Trump calls Biden’s letter to him ‘very nice,’ says may make letter public
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump says he has opened the letter former President Joe Biden left for him in Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, calling it “very nice” and suggesting he might make it public.
“Just basically, it was a little bit of an inspirational type of letter, you know? ‘Joy, do a good job. Important, very important, how important the job is.’ But I may, I think it was a nice letter. I think I should let people see it, because it was a positive for him, in writing it, I appreciated the letter,” Trump told reporters Tuesday evening.
Trump appeared to discover the letter Biden left for him on Monday evening in the Oval Office when speaking with reporters.
When one asked whether he’d found the letter, Trump opened the drawer of the desk and found the letter, apparently for the first time. It was in a small white envelope with “47” written on the front and underlined.
“It could have been years before we found this thing. Wow, thank you,” Trump said.
Biden continued the tradition of leaving a letter for his successor — one Trump continued in 2020 when he left after his first term, turning over the office to Biden.
Trump also reflected on his return to the Oval Office, when asked by ABC News about how it felt to be back in the White House.
“What a great feeling, one of the better feelings I’ve ever had,” Trump said.
(WASHINGTON) — Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, submitted her resignation Thursday, according to a source familiar with the move. Multiple members of the office where the case was to be reassigned have resigned as well.
Sassoon sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi informing her of her decision to resign.
Sassoon’s resignation followed days of tension between the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and leaders in the Justice Department over the bribery and campaign finance case against Mayor Eric Adams.
On Jan. 31, Sassoon was drawn into a conversation at DOJ headquarters in Washington about the future of the case. The meeting included the mayor’s defense attorney, Alex Spiro.
On Monday, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo that told Sassoon, “You are directed, as authorized by the Attorney General, to dismiss the pending charges in United States v. Adams.”
To date, the office has not filed a motion to dismiss with the court.
The failure to immediately heed the directive irked DOJ leadership, including Bove and Bondi.
“That case should be dropped. It was dead at the directive of Emil so that case should be dropped,” Bondi told reporters on Wednesday.
The Justice Department planned to remove the prosecutors handling the mayor’s case and reassign it to the Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C. However, as soon the Public Integrity Section was informed it would be taking over, John Keller, the acting head of the unit, and his boss, Kevin Driscoll, the senior most career official in the criminal division resigned, according to multiple sources.
It is now unclear who will take over the Adams case and how soon it might be dropped, the sources said.
Adams had pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that accused him of accepting years of luxury travel gifts in exchange for, among other things, persuading the fire department to approve the opening of the new Turkish consulate in Manhattan despite the lingering safety concerns of inspectors.
In a letter to the Southern District of New York on Monday, Bove questioned the timing of when the charges were brought, suggesting the case was part of the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department, according to sources at the time.
Bove also said the case adversely affected Adams’ ability to help the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the sources added.
Federal prosecutors were instructed to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning it could come up again. However, Bove wrote nothing could happen until after this year’s mayoral election.
Despite that threat, Spiro expressed confidence Adams would not be prosecuted.
“There is no looming threat,” Spiro said at a press conference Wednesday. “This case is over.”
Any motion to dismiss the case would have to be formally filed in court and reviewed by the judge.
(WASHINGTON) — Pam Bondi has developed a reputation as one of President-elect Donald Trump’s most loyal defenders — a vocal political and legal advocate who represented Trump during his first impeachment, boosted his efforts to sow doubts about his 2020 election loss, and stood by him during his New York criminal trial.
After more than a decade of defending him, Bondi is now the president-elect’s nominee to be the country’s top prosecutor and reform the Department of Justice as his nominee for attorney general.
The role of the country’s top law enforcement officer gives Bondi an opportunity to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to transform the DOJ that has investigated and prosecuted him for the last two years, with Bondi vowing to “clean house” prosecute members of the so-called “deep state.”
“When Republicans take back the White House, and we will be back in there in 18 months or less, you know what’s going to happen? The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted — the bad ones — the investigators will be investigated,” Bondi said on Fox News in 2023.
On Wednesday, Bondi will kick off two days of hearings to secure confirmation as the next attorney general, as lawmakers prepare to question her over her extensive legal, political and lobbying background — and whether her longtime loyalty to Trump will impact her oversight of the nation’s top law enforcement agencies.
If confirmed, Bondi would lead a Department of Justice staffed at the highest levels by Trump’s former defense attorneys and facing a potential morale and resignation crisis by the career prosecutors who carry the bulk of the department’s workload.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote in his announcement of Bondi for attorney general.
What is Bondi’s law enforcement background?
While Bondi lacks any federal prosecutorial experience, she was a county prosecutor in Florida before serving two terms as Florida’s attorney general between 2011 and 2019 — the state’s first female AG — where she fought in court to challenge Obamacare and uphold Florida’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
In his announcement, Trump touted Bondi’s work combating the trafficking of fentanyl and reducing overdose deaths. Bondi’s office sued multiple drug manufacturers as well as pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS for their role in the opioid crisis, alleging the companies worked together to increase the supply and demand for the drugs while downplaying the risk of addiction. Her office claimed that efforts to shut down pill mills led to a 52% decline in oxycodone deaths statewide.
Bondi’s time as Florida attorney general was not without controversy, garnering criticism for her attempt to delay the execution of a man convicted of murder because of a conflict with a campaign fundraiser. Both Bondi and Trump also attracted criticism during the 2016 race over a $25,000 contribution that the Trump Foundation made in 2013 to a political group backing Bondi’s reelection campaign.
The contribution came days after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a lawsuit against Trump University, which Bondi’s office considered joining. The office had received at least 22 complaints regarding Trump University and related entities between 2008 and 2011, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed a complaint that the donation was a violation of rules prohibiting nonprofit foundations from making political donations.
One month after the donation, Bondi’s office declined to join New York’s lawsuit, justifying the decision by noting that Florida consumers would still be compensated if Schneiderman won his lawsuit.
Both Trump and Bondi have denied that the donation was related to the lawsuit. The Trump Foundation eventually paid a $2,500 penalty to the IRS for improperly reporting the donation.
Trump University and the Trump Foundation were closed following multiple lawsuits, and a judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million for misusing his foundation.
What has she done in the private sector?
After leaving office in 2019, Bondi joined the lobbying firm Ballard Partners – the same firm that once employed Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles – where she represented major corporate clients like Amazon, General Motors, Uber and the private prison company the GEO Group, among others.
On her Senate questionnaire, Bondi also listed several foreign governments she lobbied on behalf of while at Ballard, including the Dominican Republic, Qatar, Zimbabwe and Kosovo. Senate Democrats have pushed for more information over Bondi’s foreign lobbying work to determine any potential conflicts of interest that might surface should she be confirmed as attorney general.
Beyond her work as a lobbyist, Bondi solidified her reputation as a Trump loyalist by defending him on the floor of the Senate during his first impeachment and helping his efforts to discredit the 2020 election results.
Hired by the Trump administration in November 2019 during his first impeachment, Bondi used her role to raise doubts about then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s role with the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, alleging it was a conflict of interest with his father’s position in the Obama administration.
Bondi served as an adviser on Trump’s 2020 campaign, helping file a string of unsuccessful lawsuits alleging voter fraud and pushing to delegitimize vote counting in Pennsylvania.
“We do have evidence of cheating,” Bondi told Fox News. “We are still on the ground in Pennsylvania. I am here right now, and we are not going anywhere until they declare that we won Pennsylvania.”
Despite her legal efforts, Trump lost the state and the 2020 election to Biden.
What will Bondi inherit at the Department of Justice?
Trump announced Bondi as his nominee for attorney general almost immediately after former Rep. Matt Gaetz announced he was withdrawing his nomination for the position amid increasing questions about sexual misconduct and other allegations that were later detailed in a report from the House Ethics Committee.
Several career officials who spoke to ABC News following the initial announcement of Gaetz’s nomination, however, said it put on full display Trump’s intentions for the Justice Department after years of battling prosecutors from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office. Nearly every other major nominee put forward thus far by Trump for a leadership position at DOJ served as his defense attorney in at least one of the criminal cases he faced after leaving the White House.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to use the DOJ to target his political opponents while issuing sweeping pardons for the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The career officials who spoke to ABC News described such actions as nightmare scenarios directly compromising the traditional independence of the Justice Department, which could prompt many career officials to resign.
Attorney General Merrick Garland in recent weeks has repeatedly messaged to DOJ’s career workforce that they should remain and carry out their duties in accordance with the Constitution and longstanding department norms of political independence.
The overt threats by Trump and his allies to clean house of any officials who had significant involvement in the investigations led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, however, have already led some career officials to head to the exits — including some who have reached out to attorneys in recent weeks for potential legal representation should they ultimately be targeted by the incoming administration.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s rapid reshaping of the federal government continues with executive orders and action from his acting agency heads.
Federal departments face a 5 p.m. deadline Tuesday to cease spending on any financial assistance programs, according to a memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. More firings of career officials at the Justice Department unfolded on Monday and Trump signed four military executive orders, one targeting transgender service members.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined immigration enforcement operations in New York. More Trump Cabinet nominees, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, will face highly-anticipated confirmation hearings later this week.
EPA temporarily pauses disbursement of federal financial aid
The Environmental Protection Agency is “temporarily pausing” its disbursement of federal financial aid in response to the order from the White House Office of Management and Budget, the agency confirmed in a statement to ABC News.
The EPA grants fund a wide array of national, state and tribal programs, including some to assist with air and water quality. A list of its grant programs can be found here.
The agency said it is “continuing to work with OMB as they review processes, policies, and programs, as required by the memorandum.”
-ABC News’ Kelly Livingston
Karoline Leavitt, youngest WH press secretary, to hold 1st briefing
Karoline Leavitt will make her first appearance behind the podium in the James S. Brady briefing room on Tuesday.
Leavitt, 27, is the youngest White House press secretary in history. She served as the spokesperson for Trump’s 2024 campaign and transition team.
On Monday, she held her first gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One. There, she fielded questions on Trump’s upcoming moves on FEMA and his attempts to end birthright citizenship. She’ll face more questions, likely about Trump’s recent actions regarding the military and federal aid programs, at 1 p.m.
Trump weighs in on possible deal for Microsoft to buy TikTok
President Donald Trump discussed a possible deal for Microsoft to buy TikTok while speaking with reporters by phone from Air Force One on Monday evening.
Trump was asked whether Microsoft was in discussions to acquire the embattled social media app amid its looming U.S. ban deadline.
“I would say yes,” Trump said, before adding, “A lot of interest in TikTok, there’s great interest there.”
When asked whether he liked the idea of a bidding war for the app, Trump said he likes bidding wars.
“I like bidding wars because you make your best deal,” he said.
“It’s very clear, if I sign, then somebody’s going to buy it, pay a lot of money, have a lot of jobs, keep a platform open and have it be very secure. If I don’t sign, then it closes,” Trump added of TikTok’s future in America.
He was asked about what other companies were looking to buy the app, and he declined to respond but said that they are all “top of the line.”
White House budget office suspends federal financial aid programs for internal review
The White House budget office is ordering federal agencies to cease any financial assistance spending if they suspect the program might conflict with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
In a memo obtained by ABC News, Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office and Management and Budget, told agency chiefs that they must report back by Feb. 10 on all programs that apply.
“The memo requires federal agencies to identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements,” according to the document.
The memo says it is directed at programs providing “financial assistance for foreign aid, non-governmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology and the Green New Deal.”
The order does not specify which financial aid programs would have to be suspended, although it could have sweeping implications. The federal government funds thousands of programs, including research programs, housing subsidies and educational grants.
Quakers sue to keep ICE out of houses of worship
Five Quaker congregations sued the Department of Homeland Security on Monday over last week’s policy reversal that allows immigration agents to conduct searches and arrests in so-called “sensitive areas” like churches and schools.
The Quaker groups, known as the Religious Society of Friends, alleged that the policy change harms their congregations by deterring immigrants from worshipping in person, violating their First Amendment rights to freely associate and exercise religion.
“Allowing armed government agents wearing ICE-emblazoned jackets to park outside a religious service and monitor who enters or to interrupt the service and drag a congregant out during the middle of worship is anathema to Quaker religious exercise,” the federal lawsuit filed in Maryland said.
Quaker worship generally involves multiple congregants sitting together in silence to await a message from God, which can be received and shared by anyone in attendance, according to the lawsuit.
“Being able to receive those messages is fundamental to Quaker religious exercise,” the lawsuit said.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said in a statement announcing the policy change on Jan. 24. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous, James Hill and Laura Romero
Trump says he wants to deport ‘repeat offenders’ in US legally
Trump said Monday he wants to deport repeat criminal offenders who are in the U.S. legally, offering that they be held in foreign jails.
“I don’t want these violent repeat offenders in our country any more than I want illegal aliens from other countries who misbehave,” Trump said during his remarks at the House GOP retreat.
“This is subject to getting it approved, but if they’ve been arrested many, many times, they’re repeat offenders by many numbers, I want them out of our country,” he added. “We’ll be seeking permission to do so. We’re going to get approval hopefully to get them the hell out of our country along with others.”
Trump suggested that they could be maintained in a foreign country “for a very small fee.”
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
ICE arrests 1,179 undocumented immigrants on Monday
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it arrested 1,179 undocumented immigrants on Monday.
That marks an increase from Sunday, when the agency said it made 956 such arrests.
ICE is operating at an increased tempo since the new administration took office.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Trump says DeepSeek is a ‘wake-up call’ for American companies
During his remarks at the House GOP retreat, Trump discussed the emergence of Chinese AI technology DeepSeek, saying it should be a “wake-up call” for American companies.
“The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win, because we have the greatest scientists in the world, even Chinese leadership told me that,” Trump said.
He also cast the technology as an “asset” for how it could revolutionize technology due to its less-expensive method.
Trump said that he hoped American companies could come up with the “same solutions” without investing billions of dollars and repeated his promise to “unleash” American tech companies to “dominate the future.”
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
CDC officials told to cease communications with the WHO
Public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been told to cease communications with the World Health Organization, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to ABC News.
This comes after Trump signed an executive order on his first day of office ordering the withdrawal of the U.S. from the WHO. The U.S. is the biggest financial contributor to the global public health organization and public health experts immediately denounced the move as a risk to national security and pandemic outbreak prevention.
Any country’s withdrawal from the WHO is supposed to be preceded by a one year advance notice, which experts interpreted Trump’s executive order to serve as. But the recent order for CDC public health officials to immediately stop communicating with their WHO counterparts suggests that Trump is not adhering to those governing rules.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Trump addresses new executive orders on the military
Trump said “in a little while” he will be signing four new executive orders addressing the military, during his remarks at a retreat of House Republicans at his Doral golf resort in Miami on Monday.
One will direct Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “immediately begin” the construction of an “Iron Dome” missile defense shield, a nod to the Israeli missile defense system.
“We protect other countries, but we don’t protect ourselves,” he said.
Trump said his administration will also “get transgender ideology the hell out of military” and “stop our service members from being indoctrinated with radical left ideologies such as critical race theory.”
Trump didn’t go into detail, though the White House earlier Monday said that Trump is expected to sign an order directing the Department of Defense to update its guidance “regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”
The order will also end the use of pronouns in the Department of Defense and will also prohibit males from “sharing sleeping, changing, or bathing in facilities designated for females.”
Another order that Trump is expected to sign takes aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. The order will ban the use of “discriminatory race- or sex-based preferences,” according to a fact sheet about the move.
Trump also addressed another order that will offer a “full reinstatement” to service members who were expelled from the armed forces due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Scott Bessent confirmed as treasury secretary
The Senate on Monday evening confirmed Scott Bessent to serve as secretary of treasury by a vote of 68-29.
Bessent becomes the fifth member of Trump’s team to be confirmed by the Senate, following Marco Rubio, John Ratcliffe, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem.
The Senate is now taking a test vote on Sean Duffy’s nomination to lead the Department of Transportation. He’s expected to easily clear this procedural hurdle to tee up a final vote likely on Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Trump: ‘Am I allowed to run again?’
During his remarks at a retreat of House Republicans at his Doral golf resort in Miami on Monday, Trump raised the questiion whether he could run for a third term.
“I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100% sure, because I don’t know,” he said to some laughs in the crowd. “I think I’m not allowed to run again. I’m not sure, am I allowed to run again?”
Last week, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn. introduced a House joint resolution to allow a president to be elected for no more than three terms, instead of two.
Air Force chief of staff releases statement on Tuskegee Airmen videos
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin wrote a statement Monday regarding curricula on the Tuskegee Airmen and women pilots, saying no such material has been removed from basic military training.
“Allow me to clearly dispel a rumor — while we are currently reviewing all training courses to ensure compliance with the Executive Orders, no curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed from Basic Military Training,” Allvin wrote. “The historic legacy and decorated valor these Airmen embodied during World War II and beyond will continue to guide our newest recruits and all who serve in our ranks.”
The statement comes after an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press that training courses with such videos were removed last week after Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI initiatives in the federal government. The Air Force later clarified to the AP that the courses were edited but that the Tuskegee Airmen and WASP content would still be shown.
Allvin also said in his own statement on Monday that the Air Force is “faithfully executing” all of Trump’s executive orders, including on DEI.
JD Vance surveys hurricane damage in Virginia
Vice President JD Vance’s first official trip since taking office was to Damascus, Virginia, to survey damage from last year’s devastating Hurricane Helene.
In remarks alongside Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Vance said he was heartened by the stories he’s heard on the ground of “good people helping their neighbors rebuild.”
Without providing evidence, he also criticized the federal response to the flooding, claiming federal agencies had acted as “a barrier, as opposed to a facilitator” of getting resources into the communities who needed it.
This comes on President Donald Trump’s assessment of storm damage in North Carolina last Friday. During that visit, he floated getting rid of FEMA. He also signed two executive orders Friday that focused on emergency response, one of which creates a task force to conduct a “a full-scale review” of FEMA.
Vance was asked about what changes he would like to see made to FEMA, including possibly eliminating the agency. Vance did not mention the agency being terminated, which Trump could not do unilaterally, but once again reinforced the idea that bureaucrats were getting in the way of rebuilding.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Trump spoke with India’s Modi
President Donald Trump spoke with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, continuing his calls with foreign leaders since taking office. Trump’s first call was to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump and Modi discussed “expanding and deepening cooperation” between their countries along with “a range of regional issues, including security in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe,” the White House said.
“The President emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” according to a readout of the call.
The two leaders also talked about plans for Modi to visit the White House. The prime minister visited the White House as well as former President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington during the previous administration and made visits to the White House during the first Trump administration.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Mexico’s received 4,094 migrants deported from US, president says
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country has received 4,094 migrants, most of whom are Mexican nationals, deported from the U.S. since Jan. 20.
“Mexico has a very important history of repatriation with the United States. First with the Trump administration and then with the Biden administration. There are coordination mechanisms,” Sheinbaum said. “We ask for respect for human rights.”
Sheinbaum said four planes with deportees arrived this past weekend. But she noted it has happened in the past and that there has not been “a sustained increase” of deportations.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
VA says 60 employees placed on leave after DEI order implementation
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced it has completed its initial implementation of ending its DEI program, which has included placing nearly 60 employees on paid administrative leave. The release said the employees in question had been solely focused on DEI initiatives.
According to the release, the combined annual salary of those employees totals more than $8 million, an average of more than $136,000/year per employee. One such employee is making more than $220,000 per year.”
Additionally, the VA has identified other DEI-related expenses totaling more than $6.1 million, which the department said it is working to cancel.
This comes after President Donald Trump signed an order last week to eliminate DEI initiatives in the federal government. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier Monday indicated Trump would take more executive action toward “fully removing DEI inside the Pentagon.”
-ABC News’ Nathan Luna
Trump to sign executive order reinstating service members removed for refusing COVID vaccine
President Donald Trump will sign two executive orders relating to the military, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
The first executive order Trump is expected to sign will reinstate service members removed from the military for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, restore their rank, and provide back pay.
The second executive order directs the Department of Defense to determine a policy regarding transgender service members based on readiness. It does not put an immediate ban on trans service members. It simply directs the DOD to come up with a policy.
Last week, Trump revoked a Biden administration order allowing transgender people to serve in the military.
– ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Trump cabinet confirmation hearings this week
All eyes will be on the Senate this week as confirmation hearings continue for Trump’s cabinet choices.
Health and Human Services pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be facing the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, FBI nominee Kash Patel’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee will take place, in addition to Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard’s hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Army Secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll’s confirmation will also be voted on Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Texas Gov. Abbott to send 400 troops, military resources to Rio Grande Valley
Texas Gov. Abbott is sending an additional 400 soldiers from military bases in Forth Worth and Houston to assist Border Patrol and the Trump administration’s mission to “secure the border.”
The 400 soldiers join the thousands of troops Abbott has already deployed under his border mission, Operation Lone Star.
In addition to troops, he’ll also be sending C-130s and Chinook helicopters.
“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” Abbott said in a statement, thanking Trump for his “decisive leadership on the southern border.”
– ABC News’ Armando Garcia
Hegseth responds after uproar over removal of Tuskegee Airmen video
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday had to respond to criticism after videos of Tuskegee Airmen and Women Air Force Service Pilots were removed from basic training courses, according to a report from Reuters.
An official told Reuters the videos were removed pending a review to comply with Trump’s order to eliminate DEI efforts in the federal government. Hegseth, too, has made eliminating DEI from the military a top priority.
But uproar quickly grew over the removal of the videos, including from Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt. Britt called the removal of the videos “malicious compliance” that had to be corrected.
“We’re all over it Senator. This will not stand,” Hegseth said in response. Hours later, he posted, “This has been immediately reversed.”
Reuters reported on Sunday that the Air Force said the videos will be taught.
Trump signs executive orders for ‘full-scale review’ of FEMA, seeks control over California water system
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Friday focused on emergency response, one which creates a task force to conduct a “a full-scale review” of FEMA to “recommend to the President improvements or structural changes to promote the national interest and enable national resilience.”
The task force — which is intended to be no larger than 20 people — is expected to “meet regularly” for a year. Among the directives in the order is to evaluate “whether FEMA can serve its functions as a support agency, providing supplemental Federal assistance, to the States rather than supplanting State control of disaster relief.”
They could recommend that FEMA be dismantled, but Congress would need to act in order to do away with the agency.
The second executive order, called “Emergency Measures To Provide Water Resources In California And Improve Disaster Response In Certain Areas,” calls for a plan for the federal government to assert power over California’s water system.
One section outlines actions for the government to go around state and federal law to more directly assert control of California’s water management — though it’s not clear how much of an impact this order will have.
– ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Pete Hegseth arrives for 1st full day at Pentagon as defense secretary
Arriving for his first full day at the Pentagon as defense secretary, Pete Hegseth stopped to talk to reporters to lay out some of his priorities.
“It’s an honor to be here,” Hegseth said after being greeted by Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hegseth said that would include removing DEI efforts inside the Pentagon, reinstating service members discharged because of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and building an Iron Dome — though experts have said the latter may not be realistic for the U.S.
He also said the Pentagon would provide “whatever’s needed” at the southern border as Trump carries out his immigration crackdown.
Hegseth previously suggested the firing of Brown as well as other senior officers who were involved either in the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan or “woke” DEI initiatives.
Asked on Monday if he wants to fire Brown, Hegseth said: “I’m standing with him right now. Look forward to working with him.”
