Melania Trump unveils stamp honoring Barbara Bush, with George W. Bush absent
(Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — First lady Melania Trump hosted the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp honoring former first lady Barbara Bush at the White House on Thursday — with a notable absence of former President George W. Bush.
A number of family and friends of the Bush family, including Neil Bush and Dorothy Bush Koch, filled the East Room for the event honoring the former first lady, who died in 2018 at the age of 92.
Dorothy Bush Koch, the youngest child of the 41st president and first lady, spoke about her mother’s impact in transforming the White House into a “true home.”
Melania Trump, who has made few appearances in Washington during her husband’s first three months in office, celebrated Barbara Bush’s political and family life.
“Mrs. Bush’s legacy is marked by her respect for tradition while also breaking with convention,” Melania Trump said.
Other Bush children, George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, did not attend the event.
George W. Bush, who has kept a relatively low profile since leaving office, was in Washington for President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this year. He was seated near former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and former President Barack Obama.
But he has otherwise kept Trump, a fellow Republican, at arm’s length and the two have a history of mutual criticism.
ABC News reached out to George W. Bush’s office for comment on Thursday’s event.
George W. Bush didn’t endorse Trump in any of his presidential campaigns. In 2020, he said he didn’t vote for either Trump or Joe Biden, but rather wrote in Condoleezza Rice, who served as his secretary of state between 2005 and 2009.
He and his father, late President George H.W. Bush, were critical of Trump in a 2017 book, in which they expressed concern about his impact on the Republican Party and conservative values. In a rare public speech that same year, George W. Bush condemned the brand of politics embraced by Trump and his supporters, though didn’t explicitly mention Trump by name.
Barbara Bush once said of Trump, “I don’t understand why people are for him.”
Trump’s criticism of the Bush family ramped up during the 2016 Republican presidential primary as he went after Jeb Bush as “low energy.” He later bragged of beating the “Bush Dynasty” after his election victory.
Trump has also repeatedly criticized George W. Bush’s response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Iraq war.
“Bush led a failed and uninspiring presidency. He shouldn’t be lecturing anybody!” Trump said in 2021 after George W. Bush gave a 20th anniversary speech in which he warned domestic terrorism posed as much of a threat as foreign terrorists.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Army is planning a historic parade through the streets of Washington, D.C., on June 14 that will coincide with and be part of the Army’s long-planned 250th celebration.
The parade will involve some 6,600 soldiers, tanks and infantry vehicles, helicopter flyovers and parachute jumps, according to several people familiar with the planning effort, and will also occur on President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
“The Army is celebrating its 250th Birthday with multiple events leading up to June 14,” the Army said in a statement Friday evening. “The national level celebration will include a spectacular fireworks display, a parade, and a day-long festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The festival will feature displays of Army equipment, military demonstrations, musical performances, and a fitness competition.
“Given the significant milestone of 250 years, the Army is exploring options to make the celebration even bigger, with more capability demonstrations, additional displays of equipment, and more engagement with the community,” it added. “Parade planning is actively underway, and we anticipate approximately 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft, and 6,600 Soldiers to highlight the Army’s 250 years of service to the nation.”
Officials said earlier Friday that the parade had been a possible add-on but had cautioned that no final decisions had been made. The Associated Press first reported details involving the latest plans.
The timing and White House involvement in planning efforts have stoked speculation that Trump is using the Army’s birthday as an excuse to get the kind of grand military parade he wanted during his first term in office. That event was scrapped after estimates topped $90 million.
The cost for this year’s June 14 parade is unclear, officials said, but it will likely be steep. The event will require involvement from several federal agencies, including those requiring security. The Army plans to have soldiers from each of the its 10 divisions represented in the parade, according to a U.S. official.
Earlier this year, city officials expressed concern that heavy vehicles such as tanks would tear up the roads and noted the city would require significant reimbursement to fix any damaged infrastructure.
The tanks would not be allowed to cross the bridges from Virginia into Washington, D.C., only allowing them to operate inside the city along certain roads, according to one official familiar with the planning.
Last month, the Army confirmed the possibility of a parade but called it pre-decisional.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Student Borrower Protection Center,
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is requesting the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General review the Department of Government Efficiency’s alleged “infiltration” of the agency’s internal federal student loan database.
“The full extent of DOGE’s role and influence at ED remains unknown,” Warren wrote in a letter first obtained by ABC News.
“This lack of clarity is not only frustrating for borrowers but also dangerous for the future of an agency that handles an extensive student loan portfolio and a range of federal aid programs for higher education,” she added.
The internal federal student aid (FSA) systems handle the $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio for more than 40 million borrowers. It’s unclear whether DOGE has made any changes to student loan data.
“The Department is refusing to tell Americans who’s digging through their personal data and if their data is safe,” Warren wrote in a statement to ABC News. “I’m pushing for an independent investigation into what the Department of Education is hiding from us.”
The OIG office is the statutory, independent entity within the department responsible for identifying fraud, waste, abuse, and criminal activity involving department funds, programs, and operations, according to its website.
Warren and a group of Democratic senators, including Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., accuse the Department of Education of refusing to comply with her monthslong congressional investigation into what, if any, records have been accessed by DOGE employees that could be sensitive.
“[The Education Department] further refused to disclose any information about the scope of DOGE’s access to sensitive student borrower data, including whether or not DOGE was granted access to the National Student Loan Data System or any other database that holds sensitive federal student loan borrower data,” they wrote in the letter to Department of Education Acting Inspector General René L. Rocque.
Billionaire Elon Musk and the DOGE team gained access to several federal agencies earlier this year. The team was tasked to slash federal spending and help dismantle the education department.
At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the department’s fiscal year 2026 budget last month, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the DOGE employees working at the department had the same access any of the agency’s employees would be granted.
McMahon has also said that DOGE was conducting a “solid audit” of the agency and she appreciates their work to help identify waste, fraud and abuse.
The news comes ahead of Warren’s first ever meeting with McMahon. Warren sent McMahon dozens of questions ahead of the meeting as she hopes to discuss student loan repayment and forbearances, access to student aid and debt relief, among other topics.
However, in February, Warren opened an investigation into DOGE’s influence at the agency. The department’s responses to her investigation did not indicate how a DOGE employee who previously had “read-only access” to files had those privileges “revoked,” whether this employee has “retained access” to any other internal databases, and what actions the agency has done to ensure that sensitive information would not be “released or misused,” according to Warren’s letter to the inspector general.
In its responses, the department said it couldn’t answer the senator’s questions due to “ongoing litigations,” the letter added.
“These responses failed to diminish our concerns about borrowers’ privacy and whether the Department may have violated the law or the federal government’s procedures in handling this data,” senators wrote in the letter.
ABC News reached out to the Education Department and the White House about DOGE’s access to borrower data but did not receive a reply before this story was published.
In April, Warren launched her “Save Our Schools” campaign in opposition to President Donald Trump’s and McMahon’s efforts to dismantle the department. The senator has previously investigated the firing of FSA employees and how a reduction in staff at the agency could have “dire consequences” for borrowers.
“ED should immediately restore all fired [Federal Student Aid] employees responsible for reviewing student aid complaints and refrain from taking any measures to deter the submission of complaints,” Warren and a group of Democratic senators wrote in a letter to McMahon in March.
Recently, congressional Democrats insisted McMahon cooperate with a separate inspector general review of the administration’s plan to shutter the smallest Cabinet-level agency. A group of lawmakers on the Education and Workforce, Oversight, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Appropriations committees in the House and Senate sent the secretary a letter requesting she comply with the federal watchdog.
“The OIG must be allowed to do its job,” they wrote. “We urge the Department to immediately meet its obligation under the law to fully comply with the OIG’s review.
“Congress and the public need to understand the full extent and impact of the Administration’s actions on the Department and the students, families, and educational communities it may no longer be able to serve,” they added.
McMahon’s “final mission” as the 13th education secretary is to abolish the department, but the administration’s first steps to diminish the agency was denied in a federal appeals court loss last week.
The Department of Education has since filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his goal to conduct mass deportations in some of the country’s biggest cities, specifically those run by Democrats.
As he met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 summit in Alberta on Monday, Trump said Immigration and Customs Enforcement should turn its attention to New York and Chicago in addition to Los Angeles.
“I want them to focus on the cities because the cities are where you really have what’s called ‘sanctuary cities,'” Trump told reporters. “And that’s where the people are.”
The comments came after Trump’s lengthy social media post on Sunday in which said he was ordering ICE to do “all in their power” to oversee the largest mass deportation program in history.
“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities,” Trump wrote.
The president said those cities are “the core of the Democrat Power Center” and accused Democrats of using illegal immigration to influence elections — despite the fact that noncitizens can’t vote in federal or state elections and instances where it occurs are rare. He also claimed without evidence that illegal immigrants were being used to “grow the Welfare State.”
“To ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, the Patriots at Pentagon and the State Department, you have my unwavering support. Now go, GET THE JOB DONE!” Trump wrote in the post.
Trump’s determination on deportations follows protests in LA and in other areas around the country last week to his administration’s immigration crackdown. This past Saturday, immigration was one focus of nationwide “No Kings Day” demonstrations against Trump and his policies that drew thousands of people.
Amid the pushback, Trump last week shifted his stance on undocumented immigrants who work in the farming and hospitality industries.
Trump acknowledged on social media that his “aggressive policy” was “taking very good, long time workers away.” The Department of Homeland Security later confirmed they received new guidance to pause most raids on farms, restaurants and hotels.
“Our farmers are being hurt badly, they have good workers that have worked for them for 20 years. They are not citizens, but turned out to be great. We will do something about that,” Trump said at a White House event last week.
Such comments undercut what he and his top officials have said would be a focus on the “worst of the worst” violent or criminal offenders in their deportation efforts.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
