Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Birthright citizenship

In a series of emergency appeals, President Trump's administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to move forward with plans to end birthright citizenship, elevating a fringe legal theory that several lower courts have resoundingly rejected. For more than 150 years, US courts have understood the 14th Amendment’s text to guarantee citizenship to anyone “born or naturalized in the United States,” regardless of the immigration status of their parents. A landmark Supreme Court precedent from 1898 affirmed that reading of the law, and the modern court hasn’t signaled any desire to revisit that holding. But some conservatives have argued that those long-held views are wrong because the 14th Amendment includes a phrase that the benefit applies only to people who are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. Immigrants in the country illegally, the theory goes, are subject to the jurisdiction of their native homeland.

 

Trade war

US stocks slid Thursday and the S&P 500 closed in correction, down more than 10% from its record high in February, as President Trump threatened new tariffs on the European Union. The Dow ended the day down by 537 points, or 1.3%. The S&P 500 fell 1.39%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.96% lower. Earlier in the day, Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on European alcohol in response to the European Union’s retaliation against his steel and aluminum tariffs — a tit-for-tat escalation of a trade war that could easily get out of hand. After Trump’s 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel went into effect on Wednesday, the EU immediately retaliated with tariffs on $28 billion worth of American goods, including boats, bourbon and motorbikes. The measures, which are set to go into effect in April, are “swift and proportionate,” the EU said in a statement.

 

IRS

The Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency are proposing a dramatic downsizing of the IRS that would result in a nearly 20% reduction of its workforce by May 15 — one month after Tax Day in the United States. The details of the IRS proposal were laid out in an email from DOGE and to be discussed at a meeting among agency leadership on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The proposal has not been made public. Echoing concerns sounded by experts and other employees, the source said these cuts could impact the amount of revenue the IRS brings in and that could ripple through the federal government as the IRS funds nearly all government operations. It's part of Trump's effort to reduce the federal workforce, which hit a roadblock Thursday when a second federal judge ruled that thousands of probationary employees laid off en masse must be temporarily reinstated to their jobs. 

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Columbia University says it expelled some students who seized building last year Columbia University has expelled or suspended some students who took over a campus building during pro-Palestinian protests last spring and temporarily revoked the diplomas of others who have since graduated, officials said Thursday. Read more.

Why this matters: The Trump administration has stripped the university of more than $400 million in federal funds over what it calls a failure to combat campus antisemitism.    House Republicans have demanded university administrators turn over disciplinary records of students involved in campus protests or risk billions of dollars in federal funding. On Thursday, Palestinian campus activist Mahmoud Khalil and seven students identified by pseudonyms filed a lawsuit seeking to block a Congressional committee from obtaining such records. The plaintiffs argue that the committee is abusing its power in an attempt “to chill and suppress speech and association based on the viewpoint expressed” and the investigation “threatens to significantly infringe on First Amendment rights.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Some student loan repayment plans have been suspended. Here’s what borrowers should know   Some universities are freezing hiring as Trump threatens federal funding   Democratic-led states sue to block Education Department layoffs

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US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza The U.S. and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under President Donald Trump’s proposed postwar plan, American and Israeli officials say. Read more.

What to know: The contacts with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland reflect the determination by the U.S. and Israel to press ahead with a widely condemned plan that raises serious legal and moral issues. Because all three places are poor, and in some cases wracked by violence, the proposal also casts doubt on Trump’s stated goal of resettling Gaza’s Palestinians in a “beautiful area.”   Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret diplomatic initiative, U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed the contacts with Somalia and Somaliland, while the Americans confirmed Sudan as well. Officials from Sudan said they have rejected overtures from the U.S., while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told The Associated Press that they were not aware of any contacts.   Palestinians in Gaza have rejected the proposal and dismiss Israeli claims that the departures would be voluntary. Arab nations have expressed vehement opposition and offered an alternative reconstruction plan that would leave the Palestinians in place. Rights groups have said forcing or pressuring the Palestinians to leave could be a potential war crime. Still, the White House says Trump “stands by his vision.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ UN: Sudan war is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis   UN report accuses Israel of sexual violence against Palestinians. Netanyahu claims anti-Israel bias   China, Russia and Iran call for end to US sanctions on Iran and the restart of nuclear talks ps:Wow what a genius idea!! I wonder why no one else thought this up?????

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Editorial: When Trump replaces staid wire services with fanatical toadies, we all lose

The Associated Press and Reuters, two of the largest and most respected worldwide news agencies, were blocked from covering President Donald Trump’s petulant confrontation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Feb. 28.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/03/14/when-trump-replaces-staid-wire-services-with-fanatical-toadies-we-all-lose-editorial/?

Musk Faces Complaint Over Efforts to Get FAA to Drop Verizon, Use Starlink

A legal group alleges that Elon Musk 'corrupted FAA’s business relationship with Starlink' and is urging the inspector general's office to investigate. SpaceX has denied any wrongdoing.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/musk-faces-complaint-over-efforts-to-get-faa-to-drop-verizon-use-starlink?

ps:Once again a "Conflict of Interest!"

More than 50 universities face federal investigations as part of Trump’s anti-DEI campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-universities-investigated-f89dc9ec2a98897577ed0a6c446fae7b?

North Carolina GOP town hall gets rowdy as attendees hurl scathing questions on Trump

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Before answering an attendee’s question about President Donald Trump’s “destructive and disastrous trade war,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards made a plea to the rowdy crowd at his Thursday town hall in Asheville, North Carolina.

https://apnews.com/article/republicans-town-hall-north-carolina-trump-ba90438a9265bc868cf1e3ade150a943?

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Trump walks back 24-hour Ukraine peace promise: "I was being a little bit sarcastic"

President Donald Trump, who repeatedly promised on the campaign trail that he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in a single day, now says he wasn’t entirely serious about that claim.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3857377932024-trump-walks-back-24-hour-ukraine-peace-promise-i-was-being-a-little-bit-sarcastic?

Fact check: Trump falsely claims ‘I invaded Los Angeles.’ His water releases didn’t go to LA

President Donald Trump keeps telling a story about how he sent fire-plagued Los Angeles the critical water he says California’s leaders foolishly refused to provide.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/14/politics/fact-check-trump-los-angeles-water

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Trump administration targets 45 colleges for their DEI programs

The Department of Education said Friday it is investigating 45 colleges over allegations that they participated in "race-exclusionary practices."

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/14/trump-education-department-investigation-dei?

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Undermined Assurances

The idea that millions of dead Americans are receiving Social Security checks is shocking, and bolsters the argument that the federal bureaucracy needs radical change to combat waste and fraud. There’s one big problem: No evidence exists that it’s true.

Despite being told by agency staff last month that this claim has no basis in fact, Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have continued to use the talking point as a pretext to attack America’s highest-spending government program. Musk seems to have gotten this idea from a list of Social Security recipients who did not have a death date attached to their record. Agency employees reportedly explained to Musk’s DOGE team in February that the list of impossibly ancient individuals they found were not necessarily receiving benefits (the lack of death dates was related to an outdated system).

And yet, in his speech to Congress last week, Trump stated: “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old.” He said the list includes “3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149,” among other 100-plus age ranges, and that “money is being paid to many of them, and we’re searching right now.” In an interview with Fox Business on Monday, Musk discussed the existence of “20 million people who are definitely dead, marked as alive” in the Social Security database. And DOGE has dispatched 10 employees to try to find evidence of the claims that dead Americans are receiving checks, according to documents filed in court on Wednesday.

Musk and Trump have long maintained that they do not plan to attack Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the major entitlement programs. But their repeated claims that rampant fraud exists within these entitlement systems undermine those assurances. In his Fox interview on Monday, Musk said, “Waste and fraud in entitlement spending—which is most of the federal spending, is entitlements—so that’s like the big one to eliminate. That’s the sort of half trillion, maybe $600, $700 billion a year.” Some observers interpreted this confusing sentence to mean that Musk wants to cut the entitlement programs themselves. But the Trump administration quickly downplayed Musk’s comments, insisting that the federal government will continue to protect such programs and suggesting that Musk had been talking about the need to eliminate fraud in the programs, not about axing them. “What kind of a person doesn’t support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending?” the White House asked in a press release.

The White House’s question would be a lot easier to answer if Musk, who has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” wasn’t wildly overestimating the amount of fraud in entitlement programs. Musk is claiming waste in these programs on the order of hundreds of billions of dollars a year, but a 2024 Social Security Administration report found that the agency lost closer to $70 billion total in improper payments from 2015 to 2022, which accounts for about 1 percent of Social Security payments. Leland Dudek, a mid-level civil servant elevated to temporarily lead Social Security after being put on administrative leave for sharing information with DOGE, pushed back last week on the idea that the agency is overrun with fraud and that dead people older than 100 are getting payments, ProPublica reported after obtaining a recording of a closed-door meeting. DOGE’s false claim about dead people receiving benefits “got in front of us,” one of Dudek’s deputies reportedly said, but “it’s a victory that you’re not seeing more [misinformation], because they are being educated.” (Dudek did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comment.)

Some 7 million Americans rely on Social Security benefits for more than 90 percent of their income, and 54 million individuals and their dependents receive retirement payments from the agency. Even if Musk doesn’t eliminate the agency, his tinkering could still affect all of those Americans’ lives. On Wednesday, DOGE dialed back its plans to cut off much of Social Security’s phone services (a commonly used alternative to its online programs, particularly for elderly and disabled Americans), though it still plans to restrict recipients’ ability to change bank-deposit information over the phone.

In recent weeks, confusion has rippled through the Social Security workforce and the public; many people drop off forms in person, but office closures could disrupt that. According to ProPublica, several IT contracts have been cut or scaled back, and several employees reported that their tech systems are crashing every day. Thousands of jobs are being cut, including in regional field offices, and the entire Social Security staff has been offered buyouts (today is the deadline for workers to take them). Martin O’Malley, a former commissioner of the agency, has warned that the workforce reductions that DOGE is seeking at Social Security could trigger “system collapse and an interruption of benefits” within the next one to three months.

In going anywhere near Social Security—in saying the agency’s name in the same sentence as the word eliminate—Musk is venturing further than any presidential administration has in recent decades. Entitlement benefits are extremely popular, and cutting the programs has long been a nonstarter. When George W. Bush raised the idea of partially privatizing entitlements in 2005, the proposal died before it could make it to a vote in the House or Senate.

The DOGE plan to cut $1 trillion in spending while leaving entitlements, which make up the bulk of the federal budget, alone always seemed implausible. In the November Wall Street Journal op-ed announcing the DOGE initiative, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (who is no longer part of DOGE) wrote that those who say “we can’t meaningfully close the federal deficit without taking aim at entitlement programs” are deflecting “attention from the sheer magnitude of waste, fraud and abuse” that “DOGE aims to address.” But until there’s clear evidence that this “magnitude” of fraud exists within Social Security, such claims enable Musk to poke at what was previously untouchable.

Related:

• DOGE’s fuzzy math
• Is DOGE losing steam?

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Marco Rubio says South Africa’s ambassador to US is ‘no longer welcome’

US secretary of state accuses Ebrahim Rasool of being a ‘race-baiting politician who hates America’ and Donald Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/15/south-africa-ambassador-us-no-longer-welcome-marco-rubio-ebrahim-rasool?

Trump administration briefing: Democrats divided as funding bill passes; president rails against justice department

Democrats dismayed after some help Republicans avert government shutdown; Trump vents about prosecutions while taking DoJ victory lap – key US politics stories from Friday at a glance

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/15/trump-administration-briefing-democrats-divided-as-funding-bill-passes-president-rails-against-justice-department?

Arlington National Cemetery removed links to webpages about Black, Hispanic and female veterans

Claim:

The Arlington National Cemetery website removed links to webpages about Black, Hispanic and female veterans buried at the site.

Rating:

True

In mid-March 2025, claims (archived) circulated online that the Arlington National Cemetery website had removed links to webpages about Black, Hispanic and female veterans buried at the site.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/arlington-national-cemetery-veterans/?

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⚖️ At DOJ, Trump spikes football

Speaking in the Great Hall of the Justice Department, President Trump denounced prosecutors who once worked in the building, and the media:

• "I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal. What they do is illegal."
• "The New York Times," he said at another point, "will write whatever these people [opponents] say — and The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, and MSDNC, and the fake news CNN, and ABC, CBS and NBC."

Why it matters: Despite Trump's decisive victory, he hasn't let go of his grievances over his federal criminal cases, which have been dismissed, Axios' Marc Caputo and Erin Doherty write.

• "The case against me was bullshit!" Trump said, referring to the indictment over mishandling classified documents, said to laughter.

?️ The big picture: Trump's off-the-cuff campaign-style speech was unlike any other ever given by an occupant of the White House at the department.

• It's highly unusual for a sitting president to speak at DOJ. But Trump's visit marks the latest victory stop on his revenge tour.

His 70-minute remarks ended with the Village People's "YMCA" — the signature finale of his campaign rallies.

• In his words: What Trump said.

 

Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s ability to quickly deport noncitizens under Alien Enemies Act

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s ability to use a sweeping wartime authority to quickly deport some migrants whom the US has accused of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/15/politics/judge-blocks-trump-wartime-authorities-alien-enemies-act

 

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Trump invokes 18th century law to speed deportations, judge stalls it hours later

A federal judge barred the Trump administration Saturday from carrying out deportations under a sweeping 18th century law that the president invoked just hours earlier to speed removal of Venezuelan gang members from the United States. The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 has only ever been used three times before, all during wars. Read more.

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Trump signs order to gut staff at Voice of America and other US-funded media organizations

President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-voice-of-america-cuts-3faf72e620dbc5f42e5508a2b9d8c8da?

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? NBC poll: Trump high, Dem low

Graphic: NBC News More registered voters say the U.S. is heading in the right direction (44%) than at any point since early 2004, though a majority (54%) still say the country is on the wrong track, according to an NBC News poll out this morning. Trump's job approval rating (47%) matches his all-time highs in NBC News polling throughout his political career (37% "strongly approve," 10% "somewhat approve"). 1,000 registered voters were polled March 7-11, with a margin of error of ±3.1%. Keep reading. ? The Democratic Party reached an all-time low in popularity in NBC polling dating back to 1990: 27% of those polled said they have positive views of the party (20% positive ... 7% very positive). Keep reading. Go deeper: NBC polling on DOGE, Musk.

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Why Trump Is So Desperate to Keep Mahmoud Khalil in Louisiana

Beside sheer brutality, there is a clear strategic reason that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents quickly whisked Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil out of New York City last weekend. It’s the reason he was first transported to New Jersey, then to a private detention center in Louisiana. And it’s why the Trump administration is fighting to keep him there, more than a thousand miles away from his pregnant wife and lawyers.

https://theintercept.com/2025/03/14/mahmoud-khalil-ravi-ragbir-ice-deport/?

The Legal Argument That Could Set Mahmoud Khalil Free

Since the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, his attorneys have fought any suggestion that this case is about whether their client committed a crime or is a threat to national security. Instead, they say, it’s about the U.S. government stifling Khalil’s advocacy for Palestine.

https://theintercept.com/2025/03/13/mahmoud-khalil-legal-free-speech-deport/?

If Protesting Tesla Is Domestic Terrorism, Then What Demonstration Against Musk Isn’t

During a bizarre live ad for Elon Musk’s car company on the White House lawn Tuesday, President Donald Trump said people protesting at Tesla dealerships around the country would be treated as domestic terrorists. 

https://theintercept.com/2025/03/13/trump-musk-tesla-protest-domestic-terrorism/?

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Trump Rushes Deportations Using a Wartime Law With a Shameful History

Claiming the United States is being attacked by Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang, President Donald Trump on Saturday invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to order the rapid detention and deportation of all Venezuelan migrants suspected of being members of TdA, treating them as wartime enemies of the U.S. government.

https://theintercept.com/2025/03/16/trump-alien-enemies-act-tren-de-aragua-venezuela-deport/?

The Right Loves Free Speech — Unless It’s Pro-Palestine Speech

For the conservative pundit class, few issues have been as central to their cause as their supposed defense of free speech. Over the last decade, they have built a powerful political movement revolting against the force of so-called cancel culture, which they argued had restricted permissible dialogue and punished free thinkers willing to speak their own truths. 

https://theintercept.com/2025/03/14/right-free-speech-mahmoud-khalil/?

Appeasement Is Failing: Why Fighting Back Against Trump Is the Only Option

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., capitulated to President Donald Trump and the GOP over the budget this week, sacrificing one of Democrats’ last pieces of leverage as Trump bulldozes the federal government and jails activists. Schumer defended voting yes on the GOP budget that would neuter the legislative branch, arguing that he had no choice but to give in or face a government shutdown. He’s not the first to make that kind of decision.

https://theintercept.com/2025/03/15/appeasing-trump-doesnt-work/?

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Deportations

Hundreds of mostly Venezuelan alleged gang members were deported from the US to a prison in El Salvador on Sunday, with the Trump administration invoking wartime powers to speed up removals despite a court ruling halting the move. The White House has denied that it violated the court order. Meanwhile, last weekend’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian refugee whose green card was revoked over his involvement in demonstrations at Columbia University, is having a chilling effect on college campuses across America as students say they’re being careful before exercising their right to free speech. Today, a federal court will hear the case of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school, who was deported to Lebanon despite a judge's order blocking the US visa holder’s immediate removal from the country, according to court papers. 

Government overhaul

Chinese nationalists and state media are cheering President Trump's dismantling of Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and other US government-funded media organizations that broadcast to authoritarian regimes. For years, Beijing has relentlessly attacked VOA and RFA for their critical coverage of China, particularly on human rights and religious freedom. VOA, a global news outlet with stations and websites in local languages around the world, abruptly stopped publishing new stories Saturday when virtually the entire staff was placed on administrative leave. It's part of the Trump administration's overhaul of the federal government, which economists at Moody's are warning could push Washington, DC's economy into a recession as soon as this year.

ps:Our enemies are just loving this!!

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Trump's new court showdowns

The Trump administration says it didn't turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members after a court order Saturday because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling didn't apply, two senior officials tell Axios' Marc Caputo.

• Why it matters: The administration's decision to keep the planes flying, despite the federal judge's order, is exceedingly rare and is expected to touch off a wider legal fight.

⚡ After Caputo's story posted, Charlie Kirk, one of the most influential MAGA media stars, wrote on X: "A long overdue standoff with rogue district court judges appears to finally be underway."

⚖️ "This is headed to the Supreme Court. And we're going to win," a senior White House official told Axios.

• A second administration official said Trump wasn't defying the judge, whose ruling came too late for the planes to change course: "Very important that people understand we are not actively defying court orders."

? Zoom in: Trump's advisers contend U.S. District Judge James Boasberg overstepped his authority by issuing an order that blocked the president from deporting about 250 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1789.

• The war-time law gives the executive extreme immense power to deport noncitizens without a judicial hearing. But it has been little used, particularly in peacetime.
• "It's the showdown that was always going to happen between the two branches of government," a senior White House official said. "And it seemed that this was pretty clean. You have Venezuelan gang members ... These are bad guys, as the president would say."

How it happened: White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller "orchestrated" the process in the West Wing in tandem with Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem. Few outside their teams knew what was happening.

• They didn't actually set out to defy a court order. "We wanted them on the ground first, before a judge could get the case, but this is how it worked out," said the official.

Inside the White House, officials discussed whether to order the planes to turn around. On advice from a team of administration lawyers, the administration pressed ahead.

• "There was a discussion about how far the judge's ruling can go under the circumstances and over international waters and, on advice of counsel, we proceeded with deporting these thugs," the senior official said.
• "They were already outside of U.S. airspace. We believe the order is not applicable," a second senior administration official told Axios.

? Between the lines: The Trump White House wants to shift the argument to whether it was right to expel alleged members of Tren de Aragua.

• "If the Democrats want to argue in favor of turning a plane full of rapists, murderers, and gangsters back to the United States, that's a fight we are more than happy to take," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios when asked about the case.
• Leavitt later said: "A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil."

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⚖️ Trump sets up historic battle

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The Trump administration's moves to deport Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil have set up a historic court battle over whether the U.S. government can remove legal residents as national security risks for what they say, Axios' Russell Contreras and Brittany Gibson write. Why it matters: If President Trump is successful, legal analysts say, future administrations could deport legal immigrants for any political or religious speech the administration dislikes. Think of the possibilities: If Trump is successful, a future Democratic administration could, theoretically, cite national security concerns to remove green card holders like right-leaning Chinese immigrants. ? Zoom in: Both sides of the Khalil case think it could wind up before the Supreme Court, where the Trump administration is eager to win approval for various deportation strategies. A win in court could give the Trump administration — specifically Secretary of State Marco Rubio — a chance to launch deportations based on speech activities of the 13 million or so green card holders in the U.S. P.S. A kidney transplant specialist and doctor at Brown University's medical school was deported from the country despite a court order blocking her removal, the N.Y. Times reports. (Gift link.) Keep reading.

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Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants even as a judge orders their removals be stopped The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations, officials said Sunday. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling. Read more.

Why this matters: U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday blocking the deportations but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order.   White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement Sunday, responded to speculation about whether the administration was flouting court orders: “The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.”   “Oopsie…Too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally who agreed to house about 300 immigrants for a year at a cost of $6 million, wrote on the social media site X above an article about Boasberg’s ruling. That post was recirculated by White House communications director Steven Cheung.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ The Alien Enemies Act: What to know about a 1798 law that Trump has invoked for deportations   Appeals court lifts blocks on Trump’s orders restricting diversity, equity and inclusion programs   Judges don’t intervene after the Trump administration says it’s stopped destroying USAID records   Trump administration ramps up rhetoric targeting the courts amid mounting legal setbacks   ‘Scum,’ ‘crooked’ elections and ‘corrupt’ media. What Trump said inside the Justice Department   What to know about Yemen’s Houthi rebels as the US steps up attacks on Iran-backed group   Rubio says South Africa’s ambassador to the US ‘is no longer welcome’ in the country   Why Trump is singling out South Africa and accusing it of being anti-white and anti-American   Trump demands unprecedented control at Columbia, alarming scholars and speech groups   Oz pledges to fight health care fraud but makes no commitments on Medicaid funding cuts   Voters flood town halls with fears of Social Security cuts, putting heat on GOP over Musk and DOGE   Whipsawed by Trump’s tariffs, the US public is getting a lot more nervous about the economy   UN chief describes aid cuts as ‘a crime’ during visit to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh   Republican legislation seeks to ban Chinese nationals from studying in the US

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Trump says he will talk to Putin on Tuesday as he pushes for end to Ukraine war The U.S. president disclosed the upcoming conversation to reporters while flying from Florida to Washington on Air Force One on Sunday evening. “A lot of work’s been done over the weekend. We want to see if we can bring that war to an end,” Trump said. Read more.

Why this matters: Trump said land and power plants are part of the conversation around bringing the war to a close. “We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” he said. Trump described it as “dividing up certain assets.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump says he was being a ‘bit sarcastic’ when he promised to end Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours   Macron says French-British blueprint doesn’t foresee deploying a ‘mass’ of soldiers in Ukraine   Europe’s military personnel shortfalls exposed as Trump warns US security priorities lie elsewhere

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Trump Issues Ethics Waiver For His AI/Crypto Czar

The Trump administration has issued a blanket ethics waiver to venture capitalist David Sacks, now the president’s special adviser for artificial intelligence and crypto, clearing him to work on regulatory issues directly related to his financial holdings, according to a White House memorandum reviewed by The Lever. 

https://www.levernews.com/trump-issues-ethics-waiver-for-his-ai-crypto-czar/?

Trump Halted an Agent Orange Cleanup. That Puts Hundreds of Thousands at Risk for Poisoning.

In mid-February, Trump administration leaders received a desperate warning from their diplomats posted in Vietnam, one of the most important American partners in Asia.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-halted-agent-orange-cleanup-dioxin-vietnam-poison-risk?

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Parents Sue Trump Administration for Allegedly Sabotaging Education Department’s Civil Rights Division

The lawsuit claims that decimating the agency’s Office for Civil Rights will leave it unable to address issues of discrimination at school — violating the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment.

https://www.propublica.org/article/department-of-education-civil-rights-lawsuit-trump-parents?

 

? Student activist locked in Trump donor’s facility. A Palestinian student activist arrested for his alleged “pro-terrorist” protests against Israel’s war on Gaza is currently locked in a detention facility privately run by a major Trump donor, the GEO Group. Mahmoud Khalil — who officials admit did not break the law — was arrested in New York and moved to a GEO Group facility in Louisiana, a friendlier forum for the government.

? Elon Musk’s antifraud campaign is fraudulent. Fraud costs the government up to a half trillion dollars every year, and Medicare records the largest amount of improper payments of any agency, according to new government data. But instead of targeting the health care industry’s billing schemes, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is instead laying off federal workers and eyeing Social Security for cuts.

? Greenland has had enough of Trump. All five parties that gained seats in Greenland’s elections last week issued a joint rebuke of Donald Trump’s “unacceptable” rhetoric after voters rejected his plans to annex the island. Trump still maintains “it’ll happen” and suggested he may send more soldiers to a U.S. military base on the island. A Lever investigation revealed Trump’s cabal of billionaire supporters have financial ties to Greenland’s vast natural resources.

? Trump’s wants to fire the penny, but the penny has dollars behind it. One penny costs more than three pennies to make, which Trump officials are noting in their new push to eliminate the coin. But the penny is a jackpot for the powerful private equity industry. The U.S. Mint’s sole supplier of penny blanks is private-equity-owned Artazn, which has spent 250 million pennies lobbying to preserve its $100-million-a-year business. The company also reportedly funds the pro-penny group Americans for Common Cents. Coinstar — a business of loose change — is also owned by a private equity giant spending millions of pennies on lobbying.

CHART OF THE DAY

Major AI search engines provided incorrect answers to more than 60 percent of queries. (Source: Columbia Journalism Review)

 

Take that back. A judge ruled the Trump administration must hire back thousands of federal workers fired by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Federal courts have also either blocked or halted layoffs at the following departments: the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Institutes of Health, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Trump administration says South African ambassador has to leave the US by Friday

The State Department says South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, who was declared “persona non grata” last week, has until Friday to leave the country. Read More.

Tariffs on lumber and appliances set stage for higher costs on new homes and remodeling projects

The Trump administration’s tariffs on imported goods from Canada, Mexico and China — some already in place, others set to take effect in a few weeks — are already driving up the cost of building materials used in new residential construction and home remodeling projects. Read More.

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Deported Brown University doctor acknowledged she attended Hezbollah leader’s funeral on visit to Lebanon, source says

A Brown University assistant professor and doctor was deported over the weekend from Boston to Lebanon after federal agents found photos of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s supreme leader on her cell phone, a source familiar with the case told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/webview/2025/03/17/us/brown-university-doctor-deported-hnk/index.html?

Homeland Security says professor deported to Lebanon with US visa supported Hezbollah leader

Homeland Security officials on Monday said that a doctor from Lebanon who was deported over the weekend despite having a U.S. visa “openly admitted” to attending the funeral of a Hezbollah leader, as well as supporting him. Read More.   ? Trump aide: "I don't care what the judges think" The Trump administration today intensified its clash with the courts over deportation. "We are not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the left thinks. We're coming," President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said on Fox News. ⚖️ And in a highly unusual filing, the Justice Department asked Judge James Boasberg to cancel a hearing this afternoon on the grounds that it was not willing to provide any further information about this weekend's deportation flights. Boasberg declined to cancel the hearing. The Justice Department also asked an appeals court to remove Boasberg from the case entirely, The New York Times reports. ? The latest: The administration also said in court filings today that border-control agents deported Rhode Island doctor Rasha Alawieh before they knew there was a court order telling them not to. She was deported because officials believed she was sympathetic to Hezbollah, citing photos on her phone.   Federal cutbacks One of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s most critical roles is to observe the oceans, which are undergoing rapid and largely unexplained change. President Donald Trump just fired the scientists who monitor them — and experts say it comes at the worst possible time.   ‘Unprecedented’ American conservatives have become obsessed with a low-profile country on the eastern fringe of Europe. Many are stunned by the Trump administration’s interest in its politics, which rarely garners international attention.

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Climate, energy agencies hire back probationary employees

The Energy Department, along with EPA and NOAA, hired back many probationary employees who had been laid off in a round of cuts last month.

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/17/climate-energy-agencies-probationary-employees?

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Justice for Some Forces in El Salvador’s capital received more than 250 alleged gang members who were deported from the United States. (El Salvador Presidency / Handout / Anadolu / Getty)

On Friday, President Donald Trump delivered an unusual speech at the Justice Department. Between fulminating against his political adversaries and long digressions about the late basketball coach Bob Knight, Trump declared, “We’re restoring fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law.” Then his administration spent the weekend proving otherwise. People who believe the press is overhyping the danger to rule of law posed by the current administration have pointed out that although administration officials have repeatedly attacked the judicial system, the White House has not actually defied a judge. But that may not be the case anymore, or for much longer. On Saturday in Washington, D.C., Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order barring the federal government from deporting Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, which it was seeking to do using a 1798 law that bypasses much due process by declaring an enemy invasion. Nonetheless, hundreds of Venezuelans alleged by the administration to be connected with the gang Tren de Aragua landed in El Salvador, where authoritarian President Nayib Bukele has agreed to take them. Separately, a federal judge in Massachusetts is demanding to know why Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese doctor at Brown University’s medical school, was deported despite a valid visa and a court order temporarily blocking her removal. The White House insists that it did not actually defy Boasberg’s judicial order, but its arguments are very hard to take at face value. “The Administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist [Tren de Aragua] aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.” She’s trying to have it both ways—the order is unlawful, but also we didn’t ignore it. “The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict,” Leavitt said. Although Boasberg’s written order did not specify, the judge told attorneys during the Saturday hearing that “any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.” Politico reports that the plane left during a break in the hearing, as though the government was angling to get out just ahead of any mandate. During a briefing today, Leavitt also questioned whether the verbal order held the same weight as a written order, which is a matter of settled law. During a hearing early this evening, Boasberg seemed incredulous at the Justice Department’s arguments, calling one a “heck of a stretch.” In the Boston case, a Customs and Border Protection official said in a sworn declaration that the agency had not received formal notification of the judge’s order when it deported Alawieh. CBP said in a statement yesterday that “arriving aliens bear the burden of establishing admissibility to the United States.” The statements of Trump administration officials elsewhere make it even harder to take their actions as anything other than attempting to defy judges. Salvadoran President Bukele posted a screenshot of a New York Post story about the judge’s order on X with the commentary, “Oopsie … Too late” and a laughing-crying emoji. Chief Bureaucrat Elon Musk replied with the same emoji, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared Bukele’s post from his own account. “Border czar” Tom Homan appeared on Fox News this morning and said, “We’re not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care what the left thinks. We’re coming.” These actions should be terrifying no matter who is involved. The fact that Tren de Aragua is indeed a vicious gang doesn’t nullify the law—the administration’s claim that the U.S. is contending with a wartime invasion is ridiculous on its face. Even more important is whether the White House decided to snub a ruling by a federal judge. Nor do customs officials’ claims in court filings that they found “sympathetic photos and videos” of Hezbollah leaders on Alawieh’s phone, or that she told them she had attended the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral, mean the law doesn’t apply. For all we know, her actions may well justify her deportation. (Of course, we have little way of assessing any of these allegations clearly, because the administration has sidestepped the usual judicial proceedings in both cases. A lawyer for Alawieh’s family hasn’t commented on the allegations.) What matters is that the executive branch acted despite a judge’s order. This is what we might call the Mahmoud Khalil test: No matter whether you think someone’s ideas or actions are deplorable, once the executive branch decides it doesn’t have to follow the law for one person, it has established that it doesn’t have to follow the law for anyone. After Khalil was arrested, Trump said that he was “the first arrest of many to come.” No one should have any illusion that the list will stop with alleged Tren de Aragua members. Throughout his career, Trump has tested boundaries and, if allowed to do so, pushed further. His actions at the start of this term show that he is more emboldened than ever, and traditionally institutionalist figures such as Rubio seem eager to abet him. Watching Trump’s DOJ address, supposedly about law and order, offers some ideas of who else he might target while ignoring the law. So do his social-media accounts. This morning on Truth Social, Trump claimed that former President Joe Biden’s pardons of Liz Cheney and other members of the House January 6 Committee were not valid. “The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump wrote. “In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!” Trump wouldn’t bother with this if he didn’t hope to prosecute the people involved. Although Biden’s pardons were controversial because they were issued preemptively, the idea that an autopen, which allows the user to sign remotely, would invalidate them is concocted out of thin air. (Nor has Trump provided evidence that Biden did in fact use an autopen in these cases.) The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel wrote a justification for the practice in 2005, and presidents have been using them to sign legislation since 2011, without serious incident. The Supreme Court could conceivably rule in favor of Trump’s view—the justices have adopted other long-shot Trump claims—but it is hard to imagine, and would be a real departure. When Trump speaks about law and order, he means it very narrowly. He believes in swift justice for his adversaries, with or without due process of the law; meanwhile, he believes his actions should not be constrained by law, the Constitution, or anything else that might cause him problems, and he has used pardons prolifically to excuse the actions of his friends and allies, whether Paul Manafort and Roger Stone or January 6 rioters. Plenty of presidents have been frustrated by the limitations of the law. Richard Nixon even claimed, years after leaving office, that any action by the president, as head of the executive branch, is de facto legal. But no president until now has so aggressively or so frequently acted as though he didn’t need to follow the law’s most basic precepts. Back in November, my colleague Tom Nichols invoked the Peruvian politician Óscar Benavides. Though he’s little known in the United States, here are a few striking facts about him: He served as president twice, first coming to power not through a popular election but through appointment by an elected assembly. Some years later, he returned to the presidency as an unabashed authoritarian. (Hmm.) “For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law,” goes a quote sometimes attributed to Benavides. It could be the motto of the Trump administration over the past four days. Related: The ultimate Trump story Mahmoud Khalil’s detention is a trial run.