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Trump admin live updates: Trump strikes deals with law firms totaling $600M
The agreements were with five law firms for pro bono work.
President Donald Trump held a Cabinet meeting with his top officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as Elon Musk, on Thursday.
It follows Trump on Wednesday changing course on his tariff policy, instituting a 90-day pause in higher taxes for most countries while ramping up the rate against China to 145%.
On Capitol Hill, Republican leaders pushed through a budget blueprint to fund Trump's domestic agenda despite some GOP hard-liner opposition.
Latest headlines:
Trump scheduled for physical on Friday
Trump announced that he will undergo his annual physical exam at Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday, adding that he’s “never felt better.”
“I am pleased to report that my long scheduled Annual Physical Examination will be done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday of this week. I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump posted.
In January, Trump became the oldest American to be inaugurated at 78 years old. The most comprehensive details about his health were released in 2018 following his first physical during his first term. But not a lot is known about his health.
In the final weeks of the 2024 campaign, then-Vice President Kamala Harris sought to make Trump’s advanced age an issue, releasing details of her own medical history in hopes it brought greater scrutiny to the unknowns about Trump’s health.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
Trump tries to sway House GOP holdouts on bill to fund his agenda
Trump publicly urged House Republicans to support the Senate-approved budget blueprint Monday as several lawmakers continue to express opposition to the measure.
“THE HOUSE MUST PASS THIS BUDGET RESOLUTION, AND QUICKLY -- MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
House GOP leaders desperately need Trump’s help to flip several Republican holdouts on the bill, like Reps. Andy Harris, Chip Roy, Andy Ogles, Thomas Massie, Scott Perry, Lloyd Smucker and others. The House is expected to hold a vote on the budget resolution as early as Wednesday. Speaker Mike Johnson can afford to lose only three defections on the vote -- a fourth would tank the bill.
“The Budget Plan just passed by the United States Senate has my Complete and Total Endorsement and Support. All of the elements we need to secure the Border, enact Historic Spending Cuts, and make Tax Cuts PERMANENT, and much more, are strongly covered and represented in the Bill,” Trump argued.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
Maine sues USDA for funds blocked over transgender issue
Maine filed a federal lawsuit against the Departmen of Agriculture on Monday, claiming the Trump administration illegally froze federal funds allocated to Maine to feed low-income school children because the state is allegedly violating Title IX law by permitting transgender girls and women to participate in girls' and women’s sports.
Maine also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on Monday, urging the judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine to block the Trump administration from freezing the funds.
"The matter is urgent because defendants have blocked access to federal funds Maine sues to fees at-risk and needy children, as well as vulnerable adults," the motion says.
The complaint names the USDA and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. ABC News has reached out to the USDA for comment.
-ABC News’ Deena Zaru
Pentagon fires female admiral who was on list of ‘woke individuals’
A three-star Navy admiral assigned to NATO’s military committee in Brussels was fired over the weekend, two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News, becoming the latest dismissal of a senior military officer in the Trump administration.
Of the 10 firings of military officers during Trump’s second term, five of them are women, including the Navy’s top admiral, the commandant of the Coast Guard, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s senior military aide.
It is unclear what rationale was given for the firing of Vice. Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, who represented the U.S. at the NATO Military Committee in Brussels. She was notified of her removal over the weekend, according to the officials.
Pentagon officials did not have any immediate comment on Chatfield’s firing, which was first reported by Reuters.
Chatfield had served in the post since 2023 and was the first woman to head the Naval War College.
Her name was included in a list of “woke individuals” at the Defense Department included in a December letter by the American Accountability Foundation to Hegseth, the then-nominee to be the next defense secretary.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez