Group chat blame shifts to Pete Hegseth

Plus: Tufts student detained

12:30 REPORT 12:30 REPORT Thursday, March 27 | By Cate Martel Today in DC: ☀️ 52°  Sign up It's Thursday. HAPPY OPENING DAY! ⚾🌭 First pitch for both of my teams (the Red Sox and the Nationals) is at 4:05 p.m., so if your office has quietly cleared out, you know why. Or if this is you, cheers! 🍻 Here's a list of the games today. In today's issue: Group chat blame shifts to Pete Hegseth Hegseth's poorly timed foreign trip Tufts student detained by plainclothes agents HHS eliminates 20k positions Toddler slips through White House fence Do you ever feel like everyone's looking at you?: AP The focus of the group chat snafu that has consumed Washington this week has shifted to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's mishandling of sensitive military intelligence on an unsecure app.   Obviously, Mike Waltz messed up: He somehow mistakenly added a journalist — a journalist who has sparred with the Trump team for years! — to a private group chat, in which he asked the top members of President Trump's national security team for their best points of contact and chatted about political strategy. Waltz said it was "embarrassing," and he took full responsibility for it.   But it was Hegseth who escalated this: He chimed in with sensitive military intelligence for an attack *before* it happened. While the White House claims this information is not classified — and most intel experts find that hard to believe — the use of the texting app Signal added major national security ramifications. But, so far, he still has his job.   It's not just Democrats who are seeing red: Republican lawmakers have been critical of Hegseth's handling of military intelligence. The Hill's Alexander Bolton has been chatting with Republicans, and while they haven't called for Hegseth to resign, they certainly consider this a "strike" against him.   What timing: Hegseth is on public a trip to Guam, the Philippines and Japan. Politico pointed out that *both* of his foreign trips have happened during major controversies (oof). Remember how his trip to Brussels last month happened during the blowback over Hegseth suggesting Ukraine shouldn't join NATO? 😅 (He later clarified and said "everything is on the table" re: Ukraine and Russia.)   Read: 'Hegseth slips up during an international trip — again' Hold on to your car as long as possible: President Trump announced that he is imposing a 25 percent tariff on car imports on April 2.   What this means: Trump is trying to put pressure on other countries to move their car production to the U.S., but it also may lead to higher car prices in the meantime — potentially thousands more dollars per vehicle.   Which countries will be hit the hardest?: Japan, South Korea and Germany.   PLUS: This morning, Trump threatened larger tariffs on the European Union and Canada if they team up in the escalating trade war. HHS is eliminating 20,000 positions: Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this morning that his department will cut 10,000 jobs — plus another 10,000 through other means, including early retirement.   Including: Nineteen percent of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 18 percent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 6 percent of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and 4 percent of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to The Wall Street Journal.   Why?: To cut costs. HHS said the restructuring will save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year and "serve multiple goals without impacting critical services."   Related: 'H.H.S. Scraps Studies of Vaccines and Treatments for Future Pandemics' 🎒️ TALK OF THE MORNING This looks like a scene out of a Liam Neeson movie: Federal agents in plain clothes swarmed a Tufts University Ph.D. student and Fulbright scholar on the street this week and detained her.   Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish citizen, and her lawyer says she had a legal student visa, per The New York Times.   This is dramatic: New video shows the altercation. Ozturk can be seen screaming as agents, some of whom are in masks, swarmed her on a sidewalk in Somerville, Mass., and took her away. They grabbed her wrists and told her "we're the police," though they didn't have visible badges on their clothing. Officers did pull out lanyards to display their badges once she was confronted.   📹 WBUR shared the surveillance footage — it's pretty chilling to watch.   Where is she now?: Her attorneys said they couldn't locate her for hours, and she is now reportedly being held at a detention center in Louisiana, according to reports. No charges have been filed. On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered that she could not be removed from Massachusetts — and it's unclear when she was transferred and whether that court order was defied.   Why?: Officials claim she had "engaged in activities in support of" Hamas. She is one of several students who wrote an op-ed in the Tufts student paper last March. 🔎 Read the March 2024 op-ed   This is sending shockwaves: Tufts University President told The Associated Press that the school had not been given prior warning.   A senior Department of Homeland Security official confirmed to The Hill that Ozturk's student visa had been terminated. Her lawyer has demanded the government produce her.    💡 Why this matters: The Trump administration has been targeting foreign students with American visas over their support of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war, raising serious questions about First Amendment rights. What is particularly chilling about this story is the lack of transparency. She was whisked off the street in broad daylight by authorities in masks and plain clothes — and then to be detained and transferred with no charges is a major ramp-up of the Trump administration's deportation efforts. ➤ THE LIST OF DETAINED STUDENTS GROWS: The University of Alabama says that one of its doctoral students has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It's unclear what, if any, charges he is facing. COMING UP The House and Senate are in. President Trump is in Washington. (All times EST) 2 p.m. Trump signs executive orders. 2 p.m. The Senate holds a confirmation vote for Paul Lawrence to be deputy secretary of Veterans Affairs. 📆 Today's agenda 8 p.m. Trump participates in the White House iftar dinner. 🐝 INTERNET BUZZ 🍲 A reason to celebrate: Today is National Spanish Paella Day.   🏃‍♂️ Toddlers gonna toddler: A little boy slipped through the fence at the White House and took off running. Secret Service agents grabbed the boy and returned him to his parents. 📹 Watch Secret Service agents grab the boy   📺 To quote Victoria Ratliff, 'neaaaaaux!': Actor Patrick Schwarzenegger posted a funny interaction he had when he was recognized in public. 👋 AND FINALLY… Because you made it this far, let's all channel this dog's outlook on life. When life gives you rain … make it a snack!  Stay Engaged  📺 Miss yesterday's newsletter? Catch up with a 1-minute video recap here. Send your feedback, tips and favorite cookie recipes 🍪 to cmartel@thehill.com. 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