Trump questioned if European allies would abide by Article 5 of the treaty.
As President Donald Trump’s administration continues its sweeping overhaul of the federal government, a federal appeals court is temporarily allowing the president to remove the head of a watchdog agency, overturning a lower court’s decision from this weekend.
Fallout continues from Trump’s historic tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, along with increased duties on goods from China. However, the White House announced on Wednesday a one-month exemption for most tariffs from Canada and Mexico.
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White House: Trump ‘open’ to hearing about additional tariff exemptions
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked if there will be any other tariff carveouts after she announced a temporary exemption for the Big Three automakers.
“The president is open to hearing about additional exemptions. He always has open dialogue, and he’ll always do what’s right, what he believes is right for the American people,” she said, though she didn’t commit to anything specific or elaborate.
Trump offers one-month tariff exemption for ‘Big Three’ automakers
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump spoke with the Big Three automakers, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis, and is offering them a one-month exemption to the tariffs.
Leavitt said this exemption is intended “so they are not at an economic disadvantage.”
She added that reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on April 2.
US official confirms pause on sharing intelligence with Ukraine
A U.S. official told ABC News the United States has cut nearly all of its intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, confirming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement earlier Wednesday.
White House press secretary slams Democrats for response during Trump’s speech
At the top of her remarks at Wednesday’s White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt tore into Democrats for their conduct during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night.
“It was the most shameful moment in the history of presidential addresses and that beautiful chamber in what was supposed to be a unifying moment for our country,” Leavitt said. “Democrat members of Congress instead screamed at the president of the United States, who was just overwhelmingly reelected by their constituents, walked out of the chamber and, worse of all, they disrespected the American people.”
Leavitt also took issue with Democrats not applauding as he singled out special guests throughout the evening.
Trump signs executive order establishing strategic bitcoin reserve
President Trump signed an executive order to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve on Thursday evening, according to social media posts from White House officials.
“The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime,” White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks said in a post announcing that the order was signed.
Trump previously announced intentions to create the reserve. The order also comes as the White House is set to host the first-ever Crypto Summit Friday.
“The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called “digital gold.” Premature sales of bitcoin have already cost U.S. taxpayers over $17 billion in lost value. Now the federal government will have a strategy to maximize the value of its holdings,” Sacks added.
Trump moves to make it pricier to sue him
With the Trump administration battling more than a hundred lawsuits in court, the president issued a memorandum directing his agency heads to push back against the litigation by trying to make it costlier to sue the administration.
President Donald Trump instructed the heads of the federal agencies to request that the parties suing the administration issue a sum of money equivalent to the cost the government would incur fighting the case and damages from whatever relief the court orders.
The policy comes as a response to what Trump called a “anti-democratic” series of lawsuits that resulted in judges “inserting themselves into the executive policy making process and therefore undermining the democratic process.”
While individual judges will determine if the plaintiffs suing the Trump organization need to post a security, the move could make it costlier to bring cases challenging Trump’s executive actions.
“Federal courts should hold litigants accountable for their misrepresentations and ill-granted injunctions,” the memo said.
Trump targets law firm that represented Clinton’s 2016 campaign
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to strip security clearances from attorneys working at a law firm that previously represented Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign — and was later linked to opposition research that included many salacious and now-discredited allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia.
The executive order mandates that lawyers working for Perkins Coie have their security clearances stripped and aims to terminate any government contracts that might exist with the firm or other entities that it represents.
It is not clear how many attorneys at the firm have active security clearances or whether it has any ongoing contracts with the government.
A spokesperson for Perkins Coie did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump reiterates vow to send Musk to bring back NASA astronauts
President Donald Trump was asked in the Oval Office for an update on the mission to bring back astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams from the International Space Station.
The astronauts were part of Boeing’s Starliner test flight mission last year and were forced to stay on the station after tests showed the craft was not safe for a return flight.
Trump claimed Elon Musk is ready to go up in two weeks to bring the astronauts back.
“We’re going to get them out. We’re coming up to get you. I’ve authorized Elon,” he said, without going into further details.
Trump continued to blame former President Joe Biden for the situation.
Last month, Wilmore told CNN that he and Williams “do not feel abandoned.”
“I understand why others may think that, but we came prepared. We came committed. That is your human spaceflight program. It prepares for any and all contingencies that we can conceive of, and we prepare for those. So let’s change the narrative to we are prepared and we are committed,” he said.
Trump suggests US won’t defend NATO allies if they don’t pay enough
President Donald Trump on Thursday again suggested the United States may not defend NATO allies if they don’t meet spending targets.
A reporter asked Trump in the Oval Office, “Are you going to make that policy, U.S. policy, that the U.S. wouldn’t defend NATO countries that don’t pay?”
“Well, I think it’s common sense, right?” Trump responded. “If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them. No, I’m not going to defend them. I got into a lot of heat when I said that. You said, oh, he’s violating NATO.”
A core tenet of NATO is Article 5, which states that member nations pledge to treat an attack against one as an attack on them all. Trump went on to question if European allies would abide by that component of the treaty.
“You know the biggest problem I have with NATO — I really, you know, I mean, I know the guys very well. They’re friends of mine. But if the United States was in trouble and we called them, we said, we got a problem, France. We got a problem, a couple of others I won’t mention. Do you think they’re going to come and protect us? They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure.”
In fact, NATO’s Article 5 clause has been invoked only once, and that was on September 12, 2001– the day after Al Qaeda killed almost 3,000 people on American soil. After 20 years of war, most of those killed in the coalition were American, but well over 1,000 of them were international partners.
Trump says US is ‘having discussions’ with Hamas
When asked whether he is negotiating with terrorists, President Donald Trump said the United States is “having discussions with Hamas” in order to help Israel.
“You have to negotiate. There’s a difference between negotiating and paying,” the president said, emphasizing that he is “not giving cash” to Hamas.
Trump threatened on Wednesday that there will be “hell to pay” if Hamas does not release “all” of the Israeli hostages, saying this was Hamas’ “last warning.”
Automakers won’t get additional tariff exemptions, Trump says
The exemptions on automobiles from the president’s tariffs was a one-time thing, Trump told reporters.
“I told them, ‘That’s it,'” Trump claimed.
“They said, ‘Could we have some help on the tariffs because of the speed?’ And I said, ‘Look, I’m going to do it.’ But then said, ‘Don’t come back to me after the April 2. I don’t want to hear from you,” he added.
Trump says he told Cabinet members to ‘go first’ in deciding which workers are cut
Trump convened his Cabinet members and Elon Musk for a meeting on Thursday, where the president told the head of agencies they are in charge of their departments.
“We had a great meeting,” Trump said, adding it was about “cutting” the workforce.
“I said, I want the Cabinet members go first, keep all the people you want, everybody that you need,” he said. “But I want them to do the best job they can where we have good people because that’s precious, that’s very important and we want them to keep the good people. And so, we’re going to be watching them and Elon and the group, we’re going to be watching them. And if they can cut, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”
Trump says steel, aluminum tariffs still on for next week
Despite pausing tariffs on a large number of goods from Canada and Mexico, President Donald Trump said he is still sticking with his plan to issue tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum products starting next week.
“We’re not looking at that,” he said when he was asked about a pause on tariffs.
Trump blames ‘globalist companies’ on market issues
After President Donald Trump signed an executive order that paused the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the president claimed in the Oval Office that his decision did not have to do with the current stock market.
The president said he is not looking at the market and blamed “globalist companies” for the slump.
“The countries and companies that have been ripping us aren’t particularly happy with what I’m doing,” he said.
Trump tells Cabinet members they’re in charge, not Musk: Sources
President Donald Trump convened a meeting Thursday morning to tell his Cabinet heads that they are in charge of the agencies and departments they oversee, not Elon Musk, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Musk was in the room for the meeting when Trump told top officials that the billionaire’s role is to make recommendations and not unilateral decisions — whether it be about staffing decisions or policy matters, the sources said.
The meeting comes as Trump’s Cabinet secretaries have privately expressed frustration about Musk and the mandates he has been giving that have caused mass confusion among the federal workforce.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Will Steakin and Katherine Faulders
Trump pauses tariffs on large number of Canadian goods: Officials
White House officials told ABC News that President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to amend the tariffs on Canada and Mexico that went into effect just two days ago to exclude all products in compliance with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The pause will last until April 2.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart and Molly Nagle
Trump claims DOGE will use ‘scalpel’ instead of ‘hatchet’ to cut agencies
President Donald Trump said in a new post on his social media platform Thursday that a combination of DOGE and heads of federal agencies will take a “scalpel” approach when it comes to federal cuts rather than using a “hatchet.”
Trump shared that he, his Cabinet secretaries and Elon Musk had a meeting Thursday.
“We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done. The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary,” he said.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Judge denies request to expedite DOGE suit
A federal judge denied a request Thursday to expedite a case challenging the legality of the Department of Government Efficiency after President Donald Trump’s address to Congress inserted confusion about who exactly is running the cost-cutting group.
“Plaintiffs have not explained, with clarity, the nature of any emergency here that would require the Court to compel Defendants to respond more rapidly than the default rules provide for,” U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb wrote in an order.
Cobb, a Biden appointee, did not mention the apparent contradiction in Trump’s speech in her order.
Lawyers representing DOGE argued that speeding up the case would be “infeasible,” and the case is now on track for a potential hearing later this month.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous
Zelenskyy says Ukraine and US teams to meet next week
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said teams from the U.S. and Ukraine will hopefully meet next week.
“The Ukrainian and American teams have renewed their work, and we hope next week we will have a substantive meeting,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Andrii Yermak, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, will go to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to meet with U.S. officials to discuss possible peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday, a source in Zelenskyy’s office told ABC News.
Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, Foreign Affairs and military representatives may also attend the meeting, the source said.
It is unclear if anything will be signed at the meeting, but the source confirmed that the meeting will be about the peace talks.
–ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Oleksiy Pshemyskiy
Mexican president elaborates on Trump call
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her call with President Donald Trump was “very respectful” in a press conference Thursday after the phone call.
At first, Trump said he wasn’t going to change or delay the tariffs, but after she showed him how fentanyl crossing into the United States has decreased from January to February and how the additional 10,000 Mexican troops at the US-Mexico border is helping, as well as noted that Mexico sent back 29 people the U.S. wanted for various crimes, he changed his mind, Sheinbaum said.
“He didn’t know this chart until we sent it to him,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum repeatedly said it is her job to stand up for the people of Mexico.
She also said Mexico needs to develop its own production and manufacturing more so it isn’t relying on the U.S. as much.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
CIA has begun firing newly hired employees
New hires at the CIA have begun getting laid off, the agency said Thursday.
“We are reviewing personnel within their first two years of service at the Agency. For some personnel, that process will result in termination,” a CIA spokesperson told ABC News. “Our officers face unique pressures from working in situations that are fast-paced and high-stakes — it’s not for everyone.”
Early last month, the CIA emailed a list of new employee names to the Office of Management and Budget in order to be in compliance with an executive order asking for employees still in the probationary phase.
Some government agencies have a probation period of six months, but the CIA list included new employees from the last two years. It can take two years or longer to complete initial CIA training and language courses.
CIA staffing numbers are classified, so it is unclear at this time how many will be affected.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Mexican president says call with Trump was ‘excellent and respectful’
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum posted on X after her call with Trump Thursday morning, saying, “We had an excellent and respectful call in which we agreed that our work and collaboration have yielded unprecedented results, within the framework of respect for our sovereignties.”
The post included a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post announcing he was pausing tariffs on most goods from Mexico.
Sheinbaum and Trump spoke before the pause was announced.
“We will continue to work together, particularly on migration and security issues, including reducing the illegal crossing of fentanyl into the United States, as well as weapons into Mexico,” she added.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Trump pausing tariffs on Mexico for goods that fall under USMCA until April 2
“After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement,” President Donald Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform. “This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum.”
“Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!” Trump added.
Trump cancels signing EO to dismantle Education Department: Sources
The White House has pulled Thursday’s signing of the executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, multiple sources told ABC News.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt quoted a news report saying it was “fake news” that Trump was expected to sign the order Thursday. She said he is not signing it.
Behind the scenes, there was concern among top administration officials about the blowback the order would receive and the lack of messaging in place ahead of the rollout.
Specially, how the administration would answer questions about how the EO would impact the school lunch program along with other programs that could no longer exist.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders
Trump admin spars with aid groups over foreign aid payment deadline
A coalition of non-profit groups suing the Trump administration over its foreign aid freeze asked a federal judge to impose a deadline of Monday, March 10, at 5:59 p.m for the government to pay more than $1.5 billion owed to them, according to court papers filed Thursday — a timeline that Trump administration attorneys called “not feasible.”
After a divided Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration must comply with a district court order to execute those payments, the federal judge overseeing the case asked the parties to propose a payment schedule ahead of an in-person hearing on Thursday afternoon.
The coalition of nonprofits and the Trump administration wrote Thursday morning that “they were unable to come to an agreement.”
The administration pledged to “proceed expeditiously” but must “also hold an obligation to the public to ensure that taxpayer funds are spent only for legitimate work that was actually performed.” They suggested that these payments could be completed in “not more than ten working days.”
When President Donald Trump attempted to unilaterally freeze billions in federal funding to states, local governments, and nonprofits during his first week in office, the president unlawfully attempted to undermine the balance of power that has defined American governance, U.S. District Judge John McConnell said.
“The interaction of the three co-equal branches of government is an intricate, delicate, and sophisticated balance—but it is crucial to our form of constitutional governance. Here, the Executive put itself above Congress,” he wrote
The order prohibits the Trump administration from “reissuing, adopting, implementing, giving effect to, or reinstating under a different name” a short-lived directive issued by the Office of Management and Budget that froze billions in funds.
McConnell, an Obama appointee, noted that his order is “not limiting the Executive’s discretion or micromanaging the administration of federal funds” but rather reiterating the limit of Trump’s power.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous
Trump admin sued 3 times a day on average since inauguration
With more than 100 federal lawsuits filed since the inauguration, President Donald Trump and his administration have effectively been sued three times for every business day he has occupied the Oval Office.
Approximately 30 of the 100 lawsuits relate to Trump’s immigration policies, while more than 20 of the cases directly challenge the actions of Musk’s DOGE.
With Trump signing more than 75 executive orders since taking office, the unprecedented flood of litigation has yielded mixed results in blocking the president’s unilateral efforts to reshape the federal government.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous
Trump to sign executive orders, Hegseth meets with UK counterpart
President Donald Trump has no public events on his schedule, but according to the White House, he will sign executive orders at 2 p.m. ET. It’s unclear what he will be signing, though he is expected to take the extraordinary step this week of directing his secretary of education to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education by executive order, ABC News reports.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is meeting with United Kingdom Defense Secretary John Healey and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is delivering remarks at a U.S. hostage and wrongful detainee flag raising ceremony at the State Department.
On Capitol Hill, House Republicans are teeing up a vote to censure Democrat Al Green after his disruptions during Trump’s Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress.
‘Hamilton’ cancels Kennedy Center run citing ‘recent purge’ by Trump administration
The hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” canceled a planned 2026 run at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, citing the firing of the theater’s board and chairman and subsequent takeover by President Donald Trump.
“Politics have never affected the presentation of thousands of shows and the display of extraordinary visual arts,” “Hamilton” producer Jeffrey Seller said in a statement.
“However, in recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed. The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents.”
The show previously ran at the Kennedy Center twice — first in 2018, during Trump’s first administration, and again in 2022. The upcoming showing would’ve been the third such run at the Washington, D.C., theater, but Seller said that the erosion of the theater’s independence caused the show to reassess its plans.
“We are not acting against [Trump’s] administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover,” Seller said.
Trump expected to direct McMahon to eliminate the Department of Education: EO draft
President Trump is expected to take the extraordinary step this week of directing his secretary of education to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education, according to sources familiar with a draft executive order.
The draft Trump is expected to issue calls on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to facilitate a department closure by taking all necessary steps “permitted by law.” The draft doesn’t directly mention Congress but Trump’s proposal requires congressional approval. Any proposed legislation would likely fail without 60 Senate votes.
The move has been months in the making, helping the president inch one step closer to fulfilling a campaign promise.
“The Federal bureaucratic hold on education must end,” the president’s EO draft states. “The Department of Education’s main functions can, and should, be returned to the States,” it continues.
In the draft, the secretary is directed to allocate federal funding for education programs subject to rigorous compliance with the law and administration policy.
But congressional approval is required to abolish a federal agency and Secretary McMahon has acknowledged she would need Congress to carry out the president’s vision to close the department she’s been tapped to lead.
Trump can remove the head of watchdog agency for now, appeals court says
A federal appeals court is temporarily allowing President Donald Trump to remove the head of a watchdog agency, overturning a lower court’s decision from this weekend.
In a two-page ruling on Wednesday, a panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit granted an emergency stay of the lower court’s order, allowing the president to remove Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger from his role running an independent watchdog agency tasked with protecting federal employees.
“This order gives effect to the removal of appellee from his position as Special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel,” the ruling said.
The judges – appointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump – did not offer a reason when granting the stay.
Since being reinstated, Dellinger has spearheaded multiple efforts to protect federal employees, including winning a case earlier Wednesday that ordered more than 5,000 USDA employees to be reinstated after their terminations.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous
Trump administration could make criminal referrals to DOJ over alleged foreign aid fraud
The Trump administration signaled Wednesday that it could bring criminal referrals against people who are accused of misusing taxpayer dollars through USAID foreign contracts, according to lawmakers and people familiar with the comments.
Peter Marocco, the senior Trump administration official running USAID and overseeing the dismantling of its workforce and programs, spent roughly an hour on Capitol Hill Wednesday for a closed-door meeting with the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“It’s a fluid situation based upon what is found,” Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., told ABC News, who said the administration’s review of grants was ongoing. “You look at the thousands of these grants going on, who was recieving them? What was the actual cost to administer them?”
“It’s every bit appropriate,” Mast said of Marocco’s review.
Democrats criticized Marocco for not appearing in public to discuss his work. Mast said he planned to hold a public hearing on USAID with Marocco but did not lay out a timeframe for doing so.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.
-ABC News’ Ben Siegel and Shannon Kingston
ICE to reopen detention center for families in Texas
One of the largest detention centers for migrant families that was closed during the Biden administration is reopening, according to a private prison contractor.
CoreCivic, one of the nation’s largest private companies, says it reached an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to reopen the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.
According to the company, the Dilley facility was built for ICE in 2014 to provide “an appropriate setting for a family population.”
The facility, which can hold up to 2,400 individuals, was closed after funding for the contract with ICE was terminated in 2024. The new contract announced on Wednesday expires in 2030.
“With this award and the additional capacity provided to ICE through four contract modifications we announced last week, we are grateful for the trust our government partner has placed in us,” CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger said in a statement. “We are entering a period when our government partners — particularly our federal government partners — are expected to have increased demand. We anticipate continued robust contracting activity throughout 2025 that will help meet their growing needs.”
The revenue from the new contract is expected to be approximately $180 million, the company said in a statement.
The announcement comes weeks after CoreCivic’s earnings call where executives said they anticipate the Trump administration’s new immigration policies will lead to “the most significant growth” in the company’s history over the next several years.
Executives on the call said they offered 28,000 beds to ICE, including the South Texas Family Residential Center.
“I’ve worked at CoreCivic for 32 years, and this is truly one of the most exciting periods of my career,” Hininger said on the call.
-ABC News’ Laura Romero
Trump says he told mayor to clean up DC
President Trump claims he notified Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser that she must clean up the homeless encampments, specifically those near the State Department and the White House.
“Washington, D.C. must become CLEAN and SAFE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The President has long called for improved safety in Washington.
About two weeks ago aboard Air Force One the president said that the federal government should take over D.C. to make it safe again.
“Too much crime, too much — too many tents on the lawns — these magnificent lawns,” Trump said at the time.
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh
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“It’s a fluid situation based upon what is found,” Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., told ABC News, who said the administration’s review of grants was ongoing. “You look at the thousands of these grants going on, who was recieving them? What was the actual cost to administer them?”
“It’s every bit appropriate,” Mast said of Marocco’s review.
Democrats criticized Marocco for not appearing in public to discuss his work. Mast said he planned to hold a public hearing on USAID with Marocco but did not lay out a timeframe for doing so.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.
