(WASHINGTON) — An internal Border Patrol memo obtained by ABC News indicates that the Department of Homeland Security could request up to 10,000 U.S. military troops to help with efforts along the United States-Mexico border.
Defense officials, however, said this week that they have not heard of this figure, but did say they expected that there could be additional requests for troops.
“This is just the start. This is an initial step, and we are anticipating many further missions,” a senior Defense official told reporters.
The White House yesterday announced that 1,500 troops would be sent to help with operations at the southern border. Those roles, according to sources, would be to help with processing and surveillance.
The Customs and Border Protection planning memo also says the agency could request military infrastructure and technology.
CBP “may” utilize military bases as holding facilities for those who are arrested by Customs and Border Protection. Defense officials said that DOD had not received any requests for that kind of assistance but would evaluate such requests.
The Navy may also help with enforcing and carrying out coastal border operations, according to the document.
Two U.S. officials told ABC News on Thursday afternoon that the first of 500 Marines bound for the border would be shipping out in the coming hours and Army units would be in transit later in the day. A good number of the Army troops will be military police, but they will not be carrying out law enforcement duties, according to other officials.
In addition, four military cargo planes are being positioned for use in deportation flights — a C-17 and C-130 in San Diego and another C-17 and C-130 at Fort Bliss, Texas. So far only the C-17 to Ft. Deportation flights cannot begin until the State Department arranges details, which could take some time.
The U.S. Northern Command said in a news release Thursday that it is “aggressively” bolstering security at the border. About 1,500 soldiers and Marines are “immediately” deploying to the region to augment the approximately nearly 2,500 service members already there supporting CBP’s mission at the border.
“In a matter of days, we will have nearly doubled the number of forces along the border, effectively implementing the President’s intent while planning and posturing for expanded efforts to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States,” said Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of the Northern Command.
The exact number of personnel will fluctuate as units rotate personnel and as additional forces are tasked to deploy once planning efforts are finalized, Northern Command said. These forces will support enhanced detection and monitoring efforts and repair and emplace physical barriers, the release said.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Seven sitting governors are throwing their support behind Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler’s run for Democratic National Committee chair. Four of them are eligible to vote in the party’s officer elections.
In endorsements first shared with ABC News, Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tina Kotek of Oregon, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Laura Kelly of Kansas, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, and Janet Mills of Maine lauded Wikler as an experienced organizer and unifier. Kelly, Beshear, Lujan Grisham and Whitmer are among the 448 DNC members who can vote for chairperson next week on Feb. 1.
The governors urged their state’s delegations to join them in their support, which would tighten the gap between Wikler and the other leading candidates in this race, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.
Kelly said Wikler is a “commonsense leader” the party needs and urged “all Kansas voting members to join” her in voting for him.
“As Democratic governors continue to show we can win in battleground and deep red states, we need a DNC Chair who understands the importance of ensuring Democratic governors are some of the strongest voices in our party and who will prioritize investing in our critical 38 races for governor in the next two years. We also need someone who knows that if we’re going to win back essential voters, we need to get back to talking about core issues … in a way that will actually resonate,” Kelly said.
Michigan’s Whitmer said she believes Wikler can generate victories for Democrats at all levels of government.
Whitmer, a two-term Democrat who has repeatedly succeeded in a state twice won by President Donald Trump, has been mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential contender and was discussed as a replacement for President Joe Biden in 2024.
“As Governor of Michigan, I’ve seen Ben fight and win for working people in our neighboring state. Our next Chair needs to be a leader who can do exactly that: get our party unified, organized, and talking to voters to deliver wins up and down the ballot,” Whitmer said. “Ben has my vote, and I encourage my fellow Michiganders to join me in supporting him next week.”
Another name floated as a possible party leader is Beshear, who was on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate short list. Beshear said he believes Wikler can unify the rebuilding Democratic Party and raise the resources needed to win.
“There are other good leaders in this race but I will be voting for Ben for DNC Chair and will be encouraging the entire Kentucky delegation to join me — because we need a leader who gets what’s needed to compete not just in blue states but in deep-red and battleground areas too,” Beshear said. “As Chair of WisDems, Ben Wikler has shown that when you unite our party, raise the historic resources needed to invest in governor’s races and every other level of the ballot, and talk to voters about the challenges they’re facing every day, Democrats can win everywhere.”
Lujan Grisham echoed the sentiment that Wikler will value and invest in governors.
“I will be voting for Ben Wikler for DNC Chair because he has shown that he knows how to raise historic funds for candidates up and down the ballot — all while standing up for working families and the year-round organizing we need to fight and win across the country,” Lujan Grisham said.
Kotek offered similar praise, saying Wikler is the “changemaker the Democratic Party needs.”
“The next leader of the DNC needs to be someone with the experience to get our party back and deliver for working people. I urge DNC members from Oregon and across the country to join me in supporting Ben for DNC chair,” Kotek said.
Earlier in the race, Gov. Tony Evers of Wikler’s home state of Wisconsin also endorsed Wikler’s run.
Two governorships will be up for grabs this year, and Democrats are looking to play competitively in both — namely by keeping control of New Jersey and flipping Virginia. These races will be the first large-scale electoral tests for the party since its sweeping losses last November.
The support from the slate of governors also points to a late-stage surge for Wikler after both Martin’s and O’Malley’s teams indicated that the Wisconsin party chairman was lagging behind them in support. Earlier this month, O’Malley’s team asserted, “This is a three-way race and we are not in third place.”
These endorsements also come just days after Martin said he has garnered support from 200 voting members, by far the highest private whip count announced in the race thus far, rapidly approaching the 225 votes needed to win. (Martin currently has the majority of public endorsements.)
But Wikler and O’Malley disputed the assertion, calling Martin’s count inflated and accusing him of muddying the process. Wikler received the backing of four powerful public sector unions and the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer.
Wikler also came forward with his team’s internal whip count for the first time during the race earlier this week, claiming to have 131 members supporting him. O’Malley’s campaign says he has 100 supporters.
Wikler had previously said he would not release details about his internal whip count. But in a series of social media posts on Wednesday night, Wikler said he was changing course, taking a veiled swipe at Martin and citing a statement from O’Malley’s campaign.
“Until tonight, I’d held back from releasing my whip count,” Wikler said. “But another candidate released a count so inflated that, as another campaign rightly said, it was ‘disrespectful to the 448 voting members of the DNC — many of whom are still making up their minds.'”
He continued, “In a moment of national crisis, DNC members deserve the chance to choose the next Chair based on vision and record, not based on whisper campaigns and attempts to manufacture an illusion of inevitability.”
Nevertheless, no campaign has provided a full list of exactly who is backing their bids, and there are a number of other long-shot candidates who have qualified to run and could peel off a handful of members along the way. It’s unclear, too, if any candidate will clinch a majority of votes to win on the first ballot, opening up the race and allowing members to reconsider their choice in subsequent ballots.
Wikler said he is “honored” to have the backing of these governors, who he said are “some of the most important Democratic voices in the country.”
“Democratic governors present the model for how Democrats can compete and win in the toughest states in the country,” Wikler said, “and we need to invest in their leadership in a way that reflects their invaluable power as messengers and leaders. I’m ready to expand the map and win, together.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to declassify files related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King.
“That’s a big one,” Trump said as put his signature to the order in the Oval Office. He asked an aide standing nearby to give the marker to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who he’s nominated to be secretary of Health and Human Services.
Trump has long vowed to make the information public. He released a trove of documents in 2017 related to the 1963 killing of John F. Kennedy but left some of it redacted based on recommendations from the CIA and FBI.
A 1992 law passed by Congress required the release of the JFK files by 2017 unless the president authorized that they be withheld longer.
According to the White House text of the order, Trump has “now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information” on JFK “is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue.”
“And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest,” the order states.
The records, however, will not immediately be made available.
The order gives the director of national intelligence and attorney general 15 days to present a plan to Trump for the “full and complete” release of records for JFK and 45 days for a plan for the RFK and MLK documents.
The Biden administration also released documents related to JFK’s assassination — more than 13,000 of them.
At the time, the National Archives said more than 97% of records in the collection, which contain more than 5 million pages, were publicly available. The CIA also said that 95% of its collection had been released, and that no documents remained entirely redacted.
In 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called on then-President Joe Biden to release all the files related to his uncle’s assassination.
Last year, as he ran for president first as a Democrat then as an independent before endorsing Trump, RFK Jr. pushed a conspiracy theory that the CIA was directly involved in the assassination of JFK.
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood on stage with Trump in August after making his endorsement, Trump announced he would establish a “a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts” tasked with releasing “all remaining documents pertaining to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and other events in question.”
JFK was shot and killed in November 1963 during a visit to Dallas at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald.
RFK and MLK were killed in 1968. RFK was shot on the night he won the 1968 California Democratic presidential primary by Sirhan Sirhan. King was killed in Memphis, where he was supporting a sanitation workers strike, by James Earl Ray.
“Lot of people are waiting for this for a long — for years and decades,” Trump said as he signed the order on Thursday.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has continued to defend his controversial pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters during a Fox News interview, claiming that most were “absolutely innocent” despite being convicted.
Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Wednesday night that he made the pardons and commutations for 1,500 people involved in the pro-Trump mob attack on the U.S. Capitol for a “number of reasons.”
“They were treated like the worst criminals in history. And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote,” Trump said repeating the false claim the 2020 election was “rigged.”
After Hannity said that no one should be able to invade the Capitol, Trump responded, “Most of the people were absolutely innocent.”
On Thursday afternoon, answering reporter questions in the Oval Office, Trump was asked whether he planned to meet with those he pardoned –including at the White House.
“I don’t know, he responded. “I’m sure that they probably would like to.”
More than 250 people were convicted for their roles in the attack.
U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died after suffering multiple strokes hours after he was pepper sprayed by rioters. The Washington, D.C. medical examiner ruled he died of natural causes, but said his experience on Jan. 6 played a role in his condition.
Four officers who responded to the Capitol attack have since died by suicide, investigators said.
Approximately 140 Capitol Police officers were injured by rioters, making it one of the most violent days for law enforcement in recent U.S. history, according to investigators. Videos of the destruction and attacks, where the rioters used weapons including bats, hockey sticks, bear spray and stun guns were documented through thousands of hours of videos and police body camera footage that has been publicly released.
Trump, however, claimed on “Hannity” that the attacks on the police were “very minor incidents.”
“This was a political hoax. And you know what? Those people, and I’m not saying in every single case, but there was a lot of patriotism with those people,” he said.
He also said it would have been “very, very cumbersome” to separate out those convicted of violent assaults on police.
Trump’s pardons have come under fire from police unions, prosecutors and some Republicans on the Hill, including Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, who condemned the attacks on police officers.
Trump also suggested former President Joe Biden should have pardon himself as he did with his family members and lawmakers on the Jan. 6 committee.
“This guy went around giving everybody pardons. And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon,” Trump said without giving specifics on what crimes his predecessor could have committed.
The president added that he would let Congress decide if Biden and those leaders should be probed.
(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.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — On his first day back in office on Monday, President Trump issued an executive order declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize a person’s sex assigned at birth, limit the definition of a “male” or “female” to their reproductive cells and potentially withhold federal funding from programs that acknowledge transgender people or “gender ideology.”
Medical and legal experts say the executive order rejects the reality of sexual and gender diversity, and are concerned about the implications it will have for intersex, nonbinary and transgender Americans.
Trump’s executive order declares sex as “an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female” and states that “gender identity” cannot be included in the definition of “sex,” and that “sex” and “gender” cannot be used interchangeably.
The executive order declares there are only “two sexes, male and female” and defines a “female” as “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.” The order defines “male” as “a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.”
“This one is shockingly out of step with what we know from science,” Kellan E. Baker, executive director of the Institute for Health Research & Policy at health services network Whitman-Walker, told ABC News in an interview.
Baker noted that we’re accustomed to thinking of sex “as a fairly simple, binary, immutable thing,” but said science tells us it’s not that simple.
“Sex is not a singular, binary, immutable trait,” he said. “It is, in fact, a complex cluster of multiple traits, some of which align with each other and sometimes some of which do not align with each other.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines sex as “an individual’s biological status as male, female, or something else. Sex is assigned at birth and associated with physical attributes, such as anatomy and chromosomes.”
Intersex populations are not noted in the executive order. Intersex people are those with variations in their sex traits such as genitals, chromosomes, hormones or reproductive organs, and differ from expectations of male and female anatomy.
The term intersex may also be categorized as “differences of sex development.” Not all conditions are noticeable at birth, according to MedlinePlus, a resource from the National Library of Medicine and therefore, may not be known until later in life.
“There are multiple different sex traits that make up this concept that we think of as sex,” Baker said. “They include, for example, chromosomes. They also include external genitalia, gonads, hormones.”
Baker also notes that sexual differentiation via reproductive cells doesn’t take place until about six weeks after conception, contrary to the definition stated by the executive order.
The order states that the definitions of sex are a response to “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex.”
“Invalidating the true and biological category of ‘woman’ improperly transforms laws and policies designed to protect sex-based opportunities into laws and policies that undermine them, replacing longstanding, cherished legal rights and values with an identity-based, inchoate social concept,” the order reads.
Jenny Pizer, chief legal officer at LGBTQ civil rights group Lambda Legal, told ABC News her organization is preparing for legal action against the executive order. She argues the order could force agencies to no longer recognize transgender or intersex people by restricting funding that promote “gender ideology.”
The order states that gender ideology “is internally inconsistent, in that it diminishes sex as an identifiable or useful category but nevertheless maintains that it is possible for a person to be born in the wrong sexed body.”
It goes further to state, “Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity.”
“The current structure of our society is that there is federal funding throughout many of our essential systems, and so we don’t know, but it is certainly possible that the Trump administration is going to attempt to exclude or mistreat members of our community in many, many of these settings,” Pizer said.
The executive order also revokes a 2022 Biden administration rule in which the U.S. Department of State made it possible for people applying for American passports to select “X” to mark their gender.
The rule announced by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken marked the Transgender Day of Visibility and was designed to accommodate nonbinary, intersex and gender-nonconforming individuals.
Lambda Legal was behind the effort to implement an “X” gender marker for passports. Their client at the time, Dana Zzyym, had been denied a passport because they were intersex and could not accurately pick between male or female on the application form, according to the organization.
“We’ll continue to stand with Dana and all intersex, nonbinary, and transgender people to defend their right to identity documents that accurately identify who they are, and their equal protection rights against targeting and exclusion by their own government,” it said in a statement posted to its website on Monday.
(WASHINGTON) — A Massachusetts man was found to be carrying a gun after attending a tour of the U.S. Capitol as he left the nearby Library of Congress on Tuesday, police officials told ABC News on Thursday.
Authorities in Washington were alerted by police in Carlisle, Massachusetts, on Monday that a man with a gun who had expressed suicidal ideations on social media was headed to Washington.
The U.S. Secret Service and Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police found the man in a Washington hotel early Tuesday morning and interviewed him, sources said. They searched for a gun and found no weapon and no further action was taken at that time, they said.
Later that day, the man went through a Capitol Police magnetometer screening and entered the Capitol Visitor Center. The magnetometer sounded an alarm and “an officer performed a secondary hand search, and the man was let into the building,” according to a statement from U.S. Capitol Police.
After getting past security, Capitol Police were alerted to his presence and issued a bulletin to be on the lookout for the man. They located him after he had completed the full tour of Congress outside the Library of Congress a short time later and found that he had a 9mm handgun in his waistband, law enforcement sources said.
Authorities said the suspect was arrested for “Unlawful Activities, Carrying a Pistol Without a License, Possession of an Unregistered Firearm, Unlawful Possession of Ammunition, and Resisting Arrest.” The case is currently with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Capitol Police statement said.
The officer who performed the screening at the magnetometer at the Capitol Visitor Center “is suspended while the USCP’s Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting an administrative investigation into the officer’s performance of that search.”
There is no indication he intended to cause any harm to harm the Congress, according to Capitol police. But sources told ABC News that a man who was possibly suicidal was able to take a full tour of Congress with a gun with members of the public and Congress nearby.
“A full review of this incident has already been ordered, as well as mandatory refresher training on security screening, so this never happens again,” Capitol Police said in their statement.
Members of Congress were briefed on the situation on Thursday.
(WASHINGTON) — 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 sent by the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffeman.
Huffeman’s memo, obtained by ABC News, said the order grants the agencies the “same authority already granted to the FBI.” It said that agents can enforce immigration law.
The agencies listed in the memo are the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the US Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The DEA and ATF have had little experience historically in carrying out immigration enforcement. Historically, the US Marshals only get involved when there has been a migrant who has become a fugitive.
Earlier this week, it was announced federal immigration authorities will be permitted to target schools and churches after President Donald Trump revoked a directive barring arrests in “sensitive” areas.
DHS announced Tuesday it would roll back the policy to “thwart law enforcement in or near so-called sensitive areas.”
Schools and houses of worship were once deemed off-limits, as were hospitals, funerals, weddings and public demonstrations, but no longer after the announcement.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense,” Huffeman said Tuesday.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive actions on immigration, the economy, DEI and more.
Trump can be expected to talk more about his economic agenda when he takes to the world stage — speaking virtually to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the president’s attempt to end birthright citizenship will face its first legal test when a federal judge hears a request made by several Democratic-led states to issue a temporary restraining order against the action.
Senate slated to confirm Ratcliffe, could vote on Hegseth as soon as Friday
The Senate will vote today on John Ratcliffe’s nomination to serve as director of the CIA.
If senators approve his nomination, he will be the second member of Trump’s team to be confirmed after Marco Rubio was sworn in as secretary of state earlier this week.
Later this afternoon, the Senate will take a procedural vote on Pete Hegseth’s nomination to serve as defense secretary. Only 50 votes will be needed to advance his nomination. If he gets the votes, a final confirmation vote could occur on Friday or early Saturday.
Hegseth’s nomination was advanced out of a Senate committee earlier this week on a party-line vote. New allegations have surfaced since then alleging abusive behavior, which his attorney has denied.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
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.
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
Trump picks new Secret Service director
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday the head of his protective security detail would serve as the new director of the U.S. Secret Service.
Sean Curran, a longtime Secret Service agent, began his career with the agency in 2001 as a special agent in the Newark Field Office, previously served as assistant special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division and was part of Trump’s personal protective detail on July 13 when a gunman attempted to assassinate him.
“Sean is a Great Patriot, who has protected my family over the past few years, and that is why I trust him to lead the Brave Men and Women of the United States Secret Service,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He added, “He proved his fearless courage when he risked his own life to help save mine from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania. I have complete and total confidence in Sean to make the United States Secret Service stronger than ever before.”
The former director of the agency, Kimberly Cheatle, came under scrutiny over the agency’s failure to prevent the assassination attempt and later resigned.
Dems contend Trump ‘does not back the blue, he backs the coup’
In the wake of President Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, Democrats joined with two men who were assaulted by the mob — retired U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Washington Metro Police Department officer Daniel Hodges — to denounce the president’s actions.
“On Monday, Donald Trump decided that he wants to whitewash history, pretend that the riot of January 6 never happened, and that it was simply a peaceful walk through the Capitol. Unfortunately for him, video and photographs don’t lie,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said. “You cannot say you back the blue if you are going to let out of jail violent criminals who assaulted the blue.”
California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell added, “Nothing erases what they did, but we should erase this concept that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have the backs of law enforcement officers. “Donald Trump does not back the blue. He backs the coup, and this action makes that absolutely clear.”
Dunn, who retired from the USCP and ran an unsuccessful bid for Congress, denounced Trump’s actions.
“The Republican Party has long claimed to be the party of law and order, back the blue, however many lawmakers’ silence and refusal to push back against Donald Trump’s actions make it incredibly hard to take that claim serious,” he said. “The winner writes history. He didn’t win. He’s not going to. I’m not going away. That’s it.”
After Republicans launched their own select subcommittee to investigate the events surrounding Jan. 6, Rep. Jason Crow, a member of the January 6 select committee who received a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden in the final moments of his presidency, called the newly minted panel “a farce that is intended to try to cover up their abuse of process.”
“It’s another diversion. It’s another distraction in an attempt to rewrite history, but also to confuse folks,” Crow, D-Colorado, said. “But you heard pretty clearly today that we’re not confused and we’re not distracted, nor will we be. We’re going to continue to tell the story loudly, clearly, repeatedly, about the criminality, about the abuse, not just of power, but of our law enforcement of the blue and we’re not going to stop.”
-ABC News’ John Parkinson
Federal employees told to report DEI programs
Employees across the federal government have received memos asking them to report any possible diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) programs. ABC News has learned of employees at the departments of Commerce, State and Homeland Security receiving the memos, as well as health agencies.
Trump issued an executive order after taking office ending DEI programs in the federal government.
“We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language,” one of the memos read. “If you are aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies, please report all facts and circumstances to DEIAtruth@opm.gov within 10 days.”
Failure to report the information within 10 days could result in “adverse consequences,” according to the memo.
-ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks, Katherine Faulders and Luke Barr
Trump pardons 2 DC police officers convicted in man’s death
Trump on Wednesday pardoned two former Washington, D.C., police officers who were sentenced to prison for the 2020 death of a D.C. man in a police chase.
According to the Department of Justice, Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky were involved in a chase after Sutton spotted a man, later identified as Karon Hylton-Brown, riding a moped on a sidewalk without a helmet and gave chase. Sutton chased Hylton-Brown into an alley, the DOJ said, and as he exited the alley on to a street, he was hit and killed by another driver.
Sutton, who was an officer, and Zabavsky, then a lieutenant, then conspired to cover up what had happened, DOJ said in a release announcing their convictions, at one point turning off their body cameras to discuss the matter.
Sutton was convicted in September 2024 of second-degree murder, conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice and sentenced to 5 ½ years in prison. The same jury convicted Zabavsky of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice and he was sentenced to 4 years. Both were free on appeal.
“Well, we’re looking at two police officers, actually, that — Washington police officers — who went after an illegal. And things happened, and they ended up putting them in jail. They got five-year jail sentences. You know the case. And we’re looking at that in order to give them a — we got to give them a break,” Trump said Monday, though Hylton-Jones was not in the U.S. illegally.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Waltz dismisses more than 150 national security staffers
Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz sent home 160 National Security Council aides while the Trump administration undergoes staffing reviews to ensure personnel support Trump’s America First agenda.
The career government employees were told on Wednesday that they are not needed to report to the White House. The council is responsible for briefing the president on national security and foreign policy advice, but insists despite staffing shakeups they have what is needed to fulfill their mission.
“National Security Advisor Mike Waltz promised and authorized a full review of NSC personnel. It is entirely appropriate for Mr. Waltz to ensure NSC personnel are committed to implementing President Trump’s America First agenda to protect our national security and wisely use the tax dollars of America’s working men and women,” NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.
“Since 12:01 pm on Monday personnel reviews and decisions based on the evaluations are being made,” Hughes said.
An official told ABC News, “We have dozens of people as detailees. Some have already concluded their service, some will be shortened, new detailees will be onboarded. NSC has and will continue to have what it needs to fulfill its mission in support of POTUS and his agenda. But POTUS won a historic victory with a clear mandate that the American people embraced. Ensuring the team to keep that promise is NSA Waltz’s role at NSC on behalf of President Trump.”
In a recent interview with Breitbart News, Waltz indicated that he wanted the NSC to be staffed by personnel who are “100 percent aligned with the president’s agenda.”
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh
Oath Keeper founder on Capitol Hill following release
Just one day after being released from prison, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes showed up on Capitol Hill in a blue Trump hat.
Rhodes was serving an 18-year sentence for a seditious conspiracy conviction for his role in the Jan. 6 riots, but his sentence was commuted by Trump on Monday.
Rhodes told ABC News he was meeting with members of Congress, specifically Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.
Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC News that he didn’t meet with Rhodes.
“What about it? He’s a U.S. citizen, right?” he added.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Beatrice Peterson, Arthur Jones and Allison Pecorin
Kennedy’s confirmation hearing set for next Wednesday
The Senate Finance Committee announced Wednesday afternoon that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Jr. will be Jan. 29.
-ABC News’ Anne Falherty
White House asked about Elon Musk’s criticism of AI Stargate deal
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed off Elon Musk’s comment suggesting investors don’t have the money to fund the Stargate AI project during an interview on Fox News.
“President Trump is very excited about this infrastructure announcement in the field of AI, which is of his growing United States and it needs to capitalize on it because adversaries like China are very advanced in the field,” Leavitt dodged when asked for the Trump’s reaction specifically to Musk’s comments.
Musk has repeatedly poured cold water on the $500 billion project, which Trump rolled out at the White House on Tuesday evening with fanfare.
Leavitt said that the American people should trust Trump at his word.
“So, the American people should take President Trump and the CEOs’ words for it. These investments are coming to our great country and American jobs are coming with them,” she said.
Proud Boys’ Enrique Tarrio arrives in Miami after being freed from prison
Enrique Tarrio, the former head of the Proud Boys, arrived in Florida one day after being freed from prison following Trump’s sweeping Jan. 6 pardons.
He was seen embracing supporters at Miami International Airport.
Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years for his conviction on seditious conspiracy. He’d received the longest sentence of all the convicted Jan. 6 rioters, though he was not at the Capitol that day.
In first interview as president, Trump criticizes Biden’s preemptive pardons
In a clip previewing his first sit-down interview since becoming president, Trump criticized Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons before he left the White House.
“Joe Biden ran and said he would never do preemptive pardons. It was an issue that came up when you were leaving your first time…” Fox News’ Sean Hannity began before Trump jumped in.
“Oh, he heard that I was going to do it, I didn’t want to do it. I was given the option, they said, ‘Sir, would you like to pardon everyone — including yourself?’ I said ‘I’m not going to pardon anybody. We didn’t do anything wrong.’ We had people that suffered. They’re incredible patriots. We had people that suffered. You had Bannon put in jail. You had Peter Navarro put in jail. You had people that suffered and far worse than that, they lost their fortunes and whatever their nest egg paying it to lawyers,” Trump said.
“And those people — people said — they wouldn’t have even taken, most of those people, they wouldn’t have even taken a pardon. This guy went around giving everyone pardons. And the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon — and if you look at it, it all had to do with him,” Trump added.
The full interview is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. ET on Fox News.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Trump ordering 1,500 troops to southern border, press secretary says
President Trump is sending 1,500 additional troops to the southern border, building off the executive actions he signed on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced to reporters.
“This is something President Trump campaigned on. The American people have been waiting for such a time as this for our Department of Defense to actually take homeland security seriously. This is the number one priority of the American people and the president is already delivering on that,” she said.
“Securing the southern border and deporting illegal immigrants from this country. President Trump is sending a very strong message to people around this world: if you are thinking about breaking the laws of the United States of America you will be returned home, you will be arrested you will be prosecuted. Do not come,” she told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce when asked what the troops will be doing and what their mission is.
– ABC News’ Mary Bruce
Murkowski says Trump’s pardons send a ‘horrible, horrible message’
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Trump’s blanket pardons for violent Jan. 6 rioters sends a “horrible, horrible message to our law enforcement officers.”
“I think it sends a very discouraging message to the fine men and women who stand guard and are here to protect all of us, help protect the public, and so when you have blanket pardons for everyone including those who engaged in violent violent acts of destruction and harm to people and then you just blanket pardon all of them without consequence,” Murkowski said.
Murkowski issued a statement on X earlier Wednesday similarly denouncing the pardons, calling the Capitol Police officers the “backbone of Congress.”
She was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial over the riot.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Republican senators stand behind Hegseth after new allegations surface
Several GOP lawmakers are standing behind Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth in light of new accusations of abusive behavior. The allegations came in a sworn affidavit by Hegseth’s former sister-in-law obtained by Democrats.
“My understanding is that both his wife and his — he himself said it’s not accurate. That’s what I go by,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters.
“His wife said it was not true. This is just the Democrats doing what they’re doing. They’re obstructing Trump putting together a team,” said Republican Sen. Rick Scott.
Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia stressed the validity of the affidavit and urged his GOP colleagues to consider the severity of the allegations as they vote on what he called “probably the single most important position that the Senate has to consider in any president’s cabinet.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Elon Musk continues to undermine Trump’s AI ‘Stargate’ deal
Elon Musk is continuing to publicly criticize the artificial intelligence “Stargate” deal that Trump touted at the White House.
Musk just reshared a long post on X from a user who sharply called the venture into question. The user called the $500 billion price tag for the project “ridiculous” and said “no one should take it seriously.”
Trump rolled out the AI investment on Tuesday alongside tech CEOs who heaped praise upon him.
But overnight, Musk poured cold water on it.
“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk said, seemingly questioning the financial footing of OpenAI, one of the companies involved in the deal.
-ABC News’ Will Steakin
Senate panel advances nomination for Trump’s transportation pick
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted to advance the nomination of Sean Duffy to be Trump’s transportation secretary.
Duffy’s nomination was unanimously approved by the committee by a vote of 28-0.
His nomination will now advance to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote. The date and timing of the vote has not yet been determined.
Duffy is a former congressman and co-hosted “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. When Trump tapped Duffy for the post, he said he would prioritize rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and on eliminating DEI in certain fields.
-ABC News’ Ayesha Ali
Trumps celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary
Trump and first lady Melania Trump are celebrating a major milestone Wednesday — their 20th wedding anniversary.
Trump took to his social media platform to wish his wife a happy anniversary.
The couple was married 20 years ago in a star-studded wedding in Palm Beach, Florida. The ceremony was held at Bethesda-By-the-Sea Episcopal Church and the reception was held at Mar-a-Lago.
The guest list included Bill and Hillary Clinton, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Simon Cowell, Usher, Billy Joel and others.
— ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
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.
Video captures JD Vance’s 1st time in Oval Office
House Speaker Mike Johnson posted a video on X of President Trump taking Vice President JD Vance into the Oval Office for the first time on Tuesday.
Trump can be seen walking ahead of Vance in the halls of the West Wing before showing him into the office. He introduced Vance to his communications adviser, Margo Martin, who was standing at the door to the Oval Office.
“Wow, this is pretty crazy,” Vance says as Johnson narrated the video. He later said it was “incredible.”
Bishop Budde defends ‘mercy’ sermon against Trump’s criticism, says she seeks ‘unity’
The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde on Wednesday defended her sermon at a traditional inaugural prayer service on Tuesday directly calling on President Trump to show “mercy” toward immigrants and trans people.
Speaking on ABC’s “The View,” she emphasized she was seeking to create “unity” and to “counter the narrative that is so divisive and polarizing.”
“I wanted to emphasize respecting the honor and dignity of every human being, basic honesty and humility and then I also realized that unity requires a certain degree of mercy — mercy and compassion and understanding,” she said, after Trump demanded she apologize.
“I was trying to speak a truth that I felt needed to be said, but to do it as respectful and kind a way as I could,” she added. “And also to bring other voices into the conversation … voices that had not been heard in the public space for some time.”
When asked if she had an opportunity to share her thoughts one-on-one with the president, Budde said she had not been invited but would welcome the opportunity.
“I can assure him and everyone listening that I would be as respectful as I would with any person, and certainly of his office for which I have a great deal of respect, but … the invitation would have to come from him,” she said.
Trump demands Putin to ‘make a deal’ to end war
Trump has sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin demanding he make a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
“It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL.’ NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!” Trump wrote in a new social media post.
Trump indicated that if a deal isn’t made quickly, he would impose high levels of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on Russia.
“Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a “deal,” and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump said.
Trump then threatened that it can be done “the easy way, or the hard way.”
— ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh
Mike Johnson says he won’t ‘second-guess’ Trump pardons for Jan. 6 rioters
Speaker Mike Johnson said he doesn’t question Trump’s decision to pardon more than thousand people convicted in connection to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including some violent offenders.
“The president’s made his decision, I don’t second guess those,” Johnson said at a news conference alongside House Republican leadership.
“And yes, you know, it’s kind of my ethos, my worldview, we believe in redemption, we believe in second chances,” Johnson said. “If you could — would argue that those people didn’t pay a heavy penalty having been incarcerated and all of that, that’s up to you.”
Other Republicans had mixed reactions to the news when asked by ABC News on Tuesday. Some claimed they’d “never” seen video of rioters attacking police. Others said Trump’s move was something they “just can’t agree” with
Trump OMB pick Russell Vought testifies at confirmation hearing
Russell Vought, who led the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term, is facing questions from senators on the Budget Committee.
Vought was involved in Project 2025, the controversial conservative blueprint for a second Trump term that Trump tried to distance himself from while on the campaign trail.
If confirmed, Vought would see through the implementation of a Trump executive order to terminate DEI programs in the federal government.
Trump team instructs DOJ to investigate state officials who obstruct immigration enforcement efforts
A top Trump administration official sent a memo to the Justice Department workforce ordering criminal investigations into any state and local actors who may attempt to obstruct enforcement of federal immigration laws, according to a copy obtained by ABC News.
The memo further details a series of policy changes being rolled out in the department as a result of multiple executive orders signed by Trump, including the establishment of a “Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group.”
As ABC News reported, multiple longtime senior level officials in DOJ’s Criminal and National Security Divisions were given an abrupt notice of their reassignment to the task force.
The move has already caused alarm among many current and former officials in the department who see it as an exodus of the department’s career “braintrust” on major national security and public corruption cases and a sign the Trump team is placing loyalty to the president’s agenda above the typical norms and expertise of officials.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
ICE updates terminology from noncitizen to ‘alien’
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is updating their terminology as a result of the election.
From now on, those they are arresting will be referred to as “alien” as opposed to “noncitizen” and those in the country without authorization will be referred to as “illegal alien” according to an internal ICE memo obtained by ABC News.
“ICE employees are directed to use the lexicon consistent with the immigration and nationality act and the language historically used by the agency,” according to the memo.
The Biden administration changed the language in 2021 when former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued terminology guidance. Trump’s used increasingly dark rhetoric on the campaign trail when talking about migrants, including calling some of them “animals.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Refugee arrivals to US ‘suspended until further notice,’ State Department memo says
Refugee arrivals to the United States are “suspended until further notice,” as a result of the president’s executive order, a State Department memo obtained by ABC News says.
“All previously scheduled travel of refugees to the United States is being cancelled, and no new travel bookings will be made. RSCs [Resettlement Support Centers] should not request travel for any additional refugee cases at this time,” according to the memo sent on Tuesday. “Additionally, all refugee case processing and pre-departure activities are also suspended.”
A source familiar with the data says approximately 10,000 refugees had travel booked.
Refugee processing is also canceled.
– ABC’s Luke Barr
13 Senate Democrats say they’ll work with GOP on border security
Thirteen Senate Democrats sent a letter to Majority Leader John Thune committing to working with Republicans in “good faith” toward providing the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to pass certain immigration measures.
“As we have shown, Democrats and Republicans can work together on real bipartisan solutions. We can solve big challenges when we work together, and there is much work to do to improve border security, protect Dreamers and farmworkers, and fix our immigration system to better reflect the needs of our country and our modern economy,” the Democrats wrote.
The group of Democrats say common ground can be reached on “fair immigration enforcement accompanied by the necessary resources to effectively secure our border”. They also say they see a need for a “firm but fair immigration system.”
A bipartisan border bill was negotiated and unveiled during the 2024 campaign, but was effectively killed by Trump, who urged Republicans not to support it.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Musk says he was in the Oval Office for Ulbritcht pardon
Billionaire Elon Musk posted online overnight that he was present in the Oval Office when Trump signed a pardon for Ross Ulbritcht, who was serving life in prison for running the black market site Silk Road.
“I was honored to be in the Oval Office tonight when @POTUS signed this,” Musk wrote on his social platform X.
It would be the first time Musk has said he was in the Oval Office with the president since Trump returned to office.
ABC News previously reported Musk had been spotted at the White House in the West Wing.
Musk is said to have a blue badge, which is considered to be an all-access pass. He has an has office space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building but sources told ABC News that Musk is also likely to get West Wing office space.
-ABC News’ Will Steakin and Katherine Faulders
Federal employee union sues over DOGE, pushes back on executive orders
In the hours after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union for federal employees filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Office of Management and Budget, while also calling on Congress to protect government workers’ jobs.
The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
“DOGE has already begun developing recommendations and influencing decision-making in the new administration, even though its membership lacks the fair balance required by FACA and its meetings and records are not open to public inspection in real time,” the complaint alleges.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley has also gone on the offense over Trump’s flurry of executive orders to eliminate federal telework and diversity programs, to freeze federal hiring and to re-introduce at-will employment policies that would make it easier to fire some federal employees.
Kelley asked Congress to intervene to save federal workers from being fired at will.
“AFGE will not stand idly by as a secretive group of ultra-wealthy individuals with major conflicts of interest attempt to deregulate themselves and give their own companies sweetheart government contracts while firing civil servants and dismantling the institutions designed to serve the American people,” Kelley said in a statement.
He added, “This fight is about fairness, accountability, and the integrity of our government. Federal employees are not the problem—they are the solution. They deserve to have their voices heard in decisions that affect their work, their agencies, and the public they serve.”
-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson
Federal judge sets hearing on Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order
President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order on birthright citizenship will face its first legal test in a Seattle courtroom on Thursday morning.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing on Thursday to consider a request made by four states to issue a temporary restraining order against Trump’s executive order.
Earlier Tuesday, the attorneys generals of Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Illinois sued Trump over the order, which they said would disenfranchise more than 150,000 newborn children each year.
They described Trump’s executive order as the modern equivalent of the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision. The 14th Amendment repudiated Scott establishing what the plaintiffs called a “bright-line and nearly universal rule” that Trump now seeks to violate.
“President Trump and the federal government now seek to impose a modern version of Dred Scott. But nothing in the Constitution grants the President, federal agencies, or anyone else authority to impose conditions on the grant of citizenship to individuals born in the United States,” their emergency motion said.
Coughenour — who was nominated to the bench by former President Ronald Reagan — will likely be the first judge to weigh in on Trump’s executive order.
-ABC News’ Laura Romero and Peter Charalambous
Federal government directed to put DEI employees on leave
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 an Office of Personnel Management memo obtained by ABC News.
The decision comes as the Trump administration shuts down the relevant DEI offices and programs across the federal government.
The directive follows President Donald Trump’s signing of executive orders Monday to dismantle federal DEI programs, as part of Trump’s larger campaign vow to reverse and upend the diversity efforts across the country, in the public and private sectors.
-ABC News’ Ben Siegel
DC Police Union dismayed by Jan. 6 pardons
The Washington, D.C., Police Union, which represents officers from the Metropolitan Police Department expressed “dismay” over the recent pardons granted to those who violently attacked police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“As an organization that represents the interests of the 3,000 brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities, our stance is clear – anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, without exception,” the union said in a statement.
“We remain steadfast in our mission to protect the rights and interests of all police officers and to ensure that justice is applied fairly and consistently,” the statement continued.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Trump set to meet with moderate House Republicans
President Donald Trump is set to meet with a group of moderate House Republicans on Wednesday afternoon at the White House, multiple sources told ABC News.
Some of the members who will attend include Nebraska Rep. Don Baco and New York Rep. Mike Lawler, among others.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Lauren Peller
Trump says he pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht
Trump said he signed a “full and unconditional pardon” for Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for running the black market site Silk Road.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright [sic] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump said on Truth Social. “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”
Ulbricht, who ran Silk Road between January 2011 and October 2013, was found guilty of allowing users to buy illegal drugs, guns and other unlawful goods anonymously. Prosecutors said the narcotics distributed through the site, which the FBI called the”Amazon of illegal drugs,” were linked to the deaths of at least six people.
Trump looking at whether to ‘turn off the tap’ on weapons to Ukraine
When asked whether he will “turn off the tap” when it comes to sending weapons to Ukraine, Trump told reporters Tuesday that he is “looking at that.”
“We’re talking to Zelenskyy. We’re going to be talking with President Putin very soon, and we’ll see what, how it all happens,” Trump said during a briefing in the Roosevelt Room.
Trump added that the European Union should be supporting Ukraine more, saying the war affects them more than the United States.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Kash Patel hearing tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29
The Senate Judiciary Committee has tentatively scheduled a confirmation hearing for Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to be the FBI director, on Jan. 29, committee ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters Tuesday.
Durbin stressed he will not be voting to advance Patel’s nomination following an in-person meeting with the nominee and a reading of his book, “Government Gangsters.”
“After meeting with him and doing this study, I’ve come to the conclusion that Kash Patel has neither the experience, the judgment or the temperament to serve as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to take on this awesome responsibility to keep America safe,” Durbin said.
Durbin said he was also concerned with Patel’s recounting of Jan. 6 during their meeting.
“His description of what happened in this Capitol building on Jan. 6 defies reality. I tried to pin him down on some of the things he said,” Durbin said, noting that after Trump’s pardons of the rioters on Monday, he didn’t know if the FBI would continue to track and monitor them — particularly the ones who were recently released.
“He calls it a haphazard riot. What the hell is a haphazard riot? That’s how he describes Jan. 6,” Durbin said. “I said I was here. … Unfortunately for the law enforcement, there were a lot of injuries and some death.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Trump says he’ll impose tariffs on the European Union
During his AI infrastructure announcement, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the European Union, as he has done with Canada, China and Mexico.
“It’s not just China. China is an abuser, but the European Union is very, very bad to us,” Trump told reporters after the announcement. “They treat us very, very badly. They don’t take our cars. They don’t take our cars at all. They don’t take our farm products. Essentially, they don’t take very much. We have a $350 billion deficit with the European Union.”
“They treat us very, very badly, so they’re going to be in for tariffs.”
Trump says looking at Feb. 1 date for tariffs
Trump said he is eyeing Feb. 1 as the date to start implementing his tariffs on China and Mexico.
Trump defends pardoning Jan. 6 convicts
Trump was asked about pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters during a news conference Tuesday and dodged a question about pardoning violent Jan. 6 convicts, including one who admitted to attacking an officer.
The president dodged the question, claiming he would look into it, before changing the subject to murders around the country that he claimed yielded no arrests.
He repeated his claim that the people pardoned were unjustly prosecuted, including the head of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
“The cases that we looked at, these were people that actually love our country, so we thought a pardon would be appropriate,” he said.
Trump was asked about the pardons again, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance’s statement last week in which he opposed pardoning rioters who assaulted officers, but the president again claimed the rioters were unfavorably treated.
CEOs tout ‘Stargate’ joint AI infrastructure project with Trump
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison joined President Donald Trump at the White House to tout the $500 billion investment in the “Stargate” venture.
“We will immediately start deploying $100 million … because of your success,” Son said.
The businessmen said they plan on using artificial intelligence for various projects, including medical research.
“I’m thrilled we get to do this in the United States of America,” Altman said.
Trump said he will be helping “a lot through emergency declarations because we have an emergency — we have to get this stuff built.”
Trump meets with GOP leadership
The meeting between President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune started around 3:20 p.m. ET in the Oval Office, according to the White House.
Trump is still expected to take more executive actions on Tuesday, as well as make an infrastructure announcement.
Tech billionaires to visit White House, per source
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison are expected to be at the White House Tuesday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the matter.
President Trump is set to announce $500 billion in private sector investment to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. It’s a joint venture of three companies — OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle — collectively called Stargate.
Last month, Trump announced with SoftBank’s Son in Mar-a-Lago that SoftBank would invest $100 billion in US projects over the next four years, creating 100,000 jobs. Those investments will focus on infrastructure that supports AI, including data centers, energy generation, and chips, according to a source.
The new announcement Tuesday has “overlap” with SoftBank’s previous commitment of $100 billion, according to a source, who clarifies that this is not an entirely separate commitment.
– ABC’s Selina Wang
Trump’s 1st sit-down interview will air on Wednesday
President Donald Trump’s first sit-down interview of his second term will be with Fox’s Sean Hannity in the Oval Office.
It will air on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET, the network announced.
During the interview, Trump will “discuss the executive orders he’s signed thus far, his first 100 days in office and news of the day,” according to the release from the news channel.
During his first term, Trump sat down with ABC News’ David Muir for his first interview. That interview took place just five days after he was sworn into office in 2017.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Trump’s tariff plans are still taking shape, despite pledges for Day 1 action
Tariffs were not in the executive orders Trump signed on Monday night and he suggested he’s still undecided on how far they might go — which investors are reading as a good sign, reflected by the rallying market on Tuesday.
Trump said he was now targeting Feb. 1 as a potential target date for tariffs to take effect against Mexico and Canada, which he said could be as high as 25%. He said any plans for blanket tariffs are “not ready” just yet.
Trump has a history of using the threat of tariffs as a governing style.
Urging Mexico to crack down on border crossings in 2019, Trump threatened to slap a tariff on the country within 10 days through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) but relented after Mexico committed to specific measures.
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger sent an internal memo praising officers following the pardons made by President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. The memo was obtained by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott.
Manger said that “when there is no price to pay for violence against law enforcement, it sends a message that politics matter more than our first responders.”
Manger cited the pardons from Trump for Jan. 6 rioters and from Biden for commuting the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a man convicted of the murder of two FBI agents in 1975.
“Police willingly put themselves in harm’s way to protect our communities. When people attack law enforcement officers, the criminals should be met with consequences, condemnation and accountability,” Manger said.
DOGE gets official government website
The page currently consists of a simple landing page displaying a logo featuring the iconic Shiba Inus from the original “doge” meme.
The official page comes after President Donald Trump’s executive order on Monday night creating the now solely Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. The order notably stated that the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) will be renamed the U.S. DOGE Service and placed under the Executive Office of the President.
DOGE will terminate on July 4, 2026, as Musk has previously detailed, and each agency in the Trump admin must create a DOGE Team, according to the order.
– ABC’s Will Steakin
Trump to meet with Republican leaders at White House
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House at 2 p.m., sources told ABC News.
At 3 p.m. ET, other GOP leaders from both chambers — including Steve Scalise, Lisa McClain and John Barrasso — will meet with Trump as well at the White House, sources said.
The White House has not yet formally released a schedule for Trump.
-ABC’s Katherine Faulders, Rachel Scott, Lauren Peller and Allison Pecorin
Trump’s 1st executive orders quickly face lawsuits
Eighteen states and the city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order to cut off birthright citizenship Tuesday, calling it a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
The lawsuit accused Trump of seeking to eliminate a “well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle” by executive fiat.
A union representing thousands of federal employees also sued the Trump administration Monday evening over an executive order that makes it easier to fire career government employees, alleging the directive would violate the due process rights of its members.
“The Policy/Career Executive Order directs agencies to move numerous employees into a new excepted service category with the goal that many would then be fired,” the lawsuit alleged.
– ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous
Coast Guard commandant fired in part over DEI efforts: Source
Admiral Linda Fagan, who served as the Coast Guard Commandant and was the first woman to lead a U.S. armed forces branch, was “relieved of her duties” by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman.
A source with knowledge of the decision said Fagan was fired in part because of her Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the Coast Guard.
“She has served a long and illustrious career and I thank her for her service,” according to a memo to the workforce obtained by ABC News.
Admiral Kevin Lunday is now acting commandant.
Trump promised to go after who he called “woke” generals in the military during his 2024 campaign. His nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said he will follow through on that issue.
-ABC’s Luke Barr
Reverend urges Trump to have ‘mercy’ on LGBTQ community, migrants
The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, during the prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, directed a message for President Donald Trump, who was seated in the front row.
“Let me make one final plea. Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you said, you have felt the providential hand of our loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” she said.
Budde said there are LGBTQ citizens of all political creeds who now ‘fear for their lives.” She also referenced migrants who may not be in the U.S. legally but are devoted neighbors, workers and parents.
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land,” she said.
Stefanik backs US withdrawing from WHO, pushes for UN reform
Rep. Elise Stefanik is facing senators for her confirmation hearing to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The ideological divide between Republicans and Democrats over the utility of global organizations has taken center stage. Stefanik zeroed in on reform.
“Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic or engaging in fraud, corruption, or terrorism,” she said. “We must invest in programs to strengthen our national security and deliver results to increase the efficacy of U.N. programs. We must drive reform.”
She also defended Trump’s decision to withdraw from another global body: the World Health Organization.
“I support President Trump’s decision to walk away from WHO,” she said, arguing it had “failed on a global stage in the Covid pandemic for all the world to see, and instead spewed CCP talking points that I believe led to not only false information, but dangerous and deadly information across the globe.”
As Trump attends service, Episcopal Church leaders express concern about immigration actions
Episcopal Church leaders on Tuesday released a letter urging Trump to “exercise mercy” in his approach to immigration policy.
While the service Trump is currently attending incorporates many faiths, the National Cathedral itself is part of the Episcopal Diocese in Washington.
“Even as we gave thanks for a peaceful transfer of power, we learned from news reports that the new presidential administration has issued a series of executive orders that are a harbinger of President Trump’s pledge to deport undocumented immigrants at a historic scale, restrict asylum, and direct other immigration actions,” the church leaders wrote in a letter.
“We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement.”
Trump and Vance attend interfaith prayer service
President Trump and Vice President Vance are attending an interfaith prayer service at Washington National Cathedral.
It’s the first public appearance for Trump since Monday night’s inaugural festivities.
First lady Melania Trump, second lady Usha Vance and Trump’s children are there as well.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler are some of the lawmakers in attendance.
Trudeau responds to Trump tariff threats
Standing alongside his cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed President Trump’s proposed tariffs, stating firmly that if the U.S. proceeds with the measure, Canada will not hesitate to respond in kind.
“Everything is on the table,” Trudeau said adding, “We are prepared for every possible scenario.”
ABC News’ Aleem Agha
‘For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico’: Mexican president
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s various decrees issued after the inauguration in a point-by-point statement.
Sheinbaum said Trump’s decrees concerning the emergency zone of the southern border and the Migrant Protection Protocols were no different than the orders made during Trump’s first term.
“We will always act in the defence of our independence, the defense of our fellow nationals living in the U.S. We act within the framework of our constitution and laws. We always act with a cool head,” she said in her statement.
Sheinbaum however pushed back on Trump’s decree to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
“For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said.
-ABC News’ Anne Laurent and Will Gretsky
Rubio promises State Department will focus on making America ‘stronger,’ safer,’ and ‘more prosperous’
After being sworn in as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state, Marco Rubio promised that every action taken by the department would be determined by the answer to three questions: “Does it make us stronger? Does it make us safer? And does it make us more prosperous?”
Rubio gave remarks in Spanish as well, giving thanks to God, his family present and not present, including his parents, who he said came to the U.S. in 1956 — and that the purpose of their lives was that their children could realize dreams not possible for them.
“It’s an incredible honor to be the secretary of state of the most powerful, best country in the world,” he continued in Spanish, giving thanks to Trump for the opportunity.
Rubio also echoed themes from Trump’s inaugural address and reiterated the president’s agenda.
“As far as the task ahead, President Trump was elected to keep promises. And he is going to keep those promises. And his primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States. It will be furthering the national interest of this country,” Rubio said.
– ABC News’ Shannon Kingston
Confirmation hearing begins for Trump’s VA pick
Doug Collins, Trump’s choice to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, will face questions from lawmakers as his confirmation hearing gets underway.
Collins, a former congressman, is a Navy veteran who currently serves as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command.
He was the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, and had defended the president.
Rubio is sworn in by JD Vance as secretary of state
After being unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Monday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was officially sworn in by Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday morning.
Rubio joined ABC’s “Good Morning America” ahead of the ceremony, where he discussed Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, TikTok and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio sidestepped directly weighing on the pardons, saying his “focus needs to be 100% on how I interact with our counterparts, our adversaries, our potential enemies around the world to keep this country safe, to make it prosperous.”
When asked about Trump’s campaign pledge to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Day 1, Rubio contended the matter is more complex and that negotiations would not be played out in public.
“Look this is a complex, tragic conflict, one that was started by Vladimir Putin that’s inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on Ukraine and also on Russia, I would argue, but also on the stability of Europe,” Rubio said. “So the only way to solve these things, we got to get back to pragmatism, but we also get back to seriousness here, and that is the hard work of diplomacy. The U.S. has a role to play here. We’ve been supportive of Ukraine, but this conflict has to end.”
White House signals Trump will make announcement on infrastructure
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this morning that Trump will be making a a major announcement on infrastructure at 4 p.m. ET.
“I can confirm that the American people won’t be hearing from me today,” she wrote, indicating she would not hold a press briefing. “They’ll be hearing from the leader of the free world,” Leavitt said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
“Once again, President Trump will be speaking to the press later this afternoon at the White House, and we will have a big infrastructure announcement,” she added.
(WASHINGTON) — As President Donald Trump starts to defend his executive order ending birthright citizenship in court, parents are beginning to grapple with the uncertainty stemming from his unprecedented executive order and the possibility that their future children could become “stateless.”
Five pregnant undocumented women and two nonprofits on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in Maryland District Court challenging the order, which seeks to interpret the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship as not applying to the children of undocumented parents. Joining the lawsuit under pseudonyms, the women argued that Trump’s order deprives their future children of their constitutional rights.
“The principle of birthright citizenship is a foundation of our national democracy, is woven throughout the laws of our nation, and has shaped a shared sense of national belonging for generation after generation of citizens,” the lawsuit said.
The complaint makes a similar claim as the four other federal lawsuits signed on by a combined 22 states and two cities; however, this lawsuit differs by having multiple plaintiffs who would be directly impacted by the executive order. The 38-page filing provides personal details of how the lives of each woman and their future children would be changed under Trump’s plan.
Monica – a medical doctor from Venezuela with temporary protected status who joined the lawsuit under the pseudonym– said she joined the lawsuit because she fears her future child will become stateless, as her home country facing an ongoing humanitarian, political and economic crisis.
“I’m 12 weeks pregnant. I should be worried about the health of my child. I should be thinking about that primarily and instead my husband and I are stressed, we’re anxious and we’re depressed about the reality that my child may not be able to become a US citizen,” she said.
Maribel – who joined the lawsuit under a pseudonym along with four other women – has lived in the United States for more than half her life after emigrating from El Salvador and Guatemala. She is due to have her third child in July but worries Trump’s executive order will split her young family, the lawsuit said.
“She fears her unborn child will not have the same rights to citizenship as the future child’s older sisters, and could even be subject to deportation, separating the family,” the lawsuit read.
“Every day, babies are being born in the United States whose constitutionally guaranteed citizenship will be called into doubt under the Executive Order,” the lawsuit argued.
Liza and her husband Igor fled Russia to the United States for asylum, and they are expecting a child in May. They can’t imagine being forced to bring their newborn back to a country that will likely prosecute them, the lawsuit said.
“Neither Liza nor Igor feel they can return to Russia without being persecuted, and they therefore do not feel they can apply for Russian citizenship for their child. Because of that, Liza and Igor are worried their child will be stateless,” the lawsuit said.
Juana – who is two months pregnant – fears what the future might hold for her and her future child if they are sent back to Colombia if her asylum claim falls through, according to the lawsuit.
“She wants her unborn child to be able to grow up without fear and with a sense of belonging in the United States. The thought that her unborn child could be denied U.S. citizenship and deported to Colombia without her is terrifying,” the lawsuit said.
Trinidad is a Venezuelan immigrant who is due in August, but she fears that her child will be stateless under Trump’s executive order, caught between Venezuela’s democratic crisis and the legal tumult of the United States immigration system, the lawsuit said.
Monica and her partner both have Temporary Protected Status after seeking asylum from Venezuela in the United States, but they are worried their child may be ineligible for both the United States and Venezuelan citizenship. Monica said she came to the United States in 2019 with her husband and thought they were doing “everything the right way” by paying taxes, working and buying their own home, she said.
“We had reached a point of stability in this country and wanted to have a child,” Monica said.
A happy change in their lives quickly devolved into fear, she said, when they saw Trump act on his promise to end the United States’ promise of birthright citizenship with the swipe of a sharpie.
“This is a really difficult situation where I truly do not see a way out for my child, a way forward for my child to be able to get through this,” she said.
Because Venezuela no longer offers consular services in the United States, Monica said she is unable to explore the possibility of getting her child citizenship there. Her lawyers do not know if Trump’s executive order would apply to people with temporary protected status, so determining if her child will be an American citizen meant filing a lawsuit against the president, she said.
“This executive order has just left us with more uncertainty than even before. Will my child be a US citizen? Will he be nothing? We just do not know what to do,” she said.
