US politics live: Donald Trump addresses Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland

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Summary

Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:

• On Saturday evening, emails were sent to federal employees including at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others with the subject line: “What did you do last week?,” Reuters reports. The email, seen by Reuters, asks employees to reply with five bullet points summarizing “what you accomplished at work last week” and to copy their managers.

• Aquilino Gonell, a former US Capitol police sergeant who defended the Capitol on January 6, confirmed that he and his former colleagues, including the former Capitol police officer Michael Fanone, were confronted by Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, at the site of the Principles First summit in Washington DC. “You’re a traitor to this country,” Fanone told Tarrio during the exchange. “So are you,” Tarrio replied, adding: “You were a coward that day, you were a coward after.”

• On Israel’s war on Gaza, Donald Trump claimed that Joe Biden got back “zero” hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. “Biden got none back, by the way, just so you understand, none, zero,” Trump claimed. In fact, 105 hostages were freed in the November 2023 ceasefire deal brokered by Biden’s administration.

• JD Vance has taken an early lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028. Vance, 40, stormed to victory in the annual straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor in Maryland on Saturday. In a survey of 1,022 attendees by pollster Jim McLaughlin, 61% said they would vote for Vance if the 2028 Republican primary election were held today, well clear of rightwing strategist and podcaster Steve Bannon at 12%.

• Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy but had his 18-year sentence commuted, denied that his group acted violently on behalf of Donald Trump on 6 January or at any other time. Sporting a Trump tattoo on his arm, Rhodes, 59, from Granbury, Texas, said he is “very happy” with Trump, adding: “I got no complaints. His cabinet is fantastic from what I’ve seen so far. I love Doge. Let the sunlight come in and show all the corruption.”

• Kash Patel, the newly appointed FBI director, has told senior officials that he plans to relocate 1,000 employees from Washington to field offices across the US, the Associated Press reports, citing an individual familiar with the matter. According to the AP, Patel also said he plans to move an additional 500 employees to a bureau facility in Huntsville, Alabama.

Federal employees receive email demanding: 'What did you do last week?'

On Saturday evening, emails were sent emails to federal employees including at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others with the subject line: “What did you do last week?,” Reuters reports.

The email, seen by Reuters, asks employees to reply with five bullet points summarizing “what you accomplished at work last week” and to copy their managers.

The email gives employees until 11.59pm EST on Monday to respond, according to Reuters.

On Thursday, Musk hailed efforts by himself and Trump to cut the federal workforce by the hundreds of thousands. In a post today on X – which he owns – Musk, who leads the so-called “department of government efficiency”, said:

All federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick from the American Immigration Council wrote on Bluesky:

No one at DOGE is going to be personally reviewing 2 million emails about what people did each week. Everyone in the government already has a supervisor they report to. This is a transparent effort to manufacture reasons to fire people because their Fork offer got low results.

Former US Capitol police officer Michael Fanone confronted by ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio

Aquilino Gonell, a former US Capitol police sergeant who defended the Capitol on January 6, confirmed that he and his former colleagues, including the former Capitol police officer Michael Fanone, were confronted by Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, at the site of the Principles First summit in Washington DC.

Gonell’s comment was met with surprised gasps from the crowd, who offered a standing ovation to the January 6 officers after their panel discussion this afternoon.

“You’re a traitor to this country,” Fanone told Tarrio during the exchange. “So are you,” Tarrio replied, adding: “You were a coward that day, you were a coward after.”

The Guardian’s Joan E Greve contributed to this post

Donald Trump has wrapped up his address at CPAC, an approximately 75-minute tirade of repeated false claims ranging from voter fraud and stolen-election lies to foreign wars, among others.

Opening up his speech, Trump assailed “the fraudsters, liars … globalists and deep-state bureaucrats” that he said “are being sent back”.

He then went on to cite a series of polls in which he is leading. “Rasmussen just came out at 56% insider advantage, 56% RMG research … we have many polls in the mid-60s, one at 71%. We like that,” he said. However, he did not mention the latest Gallup poll, where he is six points under – 51% of Americans disapproved of his performance while 45% indicated their approval for him.

Donald Trump then moved to attacking immigrants across the country, saying: “I couldn’t stand it! … We don’t have that problem any more.” On the contrary, on Friday, reports emerged of the White House reassigning the top official at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) after the agency’s level of arrests and deportations were slower than expected.

He also read from a list of millions of people in the social security database that the agency has no death records for. However, that has been a known issue for more than a decade, and an inspector general report found that just 13 people over 112 years old were getting any payments as of 2013.

On Israel’s war on Gaza, Trump claimed that Joe Biden got back “zero” hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. “Biden got none back, by the way, just so you understand, none, zero,” Trump claimed. In fact, 105 hostages were freed in the November 2023 ceasefire deal brokered by Biden’s administration.

At one point, Trump, who has not ruled out using military action to take over Greenland and who has vowed to make Canada the 51st state, along with taking back the Panama Canal, said: “I don’t want to be a conquerer.”

Despite his false claims, Trump supporters roared and cheered inside the CPAC auditorium at National Harbor, Maryland.

“I have not yet begun to fight, and neither have you,” he said in his closing remarks. Before exiting the stage, Trump returned to his trademark dance, fist-pumping to Village People’s YMCA.

Donald Trump has wrapped up his address at CPAC.

Trump closed out his roughly 75-minute speech by dancing to YMCA in front of a cheering crowd of supporters.

On Israel’s war on Gaza, Donald Trump claimed that Joe Biden got back “zero” hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“Biden got none back, by the way, just so you understand, none, zero,” Trump claimed.

In fact, 105 hostages were freed in the November 2023 ceasefire deal brokered by Biden’s administration.

Donald Trump is now talking about ending the war between Ukraine and Russia, saying: “We’re getting our money back.”

“The United States has given $350bn because we had a stupid, incompetent president and administration … Europe gave it in the form of a loan. They get their money back. We gave it in the form of nothing. So I want them to give us something for all of the money that we put up. And I’m going to try and get the war settled, and I’m going to try and get all that death ended. So we’re asking for rare earth and oil, anything we can get,” Trump said.

From claiming Ukraine was responsible for the war to incorrect numbers about aid received from the US and Europe, Trump has in recent weeks made a number of inaccurate statements while praising the progress made in US-Russia talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Guardian has had a look at his claims:

Donald Trump just read out from a list of millions of people in the social security database that the agency has no death records for.

“Under our administration, there will be no tolerance for social security fraud. Will not allow anyone to cheat our seniors and those who will do that will be prosecuted by [attorney general] Pam Bondi and others,” he said.

However, that has been a known issue for over a decade, and an inspector general report found that just 13 people over 112 years old were getting any payments as of 2013.

The Guardian’s Robert Mackey contributed to this post

Joseph Gedeon

Donald Trump is well under way with his speech at CPAC and the main room is absolutely packed.

The energy in here is less political conference and more rock concert – every line gets massive applause, cheers or laughter.

Trump workshopped nicknames for his predecessor Joe Biden, asking the crowd to cheer for “Crooked Joe” and then moments later to cheer for “Sleepy Joe”. He said “Crooked Joe” won.

A group of rowdy, pardoned January 6 rioters created a scene near the media section in the back of the hall, shouting for Trump to acknowledge them and their cause, which still has not come up.

Donald Trump is now praising his staunch ally, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world.

“He’s doing a great job and he doesn’t need this … but … he’s a patriot,” Trump said.

On Thursday, Musk hailed efforts by himself and Trump to cut the federal workforce by the hundreds of thousands.

In a post on X today – which he owns – Musk, who leads the so-called “department of government efficiency”, said:

All federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.

Donald Trump has moved back to attacking immigrants across the country, saying: “I couldn’t stand it!” before adding: “Donald, don’t get angry.”

“I couldn’t stand it, so I said, I’m going to run for president again, and now we don’t have that problem now. We don’t have that problem any more,” he claimed.

On the contrary, on Friday, reports emerged of the White House reassigning the top official at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) after the agency’s level of arrests and deportations were slower than expected.

Trump singled out in the crowd the 40-year-old son of the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro – the country’s ex-president who tried a January 6-style insurrection and was just charged with plotting to poison his successor and the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula.

“Say hello to your father. Thank you very much. Great family, great gentleman, and your great family,” Trump said to Eduardo Bolsonaro.

Jair Bolsonaro could face between 38 and 43 years in jail if convicted. In addition to being accused of being involved in a coup, Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of being involved with an armed criminal association and the violent abolition of the rule of law.

The Guardian’s Robert Mackey contributed to this post

Trump went on to cite a series of polls in which he is leading.

“Rasmussen just came out at 56% insider advantage, 56% RMG research … we have many polls in the mid-60s, one at 71%. We like that,” he said.

However, he did not mention the latest Gallup poll, where he is six points under – 51% of Americans disapproved of his performance while 45% indicated their approval for him.