Trump 2nd term updates: Trump says USAID is run by 'radical lunatics'
The comments came amid turmoil as DOGE took over USAID offices last week.
President Donald Trump made good on his threats to impose tariffs on some of the U.S.'s trading partners, announcing Saturday that he will levy 25% tariffs on some goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% on Chinese goods.
Experts have warned that tariffs of this magnitude will likely increase prices paid by U.S. and Trump appeared to acknowledge that “some pain” might be possible in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee announced it will meet Tuesday, when it is expected to vote on the controversial nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services.
Key Headlines
- Trump says USAID is run by 'radical lunatics' amid agency's uncertainty
- Trump says he will cut 'all future funding' to South Africa
- 500 Marines arrive at Guantanamo to set up migrant facilities: DOD
- FBI employees asked to explain their role in Jan. 6 cases: Sources
- Trump acknowledges ‘some pain’ possible from tariffs
Trump's order to end birthright citizenship faces 1st court test
Trump's executive order challenging birthright citizenship will face its first legal test in a Seattle courtroom on Thursday.
A federal judge will hear a request made by four Democratic-led states to issue a temporary restraining order against the executive order signed by Trump on Day 1 that purports to limit birthright citizenship to people who have at least one parent who is a United States citizen or permanent resident.
Read more about the case here.
-ABC News' Peter Charalambous and Laura Romero
Trump discusses TikTok, wildfires and pardons in first Oval Office interview
In his first Oval Office interview on Wednesday, President Donald Trump discussed the California wildfires, Jan. 6 pardons and TikTok.
Regarding the emergency funding that Los Angeles needs after wildfires ravaged over 40,000 acres, Trump suggested a tradeoff involving the reconciliation bill he is hoping to get through Congress.
In the Fox News interview Trump repeated claims that California Gov. Gavin Newsom could put a stop to the fires happening in Southern California by releasing water from the north and threatened to withhold aid to California unless they "let water flow."
"I'm going to put a statement out today, I think, maybe it's already written," Trump said. "I said, I don't think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into there."
Trump continued to defend his pardoning of those convicted of assaulting police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, calling the attacks "very minor incidents."
When discussing TikTok, Trump dismissed the security concerns many have regarding the app, while questioning if it's bad that China is spying on kids.
"We have so many things made in China. So why don't they mention that? You know, interesting thing with TikTok, though, is you're dealing with a lot of young people," Trump said. "Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos?"
-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh, Fritz Farrow, Hannah Demissie
DHS allows US Marshals, other DOJ agencies to carry out immigration enforcement
The Department of Homeland Security is allowing certain law enforcement components from the Department of Justice to carry out the "functions" of an immigration officer, according to a new memo.
The memo, sent by acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman, grants the DOJ agencies the "same authority already granted to the FBI," and says that agents from those agencies can enforce immigration law.
The agencies listed in the memo are the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
DEA and ATF have had little experience historically in carrying out immigration enforcement and the U.S. Marshals have typically only been involved in cases where a migrant is being sought as a fugitive.
-ABC News' Luke Barr
Trump officials order freeze at DOJ Civil Rights Division
Officials in the Trump Justice Department have ordered a temporary freeze on any ongoing cases being litigated by the Civil Rights Division, according to a new directive reviewed by ABC News.
The memo to the current acting head of the Civil Rights Division, Kathleen Wolfe, says that current career officials in the division must not file any new civil complaints or other civil rights-related filings in outside ongoing litigation. The memo was first reported by The Washington Post.
The memo does not detail a specific timetable for how long the freeze will last. But it comes as Trump's nominee to lead civil rights enforcement at DOJ -- conservative firebrand Harmeet Dhillon -- awaits a confirmation vote in the Senate.
Dhillon has long been a vocal Trump loyalist who has brought litigation to advance Republican causes, including curtailing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and opposing transgender-affirming care.
She is expected to reorient the civil rights division's priorities in line with what they were in the first Trump administration, when ongoing investigations into widespread police misconduct were virtually shuttered and the department withdrew from multiple Obama-era challenges to anti-trans state laws around the country.
Wolfe was separately directed to notify Trump-appointed department leaders of any consent decrees the Biden administration reached with cities in the final 90 days leading up to the inauguration.
Following the 2024 election, now-former Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke traveled the country announcing a series of last-minute agreements with several cities' police departments that the DOJ had investigated for potential violations of citizens' constitutional rights.
-ABC News' Alexander Mallin