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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
President Trump yesterday signed an executive order aiming to end collective bargaining rights for government employees whose work includes national security aspects. The American Federation of Government Employees union said the move would affect the rights of more than 1 million federal workers. Kaanita Iyer and Tami Luhby report for CNN.
Trump yesterday also signed executive orders instructing federal agencies to end all contracts with law firm WilmerHale and directing Vice President J.D. Vance to lead an effort to eliminate content from Smithsonian museums that does not show the United States’ “extraordinary heritage.” The WilmerHale order cites the firm’s ties to Robert Mueller, who investigated allegations of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. Brianna Tucker reports for the Washington Post; Brett Samuels reports for the Hill.
Federal agencies are preparing to cut between 8 and 50% of their employees to give effect to the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal government, according to an internal White House document obtained by the Washington Post. Separately, the Health and Human Services Department yesterday announced it is cutting 10,000 full-time employees. Emily Davies and Jeff Stein report; Meg Tirrell, Tami Luhby, Brenda Goodman, and Jamie Gumbrecht report for CNN.
The Trump administration is considering merging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and making major changes to the Justice Department’s public integrity, fraud, and community relations sections, according to an internal memo. Devlin Barrett and Glenn Thrush report for the New York Times.
A Homeland Security Department staffer who inadvertently sent unclassified details of an upcoming immigration operation to a journalist is facing the revocation of her security clearance and has been put on administrative leave, sources say. Experts say the episode raises questions about unequal punishment for inadvertent leakers. Julia Ainsley reports for NBC News.
The State Department has now revoked more than 300 students’ visas over taking part in pro-Palestine protests, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday. Ali Bianco reports for POLITICO.
The Trump administration says it has restored funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Open Technology Fund following the groups’ challenge to an attempt to withdraw the funds. An attorney representing the technology fund said the group will drop its lawsuit after the administration follows on its commitment. Zach Schonefeld reports for the Hill.
DOGE employees are to preserve their Signal messages under a new “records retention policy” adopted on Monday, court documents show. Kyle Cheney reports for POLITICO.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump yesterday said he is withdrawing his nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., amid Republican concerns about holding onto their slim majority in the House. Trump said that Stefanik would “rejoin the House Leadership Team” without specifying the capacity in which she would serve. Tamara Keith reports for NPR.
Israel has supplied sensitive intelligence from a source in Yemen on a Houthi military operative targeted in the strikes discussed in a Signal groupchat that included a journalist, U.S. officials say. Israeli officials have since complained privately to U.S. officials that the information became public, a U.S. official added. Nancy A. Youssef, Alexander Ward, and Michael R. Gordon report for the Wall Street Journal.
Iran has responded to a letter from Trump urging Tehran to enter negotiations on a deal to curb the country’s advancing nuclear program, the Iranian foreign minister said yesterday, adding that while Iran will not enter direct negotiations, it might be open to indirect talks. Farnaz Fassihi reports for the New York Times.
The Trump administration will provide $73 million in new financial aid to the U.N. World Food Programme support for Rohingya refugees, a State Department spokesperson said yesterday. Separately, the administration has terminated most funding for the Syrian White Helmets civil and humanitarian organization, according to internal documents. Reuters reports; Jennifer Hansler reports for CNN.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said he expressed concern to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan over protests and detentions that followed the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest political rival. Humeyra Pamuk reports for Reuters.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Justice Department yesterday announced the arrest of a Salvadoran man Attorney General Pam Bondi described as one of the top three MS-13 gang leaders in the United States. Court records show the man was charged with being in the country illegally while possessing a gun and contain scant reference to specific gang-related activity. Jeremy Roebuck, Salvador Rizzo, and Peter Hermann report for the Washington Post.
The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Jack Reed (D-RI) yesterday said they had asked the Acting Defense Department Inspector General, Steven Stebbins, to investigate the Trump administration’s use of the Signal to discuss sensitive attack plans. Patricia Zengerle reports for Reuters.
The American Bar Association and dozens of other bar groups this week condemned Trump’s targeting of the legal industry in an open letter stating that the President’s “intimidating words” are “designed to cow our country’s judges, our country’s courts and our legal profession.” Gregory Svirnovskiy reports for POLITICO.
An Iranian doctoral student at the University of Alabama has been detained on Tuesday by the federal authorities, the university said. It is not clear what, if any, charges the student is facing. Separately, a Russian Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova, who was arrested in Russia in 2022 for protesting Moscow’s war in Ukraine, has been detained for six weeks in a U.S. immigration facility after her research visa was revoked over a customs violation, having undeclared frog embryo samples in her luggage. Lexi Lonas Cochran reports for the Hill; Tonya Alanez reports for the Boston Globe.
There is “substantial reason to believe” Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) held weapons contracts with the federal government while serving in Congress, a report published by the Office of Congressional Conduct on Tuesday says. The House Ethics Committee yesterday announced it plans to determine whether Mills acted in violation of House rules. Hailey Fuchs reports for POLITICO.
Billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday announced a Wisconsin voter has been awarded $1 million for signing a petition opposing “activist judges” ahead of next Tuesday’s state Supreme Court election. The campaign for the Democratic-supported candidate, Susan Crawford, described the payment as an attempt to illegally buy influence on the court. Scott Bauer reports for AP News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The Trump administration is pushing for a new, more expansive minerals deal with Ukraine that would give Kyiv no future security guarantees but require it to place all income from the state and private use of natural resources across Ukrainian territory into a joint investment fund, according to sources and a draft proposal seen by Reuters. Ukrainian officials say the deal’s terms remain unfinalised. Erin Banco, Andrea Shalal and Gram Slattery report.
The United States has restored short-term funding to an initiative tracking Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, the State Department said yesterday. Daphne Psaledakis and Kanishka Singh report for Reuters.
Only some European nations want to take part in a prospective peacekeeping force for Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday following a regional summit on the issue. John Leicester, Samuel Petrequin, and Brian Melley report for AP News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
The Ukrainian army appears to be staging a small-scale incursion into Russia, targeting the Belgorod region, according to Ukrainian officials, open-source intelligence analysts, and Russian military bloggers. The extent of the incursion and Ukraine’s objective are unclear, military analysts say. Maria Varenikova reports for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
More than a dozen aid workers have been killed or gone missing in Gaza over the past few days, according to several aid groups operating in the region. The U.N. aid agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) yesterday said eight of its staff had been killed, as World Central Kitchen said Israeli strikes near a community kitchen in Gaza killed one of its volunteers. Kareem El Damanhoury, Kareem Khadder, and Dana Karni report for CNN.
The United States in recent days gave Hamas a new proposal for the release of U.S. hostage Edan Alexander in exchange for a statement from Trump calling for calm in Gaza and resuming ceasefire negotiations, U.S. and Israeli officials say. It is unclear if Hamas will accept the offer. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Egypt has received “positive indications” from Israel over a new ceasefire proposal, security sources said yesterday. Nayera Abdallah and Yomna Ehab report for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH CEASEFIRE
Israel today ordered residents of a South Beirut suburb to evacuate ahead of an attack on a building belonging to Hezbollah, Israel’s first such move since the November ceasefire. The Israeli military also said it bombarded Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon after intercepting rocket fire. Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan report for Reuters.
HOUTHI DEVELOPMENTS
Suspected U.S. airstrikes hit Houthi-controlled sites across Yemen early today, according to footage seen by AP News. While the strikes appeared to be more intense than previously, the extent of the damage and possible casualties is as of yet unclear. Jon Gambrell reports.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Twenty-eight million people face acute hunger in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.N. World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement yesterday, pointing to the fighting between the government and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels as an aggravating factor. Reuters reports.
The Israeli Parliament yesterday passed a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to give the government a larger role in appointing judges, a move that critics say would undermine an independent body that provides essential checks and balances. Julia Frankel reports for AP News.
Turkish authorities have detained a lawyer for jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a lawmaker of the main opposition Republican People’s Party said today. Reuters reports.
A Bosnian court yesterday said it was seeking an international arrest warrant for Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, facing legal action over his long-standing separatist policies. AP News reports.
Australia will hold a federal election on 3 May, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced today. Tiffanie Turnbull and Katy Watson report for BBC News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday ordered the Trump administration to preserve senior officials’ Signal chats, including the exchange about Yemen strikes that included a journalist, granting the request of a transparency group that argues that the app’s use risks the messages being destroyed in violation of the Federal Records Act. Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s bid to stay a lower court’s ruling blocking the Office of Management and Budget from enacting a sweeping freeze on federal funding to states, ruling that the freeze would cause the states an array of irreparable harms if allowed. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.
A second federal judge yesterday barred the Pentagon from enforcing a ban on transgender troops serving in the military, ruling that the ban was discriminatory and relied on a distortion of outdated data. Kyle Cheney reports for POLITICO.
A district judge yesterday declined to issue an order temporarily restraining government officials from taking steps to deport a Cornell University student whose visa was revoked over participation in campus demonstrations, ruling that the student did not meet the high burden for the orders sought. AP News.
Democratic Federal Trade Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter yesterday filed a lawsuit against their dismissals by Trump, arguing the move violated a long-established legal precedent preventing political firings. Ramishah Maruf reports for CNN.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
