Trump signs executive orders on Covid-19 mandates and 'energy dominance council'
Donald Trump has convened the press in the Oval Office to sign an executive order cutting off federal funding for schools and universities that require students be vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend classes.
In addition to that order, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the president had signed another order establishing an “Energy Dominance Council” led by the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, and energy secretary, Chris Wright. Leavitt made a point to note that the Associated Press was not in attendance.
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A federal judge ordered lawyers for eight inspectors general to withdraw their motion seeking a temporary restraining order over the watchdogs’ firings during a hearing today.
Judge Ana C Reyes of the US district court for the District of Columbia expressed frustration that the plaintiffs waited 21 days after the firings to file suit requesting emergency same-day relief. Both sides ultimately agreed to an expedited hearing schedule.
“Why on earth this could not have been handled with a five-minute phone call is beyond my comprehension,” Reyes said.
She and her clerk had been “working around the clock on really monumental, time-sensitive issues”, such as a lawsuit challenging Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military, she said.
More than 30 lawsuits against the Trump administration are pending in federal court in Washington.
A treasury department watchdog announced today that it would undertake an audit of the security controls for the federal government’s payment system, after Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” gained access to it.
“Given the breadth of this effort, the audit will likely not be completed until August; however, we recognize the danger that improper access or inadequate controls can pose to the integrity of sensitive payment systems. As such, if critical issues come to light before that time, we will issue interim updates and reports,” the department’s deputy inspector general, Loren J Sciurba, wrote in a letter that was obtained by the Associated Press.
The acting counsel to the inspector general, AJ Altemus, said the investigation had been initiated before Democratic senators asked for such an examination: “Our work is independently initiated” and standards dictate that the audit “must be non-partisan and objective. These standards remain unchanged.”
Singer-songwriter Victoria Canal will proceed with a performance at the Kennedy Center on Saturday, but says she will donate all the proceeds to Trans Equality Now.
Her decision comes just days after the center appointed Donald Trump as its new chair, prompting numerous performers to cancel their appearances, particularly after the president fired the center’s board of directors.
“I am a proud queer, Latina, disabled woman and ally to the unprotected and vulnerable trans community in the United States,” Canal said in a statement issued through her manager. “I figured if the new guys want to eliminate DEI, I’ll let them decide to cancel the show if they want to – otherwise, see you February 15th.”
The Trump administration has agreed to postpone mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, pending a legal battle in DC district court.
During a hearing today, the administration also agreed not to delete or change any data or records at the agency, or redistribute the bureau’s funding until the case advances next month.
“We have very credible information that they are intending to lay off basically the entire agency,” Deepak Gupta, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said. “Don’t destroy the agency’s data, which is the institutional memory of the agency.”
The administration has already ordered the CFPB, which was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis, to stop nearly all its work, and closed its building.
New Yorkers protested outside the Stonewall Inn today, a day after the national park service eliminated all references to transgender people from its website for the national monument yesterday. Demonstrators held aloft signs reading “There’s no Stonewall without the T” and “Not going anywhere” while others used chalk to write “transgender” on the marker for the national monument.
The move came as federal agencies across the country seek to comply with an executive order Donald Trump signed on his first day in office, calling for the US government to define sex as only male or female.
The Stonewall national monument commemorates a 1969 riot outside New York City’s historic Stonewall Inn, led by trans women of color, that ignited the contemporary gay rights movement.
Earlier this week, the homepage for the monument said: “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal.”
On Thursday, it said: “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal.”
Judge extends order blocking Doge from accessing sensitive treasury department records
A federal judge has extended a temporary order blocking Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) from accessing treasury department records that contain sensitive personal data such as social security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans.
The order was first issued Saturday, and then extended today after district judge Jeannette Vargas heard arguments in the case, which was filed by New York attorney general Letitia James and 18 other state attorneys general.
“No one elected Elon Musk and his minions and no one has allowed him to have access to this information,” James said in a news conference ahead of the proceeding.
The order will be extended until the judge rules on the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction.
The case alleges the Trump administration allowed Musk’s team access to the treasury department’s central payment system in violation of federal law. The payment system handles tax refunds, social security benefits, veterans’ benefits and much more, sending out trillions of dollars every year while containing an expansive network of Americans’ personal and financial data.
Doge website published classifed information – report
The newly formed “department of government efficiency” published classified information to its website today, the Huffington Post reports.
The website, which is run by Elon Musk’s team of young engineers, includes a feature for viewing statistics from most government departments. Although the website purports to exclude data from intelligence agencies, it does include statistics from the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates spy satellites – including hundreds built by Musk’s SpaceX company. The office’s budgets and head counts are classified.
Later, a programming error on the website allowed anyone to post whatever they wanted, the Washington Post reports.
And yet more federal layoffs are coming, this time at the Department of Agriculture, secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters today.
“To date, I think we’ve canceled almost 1,000 trainings that were DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion, gender-ideology focused,” Rollins said. “We’ve also begun the process of canceling a significant number of contracts.”
Rollins discussed implementing Trump’s mandate to make “government agencies more efficient and aligned with his vision” and said the department had welcomed Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” “with open arms”.
More news of federal layoffs continues to roll in, this time from the Department of Health and Human Services – which Trump ally Robert F Kennedy Jr was confirmed to lead yesterday.
According to an internal memo obtained by the Washington Post, the department is in the process of firing about 5,200 health workers. The Associated Press confirmed the news, citing a recording of a staff meeting.
The news comes just hours after the AP reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – which is housed within HHS – will lose about 10% of its employees, following a Trump administration order to fire all hires still in their probationary periods. That amounts to about 1,300 employees.
Amid Donald Trump’s rampant efforts to downsize the civilian federal workforce, the president’s new veterans affairs secretary Doug Collins has announced plans to lay off at least 1,000 employees. He promised the layoffs (and subsequent $98 million cut in the department’s budget) will not affect veteran care or benefits.
“I take Secretary Collins at his word when he says there will be no impact to the delivery of care, benefits, and services for veterans with this plan,” said Rep. Mike Bost, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
The ranking Democrat, Rep. Mark Takano, said the firings show a shocking disregard. The terminated include disabled veterans, military spouses and medical researchers.
Second federal judge pauses Trump's order restricting healthcare for trans youth
A second federal judge has paused Donald Trump’s order restricting healthcare for transgender youth.
The temporary restraining order came from the US district court judge Lauren King in Seattle just a day after a federal judge in Baltimore also temporarily blocked the president’s executive order.
Democratic attorneys general from Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota filed the Seattle lawsuit, arguing that the order discriminates against transgender people.
The presidential order halted federal support for gender-affirming care for trans youth under 19, including by ending funding to institutions that offer such care and excluding the care from government-run insurance coverage.
Gender-affirming healthcare includes a range of therapies – from emotional support to vocal coaching, puberty blockers and sometimes hormones and surgery. The treatments are considered the standard of care and are endorsed by all US medical associations.
Since Trump returned to office last month, he has signed a series of executive orders targeting trans Americans, including by banning trans athletes from women’s sports, declaring the government will only recognize the male and female sexes and transferring incarcerated trans women to men’s facilities; a US judge temporarily blocked federal prisons from implementing the order to move trans people. Many of the orders have been framed as “defending women”.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk will jointly appear on Fox News next week with host Sean Hannity. It will be the pair’s first televised interview together.
In recent months, Trump has formed a close relationship with Musk, resulting in his appointment to lead the newly formed, so-called “department of government efficiency”. On Tuesday, Musk took questions from reporters alongside the president in an Oval Office ceremony regarding the closure of government offices. Musk spent $250m on the president’s re-election campaign.
IRS to cut thousands of jobs amid tax season - report
The Internal Revenue Service will lay off thousands of probationary employees, beginning potentially next week, the New York Times reports.
The firings are in line with orders from the Office of Personnel Management, which acts as the federal government’s human resources department, to let go of employees new in their positions, who have fewer job protections.
The layoffs come amid the annual tax season, as Americans file returns ahead of the 15 April deadline. The Times notes the layoffs seem to contradict comments to Bloomberg News from Treasury secretary Scott Bessent last week, who said any layoffs at the IRS would come after that deadline.
At his speech today to a high-profile security conference in Germany, JD Vance made a number of claims that offer a window into how he views the United States’s relationship with the world.
The problem is, several of them stretch the truth, as the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey and Alexandra Topping report:
Donald Trump has green-lit the first new export of liquified natural gas since Joe Biden paused approvals early last year amid concerns over their impact on climate change, Reuters reports.
The decision allows Louisiana’s Commonwealth LNG to export gas to markets in Asia and Europe. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump also said 600m acres (243m hectares) of offshore waters controlled by the federal government will reopen to oil and gas drilling, reversing a ban imposed by Biden.
Here’s more about Biden’s steps against natural gas:
Trump says he's spoken to Starmer and meeting could happen in a few weeks
Donald Trump revealed to reporters that he had spoken to Keir Starmer, and that they may meet in the next few weeks, Reuters reports.
We first heard about the call, which came as something of a surprise to the British prime minister and his aides, earlier today:
Trump signs executive orders on Covid-19 mandates and 'energy dominance council'
Donald Trump has convened the press in the Oval Office to sign an executive order cutting off federal funding for schools and universities that require students be vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend classes.
In addition to that order, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the president had signed another order establishing an “Energy Dominance Council” led by the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, and energy secretary, Chris Wright. Leavitt made a point to note that the Associated Press was not in attendance.
Vance snubs German chancellor and meets with far-right party
JD Vance had no time to meet with Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz during his travel to the country, but did find an opportunity to sit down with the leader of the far-right AfD party, according to media reports.
It was German broadcaster ZDF that broke news of the vice-president’s encounter with the AfD chief Alice Weidel, which lasted for about 30 minutes and saw them discuss the war in Ukraine and politics in Berlin. As for Scholz, Politico reports that Vance’s spokesperson cited a “scheduling conflict” the prevented them from meeting. But a former US official, referring to team Vance’s thinking, put it this way:
We don’t need to see him, he won’t be chancellor long.
Vance’s speech to the Munich security forum earlier in the day included a line seen as indicating his support for the AfD, which is expected to make gains in elections later this month. Follow our live blog for more:
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