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.


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House Republicans launching select committee to investigate Jan. 6

Despite Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, House Republicans are announcing that they’re creating a new select subcommittee to continue Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s efforts to investigate the investigators, as some pundits have put it -- to “bring all the facts to the American people.”

The work will fall under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee, with Loudermilk overseeing the select subcommittee.

Lawmakers who received a preemptive pardon from President Joe Biden -- Sen. Adam Schiff, Reps. Jamie Raskin, Bennie Thompson and Zoe Lofgren, former Rep. Liz Cheney and other members of the Jan. 6 select committee -- are sure to become a central focus of the GOP’s effort to probe “all events leading up to and after January 6.”

Earlier Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson strongly criticized Biden’s pardons, calling them “breathtaking” and “shocking.”

“It is disgusting to us. It probably proves the point, the suspicion that, you know, they call it the Biden crime family, if they weren't the crime family, why do they need pardons?” Johnson said, adding that they will be “looking at it as well.”

– ABC News’ Arthur Jones II, Jay O’Brien, John Parkinson, and Lauren Peller


DOD preparing to send at least 1,000 more troops to border

According to U.S. officials, 1,000 to 1,500 additional troops are expected to be sent to the southern border, in addition to the roughly 1,500 currently there.

These additional forces will be operating under the U.S. Northern Command.

Troops have been on the border for years, and though there are only about 1,500 National Guard and reservists there now, that mission had been authorized to have up to 2,500 personnel. They serve in a support role to Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol along the border and do not carry out law enforcement duties.

-ABC News’ Matt Seyler


Biden's letter to Trump revealed by Fox News

Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy read aloud on-air the content of the letter left by former President Joe Biden to President Donald Trump.

"As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years," Biden wrote, according to Fox News. "The American people -- and people around the world -- look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation."

"May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding," Biden wrote.

Trump held up the letter for reporters on Monday night as he signed executive orders in the Oval Office. He described it to reporters on Tuesday as "very nice" and that he appreciated it.


Federal DEI employees to be put on leave by 5 p.m. today

All federal employees working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives must be put on paid administrative leave by Wednesday at 5 p.m., according to a memo obtained by ABC News.

The decision comes as the Trump administration shuts down the relevant DEI offices and programs across the federal government.

Trump is also threatening "strong action" against DEI programs in the private sector, including possible civil compliance investigations.