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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Senior Trump administration officials have discussed war plans and other highly sensitive and likely classified data in a Signal group chat that mistakenly included the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, the White House confirmed yesterday. Goldberg’s account describes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sharing of the operational plans of U.S. attacks in Yemen as “shockingly reckless.” President Trump claimed he “does not know anything” about the incident, while Hegseth stated that “nobody was texting war plans.” Michael Martina and Steve Holland report for Reuters; BBC News reports.
National Security Advisor Mike Walz’s future is in question after he seemingly inadvertently included the journalist in the Signal chat discussing military strikes on the Houthis, a senior administration official said yesterday. Walz’s ultimate fate will likely depend on how Trump personally feels about the matter, a White House official added. Dasha Burns, Rachel Bade, and Eli Stokols report for POLITICO.
Trump yesterday announced Alina Habba would leave her current role as a White House counselor to serve as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Habba, the President’s former personal attorney and campaign adviser, has previously been fined, threatened with contempt of court, and judicially reprimanded while representing Trump. Shayna Jacobs reports for the Washington Post.
Trump yesterday announced his nomination of Susan Monarez, the current acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to lead the agency permanently. If approved, Monarez will be the first nonphysician to lead the agency in more than 50 years. Apoorva Mandavilli and Sheryl Gay Stolberg report for the New York Times.
Louis DeJoy yesterday announced his resignation as U.S. Postmaster General effective immediately, with Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino taking over in the interim. David Shepardson reports for Reuters.
The Social Security Administration is rushing cuts to its phone services at the White House’s request, the agency’s acting Commissioner Leland Dudek told Social Security advocates yesterday. Emily Peck reports for Axios.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Several Democrats yesterday called for Pete Hegseth’s resignation over the Trump administration’s extraordinary security breach that involved using Signal to discuss war plans and mistakenly including a journalist in the group, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for a “full investigation” into the incident. The Republican response was more muted, with some criticisms, but several GOP Congress members downplayed the seriousness of the leak. Miranda Jeyaretnam reports for the Times; Al Weaver and Mychael Schnell report for the Hill.
The FBI has created a task force to investigate attacks on Tesla cars and dealerships, FBI Director Kash Patel announced yesterday. Separately, Justice Department and Homeland Security Department officials last week warned in an intelligence assessment that law enforcement agencies should not conflate vandalism with “constitutionally protected activity” directed at Musk. Jason Lalljee reports for Axios; Glenn Thrush reports for the New York Times.
The New York Times yesterday denounced “intimidation tactics” employed by Trump against its reporters in a social media post following the Trump administration’s criticism of the news outlet after it broke the story that Elon Musk was to receive a briefing on the top-secret military plans last week. David Bauder reports for AP News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
The U.N. will “reduce its footprint” in Gaza by removing approximately a third of its 100 international staffers in the territory after a strike last week killed one of its workers and wounded five others, U.N. Secretary-General spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said yesterday. Dujarric said that based on “currently available” information, Israel was responsible for the deadly strike. Wafaa Shurafa, Edith M. Lederer, and Lee Keath report for AP News.
The Israeli military yesterday said its forces fired at an International Red Cross building in Rafah due to “incorrect identification.” While no injuries were reported, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the attack had directly impacted its ability to operate. Reuters reports.
Israeli strikes killed at least 23 people overnight in Gaza, Palestinian medics said today. AP News reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
Yesterday’s United States-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia were “challenging but useful,” a member of the Russian delegation told Moscow’s state-controlled TASS news agency, adding that the United Nations and other countries will be involved in additional discussions. The two countries are expected to publish a joint statement later today, although the Kremlin said that the contents of discussions would not be made public. Reuters reports; BBC News reports.
Ukrainian and U.S. delegations met in Saudi Arabia today, following earlier Russia-United States talks on a limited Black Sea ceasefire proposal. A White House source said a “positive announcement” is expected “in the near future.” Reuters reports.
Republican Sens. Todd Young (IN) and Lindsey Graham (NC), as well as Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (CT) and Tim Kaine (VA) are pushing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to transfer more than $300 billion of seized Russian assets to help Ukraine rather than use just the debt’s interest to support Kyiv, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Patricia Zengerle reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy wounded 99 people, including 23 children, local officials said yesterday. James Gregory and Frank Gardner report for BBC News.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump yesterday issued an executive order empowering the Secretary of State to impose a 25% tariff on all goods imported into the United States from any country that directly or indirectly imports Venezuelan oil. The Trump administration also gave Chevron another two months to produce oil in Venezuela and sell it to the United States. Ana Swanson, Rebecca F. Elliott, and Alan Rappeport report for the New York Times.
A failure to restore or replace funding frozen by the United States could result in 2,000 new HIV infections a day across the world and a ten-fold increase in related deaths, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said yesterday. Olivia Le Poidevin reports for Reuters.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The Israeli army yesterday arrested Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” after Ballal was attacked by a group of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, according to activists and Ballal’s neighbor. As of this morning, Ballal was still missing, a lawyer said. The IDF said that it arrested three Palestinians and one Israeli after a “mutual” violent clash. Claire Parker and Herb Scribner report for the Washington Post; AP News reports.
Turkish police have detained more than 1,100 people during protests over the jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu between March 19 and March 23, the Turkish interior minister said yesterday. Niamh Kennedy and Nadeen Ebrahim report for CNN.
Chad’s foreign ministry has condemned a senior Sudanese general’s threat to target its airports over allegations of the United Arab Emirates using them to supply weapons to the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, describing it as a “declaration of war” and warning that it would respond if “a square metre of Chadian territory is threatened.” Barbara Plett Usher reports for BBC News.
South Sudan is teetering on the edge of renewed civil war, U.N. Special Representative for South Sudan Nicholas Haysom said yesterday. Edith M. Lederer reports for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday issued a preliminary injunction barring senior officials at the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management from sharing sensitive data with DOGE and Musk while a privacy lawsuit is pending. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.
The Trump administration yesterday declared that the disclosure of any further information about three flights of Venezuelan migrants it sent to El Salvador would jeopardize state secrets, stating that the court reviewing the challenge to the deportation “has all the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before it.” Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage report for the New York Times.
Acting Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris yesterday filed an emergency appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block a federal judge’s ruling requiring the administration to rehire about 16,000 federal workers at a half-dozen agencies. Justin Jouvenal reports for the Washington Post.
Lawyers hired by the Venezuelan government yesterday asked the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice to evaluate the legality of the detention of the Venezuelans the United States sent to the mega-prison in El Salvador. Merlin Delcid and Michael Rios report for CNN.
A teachers union and the NAACP, along with others, yesterday filed two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the Department of Education. Alan Blinder and Michael C. Bender report for the New York Times.
A Korean-American Columbia University student who holds permanent U.S. resident status and has participated in pro-Palestine protests yesterday sued the Trump administration to prevent her deportation. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.
An appeals judge yesterday suggested that “Nazis got better treatment” than the men deported to an El Salvador prison last month, commenting on the administration lawyers’ contention that U.S. officials did not have to give the migrants time to request court hearings before they are removed from the country during a hearing. The judge’s comment referred to U.S. hearing boards established to determine the status of suspected Nazis under the Alien Enemies Act during World War II. Perry Stein and Jeremy Roebuck report for the Washington Post.
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