BY JULIA SHAPERO AND ALEX GANGITANO |
Elon Musk is pushing to improve the image of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), suggesting the Tesla CEO is aware of the boogeyman persona he has created for himself and his cost-cutting push since joining President Trump's team.
Musk went on Fox News on Thursday night to claim he is being careful and compassionate with his overhaul of the federal government, amid mounting criticism over his past statements on social media and emails to federal workers.
He also introduced several members of the DOGE team in an attempt to quell some of the concerns around the mysterious nature of their work. |
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A federal appeals court on Friday enabled Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to resume efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
In a win for the Trump administration, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily lifted a lower ruling that found Musk was exercising enough independent authority to require Senate confirmation under the Constitution's Appointments Clause. |
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Friday brought several new twists in President Trump's intensifying battle with major legal firms.
Trump has targeted several firms with executive orders that rescind their security clearances and banish them from the use of government facilities. If such an order stands, it would call the survival of the firms into question, since it would create enormous logistical problems for any client that had a case involving the government.
Opposition to Trump's actions is driven by the idea that he is seeking to intimidate the legal world by creating massive disincentives for representing his opponents or challenging his actions. His critics say this is part of a broader effort to clamp down on dissent. |
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Two federal judges temporarily blocked President Trump's executive orders targeting two major law firms, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, on Friday. The orders come as the Trump administration has sought to crack down on law firms with perceived ties to political enemies and critics, restricting access to the federal government. |
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President Trump on Friday announced a deal with the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom to provide at least $100 million in pro bono legal services "during the Trump administration and beyond."
The agreement comes as Trump has signed executive orders targeting Big Law firms tied to his critics and perceived political enemies, restricting the work they can do with the federal government. |
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A federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump's administration from dismantling the government-funded news outlet Voice of America (VOA), preventing the termination of more than 1,200 reporters and other employees put on paid leave earlier this month for now.
U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken issued a temporary restraining order on Friday, barring the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, from disbanding the international broadcasting network and its connected radio programs. |
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The withdrawal of Rep. Elise Stefanik's (R-N.Y.) nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is putting a spotlight on the House GOP's razor-thin majority and the anxiety about upcoming special elections to replace President Trump's Cabinet picks.
Trump referenced concerns about both in a Truth Social post announcing Stefanik would no longer be his U.N. pick. |
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's vow to "eliminate" the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is raising the alarm from experts on disaster assistance, who say it could leave vulnerable communities at risk.
Noem this week said she was planning to eliminate the agency but did not elaborate on what that meant. Spokespeople for FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the disaster relief agency, did not respond to questions about whether FEMA's services would be cut entirely or reshuffled elsewhere. |
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More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers asked the Office of Government Ethics on Thursday to open an investigation into Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's promotion of Tesla stock.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 13 other Democrats urged Doug Collins, acting director of the ethics office, to investigate whether Lutnick had violated federal ethics law. |
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More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers asked the Office of Government Ethics on Thursday to open an investigation into Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's promotion of Tesla stock.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 13 other Democrats urged Doug Collins, acting director of the ethics office, to investigate whether Lutnick had violated federal ethics law. |
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OPINION | Border security is national security, but America's borders are more expansive than the Rio Grande, ocean coasts or the frontier with Canada. In today's world, protecting our borders demands that we fully secure American interests in space. Achieving that goal demands investments to build a balanced Space Force capable of deterring aggressors and, if necessary, defeating them. Whether they realize it or not, every American has a stake in how the Space Force performs and succeeds. |
OPINION | Not surprisingly, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing an extremely difficult political landscape in which he must manage a deeply complex balancing act. His backing of more EU defense expenditures demonstrates his commitment to European defense yet his cautious stance toward President Trump's mercurial strategy reveals the problems in Britain's transatlantic relationships.
From one perspective, he acknowledges the requirement to strengthen NATO deterrence because Europe remains at risk from Russian aggression. At the same time, he must realize that Trump's transactional foreign policy focuses more on economic leverage than on military commitments which could leave Europe vulnerable when it needs protection the most. |
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BY ROBIN STEIN, RILEY MELLEN, DEVON LUM AND MARTÍN GONZÁLEZ GÓMEZ |
After The Atlantic published the contents of a text chat among high-ranking members of the Trump administration about forthcoming airstrikes on Yemen, multiple officials involved conceded that adding a journalist to the group was a mistake.
But a closer look at the messages posted on Signal — an encrypted but unsecured commercial texting app — and at what the group's participants were doing when they were sent, reveal broader security vulnerabilities at the highest levels of the administration. |
BY DAVID LUHNOW AND MARCUS WALKER |
It was a text message the public was never supposed to see. Vice President Vance and other top Trump administration officials were using the messaging app Signal to discuss a planned military strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been disrupting shipping through the Red Sea—a vital commercial route, especially for Europe.
"I just hate bailing Europe out again," Vance wrote. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly agreed: "I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC." |
When Mariam Aabour learned of the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, she shed tears of joy. But as the time came to return to her homeland from Lebanon – where she fled years earlier – Aabour felt torn.
She was happy about the homecoming, but sad to leave behind a son and a stepson who remained in Lebanon to work and pay off family debts. Months before her return, Aabour's father died in Syria without her seeing him. Her Syrian home has been destroyed and there's no money to rebuild, she said. |
BY PERRY STEIN AND YVONNE WINGETT SANCHEZ |
In late February, President Trump made an unusual announcement: FBI Director Kash Patel would also serve as interim head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
That put Patel in charge of two Justice Department subagencies with two distinct missions — and no public mandate on how he would divide his time. The next day, Patel arrived at ATF's Northeast Washington headquarters, snapped photos in the lobby, met career leaders and commended their work, according to multiple people familiar with the visit.
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