Closing summary
This brings our live coverage of the second Trump administration to a close for the day, but we will resume the work of chronicling it all in real time on Thursday. In the meantime, here are the day’s top developments:
All of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal and must be removed, a three-judge panel at the US court of international trade ruled unanimously. The court found that the president simply does not have the sweeping power to impose tariffs he claimed and gave the administration 10 days to reverse all of his executive orders doing so. Sorry, Wall Street traders, no more Tacos.
“The US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said in a statement.
Trump nominated Emil Bove, his former personal attorney who previously defended him in the hush-money case and now holds a senior position in the justice department, to serve as a federal appeals judge.
Elon Musk’s work here is done, he said in a post on his social media platform, but the work of his so-called “department of government efficiency” will continue, despite its reputation for making headline-grabbing claims about supposedly wasteful spending it had discovered, almost all of which have proved to be either wildly exaggerated or simply untrue.
Trump’s pardon spree continued, with clemency granted to more political supporters convicted of financial fraud, including two of the president’s fellow reality TV stars and a former New York representative who once threatened a reporter with physical violence.
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Elon Musk says his work as a government employee is over
In a post on his social media platform, Elon Musk suggested on Wednesday that his formal role in the Trump administration is ending.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government”, referring to the budget-cutting and downsizing team he called the “department of government efficiency”, which earned a reputation for making headline-grabbing claims about supposedly wasteful spending it had discovered, almost all of which proved to be either wildly exaggerated or simply untrue.
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