The Latest: Trump orders meet growing protests and court challenges

“Just because you’re a veteran doesn’t mean you’re good at it,” said Crenshaw, a former Navy Seal. “But if you’re doing a job that we need you to do, and you’re doing it well, we’ve got to fight for you.”

According to an internal memo obtained earlier this month by The Associated Press, the Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to cut more than 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency that provides health care and other services for millions of veterans.

Trump says he’ll pay astronauts who were stranded overtime

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore spent 278 extra days on the International Space Station after their spacecraft malfunctioned, but aren’t eligible for overtime pay.

But the president says not to worry — he’ll make them square for their lost time in space.

“If I have to, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket,” the billionaire real estate developer told reporters.

Small Business Administration to cut its workforce by 43%

The SBA cuts amount to about 2,700 jobs at the agency, which was established in 1953 to support companies that represent 99% of all U.S. businesses, employ 46% of American workers and generate 43% of GDP.

The SBA said loan guarantee and disaster assistance programs, as well as its field and veteran operations, won’t be affected. But Trump just announced a major new SBA responsibility, taking on student loans as the Education Department is eliminated.

The SBA distributed aid that kept businesses operating during the pandemic. Trump's SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler says the reorganization should return staffing to pre-pandemic levels and cut some programs started during the Biden administration.

Trump raises Musk’s potential conflicts of interests regarding China

Trump rejected reports that Musk was getting briefed on plans for a potential war with China while he was at the Pentagon on Friday.

The president said Musk was there to help address costs, part of his goals at the Department of Government Efficiency.

Trump suggested that he wouldn’t want to share war plans with an entrepreneur like Musk because of his financial interests.

“Elon has businesses in China,” he said. “And he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that.”

Trump defends exposure of social security numbers in unredacted JFK files

“We have nothing to hide,” Trump said Friday. “We even released social security numbers. I didn’t want anything deleted.”

It was Trump who directed this week’s release, without redactions, of tens of thousands of pages of records relating to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

After some people who are still living complained that releasing their personally identifiable information exposes them to identity theft, the White House offered credit monitoring and help getting new social security numbers.

The release has revived some old conspiracy theories, but Trump said "I don't think there's anything that's earth shattering" in the files.

Trump says other federal agencies will assume some Education Department responsibilities

Trump said student loans would be handled by the Small Business Administration, saying “it will be serviced much better than it has in the past.”

And he said programs involving special needs and nutrition would shift to the Department of Health and Human Services, adding that “I think that will work out very well.”

Trump announced the changes at the beginning of an Oval Office event focused on developing a next-generation fighter jet. His executive order pushing for the dismantling of the Education Department meets a longtime Republican goal.

Eyeing China threat, Trump announces that Boeing will build Air Force’s secretive future fighter jet

The Pentagon says the new jet fleet will have stealth and penetration capabilities that far exceed its current fleet and is essential in a potential conflict with China.

Known as Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, the manned jet will serve as a quarterback to a fleet of future drone aircraft that would be able to penetrate China’s air defenses. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the future fleet “sends a very clear, direct message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere.”

But critics have questioned the cost and necessity of the program. The Pentagon is still struggling to fully produce its most advanced jet and its future stealth bomber will have many of the same advanced technologies.

▶ Read more on Trump's fighter jet announcement

Senate Democrats say explanations for USAID document-shredding don’t hold up

They’re asking the Trump administration to better account for its burning and shredding of records at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Sens. Gary Peters, the ranking Democrat on a governmental affairs committee, and Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the foreign relations committee, wrote Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday asking for all communications on the destruction of documents as the Trump administration gutted USAID.

The destruction became public when a USAID email asked remaining staff to help in "clearing our classified safes and personnel documents."

Two federal judges declined to intervene last week after government lawyers said the shredding and burning was limited or had stopped.

Billionaire SpaceX founder and DOGE liaison visits Pentagon

Elon Musk completed a morning meeting at the U.S. military headquarters Friday, telling Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth he’s ready to do “anything that could be helpful,” according to CNN video of the pair exiting their meeting.

Musk refused to answer questions as to whether he received a classified briefing on China as part of the visit.

The Pentagon is working to identify personnel and programs it can cut to save between 5% and 8% of its budget, but lawmakers and government watchdogs have questioned whether Musk should have any role in decisions at the Pentagon, where his SpaceX company receives billions of dollars in federal contracts.

Education Secretary says she’ll ‘unwind’ regulations

Linda McMahon said she is preparing to relocate the Education Department’s core operations to other agencies and roll back federal regulations.

She sketched out a roadmap for executing President Donald Trump's order to dismantle the agency in an opinion piece published Friday by Fox News.

McMahon said abolishing the department "will not happen tomorrow," but she plans to pave the way.

“We will systematically unwind unnecessary regulations and prepare to reassign the department’s other functions to the states or other agencies,” McMahon wrote.

Another Republican lawmaker tries to calm fears over Social Security

Speaking to his constituents on a tele-town hall on Friday morning, Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis defended DOGE’s efforts to fire federal workers and dismantle federal agencies, saying the push has faced a “gross overreaction in the media.”

“It looks radical, but it’s not. I call it stewardship, in my opinion,” the Republican said. “I think they’re doing right by the American taxpayer.”

Bilirakis sought to calm the older adults and veterans who complained about efforts to slash even the agencies that have bipartisan support.

“Elon Musk will not touch Social Security,” he said.

Musk has described Social Security and other federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, suggesting they’ll be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending.

Some members of Congress face tough crowds at town halls

House Speaker Mike Johnson warned them against facing protesters, but GOP Reps. Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy of Utah did so anyway in liberal Salt Lake City, and got earfuls from the boisterous audience.

Many urged Maloy to denounce Trump’s sweeping federal budget cuts, but she said getting the country out of its financial situation will require “all of us feeling some pain.”

To jeers from the crowd Thursday, Kennedy defended Trump’s actions. Many questions focused on how federal cuts might impact Utah’s vast public lands. Both lawmakers said they had little power to influence Trump’s decisions.

▶ Read more about the Utah town hall

Detained Columbia University student activist appears before immigration judge in Louisiana

Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record, sat alone next to an empty chair inside the detention center. His lawyer participated by video conference. The brief session dealt only with scheduling — the judge set a fuller hearing for April 8 — as his lawyers try in multiple venues to free him.

Khalil briefly smiled at two supporters who attended, but he otherwise showed no expression.

Born in Syria to a Palestinian family and married to a U.S. citizen, Khalil served as a spokesperson and negotiator for Columbia students demonstrating against Israel's military campaign in Gaza last year. He was detained by immigration agents in a crackdown on what Trump calls antisemitic and "anti-American" campus protests.

Khalil said in a statement Tuesday that his detention reflects "anti-Palestinian racism" in the U.S.

▶ Read more about Mahmoud Khalil's detention

Trump administration is debating invoking a ‘state secrets privilege’ around deportation flights

That’s according to a court filing Friday by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in response to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s demand for details about flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador.

Blanche said “ongoing Cabinet-level discussions” continue on whether to provide the details or make a formal claim that revealing them would harm “state secrets.”

The administration has called the judge’s request an “unnecessary judicial fishing” expedition, while Boasberg called its previous response “woefully insufficient,” increasing the possibility he may hold administration officials in contempt.

The judge temporarily blocked deportations under an 18th century wartime law. He is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on Friday afternoon.

After job cuts, National Weather Service says its eliminating or reducing weather balloon launches

Weather balloon launches will be eliminated in Omaha, Nebraska; and Rapid City, South Dakota; “due to a lack of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staffing,” the weather service said in a notice. It’s also cutting from twice daily to once daily balloon launches in Aberdeen, South Dakota; Grand Junction, Colorado; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Gaylord, Michigan; North Platte, Nebraska; and Riverton, Wyoming.

Earlier this month, the Weather Service had announced weather balloon cuts in Albany, New York; and Gray, Maine.

Until hundreds, perhaps more than 1,000 cuts at NOAA were imposed by the Trump administration, the weather agency had been launching weather balloon twice a day in 100 locations in the United States, Caribbean and Pacific Basin. The weather balloons have devices attached that measure temperature, dew point, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction.

▶ Read more about job cuts at NOAA

Trump’s call to dismantle Education Department shows Republican rightward lurch and his grip on GOP

A little more than 23 years ago, Republican President George W. Bush sat at a desk at a high school in Hamilton, Ohio, and signed a law that would vastly expand the role of the Education Department and transform American schooling.

On Thursday, his Republican successor, President Trump, signed a very different document — this one an executive order designed to dismantle the department.

For years, as right-wing activists called for eliminating the agency, many Republicans paid lip service to the cause but still voted to fund it. Now Trump, emboldened and unapologetic in his drastic remaking of the federal government, has brushed aside concerns that deterred his predecessors.

▶ Read more about Trump and the Education Department

Democrats’ new internet strategy tops trending charts but also draws mockery from allies and foes

For weeks, Democratic lawmakers have met with and mimicked figures they believe may offer them a path back to power in Washington: online influencers and content creators.

Hours before President Trump's joint address to Congress this month, Senate Democrats huddled with a dozen online progressive personalities who have millions of followers. House Democrats were introduced, without staff, to 40 content creators who Democratic leaders said could help them grow their audience online.

An earlier tutorial session in February featured online personalities like the YouTube commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.

The result has been a burst of Democratic online content, including direct-to-camera explainers in parked cars, scripted vertical videos, podcast appearances and livestreams — some topping trending charts online, others drawing mockery from liberal allies and Republicans in Congress.

▶ Read more about Democrats' digital strategy

Judge calls Trump administration’s latest response on deportation flights ‘woefully insufficient’

U.S. District Judge Jeb Boasberg demanded answers from the Trump administration after flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants alleged by the Trump administration to be gang members landed in El Salvador after the judge temporarily blocked deportations under an 18th century wartime law.

Boasberg had given the administration until noon Thursday to either provide more details about the flights or make a claim that it must be withheld because it would harm “state secrets.” The administration resisted the judge’s request, calling it an “unnecessary judicial fishing” expedition.

In a written order, Boasberg called Trump officials’ latest response “woefully insufficient.” The judge said the administration “again evaded its obligations” by merely repeating “the same general information about the flights.” And he ordered the administration to “show cause,” as to why it didn’t violate his court order to turn around the planes, increasing the prospect that he may consider holding administration officials in contempt of court.

▶ Read more about the legal showdown regarding the deportation flights

Maine found in violation of Title IX over transgender athletes after Trump clashed with governor

Maine's education office is being ordered to ban transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports or face federal prosecution.

The Education Department on Wednesday said an investigation concluded Maine's education office violated the Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' sports teams and use girls' facilities. It's giving Maine 10 days to comply with a list of demands or face Justice Department prosecution.

The federal investigation into Maine's Department of Education was opened Feb. 21, just hours after Trump and the state's Democratic governor, Janet Mills, clashed over the issue at a meeting of governors at the White House. During the heated exchange, Mills told the Republican president, "We'll see you in court."

▶ Read more about the investigation into Maine's Department of Education

Facing anti-DEI investigations, colleges cut ties with nonprofit targeted by conservatives

Last week, the Education Department said it was investigating dozens of universities for alleged racial discrimination, citing ties to the nonprofit organization. That followed a warning a month earlier that schools could lose federal money over "race-based preferences" in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

The investigations left some school leaders startled and confused, wondering what prompted the inquiries. Many scrambled to distance themselves from The PhD Project, which has aimed to help diversify the business world and higher education faculty.

The rollout of the investigations highlights the climate of fear and uncertainty in higher education, which President Donald Trump's administration has begun policing for policies that run afoul of his agenda even as he moves to dismantle the Education Department.

▶ Read more about colleges distancing themselves from the PhD Project

Trump’s plan to dismantle the Education Department will keep some of its core functions

Trump has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. Republicans said they will introduce legislation to achieve that, while Democrats have quickly lined up to oppose the idea.

Trump’s order says the education secretary will, “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”

It offers no detail on how that work will be carried out or where it will be targeted, though the White House said the agency will retain certain critical functions.

Trump said his administration will close the department beyond its “core necessities,” preserving its responsibilities for Title I funding for low-income schools, Pell grants and money for children with disabilities.

▶ Read more about Trump's order to dismantle the department

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP