Senate to hold test vote on Pete Hegseth as a key Republican announces opposition
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(WASHINGTON) — Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, faces a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Thursday on advancing his nomination.
The vote will occur after lawmakers consider the nomination of John Ratcliffe for CIA director. Ratcliffe is poised to be Trump’s second confirmed Cabinet official.
Hegseth’s test vote could come down to the wire, as he can only afford to lose three Senate Republicans assuming all Democrats oppose him.
If he loses three Republicans, Vice President JD Vance, in his role as president of the Senate, could be called on to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Moments before the showdown, a key Senate Republican had announced her opposition to Hegseth.
“After thorough evaluation, I must conclude that I cannot in good conscience support his nomination for Secretary of Defense,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a post on X. “I did not make this decision lightly; I take my constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent with the utmost seriousness.”
Murkowski said she was not confident Hegseth was sufficiently prepared to lead the Pentagon, which is the largest government agency, and took issue with his past statements concerning women in the military.
The Alaska Republican also referenced allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking. Hegseth has largely denied the accusations against him, and told lawmakers he’s a “changed man.”
“The past behaviors Mr. Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces,” she said. “These behaviors starkly contrast the values and discipline expected of servicemembers.”
All eyes will be on GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell, who have also expressed varying levels of skepticism about Hegseth’s nomination.
In a floor speech on Thursday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker gave an endorsement of Hegseth, calling him the “right man for the job.”
The committee earlier this week narrowly advanced Hegseth’s nomination in a 14-13 vote along party lines.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The email ousting at least one top federal watchdog from their post was so short, it could fit in a tweet.
The two-sentence long letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector General Christi Grimm cited “changing priorities” under the President Donald Trump’s new administration, according to a copy of the note obtained by ABC News.
“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that due to changing priorities your position as Inspector General… is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email read.
The email addressed the inspector general by her first name — “Dear Christi” — with no customary courtesy title, such as “the Honorable,” or even “Ms.”
The same email template was used for the other inspector general firings, sources said.
Late Friday night, Trump fired at least 17 inspectors general at multiple federal agencies.
While inspectors general can be fired by the president, it can only happen after communicating with Congress 30 days in advance. In 2022, Congress strengthened the law requiring administrations to give a detailed reasoning for the firing of an IG.
Trump classified the firings as a “common thing to do” as he talked to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way from Las Vegas to Miami Saturday evening.
“It’s a very standard thing to do, very much like the U.S. attorneys,” Trump said.
The email to Grimm came in at 7:48 p.m. Friday night, and the way the wave of terminations was done surprised many across the inspector general community, even though there had been signs that a firing event like this could happen — as ABC News reported last week.
Among recommendations in the Project 2025 conservative blueprint for a second Trump term was replacing inspectors general under the new administration. As recently as last week, Mick Mulvaney, who was one of Trump’s chiefs of staff in his first term, wrote in an op-ed specifically that “a good place for Trump to start” cleaning out the “Deep State” would be with firing inspectors general.
Still, the HHS Office of Inspector General — and inspectors generals’ offices in most every government agency — had prepared a transition book for the incoming administration laying out what the independent agency does, and to identify areas of focus to make the departments and their programs healthier, more efficient and more effective, according to multiple sources.
On a call Saturday afternoon among the inspector general community, not only was there note-comparing about who got fired, what their email said, and what happens now — there was also discussion of encouraging those acting inspectors general who are remaining to stay independent and not shy away from difficult facts or unflattering findings, according to a source familiar with the call.
There’s a concern among the inspector general community now, given the language about “changing priorities” in the firing emails, that the new administration is cleaning house in order to install personnel aligned with Trump’s political leanings, rather than those who champion the agencies’ guiding mission of independence and oversight, multiple sources said.
(WASHINGTON) — When billionaire Elon Musk posted on X last weekend that all federal employees would soon receive an email demanding details of their work from the past week, senior White House officials — who had not been fully briefed on the plan — were initially caught off guard, multiple sources told ABC News.
Musk’s email would then set off widespread confusion across the federal government. It created tension among members of Trump’s Cabinet, as multiple agency heads told their employees to hold off on replying until they themselves were briefed on the situation.
At one point shortly after the Saturday evening email, sources familiar with the discussions said senior White House staff debated issuing guidance to their own employees, informing them that they did not need to reply. Late Monday night, the Office of Personnel Management said that White House staff were exempt from the exercise, citing the Presidential Records Act.
The lack of communication between Musk and President Donald Trump’s top advisers in the White House, who are responsible for executing his second-term agenda, is the latest in a series of controversial moves by the world’s richest man since he arrived in Washington last month that have begun to divide some of those closest to the president.
Musk’s whirlwind approach — marked by rapid gutting of the federal workforce and dominating national headlines — has sparked a rift among some in the White House and Trump’s inner circle, sources told ABC News. Some close to the president have bristled at Musk’s frenetic pace and his apparent disregard for coordinating with senior officials around the president. Others, however, have expressed support for the tactics and embraced Musk’s fast-paced efforts so far, hailing them as a long-overdue shakeup of a stagnant system.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing Tuesday that “the President and Elon, and his entire Cabinet, are working as one unified team, and they are implementing these very common-sense solutions,” adding that more than 1 million federal workers had responded to Musk’s “What did you do last week?” email, including herself. Leavitt said that Musk would attend Trump’s first Cabinet meeting set for Wednesday.
But as Musk has ripped through the federal workforce at a breakneck pace reminiscent of his approach at his own companies, the White House has, at times, first learned of his actions through media reports or his own posts on X instead of through the usual chain of senior staff, sources said, which has ruffled feathers among some top officials who view the billionaire’s methods as increasingly out of control.
But while Musk has some detractors in Trump’s orbit, he has gained support from some of the most powerful voices around the president, including Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and U.S. Homeland Security adviser, and Katie Miller, a senior adviser to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts who is married to Stephen Miller, sources said.
Still, even with some in the White House growing frustrated with aspects of Musk’s first few weeks in Washington, sources said there is hesitancy to intervene, given not only the billionaire’s immense wealth but, perhaps more importantly, his vast influence given his larger-than-ever profile and his ownership of X.
Some concerned with Musk have resigned themselves that the Tesla CEO is unlikely to be reined in anytime soon and are instead focused on managing the situation as best they can until his special government contract comes to an end later this year, though it is not immediately clear if Musk plans to leave Washington then, either.
“Some love it, some can’t wait for [Musk] to leave — bottom line is he’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” a source familiar told ABC News.
In response to this story, a senior White House official told ABC News, “Any insinuation that senior leadership in the Trump White House is not properly being advised on the actions of DOGE is completely false. As an SGE, Elon Musk works directly with the president of the United States and senior members of his team to coordinate the effective and efficient execution of the president’s agenda.”
“The American people widely support the mission of DOGE. Look no further than the Harris poll in which a vast majority of Americans support the mission of DOGE. Anyone who is seen as objecting to this mission in either party is objecting to long overdue change in Washington. If you’re not going to be a part of the solution, you are now a part of the problem,” the official added.
The South African-born businessman spent $270 million to help Trump get reelected. When Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, he empowered Musk to slash federal spending and make key decisions about the future of the U.S. as a lead adviser in the newly created DOGE.
ABC News previously reported that Musk initially wanted an office in the West Wing, but told people he thought what he was given was too small, multiple people familiar with his comments told ABC News, and has since taken up offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where he brought in sleep pods for his young staffers as they worked deep into the night.
Musk has been designated as a special government employee. His companies Tesla and SpaceX have been awarded $18 billion in federal contracts over the last decade. Some of this money has come from agencies the president asked Musk to review, but Musk dismissed the notion that there could be conflicts of interest.
“No, because you have to look at the individual contract and say, first of all, I’m not the one, you know, filing the contract — it’s people at SpaceX,” he told ABC News earlier this month.
Preisdent Donald Trump attends a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, June 12, 2017. (Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump held the first Cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday and In the room, and at times taking center stage, was Elon Musk.
For little more than an hour, Trump sought to tout his administration’s work so far and fielded questions on everything from the status of Musk’s efforts to force federal firings to negotiations to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite not being a member of the Cabinet, Musk has outsized influence in the administration as he oversees the Department of Government Efficiency’s work to reduce the size and scope of the government.
“We put together a great Cabinet,” Trump said as he began the meeting. “And we’ve had tremendous success.”
Here are key takeaways from the gathering.
Elon Musk in the spotlight
Musk was the first to speak at the meeting after Trump’s introduction. Donning a “Tech Support” t-shirt and a black “Make America Great Again” cap, Musk stood in the corner of the room to talk about DOGE.
Musk defended the entity’s controversial actions, saying the overall goal is to cut the deficit and warned if cuts aren’t made the country will “become de facto bankrupt.”
“That’s the reason I’m here. And taking a lot of flack, and getting a lot of death threats, by the way,” he said.
His presence among Trump’s agency heads came amid confusion stemming from a Musk-directed ultimatum to federal workers to list their weekly accomplishments or possibly face termination. Senior White House officials were initially caught off guard, ABC News reported, when Musk first posted about the directive and it’s since created tension among Cabinet members as multiple agency heads told employees to hold off on replying.
When Musk was asked by a reporter if any Cabinet members were unhappy, Trump interrupted.
“Is anybody unhappy with Elon?” Trump said to the group, many of whom started laughing.”If you are, we’ll throw him out of here. Is anybody unhappy? They have a lot of respect for Elon and that he’s doing this,” as members started applauding.
1 million workers ‘on the bubble’
Trump said federal employees who didn’t respond to Musk’s email are on a firing “bubble.”
“I’d like to add that those million people that haven’t responded though Elon, they are on the bubble. You know, I wouldn’t say that we’re thrilled about it,” Trump said. He went on to claim, without evidence, that maybe those employees “don’t exist.”
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked Trump about his interest in doing another round of emails demanding federal workers’ accomplishments and what the requirements would be.
“I think Elon wants to, and I think it’s a good idea because, you know, those people, as I said before, they’re on the bubble,” he responded, emphasizing his desire to find out if workers exist,” Trump said.
Not ‘much’ in security guarantees for Ukraine
Trump signaled the United States will not be providing much in security guarantees to Ukraine — a key factor for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in any agreement to bring the conflict to a close.
“Well, I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond, very much,” Trump said. “We’re going to have Europe do that because it’s in you know, we’re talking about Europe is the next-door neighbor, but we’re going to make sure everything goes well.”
Trump later said the mineral resources deal between the U.S. and Ukraine will be “automatic security” because the U.S. will be investing in the nation, suggesting that would be a barrier to Russia.
“Nobody’s going to be messing around with people when we’re there,” Trump said. “And so we’ll be there in that way.”
Trump says Putin will have to make concessions
After weeks of public statements on what Ukraine will likely have to sacrifice in negotiations, including their goal of returning to pre-war borders, Trump indicated for the first time that Russia’s Vladimir Putin may have to make concessions.
“Yeah, he will. He’s going to have to,” Trump said of Putin.
Notably, he did not elaborate on what those would be.
When later asked what concessions Putin would have to make, Trump shifted toward Ukraine and said they could “forget” about NATO membership.
Medicaid and Social Security to be left ‘untouched’
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked Trump about the budget bill that passed in the House Tuesday night — which includes a goal of at least $2 trillion in cuts to mandatory federal spending — and whether Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would be cut.
“I have said it so many times … This won’t be read my lips anymore. We’re not going to touch it,” Trump responded, echoing the statement George H.W. Bush famously made about “no new taxes” and then later had to reverse.
Trump claimed that there would be a reduction in fraud in those programs. Trump has echoed false claims stemming from Musk that dead Americans are receiving Social Security.
Experts told ABC News that is not true, and that Musk is misreading Social Security’s network of databases when he claims 200-year-olds are in the system.
Trump vows tariffs on the European Union
Trump stressed that he is still planning to push tariffs on foreign countries to improve the economy and claimed the European Union in particular left the U.S. with billions in debt and was formed to “screw the United States.”
“We have made a decision, will be announcing it very soon and it’ll be 25%, generally speaking, and that’ll be on cars and all other things,” he said.
Trump said the tariffs against Mexico and Canada are expected to go into effect next week on April 2, after a monthlong pause.
But then Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested another pause may be possible based on fentanyl prevention and progress on the border.
“If they can prove to the president they’ve done an excellent job,” Lutnick said. Trump quickly jumped in: “It’s going to be hard to satisfy.”
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira and Emily Chang contributed to this report.
