Summary of the day so far
Donald Trump spent the morning putting pressure on Congress to pass his bills by posting on his Truth Social platform, emphasizing that there is “nothing more important” for the US at the moment than voter ID.
The Trump administration is considering occupying or blockading Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz, according to a report in Axios. The report cited four sources who all spoke under the condition of anonymity.
The US state department established a new bureau to oversee responses to natural disasters and humanitarian crises around the world, capping the Trump administration’s dramatic overhaul of foreign aid, a senior department official told the Associated Press.
Trump’s presidential transition team repeatedly intervened in UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, Politico reported. The president’s aides reportedly told Starmer’s national security adviser and former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney that they wished for Mandelson’s predecessor Karen Pierce to remain in the post.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said that it is investigating 13 states that require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover abortion services. While HHS did not list the states, the Associated Press reported that the 13 states with the coverage requirements are California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
The White House released a broad framework for Congress to “pre-empt state AI laws” that would slow down development, after significant lobbying from Silicon Valley to curtail liability and instate an industry-friendly national standard for the regulation of the fast-moving technology.
Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center and a far-right political figure who stepped down from his position on Tuesday in protest of the war in Iran, spoke about his resignation and the ongoing investigation into him over an alleged leak of classified information, saying he has a “mission” to stop the Iran war.
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Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia, signed a legislative package on Friday to suspend the state’s fuel taxes for 60 days, making Georgia the first state to take direct action against the soaring pump prices triggered by the ongoing war with Iran.
The measure provides immediate relief by temporarily waiving the state’s 33-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax and 37-cent-per-gallon diesel tax. The move was part of a duo of financial relief bills fast-tracked through the state legislature this week to offset rising costs currently affecting Georgia households and businesses.
“Today is just the latest step we’re taking and it’s one that will help all Georgians as they work to make ends meet,” Kemp said at the state capitol before signing the bill into law.
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Clergy will be allowed to minister to immigrants in a holding facility at the headquarters of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge in Minnesota after US district judge Jerry Blackwell granted an injunction requested on Friday by Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ and a Catholic priest who had sued the Department of Homeland Security, according to the Associated Press.
Under his ruling, clergy will be allowed in-person pastoral visits to all detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building south of Minneapolis, the site of frequent protests over the roughly 3,000 federal officers who were brought into the state during the crackdown.
The government says the enforcement surge officially ended in February and restrictions have eased since. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) called the building a short-term holding facility, and not the kind of long-term detention center where clergy visits are normally allowed.
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A Nevada judge on Friday temporarily blocked prediction market operator Kalshi from offering events contracts that would allow the state’s residents to place financial bets on its platform related to sports entertainment, and elections.
The Carson City district court judge Jason Woodbury issued a temporary restraining order at the behest of the Nevada gaming control board that will prevent Kalshi from continuing to operate in the state without a license.
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Joe Kent, former counter-terrorism chief, says he has a 'mission' to stop Iran war
Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counter-terrorism Center and a far-right political figure who stepped down from his position on Tuesday in protest of the war in Iran, spoke about his resignation and the ongoing investigation into him over an alleged leak of classified information.
In an interview on Friday with journalist Megyn Kelly, Kent said he feels “very confident in what I’m doing right now. I think I have a mission. I think it is to do everything I can to stop this war.”
Regarding the investigation into him, he said he is “not concerned because I know I did nothing wrong. Of course, I am concerned because we’ve all seen the FBI and the full weight of the government come down on individuals,” adding: “That has me a little bit concerned, but I know the truth, and the facts are on my side.”
Kent went on to say that the investigation “does anger” him, but “it’s all just to be expected. I knew this was going to happen. I know their playbook. I think we’re all very familiar with their playbook.”
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The Chicago transit agency on Friday sued the Trump administration after the White House in October froze $3.1bn in funding for major Chicago subway projects, saying it was an act of political retaliation, Reuters reported.
The suit, filed in the US district court in Chicago, said the federal government is attempting “to hold hostage billions of dollars in federal grants for crucial infrastructure projects in the City of Chicago”.
The suit says the frozen grants, which were approved during the administration of former president Joe Biden, are crucial to modernize and expand the “L”, Chicago’s system of elevated and underground trains.
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Donald Trump has reinstated his endorsement of Jeff Hurd, a Republican House representative of Colorado, nearly a month after the president rescinded his support in response to Hurd’s vote to repeal the administration’s tariffs on Canada.
To resolve the primary conflict in Colorado’s third congressional district, Trump revealed that Hurd’s GOP challenger, Hope Scheppelman, has agreed to suspend her campaign. In exchange, both Scheppelman and her husband have been offered positions within the Trump administration.
“Together with them, we decided that Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, should in no way, shape, or form, be impeded from winning the District in that the Democrat alternative is a DISASTER for our Country,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, I will be fully supporting Jeff’s Re-Election to the House of Representatives, giving him my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
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Absences among Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security officers fell slightly on Thursday to 9.8% nationwide, but were much higher at some major airports, the government said on Friday.
The absenteeism rate among the 50,000 TSA officers fell from 10.2% on Wednesday but was significantly higher at major airports on Thursday, including 29% at New York’s JFK, 27% at New Orleans, Baltimore Washington at 23%, 32% at Atlanta and over 30% at both Houston airports, the Department of Homeland Security said.
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The justice department filed a new lawsuit on Friday against Harvard University, saying its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus, creating grounds for the government to freeze existing grants and seek repayment for grants already paid.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, is another missive in a protracted battle between the Trump administration and the elite university.
“The United States cannot and will not tolerate these failures,” the justice department wrote in the lawsuit. It asked the court to compel Harvard to comply with federal civil rights law and to help it “recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution”.
The lawsuit also asks a judge to require that Harvard call police to arrest protesters blocking parts of campus and to appoint an “independent outside monitor”, approved by the government, to ensure it complies with court orders.
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US health department investigates 13 states that require insurance plans to cover abortion
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Thursday that it is investigating 13 states that require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover abortion services.
HHS officials said in a news release that the department’s office for civil rights (OCR) is looking into the states for allegedly violating the federal Weldon amendment, which prohibits federal funding for programs or state or local governments that “subjects any institutional or individual healthcare entity to discrimination on the basis that the healthcare entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions”.
“OCR launches these investigations to address certain states’ alleged disregard of, or confusion about, compliance with the Weldon amendment,” Paula Stannard, director of the OCR, said in the announcement. “Under the Weldon amendment, healthcare entities, such as health insurance issuers and health plans, are protected from state discrimination for not paying for, or providing coverage of, abortion contrary to conscience. Period.”
While HHS did not list the states, the Associated Press reported that the 13 states with the coverage requirements are California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey’s governor, criticized the investigations in a statement on Thursday, calling the investigation “nothing but a fishing expedition wasting taxpayers’ money”.
I will fight tooth and nail to defend and protect New Jerseyans’ abortion rights against attacks from Donald Trump, or anyone else. New Jersey requires health insurance plans to follow all applicable laws, including protecting women’s reproductive freedom.
In Vermont, Kaj Samsom, the commissioner of the Vermont department of financial regulation, said that the agency stands “firmly behind the law in question and the protections and choice it provides Vermonters” and “does not believe that it has unlawfully coerced or discriminated against any insurer related to the coverage of abortions as outlined in the [federal government’s] request”.
More on this story here:
Trump releases AI policy for Congress to pre-empt state rules
The White House released a broad framework today for Congress to “pre-empt state AI laws” that would slow down development, after significant lobbying from Silicon Valley to curtail liability and instate an industry-friendly national standard for the regulation of the fast-moving technology.
“The federal government is uniquely positioned to set a consistent national policy that enables us to win the AI race and deliver its benefits to the American people,” the White House said in an announcement accompanying the release.
“The administration looks forward to working with Congress in the coming months to turn this framework into legislation that the president can sign.”
The framework explicitly calls on Congress to pre-empt any state laws that regulate the way models are developed penalize companies for the way their AI is used by third parties, and it supports limiting the liability of AI developers due to harms from AI systems. It also instructs lawmakers not to create any new federal agencies to regulate AI.
The legislative blueprint also includes a half-dozen guiding principles for lawmakers, focusing on protecting children, preventing electricity costs from surging, respecting intellectual property rights, preventing censorship and educating Americans on using the technology.
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Fuel spikes, flight delays and storms threaten US spring break travel
Spring breakers in the US could see their long-awaited trips to party destinations disrupted by a trifecta of issues: airport security delays, high gas prices, and chaotic weather.
The potential for flight delays comes as US airlines expect that they will see a record-shattering spring travel season. Airlines for America, an aviation industry group, said that 171 million passengers are expected to fly – a 4% increase from the 2025 spring travel period.
US airlines are expected to transport 2.8 million passengers every day between 1 March and 30 April. Airlines will provide 2% more flights and seats, the group said.
But Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents working at the nation’s airports have gone weeks without pay, spurring long security lines at some travel hubs. Several airline CEOs have made public entreaties to end the impasse.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes the TSA, has not been funded since mid-February. Democrats said they will not vote to approve DHS’s operations unless Republicans agreed to new rules governing federal agents’ manner of immigration enforcement.
Congressional Democrats want federal agents to show identification and cease wearing masks – and to stop detaining people on the street.
“It’s not sustainable, and what’s going to happen is lines are just going to continue to get longer and longer as spring breaks goes on,” Cameron Cochems, vice-president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1127 and a lead TSA officer based in Boise, Idaho, told the Hill.
“What’s going to happen is longer wait times. Passengers are going to get more frustrated. They’re going to take their anger out on, who do you think? Us,” Cochems also reportedly said. “We’re not the ones in charge of any of this, and so they’re going to continue to push back on us.”
Here’s the full story:
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CBS News announced today that it is laying off dozens of employees and ending CBS News Radio – its nearly 100-year-old radio service – as part of a strategic restructuring.
The news was announced in a memo to staffers from its editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, and president, Tom Cibrowski. Employees will be informed by the end of the day if their job has been affected, the two executives said in the memo.
The cuts are expected to affect 6% of a roughly 1,100 person staff, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Earlier reports had put the cuts at closer to 15%.
The CBS News Radio team and about 700 affiliated stations were informed that the radio service will end on 22 May 2026.
Read more about it here:
The father of a US military member killed in the Iran war has contradicted Pete Hegseth’s claim that bereaved families urged him to “finish” the job in the Middle East.
Hegseth, the defense secretary and a former weekend Fox News host, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing on Thursday that he had spoken with relatives of all six service members killed in last week’s refueling tanker crash during a “dignified transfer” of their remains at Delaware’s Dover air force station the night before.
“What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength and through unbreakable resolve, was the same from family after family. They said, ‘Finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done,’” Hegseth said.
However, on Thursday night, Charles Simmons, the father of Tech Sgt Tyler Simmons, 28, from Ohio, said he had no such conversation.
“I can’t speak for the other families. When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about,” he told NBC News.
Read more about it here:
Trump also thanked Brendan Carr, the FCC chair, in his remarks on Friday.
“I also want to thank FCC chairman Brendan Carr, perhaps the most powerful man in this room,” Trump said. “You are doing some job. He’s trying to make the fake news real and respected again, which is not an easy job, but you’re doing a really amazing job.”
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Trump began his remarks on Friday at the commander-in-chief trophy presentation at the White House, where he is presenting the trophy to the navy football team while discussing Iran.
“I want to begin by just saying we’re doing extremely well in Iran,” Trump said. “The difference between them and us is they had a navy two weeks ago, they have no navy any more, it’s all at the bottom of the sea. Fifty-eight ships knocked down in two days, and we have the greatest navy anywhere in the world, it’s not even close.
He continued: “So we are doing really well. We’re not going to let them have nuclear weapons, because if they had them, they’d use them, and we’re not going to let that happen. Should have been done a long time ago by other presidents.”
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Donald Trump is currently speaking at a White House event, where he is set to present the commander-in-chief’s trophy to the navy football team.
The team won the 2025 series against the army and the air force.
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Representative Lauren Boebert, the longtime Maga supporter, has publicly broken with the Trump administration over its latest military spending request, citing the economic struggles of her constituents as her primary reason for opposition.
In an interview with CNN, Boebert stated she would not support the Pentagon’s $200bn war supplemental, a massive funding package intended to sustain the ongoing conflict with Iran. The package is aimed at replenishing US munition stockpiles and funding Operation Epic Fury, but Boebert argued that such a high price tag is unjustifiable while people in Colorado face a rising cost of living.
“I am a ‘no’. I’ve already told leadership I am a ‘no’ on any war supplementals. I am so tired of spending money elsewhere,” Boebert said. “I am tired of the industrial-war complex getting all of our hard-earned tax dollars. I have folks in Colorado who can’t afford to live. We need America-first policies right now, and that? I’m not doing that.”
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US federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn have launched early-stage criminal investigations into the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, focusing on alleged ties to international drug trafficking, sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times.
The inquiries involve specialized narcotics prosecutors alongside agents from the DEA and Homeland Security Investigations. The inqueries are reportedly examining whether Petro held undisclosed meetings with traffickers and if his presidential campaign solicited or accepted illicit donations from criminal organizations.
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US to deploy of thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, officials tell Reuters
The US military is deploying thousands of additional marines and sailors to the Middle East, three US officials told Reuters on Friday.
One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the USS Boxer, along with the marine expeditionary unit onboard, were departing the west coast of the US about three weeks ahead of schedule.
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Trump pressures Congress to pass strict voter ID and farm bills
Donald Trump has spent the morning putting pressure on Congress to pass his bills by posting on his Truth Social platform, emphasizing that there is “nothing more important” for the US at the moment than voter ID.
“THE SAVE AMERICA ACT MUST BE PASSED BY THE SENATE. THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR THE U.S.A. Voter I.D., Proof of Citizenship, etc. Get it done and watch all of the good things that will happen!!!” the president wrote.
In a separate post, he stated “CONGRESS, PASS THE FARM BILL, NOW!”
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The supreme court is likely to announce at least one opinion this morning at 10am ET. Some of the high-profile cases currently before the court include Trump v Cook, which centers on Trump’s attempt to remove Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve board of governors; Trump v Slaughter, which, similar to the Cook case, involves the president’s firing of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioner Rebecca Slaughter; and Louisiana v Callais, a landmark redistricting case that could determine the remaining strength of the Voting Rights Act.
Though it’s unclear which decisions will be made this morning, we’ll bring them to you as they come.
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Does the US have a vaccine advisory committee? The answer became surprisingly murky on Thursday, as former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and health officials made contradictory statements following a federal judge essentially invalidating the committee and their recent decisions on Monday.
According to a former member of the committee who asked not to be identified to discuss sensitive matters, the ACIP will continue to exist without the 13 members who were stayed by Judge Brian Murphy on Monday – and officials plan to start the process over again with new members.
The judge found that the members had not gone through the necessary process to join the committee, and he put on hold their membership and all decisions the committee made in the past year. The judge also put on hold an unprecedented move in January by US health officials to make major changes to the routine childhood immunization schedule. That means all 17 vaccines are once again fully recommended, including the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.
But confusion about the future of the committee still abounds, even among its former members.
Read more:
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The White House released a framework on artificial intelligence (AI) on Friday that aims to ensure protections for children as part of a national plan to regulate developments in the field.
“The Trump Administration is committed to winning the AI race to usher in a new era of human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security for the American people,” the White House page reads. “Achieving these goals requires a commonsense national policy framework that both enables American industry to innovate and thrive and ensures that all Americans benefit from this technological revolution.”
As part of the framework, the administration asserts that parents should be the primary managers of their children’s digital lives and is urging Congress to provide them with new “account controls” to protect privacy and regulate screen time.
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Trump considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran's Kharg Island – report
According to a report in Axios, the Trump administration is considering occupying or blockading Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz. The report, which we have not yet been able to independently verify, cited four sources who all spoke under the condition of anonymity.
“He wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that’s going to happen. But that decision hasn’t been made,” a senior administration official told Axios.
“We’ve always had boots on the ground in conflicts under every president, including Trump. I know this is a fixation in the media, and I get the politics, but the president is going to do what’s right,” a second senior official said. No decision has been made yet, the official said.
Kharg, a five-mile-long coral island in the Gulf about 16 miles from the mainland, is a key processing hub for Iran, through which 90% of the country’s oil exports typically flow. The island had been largely left untouched by the US-Israeli attacks during the first two weeks of the war.
But the US bombed the island’s military installations last week, although it left the oil export facilities untouched. Donald Trump warned he would reconsider the decision not to target oil facilities if Iran or other countries “do anything to interfere” with the safe passage of ships through the strait of Hormuz.
The vital waterway has effectively been blocked since Iran began attacking ships in response to US and Israeli attacks, resulting in a huge jump in oil prices.
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US veteran charged with ‘conspiracy’ over ICE protest refuses to plead guilty
A US military veteran arrested on federal conspiracy charges after participating in a June 2025 protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told the Guardian he refuses to plead guilty and is ready to face justice.
The right to protest is “supposed to be fundamentally American”, said Bajun Mavalwalla, who walked foot patrols as US army sergeant in the horn of Panjwai, the birthplace of the Taliban and one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.
“It’s among the rights that when I joined the military, I thought I was joining to protect,” he said. “You can’t do it violently. You can’t do it in a way that harms other people, but you have a right to stand up for what you believe in.”
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State department forms new humanitarian bureau after foreign aid overhaul
The US state department on Friday established a new bureau to oversee responses to natural disasters and humanitarian crises around the world, capping the Trump administration’s dramatic overhaul of foreign aid, a senior department official told the Associated Press.
Trump officials and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency dismantled the US Agency for International Development after taking office in January 2025, firing thousands of officials and canceling most of its grants before it was absorbed into the state department, Reuters reported.
The official told the AP the new Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response would be staffed by about 200 officials, operate in 12 hubs around the world and receive roughly $5.4bn a year in funding.
It would narrowly focus on “life-saving” aid rather than things like climate projects and what the official called “social causes.“
It would also oversee global food security, said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.
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IRS glitch masked $51m in political donations, watchdog says
A technical glitch at the understaffed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is masking millions of dollars in campaign contributions to state-level election groups, including key governor and attorney general races, a campaign finance watchdog has told the Guardian.
A total of $51m for the second half of 2025 remains unaccounted for due to this technical error, according to the Center for Political Accountability (CPA), a non-profit that tracks corporate spending.
Researchers at the CPA noticed the discrepancy in February, when donor and spending lists from the year before are typically made public after a 31 January deadline. But so far, the disclosures remain blank.
The gaps come as these organizations face another filing deadline just weeks away, with no sign that the error will be fixed by then.
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Trump’s team tried to block appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to US, reports say
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Donald Trump’s presidential transition team repeatedly intervened in UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, it has been reported.
The president’s aides told Starmer’s national security adviser and former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, on more than one occasion, that they wished for Mandelson’s predecessor Karen Pierce to remain in post, Politico reported this morning.
According to a source close to the president, the message was conveyed during a meeting in December in Palm Beach in December 2024.
Later the same month, the transition team called Powell to tell them they were unhappy with Pierce’s treatment and did not support Mandelson’s appointment.
Politico reported:
Trump’s aides were particularly exercised that Mandelson could be made ambassador after he had made disparaging public remarks about the president in the past, according to both officials.
Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles is understood to be one of those unhappy with Mandelson’s appointment, with one source saying she saw him as “arrogant” and rude to staff.
Mandelson was ultimately sacked just nine months into the job after new details emerged about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted child sex offender.
In February, more files were released that revealed the peer was passing information to the convicted sex offender while he was business secretary, including market-sensitive information that sparked the criminal investigation.
In other developments:
Donald Trump created an extremely awkward moment for Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in the Oval Office on Thursday when he responded to a question from a Japanese reporter about why the US attacked Iran without warning allies like Japan, by joking about Imperial Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Japan’s prime minister said later she explained to Trump that Japan’s ability to deploy military forces overseas, as he wants, is still limited by the constitution drafted for Japan by the United States after the second world war.
A federal arts commission approved the final design for a 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing Donald Trump’s image to celebrate the US’s 250th birthday on 4 July.
The John F Kennedy Presidential Library foundation announced on Thursday that it is awarding Profile in Courage awards to staunch opponents of Donald Trump: the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell and the people of the Twin Cities of Minnesota.
Senator Thom Tillis, the North Carolina Republican who has shown a willingness to cross Trump since he announced that he will not run for re-election, said he will not vote to eliminate the filibuster to force changes to US election law.
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