Closing summary
We have reached the end of another busy day chronicling week four of the second Trump term, but will be back on Thursday to resume our live coverage. In the meantime, here are some of the day’s developments:
Donald Trump said he is willing to accept Russia’s longstanding objection to Ukraine joining Nato. “They’ve been saying that for a long time, that Ukraine cannot go into Nato, and I’m OK with that,” the president said. He also revealed that he and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, had spoken for more than an hour to begin the process of ending the war in Ukraine and that the two men expected to meet in person in Saudi Arabia soon. Trump said he later spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and hinted that the Ukrainian president could be defeated in elections after the war ends.
Tulsi Gabbard was sworn in as Trump’s director of national intelligence.
Pam Bondi the attorney general, announced that the Trump administration was suing New York state over its immigration policies, accusing state officials of choosing “to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens”.
In a striking departure from White House briefing room tradition, at least 10 of the reporters that the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called on during her news conference on Wednesday work for partisan, rightwing outlets that helped to elect Donald Trump president.
The White House again barred an Associated Press reporter from the Oval Office for refusing to say the magic words: “Gulf of America.”
The trustees of the Kennedy Center elected Donald Trump as their chair.
The ACLU and a coalition of immigrants’ rights organizations has sued the Trump administration for access to undocumented immigrants held at Guantánamo Bay.
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attacked judges who have blocked Donald Trump’s executive orders. “The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges and liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block president Trump’s basic executive authority,” Leavitt said.
Speaking at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the defense secretary Pete Hegseth called the return of Russian-occupied Crimea to Ukraine “unrealistic”.
Three people, including one American, were released from Belarus, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
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Press secretary transforms White House briefing room into a safe space by calling on reporters from pro-Trump outlets
In a striking departure from White House briefing room tradition, at least 10 of the 18 reporters press secretary Karoline Leavitt called on during her news conference on Wednesday work for partisan rightwing outlets that helped to elect Donald Trump president.
Leavitt began by taking a question from the seat now reserved for invited White House guests representing “new media”. In this case, it was Chris Pavlovski, the founder and CEO of the conservative video-streaming site Rumble, whose early investors included JD Vance, the current vice-president. Pavlovski, who has visited Mar-a-Lago and offered technical advice to Trump’s own media company, duly tossed Leavitt a softball question, asking how the administration would defend companies like Rumble, which, he said, had been targeted by foreign countries that “oppose free speech”.
During the rest of the briefing, Leavitt took questions from a handful of non-partisan news outlets, but more frequently called on reporters from partisan, far-right outlets. They responded by teeing her up to repeat administration talking points or launch political attacks on Democrats.
The reporters included:
Brian Glenn of Real America’s Voice, who used the opportunity to ask Leavitt to comment on the success of Marjorie Taylor Greene in supposedly finding $2.7tn in fraudulent government spending. Glenn, who is dating Greene, was frequently called on by Trump at news conferences during the election campaign when his questions often included undisguised attacks on Kamala Harris.
Daniel Baldwin of the far-right One America News (OAN) channel, who asked Leavitt whether the administration’s effort to “claw back” payments made by “Fema activists” for immigrants to be housed in New York hotels might send a signal to “any federal bureaucrats that are thinking about obstructing the president’s agenda”.
Monica Paige, a former OAN reporter now working for the pro-Trump political organization Turning Point USA, who began her question with the comment: “It’s clear that this administration is dedicated to both truth and transparency.” She then asked whether more information on the two attempted assassinations of Trump in 2024 would be forthcoming. Levitt suggested that some information on those attempts might have been withheld from the public.
Mary Margaret Olohan of Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire, who teed Leavitt up to repeat her attack on the legal authority of judges who have issued temporary injunctions blocking aspects of Trump’s executive orders.
Jordan Conradson of the conspiratorial blog Gateway Pundit, who offered Leavitt the opportunity to take a swipe at Democratic criticism of Elon Musk by asking: “Does Elon Musk have [the] power of the presidency?” When Leavitt responded: “Absolutely not. That’s a ridiculous question,” Conradson added: “I asked that question because the Democrats have been hurling insults at Elon Musk … saying that he somehow usurped the power of the presidency.” He then invited Leavitt to knock down the charge.
Leavitt also took questions from reporters from more mainstream but still clearly pro-Trump outlets, including James Rosen of Newsmax; Diana Glebova of the New York Post; Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News and Philip Wegmann of Real Clear Politics. Leavitt also called on the former Fox News correspondent Jon Decker.
Several other reporters in the room who did not get to ask Leavitt a question this time also represent pro-Trump outlets: Reagan Reese of the Daily Caller; Bradley Devlin of the Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal; and Iris Tao of NTD/Epoch Times.
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