Democrats wrote.
The group of Democrats say common ground can be reached on “fair immigration enforcement accompanied by the necessary resources to effectively secure our border”. They also say they see a need for a “firm but fair immigration system.”
A bipartisan border bill was negotiated and unveiled during the 2024 campaign, but was effectively killed by Trump, who urged Republicans not to support it.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Musk says he was in the Oval Office for Ulbritcht pardon
Billionaire Elon Musk posted online overnight that he was present in the Oval Office when Trump signed a pardon for Ross Ulbritcht, who was serving life in prison for running the black market site Silk Road.
“I was honored to be in the Oval Office tonight when @POTUS signed this,” Musk wrote on his social platform X.
It would be the first time Musk has said he was in the Oval Office with the president since Trump returned to office.
ABC News previously reported Musk had been spotted at the White House in the West Wing.
Musk is said to have a blue badge, which is considered to be an all-access pass. He has an has office space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building but sources told ABC News that Musk is also likely to get West Wing office space.
-ABC News’ Will Steakin and Katherine Faulders
Federal employee union sues over DOGE, pushes back on executive orders
In the hours after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union for federal employees filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Office of Management and Budget, while also calling on Congress to protect government workers’ jobs.
The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
“DOGE has already begun developing recommendations and influencing decision-making in the new administration, even though its membership lacks the fair balance required by FACA and its meetings and records are not open to public inspection in real time,” the complaint alleges.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley has also gone on the offense over Trump’s flurry of executive orders to eliminate federal telework and diversity programs, to freeze federal hiring and to re-introduce at-will employment policies that would make it easier to fire some federal employees.
Kelley asked Congress to intervene to save federal workers from being fired at will.
“AFGE will not stand idly by as a secretive group of ultra-wealthy individuals with major conflicts of interest attempt to deregulate themselves and give their own companies sweetheart government contracts while firing civil servants and dismantling the institutions designed to serve the American people,” Kelley said in a statement.
He added, “This fight is about fairness, accountability, and the integrity of our government. Federal employees are not the problem—they are the solution. They deserve to have their voices heard in decisions that affect their work, their agencies, and the public they serve.”
-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson
Federal judge sets hearing on Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order
President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order on birthright citizenship will face its first legal test in a Seattle courtroom on Thursday morning.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing on Thursday to consider a request made by four states to issue a temporary restraining order against Trump’s executive order.
Earlier Tuesday, the attorneys generals of Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Illinois sued Trump over the order, which they said would disenfranchise more than 150,000 newborn children each year.
They described Trump’s executive order as the modern equivalent of the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision. The 14th Amendment repudiated Scott establishing what the plaintiffs called a “bright-line and nearly universal rule” that Trump now seeks to violate.
“President Trump and the federal government now seek to impose a modern version of Dred Scott. But nothing in the Constitution grants the President, federal agencies, or anyone else authority to impose conditions on the grant of citizenship to individuals born in the United States,” their emergency motion said.
Coughenour — who was nominated to the bench by former President Ronald Reagan — will likely be the first judge to weigh in on Trump’s executive order.
-ABC News’ Laura Romero and Peter Charalambous
Federal government directed to put DEI employees on leave
All federal employees working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives must be put on paid administrative leave by Wednesday at 5 p.m., according to an Office of Personnel Management memo obtained by ABC News.
The decision comes as the Trump administration shuts down the relevant DEI offices and programs across the federal government.
The directive follows President Donald Trump’s signing of executive orders Monday to dismantle federal DEI programs, as part of Trump’s larger campaign vow to reverse and upend the diversity efforts across the country, in the public and private sectors.
-ABC News’ Ben Siegel
DC Police Union dismayed by Jan. 6 pardons
The Washington, D.C., Police Union, which represents officers from the Metropolitan Police Department expressed “dismay” over the recent pardons granted to those who violently attacked police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“As an organization that represents the interests of the 3,000 brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities, our stance is clear – anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, without exception,” the union said in a statement.
“We remain steadfast in our mission to protect the rights and interests of all police officers and to ensure that justice is applied fairly and consistently,” the statement continued.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Trump set to meet with moderate House Republicans
President Donald Trump is set to meet with a group of moderate House Republicans on Wednesday afternoon at the White House, multiple sources told ABC News.
Some of the members who will attend include Nebraska Rep. Don Baco and New York Rep. Mike Lawler, among others.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Lauren Peller
Trump says he pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht
Trump said he signed a “full and unconditional pardon” for Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for running the black market site Silk Road.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright [sic] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump said on Truth Social. “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”
Ulbricht, who ran Silk Road between January 2011 and October 2013, was found guilty of allowing users to buy illegal drugs, guns and other unlawful goods anonymously. Prosecutors said the narcotics distributed through the site, which the FBI called the”Amazon of illegal drugs,” were linked to the deaths of at least six people.
Trump looking at whether to ‘turn off the tap’ on weapons to Ukraine
When asked whether he will “turn off the tap” when it comes to sending weapons to Ukraine, Trump told reporters Tuesday that he is “looking at that.”
“We’re talking to Zelenskyy. We’re going to be talking with President Putin very soon, and we’ll see what, how it all happens,” Trump said during a briefing in the Roosevelt Room.
Trump added that the European Union should be supporting Ukraine more, saying the war affects them more than the United States.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Kash Patel hearing tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29
The Senate Judiciary Committee has tentatively scheduled a confirmation hearing for Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to be the FBI director, on Jan. 29, committee ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters Tuesday.
Durbin stressed he will not be voting to advance Patel’s nomination following an in-person meeting with the nominee and a reading of his book, “Government Gangsters.”
“After meeting with him and doing this study, I’ve come to the conclusion that Kash Patel has neither the experience, the judgment or the temperament to serve as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to take on this awesome responsibility to keep America safe,” Durbin said.
Durbin said he was also concerned with Patel’s recounting of Jan. 6 during their meeting.
“His description of what happened in this Capitol building on Jan. 6 defies reality. I tried to pin him down on some of the things he said,” Durbin said, noting that after Trump’s pardons of the rioters on Monday, he didn’t know if the FBI would continue to track and monitor them — particularly the ones who were recently released.
“He calls it a haphazard riot. What the hell is a haphazard riot? That’s how he describes Jan. 6,” Durbin said. “I said I was here. … Unfortunately for the law enforcement, there were a lot of injuries and some death.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Trump says he’ll impose tariffs on the European Union
During his AI infrastructure announcement, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the European Union, as he has done with Canada, China and Mexico.
“It’s not just China. China is an abuser, but the European Union is very, very bad to us,” Trump told reporters after the announcement. “They treat us very, very badly. They don’t take our cars. They don’t take our cars at all. They don’t take our farm products. Essentially, they don’t take very much. We have a $350 billion deficit with the European Union.”
“They treat us very, very badly, so they’re going to be in for tariffs.”
Trump says looking at Feb. 1 date for tariffs
Trump said he is eyeing Feb. 1 as the date to start implementing his tariffs on China and Mexico.
Trump defends pardoning Jan. 6 convicts
Trump was asked about pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters during a news conference Tuesday and dodged a question about pardoning violent Jan. 6 convicts, including one who admitted to attacking an officer.
The president dodged the question, claiming he would look into it, before changing the subject to murders around the country that he claimed yielded no arrests.
He repeated his claim that the people pardoned were unjustly prosecuted, including the head of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
“The cases that we looked at, these were people that actually love our country, so we thought a pardon would be appropriate,” he said.
Trump was asked about the pardons again, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance’s statement last week in which he opposed pardoning rioters who assaulted officers, but the president again claimed the rioters were unfavorably treated.
CEOs tout ‘Stargate’ joint AI infrastructure project with Trump
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison joined President Donald Trump at the White House to tout the $500 billion investment in the “Stargate” venture.
“We will immediately start deploying $100 million … because of your success,” Son said.
The businessmen said they plan on using artificial intelligence for various projects, including medical research.
“I’m thrilled we get to do this in the United States of America,” Altman said.
Trump said he will be helping “a lot through emergency declarations because we have an emergency — we have to get this stuff built.”
Trump meets with GOP leadership
The meeting between President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune started around 3:20 p.m. ET in the Oval Office, according to the White House.
Trump is still expected to take more executive actions on Tuesday, as well as make an infrastructure announcement.
Tech billionaires to visit White House, per source
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison are expected to be at the White House Tuesday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the matter.
President Trump is set to announce $500 billion in private sector investment to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. It’s a joint venture of three companies — OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle — collectively called Stargate.
Last month, Trump announced with SoftBank’s Son in Mar-a-Lago that SoftBank would invest $100 billion in US projects over the next four years, creating 100,000 jobs. Those investments will focus on infrastructure that supports AI, including data centers, energy generation, and chips, according to a source.
The new announcement Tuesday has “overlap” with SoftBank’s previous commitment of $100 billion, according to a source, who clarifies that this is not an entirely separate commitment.
– ABC’s Selina Wang
Trump’s 1st sit-down interview will air on Wednesday
President Donald Trump’s first sit-down interview of his second term will be with Fox’s Sean Hannity in the Oval Office.
It will air on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET, the network announced.
During the interview, Trump will “discuss the executive orders he’s signed thus far, his first 100 days in office and news of the day,” according to the release from the news channel.
During his first term, Trump sat down with ABC News’ David Muir for his first interview. That interview took place just five days after he was sworn into office in 2017.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Trump’s tariff plans are still taking shape, despite pledges for Day 1 action
Tariffs were not in the executive orders Trump signed on Monday night and he suggested he’s still undecided on how far they might go — which investors are reading as a good sign, reflected by the rallying market on Tuesday.
Trump said he was now targeting Feb. 1 as a potential target date for tariffs to take effect against Mexico and Canada, which he said could be as high as 25%. He said any plans for blanket tariffs are “not ready” just yet.
Trump has a history of using the threat of tariffs as a governing style.
Urging Mexico to crack down on border crossings in 2019, Trump threatened to slap a tariff on the country within 10 days through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) but relented after Mexico committed to specific measures.
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger sent an internal memo praising officers following the pardons made by President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. The memo was obtained by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott.
Manger said that “when there is no price to pay for violence against law enforcement, it sends a message that politics matter more than our first responders.”
Manger cited the pardons from Trump for Jan. 6 rioters and from Biden for commuting the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a man convicted of the murder of two FBI agents in 1975.
“Police willingly put themselves in harm’s way to protect our communities. When people attack law enforcement officers, the criminals should be met with consequences, condemnation and accountability,” Manger said.
DOGE gets official government website
The page currently consists of a simple landing page displaying a logo featuring the iconic Shiba Inus from the original “doge” meme.
The official page comes after President Donald Trump’s executive order on Monday night creating the now solely Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. The order notably stated that the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) will be renamed the U.S. DOGE Service and placed under the Executive Office of the President.
DOGE will terminate on July 4, 2026, as Musk has previously detailed, and each agency in the Trump admin must create a DOGE Team, according to the order.
– ABC’s Will Steakin
Trump to meet with Republican leaders at White House
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House at 2 p.m., sources told ABC News.
At 3 p.m. ET, other GOP leaders from both chambers — including Steve Scalise, Lisa McClain and John Barrasso — will meet with Trump as well at the White House, sources said.
The White House has not yet formally released a schedule for Trump.
-ABC’s Katherine Faulders, Rachel Scott, Lauren Peller and Allison Pecorin
Trump’s 1st executive orders quickly face lawsuits
Eighteen states and the city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order to cut off birthright citizenship Tuesday, calling it a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
The lawsuit accused Trump of seeking to eliminate a “well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle” by executive fiat.
A union representing thousands of federal employees also sued the Trump administration Monday evening over an executive order that makes it easier to fire career government employees, alleging the directive would violate the due process rights of its members.
“The Policy/Career Executive Order directs agencies to move numerous employees into a new excepted service category with the goal that many would then be fired,” the lawsuit alleged.
– ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous
Coast Guard commandant fired in part over DEI efforts: Source
Admiral Linda Fagan, who served as the Coast Guard Commandant and was the first woman to lead a U.S. armed forces branch, was “relieved of her duties” by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman.
A source with knowledge of the decision said Fagan was fired in part because of her Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the Coast Guard.
“She has served a long and illustrious career and I thank her for her service,” according to a memo to the workforce obtained by ABC News.
Admiral Kevin Lunday is now acting commandant.
Trump promised to go after who he called “woke” generals in the military during his 2024 campaign. His nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said he will follow through on that issue.
-ABC’s Luke Barr
Reverend urges Trump to have ‘mercy’ on LGBTQ community, migrants
The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, during the prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, directed a message for President Donald Trump, who was seated in the front row.
“Let me make one final plea. Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you said, you have felt the providential hand of our loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” she said.
Budde said there are LGBTQ citizens of all political creeds who now ‘fear for their lives.” She also referenced migrants who may not be in the U.S. legally but are devoted neighbors, workers and parents.
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land,” she said.
Stefanik backs US withdrawing from WHO, pushes for UN reform
Rep. Elise Stefanik is facing senators for her confirmation hearing to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The ideological divide between Republicans and Democrats over the utility of global organizations has taken center stage. Stefanik zeroed in on reform.
“Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic or engaging in fraud, corruption, or terrorism,” she said. “We must invest in programs to strengthen our national security and deliver results to increase the efficacy of U.N. programs. We must drive reform.”
She also defended Trump’s decision to withdraw from another global body: the World Health Organization.
“I support President Trump’s decision to walk away from WHO,” she said, arguing it had “failed on a global stage in the Covid pandemic for all the world to see, and instead spewed CCP talking points that I believe led to not only false information, but dangerous and deadly information across the globe.”
As Trump attends service, Episcopal Church leaders express concern about immigration actions
Episcopal Church leaders on Tuesday released a letter urging Trump to “exercise mercy” in his approach to immigration policy.
While the service Trump is currently attending incorporates many faiths, the National Cathedral itself is part of the Episcopal Diocese in Washington.
“Even as we gave thanks for a peaceful transfer of power, we learned from news reports that the new presidential administration has issued a series of executive orders that are a harbinger of President Trump’s pledge to deport undocumented immigrants at a historic scale, restrict asylum, and direct other immigration actions,” the church leaders wrote in a letter.
“We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement.”
Trump and Vance attend interfaith prayer service
President Trump and Vice President Vance are attending an interfaith prayer service at Washington National Cathedral.
It’s the first public appearance for Trump since Monday night’s inaugural festivities.
First lady Melania Trump, second lady Usha Vance and Trump’s children are there as well.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler are some of the lawmakers in attendance.
Trudeau responds to Trump tariff threats
Standing alongside his cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed President Trump’s proposed tariffs, stating firmly that if the U.S. proceeds with the measure, Canada will not hesitate to respond in kind.
“Everything is on the table,” Trudeau said adding, “We are prepared for every possible scenario.”
ABC News’ Aleem Agha
‘For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico’: Mexican president
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s various decrees issued after the inauguration in a point-by-point statement.
Sheinbaum said Trump’s decrees concerning the emergency zone of the southern border and the Migrant Protection Protocols were no different than the orders made during Trump’s first term.
“We will always act in the defence of our independence, the defense of our fellow nationals living in the U.S. We act within the framework of our constitution and laws. We always act with a cool head,” she said in her statement.
Sheinbaum however pushed back on Trump’s decree to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
“For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said.
-ABC News’ Anne Laurent and Will Gretsky
Rubio promises State Department will focus on making America ‘stronger,’ safer,’ and ‘more prosperous’
After being sworn in as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state, Marco Rubio promised that every action taken by the department would be determined by the answer to three questions: “Does it make us stronger? Does it make us safer? And does it make us more prosperous?”
Rubio gave remarks in Spanish as well, giving thanks to God, his family present and not present, including his parents, who he said came to the U.S. in 1956 — and that the purpose of their lives was that their children could realize dreams not possible for them.
“It’s an incredible honor to be the secretary of state of the most powerful, best country in the world,” he continued in Spanish, giving thanks to Trump for the opportunity.
Rubio also echoed themes from Trump’s inaugural address and reiterated the president’s agenda.
“As far as the task ahead, President Trump was elected to keep promises. And he is going to keep those promises. And his primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States. It will be furthering the national interest of this country,” Rubio said.
– ABC News’ Shannon Kingston
Confirmation hearing begins for Trump’s VA pick
Doug Collins, Trump’s choice to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, will face questions from lawmakers as his confirmation hearing gets underway.
Collins, a former congressman, is a Navy veteran who currently serves as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command.
He was the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, and had defended the president.
Rubio is sworn in by JD Vance as secretary of state
After being unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Monday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was officially sworn in by Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday morning.
Rubio joined ABC’s “Good Morning America” ahead of the ceremony, where he discussed Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, TikTok and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio sidestepped directly weighing on the pardons, saying his “focus needs to be 100% on how I interact with our counterparts, our adversaries, our potential enemies around the world to keep this country safe, to make it prosperous.”
When asked about Trump’s campaign pledge to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Day 1, Rubio contended the matter is more complex and that negotiations would not be played out in public.
“Look this is a complex, tragic conflict, one that was started by Vladimir Putin that’s inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on Ukraine and also on Russia, I would argue, but also on the stability of Europe,” Rubio said. “So the only way to solve these things, we got to get back to pragmatism, but we also get back to seriousness here, and that is the hard work of diplomacy. The U.S. has a role to play here. We’ve been supportive of Ukraine, but this conflict has to end.”
White House signals Trump will make announcement on infrastructure
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this morning that Trump will be making a a major announcement on infrastructure at 4 p.m. ET.
“I can confirm that the American people won’t be hearing from me today,” she wrote, indicating she would not hold a press briefing. “They’ll be hearing from the leader of the free world,” Leavitt said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
“Once again, President Trump will be speaking to the press later this afternoon at the White House, and we will have a big infrastructure announcement,” she added.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — A 17-year-old boy opened fire at a Nashville high school on Wednesday, killing one student and wounding a second student, according to police.
The teenager, who was armed with a pistol, fired multiple shots in the cafeteria at Antioch High School around 11:09 a.m., Nashville police said.
The suspect then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
One female student was killed. A second female student suffered a graze wound to the arm and is in stable condition at a local hospital, police said.
A male student was also injured in the incident but was not shot, police said. The cause of the injury was not clear.
A motive is not known, police said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
