Politics

(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson met with President Donald Trump Monday afternoon in the Oval Office, where they huddled over the GOP’s political strategy heading into a pivotal period of legislative business — with their congressional majorities on the line.

As Congress returns to Washington following a two-week recess and the president approaches 100 days in office, Republicans hope to sharply reshape federal spending to align with the president’s domestic agenda.

After meeting with the president, Johnson returned to the Capitol to meet with top administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and leading congressional Republicans grappling over budget reconciliation.

“We’re working on the big, beautiful bill, the reconciliation bill,” Johnson told reporters. “Now is game time as the big developments will be coming together. We’re excited about that. I think it’s going to be a great piece of legislation.”

Flanked by White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and James Blair, assistant to the president, Bessent told reporters after the meeting on Monday that he found “great unity” among congressional Republican leaders, with the House and Senate moving quickly and “in lockstep” on a budget bill focused on Trump’s priorities.

The meeting included Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Johnson, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith.

“We think that they are in a substantial agreement, and that this is going to be a win for the American people. Very-pro growth,” Bessent continued.

He said there were “three legs” to the president’s economic agenda: trade, tax and deregulation. He said they hoped to get the tax portion of the budget package done by July 4.

“Both sides have proposals in front of the President, and we think there’s a path to deliver the requisite spending reforms to get a great pro-growth tax package, along with the president’s priorities that he laid out on the campaign trail,” Bessent said.

Hassett reiterated Trump’s claim that a billionaire tax cut is off the table. Bessent said priorities for the package would be to make tax cuts and the Jobs Act permanent, no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime, and deductibility for loans for American-made cars.

Asked if Bessent’s July 4 timeline was realistic, Thune said, “I think so. You know, I mean, it’s, it all depends on how progress goes in the next few weeks.”

“I think we, everybody, feels like we’re making significant progress in trying to get the House, the Senate and the White House, kind of in the same place. But it’s going to take time. It’s complicated — a lot of moving parts,” Thune said.

Republicans have begun releasing legislative text to codify their lofty ambitions to cut at least $2 trillion from federal spending over the next decade, with six markups scheduled this week and additional hearings anticipated in the coming weeks as conservatives face the latest test of their narrow majority.

“It’s going to solve a lot of problems,” Johnson predicted. “It’s going to be a turbo-boost for the economy, and we’re looking forward to getting that done.”

But as Trump reaches his 100th day in office this week, polling shows the public souring on the president’s job performance. Nevertheless, Johnson maintains the belief that the GOP is poised to defend its narrow majority — claiming Republicans “are playing offense.”

“We talked about the upcoming races, the midterm elections and we’re very bullish on it,” Johnson proclaimed. “There’s 13 Democrats sitting in districts that President Trump won. Those are the obvious targets. We have an offensive map. There’s only three House Republicans sitting in districts that Kamala Harris won. So it’s a lopsided map, it gives us a great opportunity and we’re going to go make history.”

Still, Johnson acknowledged there have been some ups and downs in the early stages of the administration.

“These presidential terms are roller-coaster sometimes. There’s been a little tumult in the markets with the tariff policy and all of that, but I think this is settling out,” Johnson said. “People are in very good spirits. They understand that this is a long game to be played.”

ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department’s division tasked with enforcing the nation’s federal civil rights laws has recently seen a mass exodus of “over 100” attorneys, the newly confirmed official leading the division said in an interview this week.

“What we have made very clear last week in memos to each of the 11 sections in the Civil Rights Division is that our priorities under President Trump are going to be somewhat different than they were under President Biden,” DOJ Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in an interview with conservative host Glenn Beck. “And then we tell them, these are the President’s priorities, this is what we will be focusing on — you know, govern yourself accordingly. And en masse, dozens and now over 100 attorneys decided that they’d rather not do what their job requires them to do.”

The resignations come as Dhillon and Attorney General Pam Bondi have made clear the priorities of the division — which was established in the wake of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s — would shift away from priorities like enforcing voting rights laws and cracking down on unconstitutional policing to culture war issues touted by President Trump in his 2024 campaign.

In recent weeks, the department has said it would pursue legal action against states that permit transgender athletes to participate in girls’ and women’s sports, withdrawn from a Biden-era lawsuit against Georgia’s voting laws and convened a task force to investigate incidents of “anti-Christian bias.”

Of the recent resignations, Dhillon said in the interview that she thinks it’s “fine” the attorneys opted to leave.

“We don’t want people in the federal government who feel like it’s their pet project to go persecute, you know, police departments based on statistical evidence or persecute people praying outside abortion facilities instead of doing violence,” Dhillon said. “That’s not the job here. The job here is to enforce the federal civil rights laws, not woke ideology.”

At the same time, Dhillon said in the interview she was seeking to staff up the division so they could pursue issues like the administration’s actions targeting Harvard University.

“You need more lawyers, investigators and commitment to do the work, and you need the people in the United States identifying these things for us,” Dhillon said. “We’re going to run out of attorneys to work on these things at some point.”

Several top Democrats sent a letter to Bondi, Dhillon and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz Monday raising concerns over what they described as the “politicization” of the DOJ’s civil rights division.

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(MIDDLE EAST) — An F/A-18E fighter jet rolled off the side an aircraft carrier and sank to the bottom of the Red Sea, the Navy announced on Monday.

There was one enlisted crew member aboard the jet and a second enlisted crew member inside the tractor when the incident occurred.

Both personnel were able to jump out in time with only one person sustaining a minor injury, according to officials.

In the extraordinary mishap, the $70 million jet was being towed out of the hanger bay of the USS Harry S. Truman when the crew lost control.

“The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the Navy wrote in a statement.

“Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway,” the service added.

The USS Harry S. Truman has been operating in the Red Sea since last September when it was deployed to help protect commercial ships against near-constant attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

It’s not clear what contributed to the crew members losing control of the aircraft aboard the carrier, which has previously been targeted by the Houthis. According to a U.S. official, initial field reports suggest a sudden movement of the carrier due to Houthi fire might have been a factor in the incident.

But those reports remained unconfirmed while the investigation plays out.

The Truman carrier was involved in another incident earlier this year when it collided with a merchant ship near the Suez Canal. Its commanding officer was subsequently fired.

The carrier was slated to come home last month, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth extended its deployment while ordering another carrier — the USS Carl Vinson — to the region to bolster military power.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect additional reporting.

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(WASHINGTON) — In a social media post on the day of Canada’s election, President Donald Trump suggested that Canadians should vote for him in order for Canada to become the 51st state.

“Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, with ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America,” Trump said on Monday, seeming to refer to himself as the candidate.

He added, “America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”

Despite Trump’s suggestion, Canadians cannot vote for him since he is not on the ballot. There are 16 registered political parties in Canada — with the Liberals and the Conservatives being the most dominant. Other parties include the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the United Party and the Canadian Future Party.

In response to the president’s post, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre issued a sharp reply, saying Trump should “stay out of our election.”

“The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box. Canada will always be proud, sovereign, and independent, and we will NEVER be the 51st state,” Poilievre wrote in a post on X. “Today, Canadians can vote for change so we can strengthen our country, stand on our own two feet, and stand up to America from a position of strength.”

Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Mark Carney posted a video on X on Monday with the message: “This is Canada — and we decide what happens here.”

Latest polls show the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives, when only a few months ago the Conservatives held a 25-point lead.

Canada has a parliamentary system, meaning if the Liberals win a majority of seats in the election, or are able to form a minority government with members of another party, Carney will continue to serve as prime minister.

Nearly all of the polls for the election are expected to close by 9:30 p.m. ET on Monday.

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(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Gerry Connolly, the ranking Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee, announced he will “soon” step down from his role and won’t run for reelection because his cancer has returned.

“The sun is setting on my time in public service, and this will be my last term in Congress. I will be stepping back as Ranking Member of the Oversight Committee soon,” Connolly said in a statement. “With no rancor and a full heart, I move into this final chapter full of pride in what we’ve accomplished together over 30 years.”

Connolly, 75, who was first elected in 2009, defeated Rep. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, 35, for the committee chair in December as the younger representative attempted to bring in a new generation of leadership.

Connolly announced he had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in November.

“When I announced my diagnosis six months ago, I promised transparency,” he said in his statement Monday. “After grueling treatments, we’ve learned that the cancer, while initially beaten back, has now returned. I’ll do everything possible to continue to represent you and thank you for your grace.”

Connolly has served on the Oversight Committee since his first term and has led Democrats on the subcommittee on government operations since 2013. He won the chair vote, 131-84, according to multiple Democratic sources, cementing his role in one of the most high-profile positions in Washington to combat the Trump administration and a unified Republican majority in Congress.

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(WASHINGTON) — Democratic lawmakers are “urgently” calling for the White House to issue a full disclosure of financial transactions leading up to President Donald Trump’s sudden pause on a sweeping set of tariffs earlier this month, raising concerns that people close to the president “potentially violated federal ethics and insider trading laws” surrounding his actions.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., sent a letter on Monday, signed by a group of 23 other Democrats, to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, calling for a commitment from all senior White House and executive branch employees to “expeditiously” transmit all reports related to their securities transactions since the start of Trump’s term to the Office of Government Ethics, requesting, too, that all of this mandatory reporting be made public.

The letter, shared first with ABC News, also asks that any extensions granted to White House employees related to their accounting reports become public, noting that this was practiced during the first Trump administration.

“We are concerned that no periodic transaction reports have been posted on the OGE database for White House officials’ individual disclosures at any point since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025,” Schiff and Levin wrote.

“There is reason to doubt that not a single senior White House official or employee has made any financial transactions triggering a periodic transaction report since the start of the Administration,” the letter continued. “As an important point of reference, during the first Trump Administration, periodic transaction reports filed by senior White House officials were made publicly available on the OGE’s disclosure database, as required by the Ethics in Government Act and the STOCK Act.”

The White House did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment.

Hours before Trump announced he was rolling back tariffs to 10% to all countries except China, which sent the stock market soaring, he posted on Truth Social: “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” and “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”

Stocks were down the morning before Trump’s Truth Social post. Nasdaq soared 12.1% at close, the index’s largest single-day gain since 2021, while the Dow jumped 7.8%, its biggest one-day increase in five years.

“Newly identified data raises concerns about potential violations of federal ethics and insider trading laws by individuals close to the President with access to non-public information,” Schiff and Levin’s letter reads.

Trump has said he hasn’t engaged in insider trading himself — but that he couldn’t definitively claim that members of his administration have not. “I can commit to myself, that’s all I can commit to,” Trump told reporters on Friday, when asked whether he could assure Americans that no one in his administration was insider trading with information about trade deals coming together.

Trump said he hires “honorable people” but said, “I have thousands of people that work for me, but I can’t imagine anybody doing that.”

The Democrats requested a response from Wiles no later than May 9, 2025, and for a “detailed plan” for how the administration plans to address any officials and employees who may have failed to file required disclosures from the start of the administration.

“By failing to take these steps, the Administration would be withholding critical information from the American people regarding potential violations of federal ethics and insider trading laws. We look forward to reviewing all required reports and disclosures,” Schiff and Levin wrote.

“Senior White House officials have influence over or become witting of consequential policy decisions that can have market moving impacts,” the letter said. “It is critical that such officials adhere to all applicable ethics, conflict of interest, and disclosure requirements.”

“The American public deserves nothing less than full transparency, particularly in the context of the harm done to pension funds and retirement savings as a result of the President’s erratic trade policy,” it continued

The letter was signed by Sens. Chris Van Hollen, Elizabeth Warren, Jeffrey Merkley and Elissa Slotkin, as well as Reps. Brad Sherman, Brad Schneider, Angie Craig, Jerry Nadler, Rashida Tlaib, Cleo Fields, Yassamin Ansari, Seth Magaziner, Pramila Jayapal, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Mark DeSaulnier, Madeleine Dean and Delia Ramirez.

Schiff had previously written to Wiles and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer over the rollbacks on Trump’s tariffs. In that letter, sent with Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Schiff asked for an investigation into potential conflicts of interest. Schiff has not received a response from Wiles following his request, a spokesperson for the senator told ABC News.

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(MILWAUKEE, WI) — A reserve judge will be appointed to take over the cases of Judge Hannah Dugan, who was arrested by the FBI over allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant, according to a Milwaukee County official.

The county’s chief judge, Carl Ashley, said late Sunday that a reserve judge would take over Dugan’s calendar on Monday morning. The reserve judge was not named in the statement released to media.

Dugan, a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, was arrested on Friday over allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant “evade arrest” the week prior, FBI Director Kash Patel said.

Patel said on social media that the FBI believes “Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse.”

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement that two FBI agents arrested Dugan “for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid arrest” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“No one is above the law,” Bondi said on Friday.

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

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(WASHINGTON) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that the Secret Service caught the person who swiped her bag from a Washington restaurant on Easter Sunday while she was dining with her family.

“Thank you to @SecretService @ICE and our law enforcement partners for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant,” Noem posted on X.

Authorities said a man wearing a mask took Noem’s bag, which contained $3,000, her DHS access card, passport, makeup bag, apartment key and other items.

Noem said in her post that the person arrested is “a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years.”

“Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and that’s why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets,” she said.

Later Sunday, the Secret Service said it had made two arrests in the case — one in Washington and one in Miami.

The Secret Service said the defendant arrested in D.C., who it didn’t identify, is a serial offender and said the theft “had no protective nexus to Secretary Noem or her role as Secretary of Homeland Security.” It also said its investigation revealed alleged potential device and credit card fraud and would maintain jurisdiction over the case.

The person arrested in Miami is believed to be a co-conspirator with the first person in a pattern of thefts and robberies in D.C. and is believed to be the primary defendant in stealing Noem’s bag, the Secret Service said. The person is being held on an immigration detainer and their name will be released when charges are finalized, the Secret Service said.

In an interview on Thursday, Noem said she thought the theft was “professionally done.”

“It was kind of shocking, actually, because it was sitting right by my feet, actually felt my purse, he hooked it with his foot and dragged it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it,” Noem said on “The Vince Show.”

Noem said she wasn’t sure if she was targeted because she was the DHS secretary. She said she felt something brush against her leg where the bag was at her feet, but thought it was one of her grandchildren.

“I think I was a busy grandma with four grandkids under the age of 4, and I was taking care of them and feeding them food and enjoying my family, yeah, but certainly had my purse even touching my feet,” she said.

A DHS official said the secretary had the cash with her because her family was in town and she was treating them to Easter festivities.

“Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren — she was using the cash withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts,” the official said.

ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.

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(MIAMI) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and law enforcement from the state of Florida have arrested 780 migrants who are in the United States illegally in a four-day operation beginning Monday, according to statistics obtained by ABC News.

The operation, dubbed “Operation Tidal Wave” uses ICE’s 287(g) authority, which allows for state and local law enforcement agencies to be deputized and to arrest those in the U.S. illegally. State and local agencies allow for ICE to be in jails and on task forces, according to the agency.

“I think the main reason why this operation is significant is because it’s the first of its kind,” Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director, told ABC News. “It’s one that not only we’ve been doing what we have, but we have surged all our federal partners together along with Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement [and] Removal Operations, which are all the enforcement arms of ICE, but we’re also using all our 287(g) partners in the state of Florida. We’re using state, local and county law enforcement agencies to assist us in our operations.

“So this is one of the first large-scale missions we’ve done like this ever,” he added. “We brought a ‘whole the government’ approach with cooperative jurisdictions that want to help ICE secure communities in neighborhoods and remove public safety threats from our neighborhoods.”

The partnerships are a “force multiplier,” he said.

“State troopers, local police officers, county sheriffs — they’re our eyes and ears,” he said. “They encountered these criminal aliens out and about during their regular duties, and they’re able to go ahead and identify those public safety threats for us.”

ICE and officials from Florida law enforcement, which includes the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, arrested 275 people in four days with final orders of removal — meaning they can be removed from the country in short order.

Madison Sheahan, who serves as the ICE deputy director, told ABC News that the partnerships will continue.

“We’ve seen historic partnerships with the state of Texas that has been going on and being able to expand. We’ve seen historic partnerships in Virginia as well as many other states that are coming to the table, even states that you wouldn’t necessarily always think of as border states,” she said.

These 287(g) operations will continue across the country in partnership with state and federal law enforcement, resulting in successful enforcement operations, according to the officials.

Since the beginning of the administration, there have been 428 new 287(g) agreements signed with state and local law enforcement agencies, representing a 371% increase, Lyons noted.

Lyons said the partnerships with state and local law enforcement are “making communities safer.”

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(ROME) — President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met privately in Rome Saturday before attending the funeral for Pope Francis.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the press pool traveling with Trump that the two men had a “very productive session.” More details about the meeting “will follow,” he said.

This was the first meeting between the two men since their contentious encounter in the White House Oval Office in late February.

Late Friday, following Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier in the day, Trump posted that it was “A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine,” and suggested it’s now time for the two sides to meet at “very high levels.”

“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to “finish it off,” he wrote on his social media site.

“Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!” Trump added in the post, but provided no additional information about the apparent progress.

President Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, were seated about seven people away from Trump and the first lady Melania Trump, according to the press pool.

Former President Biden and former first lady Jill Biden were about four rows behind them.

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