Politics

(WASHINGTON) — For years, President Donald Trump has blasted politically damaging reporting by The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg as fake, made-up.

His most recent criticism has been over Goldberg’s bombshell story about a Signal chat he was accidentally invited to, one that included top members of Trump’s national security team, conversing about an impending military attack on Houthi terrorists in Yemen.

Now, in a surprise twist, Trump said he would speak face-to-face with Goldberg on Thursday after claiming on Truth Social that Goldberg, along with The Atlantic writers Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, would sit down with him for an interview.

“The story they are writing, they have told my representatives, will be entitled, “The Most Consequential President of this Century,” he said.

Goldberg and The Atlantic have not commented about Trump’s post or the alleged meeting as of Thursday afternoon.

Although the president claimed Goldberg was “responsible for many fictional stories about me,” he said he is looking forward to the meeting.

“I am doing this interview out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it’s possible for The Atlantic to be ‘truthful,'” Trump posted. “Are they capable of writing a fair story on ‘TRUMP’? The way I look at it, what can be so bad.”

Goldberg and Trump have had a contentious back-and-forth going since the president’s 2016 campaign, when the journalist criticized Trump’s rhetoric.

“At the very least, he traffics in racial invective knowingly. To me, that’s a threshold question. If you do that and if you know what you’re doing then, yes, you’re a racist. I think he’s a racist,” he said in a 2016 NPR interview.

Trump criticized The Atlantic’s coverage of his campaign and first term, but things heated up in 2020 after Goldberg wrote an article that described a 2018 incident in which president reportedly refused to visit an American cemetery in France where World War I service members were buried.

“Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” Trump told his advisers, according to the article. It also said Trump called fallen Marines “suckers.”

The president heatedly denied he had used those terms on what was then Twitter and went after Goldberg’s sources. Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, later confirmed Goldberg’s account in an interview with CNN.

In Trump’s Thursday post, he brought up that story and claimed it was a “made-up HOAX.”

Goldberg became the target of the president’s ire again last month after he revealed he was inadvertently invited to the Signal chat that consisted of several top U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, in which they discussed plans for the March 15 military attack against Houthis in Yemen ahead of the airstrike occurring.

Trump and White House officials slammed Goldberg, claiming his reporting was biased.

“He is, as you know, is a sleaze bag, but at the highest level. His magazine is failing,” Trump said of Goldberg on March 26 during an appearance on the “VINCE Show” podcast.

Goldberg has repeatedly defended his reporting on the scandal.

“They’ve decided to blame the guy who they invited into the conversation. It’s a little bit strange behavior,” he told ABC News in March. “Honestly, I don’t know why they’re acting like this except to think that they’re — they know how serious a national security breach it is. And so they have to deflect it and push it onto the guy, again, they invited into the chat — namely me.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump’s unilateral effort to reshape election processes is an attempt to “short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order,” a federal judge in Washington, D.C. wrote Thursday afternoon.

In a 120-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked the Trump administration from requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and ordering that election officials “assess” the citizenship of anyone who receives public assistance before allowing them to register. She also barred the Election Assistance Commission from withholding federal funding from states that did not comply with the order.

“Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States—not the President—with the authority to regulate federal elections,” she wrote. “No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”

After Trump issued an executive order last month “preserving and protecting the integrity of American elections,” three separate lawsuits were filed in the D.C. federal court to challenge the policy, including lawsuits filed by the Democratic National Committee (with New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries), the League of United Latin American Citizens and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“These consolidated cases are about the separation of powers,” Judge Kollar-Kotelly wrote.

She concluded that Trump’s unilateral effort to reshape elections exceeds his own authority, noting that the Department of Justice “offered almost no defense of the President’s order.”

If Trump wishes to reform election processes, she wrote, Congress would be the appropriate branch to do so, adding Congress is “currently debating legislation that would effect many of the changes the President purports to order.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has made a new emergency request of the U.S. Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay of a nationwide injunction blocking the ban on openly transgender military service members.

Solicitor General John Sauer said the injunction, issued by a district court in Washington, usurps the authority of the president in determining who can serve in the nation’s armed forces and runs counter to the high court’s own decision in the first Trump administration to allow the ban to move forward.

The case is Trump v. Shilling in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

There is a separate nationwide injunction in place in a case out of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — Democratic lawmakers sent a series of letters early Thursday morning to nine separate law firms that have struck agreements this spring with the Trump administration, questioning whether the deals for pro bono work in exchange for the reversal of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump or to avoid being targeted in future missives may violate federal bribery, extortion, honest services fraud or racketeering laws.

In correspondence, shared exclusively with ABC News, California Democratic Rep. Dave Min and Maryland Democratic Rep. April Delaney are leading 15 Democratic colleagues in demanding details of the arrangements from the leadership of some of the country’s most elite law firms from Washington to New York.

The firms included in the letter are: Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, and Milbank LLP.

Throughout the spring, Trump announced in posts on his social media platform, fresh agreements with the firms — totaling nearly $1 billion in pro-bono work. Trump’s posts also show that firms agreed to strike Diversity, Equity and Inclusion considerations from their hiring practices — committing to “Merit-Based Hiring, Promotion, and Retention” while also pledging that they would not deny representation to clients based on political views.

The agreements worry the Democratic lawmakers, who believe the deals “capitulate to clear abuse of the law by the Trump administration.”

On April 10, during a Cabinet meeting, Trump floated the idea that the pro-bono commitments could be used to “help” the United States with trade negotiations as he imposes tariffs across the globe.

“So I think we’re going to and trying to use these, these very prestigious firms to help us out with the trade because, you know, we have a lot of countries, but we want to make deals that are proper for the United States,” Trump told reporters.

“By entering into an agreement that appears to be in response to the threat of illegal economic coercion against your firm from the Trump administration, your firm is not simply agreeing to provide certain pro bono services or end certain personnel hiring and retention practices,” the lawmakers caution in their letter. “Agreements of this kind also signal acquiescence to an abuse of federal power, raising serious questions about how or whether your firm would represent clients or take on matters that might be seen as antagonistic to President Trump or his agenda.”

On April 11, the president announced that Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft — a famed Wall Street powerhouse — is among the firms that struck a deal, committing $100 million dollars in pro-bono services itself. Cadwalader is the former law firm of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who served as the president’s former criminal defense attorney in 2024 before joining the current administration.

“Law firms are just saying: ‘Where do I sign? Where do I sign?'” Trump said March 26. “Nobody can believe it.”

“We do not wish to prematurely judge or assess guilt,” the letter states. “Our aim however, is to gather comprehensive information with respect to the formation and implementation of the…agreement and resulting legal and ethical quandaries.”

The letters request details from each firm on its “motivations for entering into this agreement, how was an agreement reached, and what specific terms or promises were made.” The lawmakers also inquire whether the deals comply with state bar ethics requirements, contending that the agreements may raise issues with state bar professional codes of conduct rules for lawyers.

“We are sympathetic to the circumstances in which your firm finds itself, with the Administration using coercive and illegal measures to target certain law firms and threaten their ability to represent and retain their clients,” the letter states, requesting a response from each firm by May 8.

ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart & Katherine Faulders contributed to this report

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(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the state’s entire GOP congressional delegation are urging President Donald Trump to reconsider after the Federal Emergency Management denied the state’s request for federal disaster relief following a series of deadly storms last month.

After severe storms hit the state in mid-March, Sanders applied for disaster relief through FEMA, under what’s known as a major disaster declaration. The request was denied.

“As Governor Sanders noted in her request, these storms caused catastrophic damage across the state, resulting in disastrous amounts of debris, widespread destruction to homes and businesses, the deaths of three Arkansans, and injuries to many more,” the state’s two Republican senators and four GOP House members wrote in an April 21 letter to Trump. “Given the cumulative impact and sheer magnitude of destruction from these severe weather events, federal assistance is vital to ensure that state and local communities have the capabilities needed to rebuild.”

This isn’t the first time FEMA has denied state requests recently. Earlier this month, Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, of Washington, said FEMA had denied his state’s application for federal disaster relief stemming from a “bomb cyclone” that slammed the state last November.

“This is another troubling example of the federal government withholding funding,” Ferguson said in a statement. “Washington communities have been waiting for months for the resources they need to fully recover from last winter’s devastating storms, and this decision will cause further delay. We will appeal.”

FEMA also denied a request from North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to extend 100% federal funding for debris removal related to last fall’s devastating Hurricane Helene beyond an initial 180-day timeline.

However, the situation in Arkansas marks the first time that Republicans have publicly pushed back on a denial of FEMA relief requests.

Sanders served as the White House press secretary during Trump’s first term.

ABC News has requested comment from FEMA about why Arkansas’ request was denied.

During a visit in January to parts of North Carolina still left battered by Helene, Trump sharply criticized FEMA and suggested states could manage disaster relief better than the federal government.

“You want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA,” he said. “And then FEMA gets here and they don’t know the area. They’ve never been to the area, and they want to give you rules that you’ve never heard about. They want to bring people that aren’t as good as the people you already have. And FEMA has turned out to be a disaster.”

In January, Trump issued an executive order creating a review council to examine the agency and make recommendations for overhauling it.

ABC News’ Jack Moore contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Save Our Schools campaign is launching a comprehensive investigation into the Trump administration’s effort to close the Department of Education.

“I’m opening this investigation to hear directly from students, parents, teachers, and borrowers who are being hurt by Trump’s dangerous agenda,” Warren wrote in a statement obtained first by ABC News.

“Their stories matter — and they are why I’m in this fight,” she said.

Warren said since Trump’s move to effectively abolish the agency, Americans have told her how public education has shaped and strengthened their lives. She sent a letter to a dozen education and civil rights groups, seeking answers to how abolishing the department will impact millions of students and families.

The letters went out to the NAACP, NEA, AFT and several other groups. In them, Warren called Trump’s plan to close the department and ostensibly return education power and decision to the states a “reckless crusade.”

“I request your assistance in understanding whether the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department will jeopardize students’ access to affordable, accessible, and high-quality public education,” Warren wrote in the series of letters.

Warren asks for details on how students and families will be affected by any cuts to funding or services if the Education Department is abolished or its functions are transferred to other federal agencies. The groups have until May 22 to respond.

The Massachusetts Democrat and former public school teacher outlines what she calls the Education Department’s key functions in each letter, including protecting the civil rights of students, providing funding for students with disabilities, funding research that helps educators and students, and distributing federal financial aid for students to attain higher education.

“School districts are already preparing for potential funding delays or cuts caused by the dismantling of the Department, with states sounding the alarm about the impact of these funding disruptions on programs like free school lunches for low-income students,” Warren wrote.

But Education Secretary Linda McMahon previously told ABC News “none of the funding will stop” for mandatory programs, arguing that more funding could go to the states if the department is eliminated. It would also take 60 “yes” votes in the Senate to overcome a Democratic filibuster and completely dismantle the agency Congress created.

National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues decried the president and McMahon’s mission to shutter the agency, calling it a “constitutional crisis on almost every front.”

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the administration is “deliberately dismantling the basic functions of our democracy, one piece at a time.”

Warren’s comprehensive investigation also comes on the heels of roughly 2,000 employees at the education department officially being separated from the agency. The Education Department was slashed nearly in half, including hundreds of Federal Student Aid (FSA) employees whose jobs Warren stressed are critically important to students in need. In addition, Warren said downsizing the agency will have “dire consequences” for the country’s more than 40 million student loan borrowers.

Launched in April, her Save Our Schools campaign vowed to fight back against the administration’s executive order entitled improving education outcomes by empowering parents, states and communities.

Through a combination of federal investigations, oversight, storytelling, and lawsuits, Warren said she will work with the community, including lawmakers in Congress, to do everything she possibly can to defend public education.

“The federal government has invested in our public schools,” Warren said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

“Taking that away from our kids so that a handful of billionaires can be even richer is just plain ugly and I will fight it with everything I’ve got.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The White House has been fielding proposals aimed at persuading people to marry and have children, an effort being pushed by outside groups focused on increasing the nation’s birth rate after years of decline.

One such proposal that has been pitched to White House advisers is a $5,000 “baby bonus” to every American mother after she gives birth.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” President Donald Trump said Tuesday when asked about a $5,000 incentive for new mothers.

When asked by ABC News about the proposals the administration has been fielding, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president is “proudly implementing policies to uplift American families.”

“The president wants America to be a country where all children can safely grow up and achieve the American dream. As a mother myself, I am proud to work for a president who is taking significant action to leave a better country for the next generation,” Leavitt said.

Sources cautioned that while advisers are considering the ideas, Trump hasn’t made a final decision on any of the proposals.

A White House official pointed ABC News to the policies Trump has taken so far to help families, specifically citing his executive order aimed at increasing access and affordability for in vitro fertilization, or IVF. The official also cautioned against linking outside proposals to the White House.

The Trump administration has made a significant effort to promote families and emphasized that more babies need to be born in the United States.

On the campaign trail, Trump coined himself the “King of IVF,” and in March, he joked that he would be known as the “fertilization president.”

Vice President J.D. Vance has also made a concerted effort to encourage people to have more children. During the 2024 campaign, Vance said the child tax credit should be expanded, stating that he would love to see it at $5,000 per child, but he noted that it needs to be worked out with Congress to see its viability.

And at the March for Life in late January, Vance told the crowd he wanted “more babies in the United States of America” and called on the government to do its part to ensure families can afford to care for their children.

“I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them. And it is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids, to bring them into the world and to welcome them as the blessings that we know they are,” Vance said.

“We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages, one that recognizes and truly believes that the benchmark of national success is not our GDP number or our stock market but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families in our country,” he added.

Simone Collins and her husband, Malcolm Collins, are pro-natalists who have advocated actions to make it less difficult for families to have children and ultimately reverse declining birth and marriage rates. Simone Collins told ABC News that she and her husband have submitted several draft executive orders to the White House Domestic Policy Council, including bestowing a “National Medal of Motherhood” to mothers with six or more children. They also proposed that couples should not face a tax penalty for getting married.

She said the White House was receptive to the draft orders and is reviewing them.

However, MomsRising CEO Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, whose organization says it advocates on behalf of more than a million mothers and families, said the programs are “sheer lunacy — coercive, counterproductive recipes for failure.”

“There’s no question that families need policies that make it possible for moms and parents to care for their kids, go to work and contribute to their communities,” she said in a press release, arguing that affordable child and elder care, access to maternal health care and paid family leave would better encourage people to start and grow their families. “This president has had endless opportunities to support those tried-and-true, proven policies that lift families and our economy, but his administrations have utterly failed to do so.

“The proposals the Trump administration are reportedly considering will not open avenues for moms, families and our economy to thrive,” she added. “Those who want families to have more babies should support the policies that build the care infrastructure families and businesses need. When we become a family-friendly country, families will have more children.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Longtime Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection in 2026 and will retire after serving for over four decades in Congress.

“In my heart, I know it’s time to pass the torch,” Durbin said in the video. “The threats to our democracy and way of life are real, and I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to fight for Illinois and the future of our country every day of my remaining time in the Senate.”

Durbin, 80, has served in the Senate since 1997 and won reelection to the Senate four times. Coupled with his time in the House, Durbin has served in Congress for 44 years.

“We are also fortunate to have a strong Democratic bench ready to serve,” Durbin said in the video. “We need them now more than ever.”

His departure will set up a contentious race among Illinois Democrats vying to fill the seat in a solidly blue state.

“It has been an honor serving alongside Sen. Dick Durbin in Congress. I have long admired his focus on creating jobs in Illinois, bringing down costs for working families and protecting benefits for veterans and seniors,” Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., said following Durbin’s announcement. “As a dedicated public servant for more than four decades, Sen. Durbin has been a strong voice for Illinoisans, ushering into law many historic bills as a long-time leader in the U.S. Senate. I am grateful for the legacy he leaves behind that has helped improve millions of our Illinois neighbors.”

It will also leave a void in Democratic leadership in the Senate. Durbin, as Democratic whip, has served as the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat since 2004. Now, Democrats will need to reshuffle to fill Durbin’s position.

There are a number of younger Senate Democrats who have been working to make names for themselves this Congress, and its not clear who might jump into that leadership race. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is currently the No. 3 Senate Democrat, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is the No. 4 Senate Democrat. Either of them could enter the contest.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised Durbin in a statement following the announcement.

“Dick Durbin has been more than a colleague — he’s been a trusted partner, one of the most respected voices in the Senate for decades, my dear friend, and, of course, my former roommate,” Schumer said. “His deep commitment to justice, his tireless advocacy for Americans in need, and his wisdom in leadership have left an indelible mark on this institution, the United States, and his beloved Illinois. The Senate — and the country — are better because of his service. To my friend, Dick: Thank you, for everything.”

Durbin has served as the top Democrat, in his capacity as either chairman or ranking member, of the Senate Judiciary Committee since 2021. He helped to confirm 235 federal judges under former President Joe Biden.

Durbin is now the fourth Democrat to announce plans not to run in 2026. Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Tina Smith, D-Minn., are also retiring. Sen. Michael Bennet is running for Colorado governor despite his term not ending until 2028, and if he wins, he will vacate a fifth Democratic seat.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — Amid a tense legal battle over deportations, President Donald Trump is now arguing undocumented migrants should not be given a trial where they could challenge being removed from the country.

“We’re getting them out, and I hope we get cooperation from the courts because you know, we have thousands of people that are ready to go out, and you can’t have a trial for all of these people,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

“It wasn’t meant, the system wasn’t meant — and we don’t think there is anything that says — Look, we are getting some very bad people, killers, murderers, drug dealers, really bad people, the mentally ill, the mentally insane, they emptied out insane asylums into our country, we’re getting them out,” Trump continued. “And a judge can’t say, ‘No, you have to have a trial.'”

“No, we are going to have a very dangerous country if we are not allowed to do what we are entitled to do,” Trump added.

Trump made a similar argument in a post to his conservative social media platform, contending they can’t give everyone they want to deport a trial because it would “take, without exaggeration, 200 years.”

“Such a thing is not possible to do,” he wrote.

The comments came after the Supreme Court, in a brief order issued early Saturday morning, temporarily blocked the administration from deporting a group of Venezuelan migrants alleged to be gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the justices said. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.

The Trump administration pushed back against the Supreme Court, calling its decision “unprecedented” and wrong. Solicitor General John Sauer said the justices should reverse course and let lower courts weigh in on the issue first.

The American Civil Liberties Union had appealed to the nation’s high court to stop the migrants being held in a Texas detention center from being removed, contending they were at risk of being deported “without notice or an opportunity to be heard” — a breach, they said, of the Supreme Court’s previous order that detainees are entitled to “reasonable time” to seek relief.

“These men were in imminent danger of spending their lives in a horrific foreign prison without ever having had a chance to go to court,” said ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt in a statement after the Supreme Court’s order. “We are relieved that the Supreme Court has not permitted the administration to whisk them away the way others were just last month.”

Also front and center of Trump’s deportation effort is the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant living in Maryland who was erroneously deported to El Salvador’s infamous CECOT mega-prison.

Trump administration border czar Tom Homan defended Abrego Garcia’s removal, telling ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl they “did the right thing” and “removed a public safety threat.” The administration’s alleged Abrego Garcia is member of the MS-13 gang, which his attorneys and family deny.

Democrats have criticized Trump’s actions in the case as violating due process rights. Sen. Chris Van Hollen was the first Democratic lawmaker to visit El Salvador, where he met with Garcia, last week. Several House Democrats were in El Salvador on Monday to advocate for his release.

“While Donald Trump continues to defy the Supreme Court, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held illegally in El Salvador after being wrongfully deported,” said Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia. “That is why we’re here — to remind the American people that kidnapping immigrants and deporting them without due process is not how we do things in America.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping plan to dramatically restructure the State Department that would see many of its longstanding offices and hundreds of positions eliminated.

“In its current form, the department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition,” Rubio said in a statement. “The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America’s core national interests.”

Officials familiar with the plans say Rubio’s vision involves reducing the number of offices within the State Department from 734 to 602 and eventually wiping out roughly 700 Washington-based positions for Foreign Service and Civil Service employees.

The officials said that the reductions would not be immediate, and that leaders within the department would have 30 days to analyze and implement the plan.

An updated organizational chart released by Rubio shows offices on the chopping block include those that fall under the department’s Bureau of Energy Resources and its Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, which is aimed at helping the federal government “better anticipate, prevent, and respond to conflict,” according to the department.

Other offices that would be eliminated under the plan include the Office of the Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary, the Office of International Religious Freedoms, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, the Office of Global Women’s Issues, the Office of Global Partnerships, and the Office of Global Criminal Justice, which is aimed at coordinating the government’s response to war crimes and promoting accountability for offenders.

Under the plan, the department will also combine two bureaus focused on arms control and eliminate units focused on countering violent extremism from the department’s counterterrorism bureau.

Officials also expect that several special envoys and their offices will be eliminated.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that reorganization did not necessarily mean that the area of focus previously covered by an eliminated office was no longer a priority for the department.

“Certainly, all these issues are important,” Bruce said, adding that department would work at “blending” those topics within the new framework so they could be “dealt with as a whole.”

However, officials say that other reductions are planned for areas in the department that were not directly impacted by the reorganization, and that undersecretaries throughout the bureau have been instructed to draw up plans to reduce their personnel by 15% — a move that could lead to thousands of additional job cuts.

State Department leadership has been under increased pressure to reduce its workforce amid broader cuts across the federal government spearheaded by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On Tuesday, Bruce downplayed the role DOGE had in the reorganization plans.

“We know the American people love the result of DOGE. I think there were some questions, perhaps, about how it was applied,” she said.

“I would say that DOGE is not in charge of this, but this is the result of what we’ve learned and the fact that we appreciate results,” Bruce added.

The Trump administration has been considering a budget proposal that would cut the State Department’s budget by roughly half, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations and documents reviewed by ABC News.

Rubio’s restructuring doesn’t address the department’s overseas operations, which officials say are also likely to undergo significant cuts in the coming months.

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