The Latest: Putin voices support for US ceasefire proposal, Trump hosts NATO leader

What’s happening to USAID property overseas? Government watchdogs want answers

Government watchdogs are asking the new leaders of the U.S. Agency for International Development to explain what they’re doing to safeguard stranded USAID offices and other assets overseas as they gut the agency.

“Assets still in-country without active U.S. control are at risk of looting, terrorism or being seized,” Gabriele Tonsil, the acting inspector general for USAID, said in a memo notifying deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco that her office was launching an audit of the matter.

Tonsil became acting inspector general when the White House fired her predecessor, Paul Martin, one day after his office warned that the Trump administration's sudden shutdown of USAID programs and mass idling of USAID workers was risking oversight of billions of dollars in U.S. foreign assistance.

NATO secretary-general arrives at White House for meeting and lunch with Trump

Trump says Rutte is doing a “fantastic job” as head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and that “I got to know him very well” when Rutte was prime minister of the Netherlands.

“We had a great relationship,” Trump says.

But Thursday’s meeting comes at a pivotal moment for Europe and NATO.

The Trump administration is moving forward on talks with Russia on a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Trump has been ratcheting up his anti-NATO rhetoric, expressing an unwillingness to defend members who don’t meet defense spending targets.

Trump set to visit the Justice Department on Friday

The White House hasn’t provided any details about why the president is visiting the department that charged him with illegally retaining classified documents and trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The DOJ, which is now led by his former defense attorneys and allies, abandoned the cases against Trump, citing longstanding Justice Department policy that sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution.

Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X that she is “looking forward to welcoming” Trump to the department. It will be his first agency visit since his return to the White House.

Democratic senat

ors complain about Trump’s Tesla promotion at the White House

They wrote to the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics slamming Trump’s apparent violation of federal ethics laws. They asked for an immediate investigation and possible disciplinary action.

Ethics laws against misusing government positions exist to make sure “finite taxpayer resources” address public concerns instead of “helping the world’s richest man get richer,” said the letter signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal and Adam Schiff.

Shares in Tesla have taken a beating as Elon Musk leads Trump's campaign to slash federal spending. Trump had five Tesla automobiles parked at the White House and bought one to show his support.

Russia President Vladimir Putin agrees in principle with US ceasefire proposal

“We agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,” Putin said.

Putin’s statement noted that Ukrainian troops are encircled in their last foothold in Russia’s Kursk region, and it’s necessary to determine before a ceasefire whether they will surrender.

He also noted that it’s necessary to develop a mechanism of control over possible breaches of the truce.

And he questioned whether Ukraine could use the 30-day ceasefire to mobilize and rearm.

▶ Read more on US-Russia-Ukraine ceasefire efforts

Senate Democrats refuse to back GOP spending plan as shutdown nears

Senate Democrats are mounting a last-ditch protest to a Republican-led government funding bill that already passed the House without slapping any limits on the Trump-Musk DOGE efforts to gut federal operations.

The Democrats are pushing a stopgap 30-day funding bill as an alternative, but its prospects are dim in the Republican-controlled chamber.

And it’s unlikely the Democrats would allow the government to shut down at midnight Friday, worried about the further chaos they say Trump and Musk could cause.

Transgender representative says she lives ‘rent free’ in minds of GOP colleagues

The Democratic Issues Conference is a retreat in Virginia where leaders navigate the party's identity and messaging strategy.

And they’re not holding back when asked whether Democrats should dialogue with Republicans over decorum.

“Their focus on our decorum or our behavior while they are burning down things for people at home, just makes me livid,” said Rep. Katherine Clarke, the Democratic Whip.

Appearing at a press conference for freshmen Democratic women was Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.

“We will not take a lecture on decorum from a party that incited an insurrection,” she said.

McBride has often declined to push back on her Republican colleagues’ taunts and bathroom use restrictions. This was a departure for her.

“I appear to live rent-free in the minds of some of my Republican colleagues," she said. “I wish that they would spend even a fraction of the time that they spent thinking about me thinking about how to lower the costs for American families. The Republican Party is obsessed with culture war issues. It is weird and it is bizarre.”

Trump forces out the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities

Shelley C. Lowe, the first Native American to lead the NEH, was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021 and confirmed by voice vote in the Senate the following year.

Her ouster is Trump’s latest move to assert more control over the country’s cultural institutions.

An NEH spokesperson said Thursday that Lowe had departed “at the direction of President Trump,” and that Michael McDonald, who had been the NEH’s general counsel, will serve as acting chair.

The National Endowment for the Arts, also is operating under interim leadership: NEA chair Maria Rosario Jackson resigned shortly before Trump took office in January.

The IRS replaces its chief counsel with a lawyer more sympathetic to DOGE, AP sources say

The revenue service demoted William Paul because he disagreed with the Department of Government Efficiency’s alleged push to share tax information with multiple agencies, according to two people familiar with the plans who are not authorized to speak publicly.

Paul will be replaced by Andrew De Mello, an attorney in the chief counsel’s office who is deemed supportive of Elon Musk and DOGE, they said.

Paul is not the first government official to be demoted after voicing concern about access to sensitive systems and taxpayer data.

“The series of IRS officials who have put the law above their personal job security join a line of public servants, stretching back to Treasury and IRS leaders during the Nixon era, who have resisted unlawful attempts by elected officials to weaponize taxpayer data and systems,” Chye-Ching Huang, the executive director of New York University’s Tax Law Center, said in a statement.

Democratic-led states sue to block Education Department layoffs

A coalition including 20 states and the District of Columbia says the Trump administration's sweeping Education Department layoffs are illegally dismantling an agency created by Congress.

The Trump administration cut the department's workforce in half, and the president has said he wants it shut down.

The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Massachusetts says the layoffs make it impossible for the department to comply with its statutory requirements, will result in lost or delayed federal funding for public schools and leave the agency unable to administer college financial aid or enforce civil rights laws.

Senate committee backs Stanford health economist to lead NIH

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya once famously clashed with officials at the National Institutes of Health. Now he’s up for a full Senate vote with the approval of the Senate’s health committee.

Bhattacharya, who holds a medical degree but is not a practicing physician, was an outspoken critic of COVID-19 shutdowns and vaccine policies.

He sidestepped committee questions about drastic funding cuts and mass firings, and vowed to focus attention on chronic diseases and encourage scientific dissent at the $48 billion agency, the world’s largest funder of biomedical research.

FDA nominee Marty Makary on track for confirmation after Senate panel vote

Dr. Marty Makary is on track to become the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

The Republican-controlled Senate health panel voted 14-9 to advance his nomination to the Senate floor. Democrats Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and John Hickenlooper of Colorado joined Republicans in favor.

Makary — a surgeon, author and researcher — is known for his contrarian views and is closely aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on many issues. Both are highly critical of food additives, ultraprocessed foods and the overprescribing of drugs.

Makary refused to be pinned down on specific actions he might take as commissioner, including on the abortion pill mifepristone.

G7 allies meet in Canada as Trump’s policies shake unity

Top diplomats from the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are gathering as the bloc’s once-solid unity is thrown into disarray by Trump’s trade and foreign policies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will likely hear a litany of complaints. The meeting began just minutes after Trump threatened 200% tariffs on European alcohol if the EU retaliates against his steel and aluminum tariffs with a levy on American whiskey.

Relations between the U.S. and its closest allies are already strained by Trump’s apparent pivot toward Russia. “Peace and stability is at the top of our agenda, and I look forward discussing how we continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal aggression,” Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said.

▶ Read more on the G7 meetings in Canada

China opposes tariffs on steel and aluminum and confirms talks with Walmart

China called U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “unilateral and protectionist acts under the name of national security.”

Chinese commerce ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian confirmed Thursday that ministry officials had reached out to Walmart following reports that the giant U.S. retailer was seeking price cuts from its Chinese suppliers to offset the cost of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods.

Walmart said in a statement that its conversations with suppliers were aimed at saving money for its customers and that it would work closely with the suppliers to “find the best way forward during these uncertain times.”

Trump withdraws his initial choice to lead CDC, a close RFK Jr. ally

The Senate health committee announced Thursday that it was canceling a hearing on former Florida congressman David Weldon’s nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the White House pulled the nomination because it became clear Weldon did not have the votes for confirmation.

Weldon has been closely aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now Trump's health secretary, one of the nation's leading anti-vaccine activists. Weldon also has been a prominent critic of vaccines and the CDC, which promotes vaccines and monitors their safety.

By Zeke Miller and Mike Stobbe

▶ Read more on developments involving Trump and the CDC

Trump special envoy in Russia for high-level talks on Ukraine ceasefire

Steve Witkoff was in Moscow on Thursday, just the latest high-profile assignment for a real estate magnate turned White House foreign policy fixer.

The longtime Trump pal is also a key player in the Republican administration's efforts to end the war in Gaza.

Now he's expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a U.S. official who also confirmed Witkoff's arrival in Russia for the sensitive engagement. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of the anonymity.

Ukraine agreed Tuesday to a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire. Trump said he hopes Russia will quickly agree.

▶ Read more about Witkoff's rise in Trump's foreign policy apparatus

US bourbon makers urge Trump to back off his trade war

“The US-EU spirits sector is the model for fair and reciprocal trade, having zero-for-zero tariffs since 1997,” says the statement by Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council.

“The U.S. spirits sector supports more than $200 billion in economic activity, 1.7 million jobs across production, distribution, hospitality and retail, and the purchase of 2.8 billion pounds of grains from American farmers,” it says.

“We urge President Trump to secure a spirits agreement with the EU to get us back to zero-for-zero tariffs, which will create U.S. jobs and increase manufacturing and exports for the American hospitality sector. We want toasts not tariffs.”

U.S. wholesale inflation decelerated last month, but the progress may not last

The Labor Department reported that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers — was unchanged from January to February, and core wholesale prices that exclude volatile food and energy costs dropped 0.1%, the first drop since July.

Thursday’s numbers hit as President Donald Trump ramps up his trade war, threatening to send inflation higher.

Gasoline prices fell 4.7% last month, while food prices rose 1.7% from January to February, led by a 28% surge in the price of eggs.

▶ Read more on producer prices and inflation

Trump takes aim at Europe’s possible whiskey tax as his trade war heats up

Trump issued his threat on social media, saying he’d impose a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne and spirits if the European goes forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey on April 1.

Trump called the longtime U.S. ally “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States.”

He said the 200% tax on U.S. consumption of the European products “will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”

▶ Read more on Trump's trade wars

Jobless numbers don’t yet reflect DOGE federal workforce cuts

It’s not clear when job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency will show up in the weekly layoffs report, though some analysts expect them to surface in data in the coming weeks.

Those layoffs are part of the Trump administration's efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Senior U.S. officials set the government downsizing in motion weeks ago via a memo dramatically expanding President Donald Trump's efforts to scale back the workforce. Thousands of probationary employees have already been fired, and now the Republican administration is turning its attention to career officials with civil service protection.

▶ Read more about U.S. unemployment numbers

Jobless numbers remain healthy for now

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.

U.S. jobless claims filings fell by 2,000 to 220,000 for the week ending March 8, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s fewer than the 226,000 new applications analysts forecast.

The four-week average, which evens out some of the week-to-week swings, ticked up by 1,500 to 226,000.

The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of March 1 fell by 27,000 to 1.87 million.

UN humanitarian chief says many needy people around the world will die because of aid cuts

The U.N. humanitarian chief says more than 300 million people across the globe need humanitarian support and many will die because funding from the United States and others is drying up.

Tom Fletcher told a U.N. news conference that the cuts have caused “a seismic shock.”

The Trump administration has dismantled the U.S. aid agency, USAID, and terminated 83% of its programs.

Across the humanitarian community, he said, programs have been stopped and staff have been laid off including about 10% in February from nongovernmental organizations doing humanitarian work.

Fletcher said that in December global experts estimated that 300 million people needed help in 2025, and the U.N. prioritized 190 million it was aiming to reach, which would cost $47 billion.

That number increased to 307 million in recent days, he said, but with the funding cuts, he can’t say with confidence that the U.N. will get anywhere near $47 billion. Now, U.N. colleagues in Geneva are trying to identify how to prioritize saving 100 million lives and how much that would cost.

Rubio could face an unfriendly reception from close G7 allies over Trump’s policies

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio disembarks from a military airplane upon arrival at Quebec City Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec, Canada, March 12, 2025, as he travels to a G7 Foreign Ministers meeting. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio may be walking into unusually unfriendly territory this week when he meets his counterparts from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies — strong American allies stunned by President Donald Trump's actions against them.

Just hours after Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs kicked in — prompting responses from the European Union and Canada and threatening to ignite full-scale trade wars with close U.S. partners — Rubio arrived at the scenic Quebec town of La Malbaie on the St. Lawrence River for two days of talks starting Thursday with the top diplomats of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. All of them have been angered by the new American president's policies.

Rubio will likely be hearing a litany of complaints about Trump's decisions from once-friendly, like-minded countries in the G7 — notably host Canada, to which Trump has arguably been most antagonistic with persistent talk of it becoming the 51st U.S. state, additional tariffs and repeated insults against its leadership.

▶ Read more about Rubio's G7 meeting

Trump hosting White House talks with NATO secretary general

Mark Rutte, who heads the 32-member transatlantic military alliance, will meet with Trump at a pivotal moment for Europe and NATO.

Administration officials are pressing ahead with talks with Moscow to sign off on a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire that Trump believes could usher in a permanent end to Europe’s biggest land-war since World War II.

Thursday’s talks also come as Trump’s rhetoric on the alliance continues to leave members uneasy.

Trump last week suggested that the U.S. might abandon its commitments to the alliance if member countries don't meet defense spending targets, a day after his pick for NATO ambassador assured senators that the administration's commitment to the military alliance was "ironclad."

The U.S. president also expressed doubt that NATO would come to the United States’ defense if the country were attacked. However, the alliance did just that after Sept. 11 — the only time in its history that the defense guarantee has been invoked.

Education Department layoffs gut civil rights office, leaving discrimination cases in limbo

The Education Department's civil rights branch is losing nearly half its staff in the Trump administration's layoffs, effectively gutting an office that already faced a backlog of thousands of complaints from students and families across the nation.

Among a total of more than 1,300 layoffs announced Tuesday were roughly 240 in the department's Office for Civil Rights, according to a list obtained and verified by The Associated Press. Seven of the civil rights agency's 12 regional offices were entirely laid off, including busy hubs in New York, Chicago and Dallas. Despite assurances that the department's work will continue unaffected, huge numbers of cases appear to be in limbo.

The Trump administration has not said how it will proceed with thousands of cases being handled by staff it's eliminating. The cases involve families trying to get school services for students with disabilities, allegations of bias related to race and religion, and complaints over sexual violence at schools and college campuses.

Some staffers who remain said there’s no way to pick up all of their fired colleagues’ cases. Many were already struggling to keep pace with their own caseloads. With fewer than 300 workers, families likely will be waiting on resolution for years, they said.

▶ Read more about how layoffs are impacting the civil rights branch

Federal student loan site goes down after layoffs gutted Education Department

An hours-long outage Wednesday on StudentAid.gov, the federal website for student loans and financial aid, underscored the risks in rapidly gutting the Department of Education, as Trump aims to dismantle the agency.

Hundreds of users reported FAFSA outages to Downdetector starting midday Wednesday, saying they were having trouble completing the form, which is required for financial aid at colleges nationwide. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, a group of people who handle colleges' financial aid awards, also received reports of users experiencing technical issues and having trouble completing the FAFSA.

The developers and IT support staff who worked on the FAFSA form were hard hit in the Education Department’s layoffs Tuesday, along with staff buyouts and the termination of probationary employees. In all, the Education Department has reduced its staff by half, to roughly 2,000, since Trump took office.

▶ Read more about the layoffs at the Education Department

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