Reporting from Washington
Trump signed an executive order pardoning 23 anti-abortion-rights activists today, one day before he is expected to address thousands of anti-abortion-rights demonstrators at their annual march in Washington.
“Twenty-three people were prosecuted; they should not have been prosecuted,” Trump said at the Oval Office signing ceremony, noting that “many of them” are elderly. “This is a great honor to sign. They will be very happy.”
Some are in jail, White House staff secretary Will Scharf told Trump as he stood next to him. None of their names were immediately released. Conservatives have charged the Biden administration with using a 1994 law protecting abortion clinics, providers and patients to target peaceful protesters.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he is “very grateful to President Trump” when NBC News him about Trump’s signing an executive order today to declassify documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his late uncle, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, his father.
“I think it’s a great move, because they need to have more transparency in our government, and he’s keeping his promise to have the government tell the truth to the American people about everything,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy was on Capitol Hill for meetings with senators ahead of his confirmation hearing next week.
The House passed legislation tonight to require health care providers to provide the same degree of care to a baby who survives an attempted abortion that they would for a newborn child.
The legislation passed with one Democrat — Henry Cuellar of Texas — voting in favor along with all Republicans.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., would “prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.”
The bill would also require health care workers to report any failures to comply with the law. And health care practitioners could face legal punishment for not complying.
The Senate failed yesterday to advance its version of the bill on a 52-47 party line vote, with all Democrats opposing the legislation. The legislation needed 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
There are reports from multiple locations across the southern border that migrants are being turned back before they can make asylum claims at legal ports of entry.
Three sources familiar with the matter say migrants are not allowed to come to the ports of entry to make asylum claims and are being turned back into Mexico.
Widespread blocking would mean the Trump administration has entirely shut down any routes for migrants to claim asylum at the U.S. southern border, including those who present themselves legally at ports of entry.
Trump previously ended the use of the CBP One app, the legal pathway for migrants to set up asylum appointments, and the Biden administration made it nearly impossible for migrants to claim asylum if they crossed the southern border between legal ports of entry.
Making asylum claims at ports of entry was the last option, and now that appears to no longer be an option at multiple locations along the border.
Lindsay Toczylowski, an immigration attorney based in California who works with migrant shelters in Tijuana, Mexico, said she doesn’t have an answer for desperate migrants right now. She says, in effect, the U.S. asylum system is shut down.
“Right now, we have not been given any indication that there is an alternative now that the CBP One system has been shut down,” she said.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection referred NBC News to the White House, which has not responded to a request for comment.
The acting secretary of homeland security sent a memo yesterday directing DHS to close all diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices and contracts, according to a copy of the memo obtained by NBC News.
The document also instructs employees to report programs operating in “disguise.”
“We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language,” the memo said. Failure to report information about such programs within 10 days “will result in adverse consequences.”
NBC News has reported that similar memos were sent across multiple agencies and departments yesterday.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said Hegseth will be confirmed tomorrow night.
“Less than 30 hours from now, we’ll have a new secretary of defense once he gets sworn in at the White House,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “Pete will get confirmed sometime this weekend, and we’re off to the races.”
Despite Tuberville’s confidence, two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Susan Collins, of Maine, have said they will not vote for Hegseth. They both also voted no during the procedural vote to move his nomination forward.
Trump today signed an executive order to establish the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Until its termination, set for two years from today, the council will meet regularly and advise Trump on policy surrounding matters of science, technology, education and innovation.
“Today, a new frontier of scientific discovery lies before us, defined by transformative technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced biotechnology,” the order says.
“As our global competitors race to exploit these technologies, it is a national security imperative for the United States to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance,” it adds.
The council will be made up of up to 24 members across academia and the private sector — to be appointed by Trump — alongside several positions reserved for those in government. The assistant to the president for science and technology and the White House’s special adviser for AI and crypto will be co-chairs.
Trump issued full and unconditional pardons yesterday to two Washington, D.C., police officers who were convicted for their roles in a deadly chase of a young man on a moped in 2020 and a subsequent cover-up, a case that led to protests in the nation’s capital.
Trump granted clemency to Metropolitan Police Officer Terence Sutton, who was sentenced in September to more than five years in prison. He faced a Washington charge of second-degree murder and federal charges of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice in the unauthorized pursuit that killed Karon Hylton-Brown, 20, in October 2020. Sutton was the first Washington police officer to be convicted of murder for conduct while on duty.
The same jury also convicted Andrew Zabavsky, a lieutenant who supervised Sutton, of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice. Zabavsky was sentenced to four years in prison. He He was not accused of the more serious charge of second-degree murder. Trump granted Zabavsky clemency.
Trump signed an executive order this afternoon to declassify records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y.
Many people have been waiting “for years, for decades, and everything will be revealed,” Trump said of the order.
Trump answered affirmatively today when a reporter asked whether he expects the independent Federal Reserve to listen to him on interest rate policy.
He added that he would talk to Fed Chair Jerome Powell about interest rates “at the right time.”
“I think I know interest rates much better than they do,” he continued.
Earlier today, in remarks to the World Economic Forum, Trump demanded that interest rates be cut immediately. The Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged when it meets next week.
After signing executive orders today in the Oval Office, Trump said he is open to having pardoned Jan. 6 defendants at the White House.
“I’m sure that they probably would like to. I did them something important,” he said. “They were protesting a crooked election. I mean, people understand that also, and they were treated very badly. Nobody’s been treated like that. So I’d be open to it.”
Trump said he has not spoken to any of the people released from jail because of his pardons.
The Trump administration has withdrawn security details provided by the federal government for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and State Department adviser Brian Hook, who both served during Trump’s first term.
The New York Times first reported on the Trump’s decision to revoke the protection.
The federal government’s Diplomatic Security Service details had continued to protect both men since they left the State Department following the 2020 election, according to two sources familiar with Pompeo’s security situation and two sources familiar with Hook’s security situation.
Pompeo has been the subject of direct threats by Iran following the 2020 killing of the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump announced his administration will move to evaluate the creation of a “national digital asset stockpile” — making good on a promise to support the use of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
However, the executive order fell short of creating a strategic bitcoin reserve outright, as some crypto advocates had hoped.
The price of bitcoin briefly surged on the news, but fell back to daily lows as traders took stock of the move.
The idea of a bitcoin reserver gained traction this summer, when both Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., currently Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, discussed it at the annual Bitcoin conference.
The DOJ said it is planning to “vigorously” defend President Trump’s executive order that attempts to limit birthright citizenship.
“We look forward to presenting a full merits argument to the Court and to the American people, who are desperate to see our nation’s laws enforced,” a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement.
The remarks come after a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order for 14 days.
In a statement to NBC News, former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell blasted Trump’s decision to pardon roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants on his first day in office.
“For nearly 25 years, I have served this country honorably in the Army and as a police officer. I have cried, sweat, and bled for this nation at home and abroad against foreign and domestic threats without hesitation. I, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, a naturalized citizen nearly lost my life defending the Constitution and the rule of law in the building that President Trump was just inaugurated,” Gonell wrote, adding that, “Trump only pardoned them because they committed crimes under his banner and fighting for him.”
Gonell also blasted Republicans as a party “who claims to have the moral high ground when defending ‘the rule of law, law and order, and the backing the blue’ these pardons are the highest of hypocrisy.”
Gonell also specifically called out Republican lawmakers who “turned their backs on us.”
“They refused to acknowledge the siege. They excused and condoned what transpired instead of denouncing and condemning the assault,” he added.
The attorneys general of 11 states issued a stark warning to the Trump administration today, saying they will not allow the federal government to employ state resources for the purpose of carrying out mass deportations and other federal immigration enforcements.
“Despite what he may say to the contrary, the President cannot unilaterally re-write the Constitution,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote in a statement joined by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The attorneys general wrote that “the U.S. Constitution prevents the federal government from commandeering states to enforce federal laws.”
The letter was written in response to a memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove that instructed officials to investigate state and local officials who resist enforcement of federal immigration laws. In his own statement earlier today, California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the memo a “scare tactic,” saying “the President is attempting to intimidate and bully state and local law enforcement into carrying out his mass deportation agenda for him.”
James echoed that sentiment in the joint letter, saying Trump has made troubling threats to weaponize the DOJ’s prosecutorial authority and resources to attack public servants acting in compliance with their state laws.
“Right now, these vague threats are just that: empty words on paper,” the attorneys general wrote. “But rest assured, our states will not hesitate to respond if these words become illegal actions.”
James noted that state attorneys generals’ chief responsibility is to enforce state laws and said they will continue to prosecute crimes, without distraction from Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signed the Laken Riley Act, which now heads to President Trump’s desk.
Standing behind Johnson were the Republican members of the Georgia delegation, including Rep. Mike Collins, the sponsor of the bill.
Laken Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student who was kidnapped and killed in Georgia last year in a case that captivated public attention and became a cornerstone of the GOP’s hard line on immigration ahead of the presidential election.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022, was convicted of murder and other crimes in Riley’s death and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The House voted on Wednesday to pass the act, 263-156. Almost 50 Democrats Democrats voted in support of this version of the bill. No Republicans voted against it.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced that she will vote no on Hegseth’s nomination to become the next secretary of defense in a post on X.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to vote against Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. While I appreciate his courageous military service and his ongoing commitment to our servicemembers and their families, I am concerned that he does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job,” she wrote.
If another Republican announces their opposition, Vance could break a tie. If two more Republicans announce their opposition, it would tank Hegseth’s nomination.
Yesterday, Collins said it was “troubling” that the FBI background check into Hegseth provided by the Trump transition team was incomplete.
Reporting from Washington
The Senate on Thursday voted to advance Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s defense secretary, setting up a final confirmation vote for the end of the week.
Senators voted by the narrowest of margins, 51 to 49, to advance Hegseth’s bid to lead the Pentagon, with just two Republicans — moderate Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine — voting with all 47 Democrats to try to block Hegseth. A simple majority was needed.
Shortly before the vote, Murkowski became the first Republican to publicly oppose Hegseth’s nomination, saying that some of the past behavior he has admitted to demonstrates a “lack of judgment” and is “unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces.”
The State Department is telling all employees teleworking from home that they must return to the office full-time beginning March 1, according to a memo obtained by NBC News.
“We must strive for 100 percent in-office attendance to further the critical mission of the Department,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in the memo. The notice was sent department-wide to domestic and overseas posts Wednesday.
Those with remote work arrangements have until July 1, 2025, to return in-person, according to the memo. Accommodations will be made for those with disabilities or any other arrangements required by law. Separate guidance will be issued on how more senior officials such as assistant secretaries, assistant secretary-equivalents and senior bureau officials can request to maintain an existing remote work arrangement, the note said.
The Senate is voting now on a key procedural motion to end debate on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of defense.
This motion needs a simple majority to pass, and if it passes, it would trigger 30 hours of debate, meaning the final confirmation vote for Hegseth would be around 9 p.m. on Friday.
In a statement, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes applauded a judge’s decision to temporarily block Trump’s executive order that aims to limit birthright citizenship.
“Today’s ruling by Federal District Court Judge John C. Coughenour is a win for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution,” Mayes said.
She described the decision as “the first of many wins to come as my office fights instances of executive overreach and any illegal actions the new administration may take.”
Arizona was one of four states — including Washington, Illinois and Oregon — that joined a lawsuit to sue to block Trump’s executive order. The lawsuit is one of five that have been filed by immigrant rights organizations and Democratic attorneys general challenging the executive order.
Mayes added, “No president can change the constitution on a whim and today’s decision affirms that.”
The Senate has confirmed John Ratcliffe to serve as CIA director in a 74-25 vote. His confirmation required only a simple majority vote.
He served as director of national intelligence under the first Trump administration and previously served in the House representing a district in Texas.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he is voting no for Ratcliffe to be CIA director in a post on X. He cited Ratcliffe’s answers about his concerns about Tulsi Gabbard.
“For John Ratcliffe as CIA Director, those are precisely the moments he’d have to hold firm and speak truth to power. But when I met with Ratcliffe, the answers I got about Gabbard were insufficient,” he wrote.
Lawmakers have raised concerns about Gabbard parroting Russian propaganda, her past meetings with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, and her support of whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Vice President JD Vance’s first big speaking engagement since taking office will come Friday at the March for Life rally in Washington.
“We are thrilled that Vice President Vance has chosen the National March for Life for his first public appearance in his new role — a sign of his commitment to standing up for life,” the anti-abortion group’s president, Jeanne Mancini, and president-elect, Jennie Bradley, said in a joint statement.
“President Trump governed as a pro-life president during his first term which resulted in a long list of accomplishments,” they added. “We look forward to working with him and Vice President Vance as they dismantle the Biden Administration’s aggressive and unpopular abortion agenda and once again put wins on the board for vulnerable unborn children and their mothers.”
As a senator in Ohio, Vance was known for his staunch anti-abortion views, though he acknowledged in an interview with NBC News last August that a majority of his constituents felt differently, having codified abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution via an amendment passed overwhelmingly in 2023.
“I am pro-life, and I do care about the issue,” Vance said then. “I do want to save as many babies as possible. I also remember here that voters get to make these decisions, and I advocated very strongly for voters to vote no [in Ohio], and we got our asses handed to us. And so I think all of us who are pro-life have to kind of step back and say, ‘How can we better make a case to the American people here?'”
Capitol Police said they suspended an officer who let a man with a gun into the Capitol Visitor Center on Thursday.
The man, who had been arrested Tuesday, was also able to enter the Library of Congress with a firearm.
In a statement, USCP said that they had received a lookout for a man on Tuesday “with reported mental health issues and suicidal thoughts who was believed to be armed and in the area.”
Two of the big four U.S. banks responded to Trump’s claims in remarks to the World Economic Forum earlier today that they were not doing business with conservative business leaders.
Speaking to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan at Davos, Trump said he hopes “you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America.”
“And I don’t know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but you and [JPMorgan Chase CEO] Jamie [Dimon] and everybody, I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives, because what you’re doing is wrong,” Trump continued.
In a statement, a Bank of America spokesperson told NBC News, “We welcome conservatives and have no political litmus test.”
A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said, “We have never and would never close an account for political reasons, full stop.”
JPMorgan Chase added that it would welcome “the opportunity to work with the new Administration and Congress on ways to remove regulatory ambiguity while maintaining our country’s ability to address financial crime.”
SEATTLE — A federal district court judge today temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship — the first skirmish in what promises to be a protracted legal battle over the new administration’s agenda.
Senior U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour heard 25 minutes of arguments and then issued an order from the bench blocking the policy from taking effect for 14 days. There will be a further briefing on a preliminary injunction to permanently block the executive order while the case proceeds.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades,” Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said. “I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced in a statement today that she will vote against the nomination of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, becoming the first Republican to voice opposition.
“Above all, I believe that character is the defining trait required of the Secretary of Defense, and must be prioritized without compromise,” Murkowski said in her statement posted on X. “The leader of the Department of Defense must demonstrate and model the standards of behavior and character we expect of all servicemembers, and Mr. Hegseth’s nomination to the role poses significant concerns that I cannot overlook.”
Hegseth’s nomination has been mired in allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse, among other things — which he denies — and many Democrats have voiced concerns about the prospect of his taking over the Defense Department.
If all Democrats vote against Hegseth, Republicans can afford to lose just three Republican votes to confirm him because Vice President JD Vance can break a tie.
An Arizona state lawmaker condemned the Trump administration’s ending of restrictions on where federal agencies can carry out arrests of undocumented immigrants, calling the move a “despicable act.”
State Sen. Lela Alston, a Democrat, said in a statement that the action, part of Trump’s effort to carry out mass deportations, “will not actually help increase public safety. It will instead lead to nearly six million kids in the U.S. living in fear everyday that they may be separated from their families.”
Arizona’s immigrant population comprises nearly 13% of the state’s total population, nearly half of whom are naturalized citizens who contribute to their communities and the state’s economy, Alston said.
Identifying herself as a former educator, Alston said it is “heartbreaking to think of how this will traumatize children,” noting that “in Arizona, there are close to 150,000 U.S. citizen children living with at least one undocumented family member.”
With Trump’s move, “the likelihood of these children watching their parents or family members be detained, arrested and deported increases exponentially,” Alston said.
Before the move, key federal immigration agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, could not make arrests in schools, churches or hospitals without first obtaining approval.
Marco Rubio will travel to Panama as part of his first trip as secretary of state next week, which will also include stops in Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
Panama, one of the United States’ closest allies in Latin America, has been in the spotlight ever since Trump said he wants to take back control of the Panama Canal.
The president has argued that China controls the waterway, but both China and Panama have denied that claim.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., warned today on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters will lead to further violence against Democrats.
“Political violence just got legitimized in this country, and you’re going to see it again and again and again, specifically directed towards Democrats, because Donald Trump has said, ‘If you beat up a police officer to further my political agenda, if you terrorize Democrats, I will let you off,'” he told Andrea Michell. “We have never, ever, in the 240-year history of this country, seen anything like this.”
“Our country is fundamentally different today than it was before these pardons,” he added.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., hinted to reporters that the vote on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of defense might be very tight.
“If I were JD Vance, I’d stick around,” Wicker said.
Vance would need to stick around to break a tie in the event that three Republicans vote no with all Democrats voting no.
A procedural vote to end debate on Hegseth’s nomination is expected today around 2:15 p.m. The final confirmation vote for Hegseth is expected late on Friday, probably around 8 or 9 p.m. Both of those votes need only a simple majority to pass.
In her Senate confirmation hearing for agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins was pressed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., about whether Trump’s promise of mass deportations of undocumented individuals would negatively affect the agriculture industry and force small producers to shut down.
Durbin noted that “40% of the farmworkers in this country are undocumented,” saying his constituents with family farm business in dairy and produce have expressed concerns over their ability to remain viable should ICE deport the immigrants whose labor they heavily rely on.
“You know what that means? They’re vulnerable to being deported, and if they’re deported, what are the farmers going to do for a lot of them? For a lot of different industries, immigration is critical,” Durbin said. “So I just need to ask you, what is your policy on immigration we got in the real world, not the criminals?”
Rollins, who is the CEO and president of the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute, which has advocated for mass deportation policies, said that “the president’s vision of a secure border and a mass deportation at a scale that matters” is something she supports, but noted she is also committed to defending America’s farmers and ranchers.
“I want to be extremely transparent, and I think that you deserve that,” Rollins said. “That is my commitment, is to help President Trump deploy his agenda in an effective way, while at the same time defending, if confirmed as secretary of agriculture, our farmers and ranchers across this country.”
Rollins admitted the two priorities may seem to be in conflict, but floated the idea of expanding and modernizing the H-2A visa program. The program allows American businesses to employ foreign workers for seasonal agriculture jobs for the purpose of reducing agricultural labor shortages.
“I just wonder if we ought to give fair warning to farmers and ranchers across America that if you have immigrant labor, you can expect federal agents to come and search your property?” Durbin asked. “Is that in the future for farmers and ranchers under the mass deportation plan?”
Rollins said she has not been involved in designing Trump’s deportation plans, and thus could not answer the question, but noted she would ensure that the president understands key agriculture workforce data.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost launched a long-anticipated campaign for governor today, saying he was “answering the call to duty” after receiving a “groundswell” of encouragement to seek the post.
Yost’s announcement makes him the first formally declared Republican in the race — and sets up a likely clash with Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur who left Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency this week, just as it was starting, to prepare his own campaign launch.
“This is my heart, my home,” Yost said in a statement declaring his candidacy. “I work for the people of Ohio, and I love my bosses. From the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night, I’m thinking about them and our future.”
Ramaswamy’s maneuvers have not scared off Yost or other Republicans interested in succeeding term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine, who is also a Republican. As NBC News first reported Saturday, Yost has brought on Justin Clark, a former top Trump adviser, as his campaign’s general consultant. And state Treasurer Robert Sprague has signaled that he soon plans to enter the GOP primary for governor.
On the Democratic side, Dr. Amy Acton, who served as DeWine’s health director during the early days of the pandemic, has declared her candidacy for governor.
Yost, 68, is in his second term as the state’s attorney general, following two terms as state auditor. He also previously served as the prosecutor in Delaware County, north of Columbus, where decades ago he was a newspaper reporter.
The Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be President Trump’s director of national intelligence on Jan. 30 at 10 a.m., according to a spokesperson for the committee.
Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker and Trump ally, has never worked in the intelligence field or served on a congressional intelligence committee. She has also been accused by lawmakers of parroting Russian propaganda.
Trump told the World Economic Forum that he believes the United States is treated “very, very unfairly” by the European Union.
“So we have, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars of deficits with the E.U., and nobody’s happy with it,” Trump said.
The E.U. had a trade surplus with the U.S. in 2023, according to European Commission data.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at Davos on Monday that the bloc is ready to work with Trump, noting that “no other economies in the world are as integrated as” the U.S. and E.U. She also recently told reporters that E.U. nations could potentially replace Russian liquified natural gas with American gas imports, something Trump has repeatedly urged.
The Senate has voted 72-26 to advance John Ratcliffe’s nomination to be the CIA director to a final floor vote.
That vote is expected to happen around 1:30 p.m. ET.
Ratcliffe will need a simple majority to be confirmed, which he’s expected to receive.
Twenty Democrats voted to advance his nomination.
After speaking for over 30 minutes, Trump’s remarks have ended at the World Economic Forum. He discussed implementing more tariffs if products are not made in the U.S. He also added that he hopes to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin soon about the war in Ukraine.
Trump speaking virtually to the World Economic Forum said he “would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended.”
“That’s not from the standpoint of the economy or anything else,” Trump said. “It’s from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted.”
Noting he has seen pictures of what’s taking place, Trump said “it’s a carnage and we really have to stop that war,” though he alluded to no plans for how his administration plans to bring an end to a war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump on the campaign trail made multiple vows to end the Ukraine-Russia war on the first day of his presidency, but the war remains ongoing.
Video shows several federal agents taking part in an apparent immigration raid in eastern Boston. Immigration and Customs officials have not commented on the operation.
The total number of Southwest border encounters by crossings between ports of entry was more than 800 yesterday, down by nearly half compared to the average number of Border Patrol encounters, at 1,552, according to a U.S. official.
The drop follows a flurry of immigration-related executive orders from Trump, who told the World Economic Forum that his new administration “immediately halted all entry of illegal border crossers,” citing a “national emergency on our border.”
“That action, as you’ve probably seen, has already started very strongly. Have deployed active duty U.S. military and National Guard troops to the border to assist in repelling the invasion. It was really an invasion. We will not allow our territory to be violated.” Trump said.
Speaking virtually at the World Economic Forum, Trump told members that if their products aren’t made in the U.S., they’ll have to pay tariffs.
“If you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts, but a tariff,” he said. “Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on earth to create jobs, build factories or grow a company than right here in the good old USA.”
Trump has said he might try to impose tariffs of 25% on products from Canada and Mexico and 10% on goods from China.
Speaking virtually at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, Trump called Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “a fantastic guy” and added that he would ask the country to increase its U.S. investments to $1 trillion.
The president’s comments at the forum come after Trump spoke with the crown prince yesterday in his first call with a foreign leader of his second term.
The Saudi government’s readout of the call said the kingdom plans to “broaden its investments and trade with the United States over the next four years, in the amount of $600 billion, and potentially beyond that.”
Trump told the World Economic Forum by video that he’s going to ask NATO members to increase their contributions to defense.
“I’m also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product, which is what it should have been years ago,” Trump said, a comment he has made before.
NATO members haven’t reached a 5% target, including the U.S. under the Biden administration. Defense ministers of several major U.S. allies in Europe recently said that a contribution of 5% of GDP per country is unrealistic.
Trump said he will “demand that interest rates drop immediately” in a speech given to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Speaking to the forum remotely from the White House, Trump’s demand on rates comes just a week before the Federal Reserve meets Jan. 29 in Washington. The Fed is expected to hold interest rates steady after multiple cuts last year. Fed members have cited uncertainty with the new administration, which has promised aggressive tariffs on the United States’ top trading partners.
Previously asked if he would resign if Trump ordered it, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave reporters a stern “no.”
Brooke Rollins, Trump’s nominee to serve as agriculture secretary, used her opening statement to assure she would help farmers, ranchers and rural communities thrive at her Senate confirmation hearing.
A quarter-century after the U.S. handed control of the Panama Canal to the country where it is located, Trump wants to take it back.
Early this month, he suggested he would consider using military force to regain control of the canal from Panama, one of the closest U.S. allies in Latin America, describing it as “vital” for national security.
But his gripe is more with U.S. rival China, which he says is “operating” the critical waterway that serves as a transit point for almost 5% of global maritime trade.
“We didn’t give it to China,” Trump said Monday during his inaugural address. “We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back” — comments that drew a rebuke from Panama’s president.
BEIJING — A record share of U.S. companies in China are accelerating their plans to relocate manufacturing or sourcing, according to a business survey released today.
About 30% of the respondents considered or started such diversification in 2024, surpassing the previous high of 24% in 2022, according to annual surveys from the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
That also exceeded the 23% share reported for 2017, when Trump began his first term and started raising tariffs on Chinese goods.
Justice Department lawyers will appear in a federal courtroom this morning to defend Trump’s executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, the first action in what promises to be a protracted legal battle over the new administration’s agenda.
Senior U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour will hear argument during the hearing on a request by four states — Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon — to block the order before it is scheduled to take effect in late February. This is one of five lawsuits filed by Democratic attorneys general and immigrant rights organizations challenging the order, which seeks to limit automatic birthright citizenship to children of U.S. citizens and green card holders, as unconstitutional.
The Constitution’s 14th Amendment has long been understood to grant automatic citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil except the children of foreign diplomats. An answer to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision, which held that people descended from enslaved people were not citizens, the amendment begins with the sentence: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
“Absent a temporary restraining order, children born in the Plaintiff States will soon be rendered undocumented, subject to removal or detention, and many stateless,” the lawyers continue. “They will be denied their right to travel freely and re-enter the United States. They will lose their ability to obtain a Social Security number (SSN) and work lawfully as they grow up. They will be denied their right to vote, serve on juries, and run for certain offices. And they will be placed into positions of instability and insecurity as part of a new, Presidentially-created underclass in the United States.”
In their filings, Justice Department lawyers told Coughenour that the birthright citizenship order is a “integral part” of Trump’s efforts to “address this nation’s broken immigration system and the ongoing crisis at the southern border.”
Not only does Trump have the authority to issue the order, they argue, but the states also lack standing to sue based on their alleged economic harms.
The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee voted 18-1 to send Doug Collins’ nomination to be secretary of veterans affairs out of committee and to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, was the only member to vote against his nomination.
In his confirmation hearing yesterday, Collins vowed to work across the aisle to help America’s veterans, and said he would lean on his own experience serving in the military to meet the demands of the role.
It’s not clear yet when the Senate will vote on Collins’ nomination.
The Senate banking committee voted 13-11, along party lines, to report Scott Turner’s nomination for Housing and Urban Development secretary to the full Senate. It’s not clear when the Senate will take up his nomination yet.
Before the committee vote, Senate Democrats expressed concerns that they had not received Turner’s FBI background check and urged committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., to delay the vote. In response, Scott said that the committee does not require FBI background checks as part of its vetting process and, therefore, decided to proceed with the vote.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the committee, noted that she would have been inclined to vote for Turner’s nomination if the committee had the opportunity to review his background check, and left open the possibility of voting to confirm him on the Senate floor.
Border Patrol is looking to expand the use of a controversial water buoy system designed to deter migrants from entry through the Rio Grande that spans the southwest U.S.-Mexico border, three sources familiar with the agency’s internal planning said.
Newly installed Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, who formerly served as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border czar, is heading up the expansion effort. The buoy system was the subject of litigation by the Biden administration and migrant advocacy groups, who argued it increased the risk of drowning along the Rio Grande.
The Biden administration filed the lawsuit in 2023, arguing the state of Texas had violated a federal law regulating navigable waters by installing the buoy system. The buoy barrier system has been allowed to remain in place while the case is litigated, though a trial date originally scheduled for just after Election Day last year was postponed and Trump’s administration is likely to drop the federal charges against Texas.
In a briefing Tuesday, Banks directed Border Patrol agents to keep all migrants they detain in custody without release, unless they are granted permission from the deputy of Border Patrol.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said today that Trump’s decision to pardon more than 1,500 supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack have sent a “shockwave” through the U.S. Capitol, adding that it’s an “insult to our democracy.”
“It has really struck a lot of fear and PTSD, in the hearts of folks who work here who live with this trauma, every single day, but nonetheless still show up to work,” Rosen said during an interview on MSNBC.
Rosen was in the Capitol on the day of the attack.
The Senate health committee announced a confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The hearing will be held next Thursday at 10 a.m.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions traditionally holds a courtesy hearing for the HHS nominee, but the Senate Finance Committee reports the nomination to the full Senate. The Finance Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for RFK Jr. next Wednesday.
NBC News reported that more than 15,000 doctors signed a letter imploring senators to vote against confirming his nomination in early January, writing that “336 million Americans depend on leadership at HHS that prioritizes science, evidence-based medicine, and strengthening the integrity of our public health system.”
The Senate energy committee also voted 15-5 to send Chris Wright, Trump’s pick for energy secretary, to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.
One independent and three Democrats voted with Republicans to advance Wright’s nomination including Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.
It’s not clear when the Senate will take up his nomination.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 18-2 to send former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s nomination for secretary of the interior to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.
Two Democrats voted against the nominee: Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.
It’s not clear when the Senate will take up Burgum’s nomination.
Burgum was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in the last election. After leaving the race, he became a surrogate for Trump on the campaign trail and was in the running as a possible vice presidential pick.
If confirmed as interior secretary, Burgum would be a key leader in carrying out Trump’s plan to increase domestic energy production.
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee will hold a confirmation hearing at 10 a.m. today for the nomination of Brooke Rollins to be agriculture secretary.
Rollins is the CEO and president of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. In the first Trump administration, she was the acting director of the White House’s Domestic Policy Council and played a role in Trump’s Office of American Innovation.
Rollins will likely not face major hurdles on her path to confirmation. Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said he had a “sensible conversation” with the nominee.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11-8 to report Lee Zeldin’s nomination for EPA administrator to the full Senate. Sen. Mark Kelly, of Arizona, was the only Democrat to vote for his nomination with all Republicans.
It’s not clear when the Senate will take up his nomination.
In an interview with NBC News, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration plans to send more troops to the border, in addition to the 1,500 already on their way.
“A lot of this requires funding from Congress, as you know, which is something the president has openly talked about,” Leavitt said. “The president signed an order to make homeland security a core part of the mission of the Department of Defense, and you’re seeing that action underway already.”
Leavitt also said she has no knowledge that the president has spoken to or met with any Jan. 6 rioters he pardoned.
She added that Trump is still on track to visit California tomorrow to survey the wildfire damage, although fire and emergency personnel are still trying to get those under control, including new ones that broke out yesterday.
Trump spoke yesterday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in his first call with a foreign leader in his second term as president, according to a readout released by the White House this morning.
“The two leaders discussed efforts to bring stability to the Middle East, bolster regional security, and combat terrorism. Additionally, they discussed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s international economic ambitions over the next four years as well as trade and other opportunities to increase the mutual prosperity of the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the readout said.
Trump’s first trip abroad during his first term as president was to Saudi Arabia and he maintained a close relationship with the Middle Eastern country despite the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News this morning she’s unaware of any current planning for Trump to visit Saudi Arabia. She also said that Trump has a call with another foreign leader today.
Trump and congressional Republicans push ahead on signature campaign promises with a flurry of actions on immigration, including ordering the suspension of all border crossings and reportedly giving officials authority to carry out deportations. The president also faces growing criticism over his decision to pardon all the defendants in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. NBC’s Garrett Haake reports for “TODAY.”
The Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, yesterday defended a plea for mercy she made to President Donald Trump on behalf of immigrants and others during an inaugural prayer service a day before.
“We’re in a particularly harsh moment now when it comes to conversations around immigrant populations in our midst, and so that was the reason for the tone I took now,” Budde said during an MSNBC interview.
Trump had attended the inaugural prayer service at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, during which Budde implored the president to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now” and referred specifically to gay, lesbian and transgender children, some of whom she said “fear for their lives.”
Budde told host Rachel Maddow that rather than use “sweeping terms,” she sought to make a direct appeal to Trump, who she noted was entrusted with power by millions of voters.
Emily’s List, a group that supports Democratic women who support abortion access, endorsed Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s campaign for governor today.
“As governor, we are confident she will continue her strong track record of protecting our freedoms, and will work to ensure that all Michigan families have access to affordable housing and health care. We have been proud to support Sec. Benson in her previous elections and are honored to support her now,” the group’s president, Jessica Mackler, said in a statement.
The group’s endorsement comes just a day after Benson launched her gubernatorial campaign, becoming the first major candidate to jump into the Democratic primary.
In her campaign launch video, Benson told voters that she’s running for governor, “to truly make government work for everyone. We need leaders who are transparent and accountable. We need our schools and neighborhoods to be safe for all of us.”
Her state’s gubernatorial race might be one of the closest-watched races in the nation next year. Michigan cemented its status as one of the most closely divided battleground states in the nation last year, as Trump flipped the state in 2024, just four years after Joe Biden won there and just two years after Benson and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, two Democrats, were re-elected to statewide offices.
“Voters sent a clear message in the 2024 election: They want leaders who are committed to addressing the very real problems that they’re facing every day,” Benson told NBC News yesterday, adding, “As Democrats, particularly here in Michigan, we’ve got to make sure that we listen to folks and their anxieties and challenges right now, and then also respond in a way that delivers real solutions on those issues.”
One priority for her, Benson added, is making sure that “when people ask whether government works for them, they can look to our departments in Michigan and say yes.”
There are two other major candidates in the race so far — state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and Democratic Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who launched an independent campaign rather than running as a Democrat.
The Trump administration is giving officials from several government agencies authority to carry out deportations, a Department of Homeland Security official confirmed to NBC News.
The Wall Street Journal reported last night that the authority is being granted to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and several agencies at the Justice Department. That’s according to a memo from acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman, the report said.
NBC News has not reviewed the memo.
Trump White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller also confirmed in a Fox News interview last night that other agencies would be participating in the deportation effort.
“Not only is it going to be ICE engaging in these raids, but also they’re going to have support from their law enforcement partners in FBI, ATF, DEA and U.S. Marshals,” he said.
The Senate is expected to vote on John Ratcliffe’s nomination to be CIA director today.
The chamber is also expected hold a procedural vote on whether to end debate on Pete Hegseth’s confirmation to be defense secretary, although it is unclear if the Senate will vote on his confirmation today or not.
Trump held his first sit-down interview yesterday since his inauguration.
In the interview with Fox News, he said, “I think we’ll let Congress decide” when asked whether Congress should investigate Biden’s recent pardons.
“I went through four years of hell by this scum that we had to deal with. I went through four years of hell. I spent millions of dollars in legal fees, and I won. But I did it the hard way. It’s really hard to say that they shouldn’t have to go through it also,” Trump said.
Trump also defended his decision to pardon and commute sentences of Jan. 6 defendants, including those who committed violent crimes.
“Most of the people were absolutely innocent, OK, but forgetting all about that, these people have served horribly a long time,” Trump said.
Trump is set to address the World Economic Forum today, though his remarks will take place virtually. The forum is meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The annual meeting is taking place from Jan. 20-24 this year. During the visits, leaders from around the world gather to discuss top issues. This year, the meeting’s theme is “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age,” according to the forum’s website.
Trump has often criticized global alliances and initiatives. He has already issued executive orders to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement.
