President Donald Trump said Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return under his plan for U.S. “ownership” of the war-torn territory, contradicting other officials in his administration who've sought to argue Trump was only calling for the temporary relocation of its population.
He also said he'll announce Monday that the United States will impose , including from , as well as other import duties later in the week.
Here's the latest:
Volunteers are now tracking what’s already been lost in the USAID freeze
When and the State Department told their , Sadie Healy expected the impact to be “horrendous.”
But Healy, who runs a small global health consulting firm, Molloy Consultants, realized no one was documenting how bad the freeze on U.S. foreign aid would be. USAID wouldn’t be cataloging the impacts as President Donald Trump’s administration fired senior staff, shuttered its headquarters and then told its . The nonprofits and aid companies who worked with USAID were fighting to survive.
So Healy decided she would do it.
“I am an action person. The depression and the sadness that we knew this was going to cause was something I couldn’t deal with,” Healy said in an interview with The Associated Press. “So we called a Zoom meeting.”
Healy is one of a growing number of people and organizations in the international development ecosystem stepping forward to track the impact of the freeze on U.S. foreign aid.
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Trump administration official says a VOA journalist should be fired for a news item he posted
The item was reporting on a comment made by someone critical of efforts to dismantle the USAID agency.
Steve Herman, chief national correspondent for Voice of America, wrote on social media that “eliminating USAID ‘makes Americans less safe at home and abroad,’ says Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward.” He linked to Perryman’s comments.
Special envoy Richard Grenell said on X that “it isn’t too much to suggest this is treasonous. You don’t get to work against the official U.S. government policies while being paid by U.S. taxpayers.”
Herman, Grenell suggested, “should be immediately fired.”
Voice of America, a U.S.-government-funded agency, employs journalists to report around the world on what is going on in the United States. It has been operating since World War II.
Herman said Monday that he wasn’t authorized to comment.
Judge finds Trump administration hasn’t fully followed his order to unfreeze federal spending
And the judge ordered the White House to release all money.
U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell found there’s evidence that some federal grants and loans are still not going out to the recipients and ordered that the cash be released.
McConnell earlier ordered a halt to Trump administration plans for a sweeping freeze on federal funding. The Republican administration has said the pause was necessary to ensure federal spending fits with the president’s agenda.
The order comes in a lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen states.
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Trump orders the firing of the members of the board of visitors for the four US military academies
The move purges the boards of members appointed by former President Joe Biden.
The president said in a post on his social media network Monday that he ordered the immediate dismissal of the board members after accusing them of having “been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years.”
When Biden took office in 2021, his administration purged a number of members from the boards after Trump used the last two months of his first term to appoint loyalists to a number of boards.
State attorneys general suing over Trump cuts to medical and health research at universities nationwide
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Boston by attorneys general from nearly two dozen states, challenges the Trump administration, Department of Health and Human Services and the ϳԹ Institutes of Health over efforts to reduce indirect costs to these institutions, including lab, faculty, infrastructure and utility costs.
“Massachusetts is the medical research capital of the country. We are the proud home of nation-leading universities and research institutions that save lives, create jobs, and help secure a better future,” Massachusetts Attorney Andrea Campbell said in a statement. “We will not allow the Trump Administration to unlawfully undermine our economy, hamstring our competitiveness, or play politics with our public health.”
Trump is naming attorney and investor Howard Brodie as ambassador to Finland
The president announced his selection of Brodie on his social media network Monday. Brodie is co-president and general counsel of Brodie Generational Capital Partners.
Egypt’s foreign minister says there’s ‘Arab consensus’ on the rejection of transfer of Palestinians
Badr Abdelatty stressed “the importance of finding a political horizon for the Palestinian cause, leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and for the Palestinian people to enjoy the right of self-determination,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.
A senior Hamas official blasted President Trump’s latest remarks about the U.S. ownership of Gaza, as “absurd.”
Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas politico bureau, said the comments “reflect a deep ignorance of Palestine and the region.”
In comments released by Hamas early Monday, he said Trump’s approach toward the Palestinian cause will fail.
Secrecy preceded the shutdown of the consumer protection agency’s Washington headquarters
Over the weekend, some staff members at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saw a sign of trouble to come.
Windows in two basement conference rooms were covered with brown paper and blue painter’s tape, concealing their occupants. Voices could be heard inside discussing cuts to government agencies. When the door was cracked open, there were young people with temporary badges.
It was fresh evidence that the agency, which was created to protect Americans from financial fraud, abuse and deceptive practices, was the newest target of and his Department of Government Efficiency. Now the Washington headquarters is , and there are fears that it will be gutted like .
Pictures of the conference rooms were viewed by The Associated Press and the scene was described by two current employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.
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— Chris Megerian
Head of the agency that protects whistleblowers sues Trump over his firing
The termination of Hampton Dellinger at the Office of Special Counsel comes as President Trump’s Republican administration is engaged in a massive overhaul of the federal government, testing the limits of well-established civil service protections by moving to dismantle federal agencies and push out staffers.
Dellinger was informed of his firing in an email Friday from the White House personnel director, who said he was writing on behalf of the president.
Dellinger notes in his lawsuit filed Monday in Washington federal court that the special counsel can be removed “only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
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Trump has unleashed chaos by distraction upon the international community. That’s no accident
. The Danes are . Colombia has . Mexico and Canada in a . China has retaliated, between the economic superpowers. The Brits, long proud of their “special relationship” with the United States, .
It’s as if President Donald Trump has flung a bag of marbles across the global stage, under the feet of foreign leaders who’ve often stepped together through eight decades of postwar global order.
Acknowledged publicly or not, world leaders are watching Trump’s wood-chipper approach to some American government institutions and wondering about those of the post-Cold War order: What of the U.S. roles in NATO, the United Nations, the World Bank and other pillars of the international order?
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Trump says no right of return for Palestinians in Gaza under his plan for US ‘ownership’
That contradicts other officials in his administration who’ve sought to argue Trump was only calling for the temporary relocation of its population.
Less than a week after he floated his plan for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and turn it in “the Riviera of the Middle East,” Trump, in an interview with FOX News’ Bret Baier that was set to air Monday, said “No, they wouldn’t” when asked if Palestinians in Gaza would be have a right to return to the territory. It comes as he’s ramped up pressure on Arab states, especially U.S. allies Jordan and Egypt, to take in Palestinians from Gaza, who claim the territory as part of a future homeland.
“We’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump said. “In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”
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Senate Democrats open a whistleblower portal for potentially ‘lawless’ Trump actions
The portal is for government workers.
In a letter addressed to “the Brave Public Servants,” the Democrats remind that the Whistleblower Protection Act “prohibits retaliation against federal employees who disclose evidence of wrongdoing.”
“If you have information you want to share about wrongdoing, abuse of power, and threats to public safety, we stand ready to support you,” wrote Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Government Oversight Committee Sen. Gary Peters.
They said Republicans are refusing to provide a check on the White House.
Five former treasury secretaries warn about DOGE access
The group wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Monday, sounding the alarm on the risks associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency accessing sensitive Treasury payment systems.
“These political actors have not been subject to the same rigorous ethics rules as civil servants,” said former Treasury heads Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew and Janet Yellen in the Times op-ed.
“We are alarmed about the risks of arbitrary and capricious political control of federal payments, which would be unlawful and corrosive to our democracy,” they said.
They also issue a dire warning about the notion of selective suspension of congressionally authorized payments, which Musk regularly threatens on X, calling it “a breach of trust and ultimately, a form of default.”
After DOGE recently gained access to sensitive Treasury data including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems, a federal judge over the weekend ordered that the Treasury Department should block access to anyone “other than civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties” from its payment system, noting the risk of “irreparable harm.”
Wall Street opens higher despite worries over Trump’s latest tariff threats
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in early trading Monday, coming off a losing week bookended by worries about how potential tariffs could threaten the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 261 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.7%.
Treasury yields ticked lower in the bond market after Trump said over the weekend that he’ll impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, as well as other import duties later in the week.
Russ Vought, Trump’s budget chief, ramps up pressure on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
He reminded staff Monday morning that their office is closed and they should “not perform any work tasks.” The Associated Press viewed a copy of the email.
Employees were directed to contact the top lawyer for the Office of Management and Budget “to get approval in writing before performing any work task.”
The agency was created after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal, and it’s been a target of conservatives for years.
3rd federal judge blocks Trump order ending birthright citizenship for children of people in US illegally
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante in New Hampshire comes after two similar rulings by judges in Seattle and Maryland last week.
A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union contends President Trump’s order violates the Constitution and “attempts to upend one of the most fundamental American constitutional values.”
Trump’s Republican administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.
The administration is on Trump’s executive order.
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China’s tit-for-tat duties on US imports took effect Monday
It came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he wants to slap new duties on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S.
The rapid-fire shots of tariffs and import curbs hearken back to Trump’s first term in office, when the U.S. and China that spanned most of Trump’s first four years in office and was continued to a certain extent under his successor, Joe Biden.
Less than a month after returning to the White House on Jan. 20, Trump slapped 10% duties on all Chinese imports, a move that’s expected to raise prices on goods including .
China responded with 15% duties on , and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S.
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‘Why are you here?’ USAID staffers asked
A man who had earlier identified himself as a USAID official, while refusing to identify himself further, is taking a harsh tone with staffers who arrive for work at agency headquarters.
“Go home,” the man told arriving staffers. “Just go.”
“Why are you here?” he asked.
USAID workers prevented from getting to offices
Security guards have turned away USAID staffers who arrived for work at agency headquarters in Washington even after a court temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have pulled all but a fraction of aid and development staffers off the job worldwide.
A front desk officer on Monday told a steady stream of agency staffers in business clothes or USAID sweatshirts or T-shirts that he had a list of no more than 10 names of people allowed to enter the agency.
Staffers who hadn’t seen each other since President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk began dismantling their agency embraced each other.
Vance makes his debut as VP on the international stage at a high-stakes AI summit in Paris
The 40-year-old vice president, who was just 18 months into his tenure as a senator before joining Trump’s , is expected, while in Paris, to push back on European efforts to tighten AI oversight while advocating for a more open, innovation-driven approach.
The has drawn world leaders, top tech executives, and policymakers to discuss artificial intelligence’s impact on global security, economics, and governance. High-profile attendees also include Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, signaling Beijing’s deep interest in shaping global AI standards.
The event highlights a growing divide between the European Union and other players pushing for more regulations to make the fast-moving technology safer for the public, and the U.S., where the Trump administration has prioritized business-friendly policies and technological dominance.
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Trump says he’s directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies
He cited the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
The move by Trump is the latest in what’s been a rapid-fire effort by his new administration to enact sweeping change through executive order and proclamation on issues ranging from immigration, to gender and diversity, to the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump had not discussed his desire to eliminate the penny during his campaign. But Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency raised the prospect in highlighting the penny’s cost.
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Trump says he will announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs Monday
President Donald Trump said he will announce on Monday that the United States will impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including from , as well as other import duties later in the week.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he responded, “aluminum, too” will be subject to the trade penalties.
Trump also reaffirmed that he would announce “reciprocal tariffs” — “probably Tuesday or Wednesday” — meaning that the U.S. would impose import duties on products in cases where another country has levied duties on U.S. goods.
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