Closing summary
We’re wrapping things up now – thanks for following along. Here’s what happened today:
Donald Trump offered public support for defense secretary Pete Hegseth after it emerged that Hegseth had shared information about US strikes in Yemen last month in a second Signal group chat that included family, his personal lawyer and several top Pentagon aides.
A former top Pentagon spokesperson, John Ullyot, condemned Hegseth and said it had been a “month of total chaos” in an opinion essay that said the defense secretary would be unlikely to remain in his role.
Republican congressman Don Bacon suggested he would not keep Hegseth in place were he was the president. Bacon, who sits on the House armed services committee, did not explicitly call for Hegseth’s resignation but said he had “concerns from the get-go because Pete Hegseth didn’t have a lot of experience”.
The White House denied an NPR report that it had begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report was “total FAKE NEWS”.
The Trump administration is planning to pull an additional $1bn of funding for Harvard University amid an escalating fight with the university, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Harvard University sued the Trump administration alleging the Trump administration is trying to “gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard” and violating the first amendment.
Four House Democrats have travelled to El Salvador to call attention to the flight of Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador. Congress members Maxwell Frost of Florida, Robert Garcia of California, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon are in El Salvador to facilitate Garcia’s return to the United States.
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and Palestinian organizer who is being held at a Louisiana detention facility because of his activism, is now a father.
US stock markets started falling again on Monday morning as Donald Trump continued attacks against the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, who the president called “a major loser” for not lowering interest rates.
The US supreme court is hearing arguments today in a case that could threaten Americans’ access to free preventive healthcare services under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s purse, containing her driver’s license, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, blank checks and about $3,000 in cash, was stolen while she was dining at a restaurant in Washington DC on Sunday night.
Updated
Paul Atkins has been sworn in as SEC chairman.
Atkins, who most recently served as chief executive of financial services consultancy Patomak Global, was an SEC commissioner under President George W. Bush.
“I am honored by the trust and confidence President Trump and the Senate have placed in me to lead the SEC,” said Atkins in a statement. “As I return to the SEC, I am pleased to join with my fellow Commissioners and the agency’s dedicated professionals to advance its mission to facilitate capital formation; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and protect investors. Together we will work to ensure that the U.S. is the best and most secure place in the world to invest and do business.”
