Closing summary
The president has left the stage in Alabama, and is on his way to another long weekend at Mar-a-Lago, so we will wrap up our live coverage for the day. We will return on Friday to bring you all the latest developments in US politics as they happen. In the meantime, here is some of what transpired on Day 102 of the second Trump administration:
Mike Waltz, who was Donald Trump’s national security adviser this morning, was relieved of his duties after clinging on for more than a month after the news broke that he had accidentally invited a journalist Trump hates to join a Signal group chat to plan strikes on Yemen in March.
After a morning of reporting on Waltz’s firing, the administration, put out a new line: Waltz had not been fired but promoted, since he had been nominated to be the new US ambassador to the UN. That framing was delivered on Fox News by Peter Doocy, a network correspondent, and then JD Vance, the vice-president.
A Reuters photograph of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that was previously overlooked showed that Waltz was still using Signal on his phone as recently as yesterday, to communicate with senior officials including Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Tulsi Gabbard and JD Vance.
Waltz appears to have installed third-party software on his phone that allows Signal to be archived, but also makes it less secure.
US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson forcefully rejected what she called “relentless attacks” on the federal judiciary.
The US Army has developed detailed plans for a potential military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June
Senate Democrats responded to the firing of Waltz by calling for another participant in the chat, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, to be fired.
Hegseth’s use of Signal to share confidential attack plans with his wife and brother is reportedly under investigation by the Pentagon’s acting inspector general.
The Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador without due process is “unlawful”, a federal judge in Texas ruled.
US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson denounces 'relentless attacks' on judges
Speaking to a group of federal judges and lawyers at a conference in Puerto Rico on Thursday, US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson forcefully rejected what she called “relentless attacks” on the federal judiciary, Bloomberg Law reports.
“The attacks are not random,” Jackson said. “They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.”
Jackson did not directly mention Trump, but she called the wave of attacks as “the elephant in the room” in prepared remarks. “The attacks are also not isolated incidents,” Jackson said. “That is, they impact more than just individual judges who are being targeted. Rather, the threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government and they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”
Politico reports that “Jackson’s unusually pointed comments received a standing ovation from the judges and lawyers in attendance.”
