Acting commissioner of the IRS Gary Shapley is being replaced after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approached Trump to say that Shapley was placed into the agency without his knowledge and at Elon Musk’s direction, a source familiar with the discussions said.
Bessent received Trump’s approval to roll back the decision. Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender is expected to become the next acting IRS head.
The New York Times was the first to report Shapley’s removal.
Members of the press were abruptly escorted from the Oval Office after a family member present for Dr. Mehmet Oz’s swearing-in ceremony fainted.
The girl, who is a minor, was seen walking out of the room with support and is doing OK, according to a White House spokesperson.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Rubio was “right in saying” that the U.S. wants to see the Ukraine-Russia war come to an end.
The president’s comments came in response to a question about Rubio saying earlier today that the administration will have to “move on” from peace talks if progress isn’t made in the coming days.
Asked how to identify how many days that would be, Trump said, “No specific numbers of days, but quickly, we want to get it done.”
“We’re talking about here people dying,” Trump said. “We’re going to get it stopped, ideally. Now if, for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult. We’re just going to say, ‘You’re foolish, You’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass.” But hopefully we won’t have to do that, and Marco, and Marco is right in saying it, we’re getting we want to see it end.”
Trump said that many people are being killed “as they play games,” suggesting that one or both sides are not cooperating in negotiations.
“We’re not going to take that,” said Trump, who then expressed confidence that a peace agreement will be reached. “I think we have a good chance of solving the problem.”
The president declined to say whether the U.S. would completely walk away from the talks, saying, “I don’t want to say that, but we want to see it end.” He also declined to say whether the U.S. would continue supporting Ukraine if the administration does walk away from the negotiating table.
Trump said he needs to see “enthusiasm” from Ukraine and Russia that they want the conflict to be over. He also rejected the idea that he’s being “played” by Russia: “Nobody’s playing me. I’m trying to help.”
The Trump administration has filed an emergency motion with a federal appeals court seeking to block a judge’s order finding probable cause to hold it in contempt over deportation flights it sent to El Salvador.
The filing to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals alleges U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was trying to punish the administration for a “nonexistent case of criminal contempt. Defendants fully complied with the TROs the district court issued, and certainly did not flout any clear, unambiguous command.”
In a March 15 hearing, Boasberg issued an order temporarily halting any deportations under Trump’s invocation of the rarely used Alien Enemies Act, and directed that any flights taking such deportees out of the country be turned back. In its filing today, the government said that the directive wasn’t included in his subsequent written order and other language Boasberg used was vague.
“[C]ontempt cannot lie based on a supposedly wrong reading of a facially ambiguous order,” DOJ lawyers argued.
In a ruling Wednesday, Boasberg found the administration’s actions showed “a willful disregard” for his order, and said he’d given “Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory.”
He said the administration could purge his contempt finding by taking custody of the people it deported despite his order and giving them hearings so they can challenge the allegations against them. The judge said if administration officials choose not to do so, he would “proceed to identify the individual(s) responsible” for disregarding his order for prosecution.
The administration countered that both options are “unconstitutional” and should be blocked.
“Relief is warranted now, before the district court’s proceedings escalate the constitutional confrontation any further,” the filing said.
During the swearing-in ceremony for Mehmet Oz, Trump once again promised not to cut any funding for Medicare and Medicaid, saying, “We’re not going to have any cuts, only help.”
Trump stated that Oz would focus on combating fraud, ensuring “criminals, fraudsters and illegal aliens” do not exploit American older adults. He added, “They’re trying, but they won’t get away with it.”
Trump swore in Dr. Mehmet Oz as the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at a ceremony in the Oval Office this afternoon.
The Senate voted to confirm Oz, a former surgeon and TV personality, along party lines earlier this month. Before his confirmation, he had come under fire from Senate Democrats, who raised concerns after he evaded questions on Medicaid cuts during his confirmation hearing and, according to a memo, “significantly” underpaid Medicare and Social Security taxes in recent years.
A federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ruled that the bureau can’t go forward immediately with plans to mass fire hundreds of employees.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she is “deeply concerned” that Trump administration officials aren’t complying with her earlier order that maintains the bureau’s existence until she rules on the merits of a lawsuit seeking to preserve it.
During a hearing, Jackson said she will bar officials from carrying out any mass firings or cutting off employees’ access to bureau computer systems on Friday.Jackson scheduled a hearing on April 28 to hear testimony from officials who were working on the reduction-in-force, or RIF, procedures.
“I’m willing to resolve it quickly, but I’m not going to let this RIF go forward until I have,” she said.
Roughly 1,500 employees are slated to be cut, leaving around 200 people.
Trump, a Republican, has sought to reshape the federal government, saying it’s rife with fraud, waste and abuse. Conservatives and businesses have often chafed at the bureau’s oversight and investigations, and Trump adviser Elon Musk made it a top target of his Department of Government Efficiency.
The White House criticized Van Hollen and said Kilmar Abrego Garcia is “NOT coming back.”
In a post on X this morning, the White House included an image of a New York Times headline scribbled over in red, changing it to “Senator Meets With Deported MS-13 Illegal Alien in El Salvador Who’s Never Coming Back.”
“Fixed it for you, @NYTimes,” the White House wrote.
The federal judge overseeing the case tore into the government’s evidence for why it believes Abrego Garcia is a gang member — an accusation his legal team has denied.
The “‘evidence’ against Abrego Garcia consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13’s ‘Western’ clique in New York — a place he has never lived,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote.
Xinis has ordered the Trump administration to help “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S.
The Trump administration appears to be hurrying to deport more alleged Venezuelan gang members under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act, despite a Supreme Court order that detainees must be given “reasonable time” to combat the allegations against them, according to a court filing obtained by NBC News.
“Petitioners have learned that officers at Bluebonnet have distributed notices under the Alien Enemies Act, in English only, that designate Venezuelan men for removal under the AEA, and have told the men that the removals are imminent and will happen tonight or tomorrow,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt wrote in the overnight filing.
The filing does not say how many people are facing deportation, but says that “dozens of Venezuelan men” have been brought to the Bluebonnet ICE facility in Texas in the last few days.
A previous Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s use of the AEA said that “detainees must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.”
The plaintiffs in the case are seeking an order temporarily blocking the removals, and suggested they’re concerned their clients could face the same fate as the mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
“If the individuals are removed before the Court can act and the putative class members are removed from the country, this Court would be permanently divested of jurisdiction under the government’s position that it need not return individuals, even those mistakenly erroneously removed,” the filing said.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement, “We are not going to reveal the details of counter terrorism operations, but we are complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling.”
Federal judges are again warning members of Congress that they need increased funding for security in light of rising threats to their safety.
The U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security for lower court judges, has been forced to take “extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of judges,” according to a letter sent this month by representatives of the U.S. Judicial Conference, the policy arm of the judiciary.
In addition, 67 judges are receiving enhanced online security screening services due to their “involvement in high profile cases or rulings,” the letter said. It was written by Robert Conrad, secretary of the Judicial Conference, and Judge Amy St. Eve, an appeals court judge.
Judges in recent months have faced harsh criticism from Trump and his allies over rulings that have blocked his administration’s policies.
Despite increasing threat levels, funding from Congress for security has remained frozen at $750 million a year for the last two years, the letter said. The judiciary is also concerned about the level of funding for the Marshals Service.
“We have significant concerns about our ability to properly secure federal courthouses given current resource levels,” Conrad and St. Eve wrote.
They noted that 50 people have been criminally charged over threats to judges.
The clock is ticking on a race of Trump’s own making: a sprint to negotiate dozens of trade deals before his 90-day pause on some tariffs expires — talks that negotiators of past trade deals say come with a range of strategic and logistical hurdles due to Trump’s compressed timeline.
Trump announced last week that he was pausing some of his sweeping global tariffs to give his administration time to work out trade deals with 75 countries he said had reached out to the White House to offer concessions. While Trump later said the pause was also driven by volatility in the stock and bond markets, top administration officials sought to spin the move as an example of Trump’s deal-making prowess.
But translating that initial outreach from countries into actual trade deals, especially in such a short period of time, won’t come easy, said former trade negotiators. And that will likely limit the potential gains Trump hopes to make from these talks, they added.
The Trump administration is taking steps to impose levies on Chinese vessels docking at U.S. ports, a move that would likely raise costs across the U.S.
The office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced yesterday that all Chinese-built and-owned ships seeking to dock in the U.S. would now be subject to a tonnage-based fee per trip. Ships made by non-U.S. builders carrying vehicles would also be affected.
The proposal has its roots in a Biden-era effort to determine whether Chinese shipbuilding threatens national security.
The new measure would go into effect in six months; ship operators will have the fee waived for up to three years if they can show that they’ve ordered a new U.S.-built vessel.
Critics of the plan say it would raise costs for U.S. consumers and producers alike, including farmers who rely on Chinese vessels for their exports.
Mack Trucks has announced it will lay off between 250 and 350 workers at a plant in Pennsylvania in part as a result of the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported the trucking giant had experienced a slowdown in demand amid the uncertainty generated by Trump’s policies.
“Heavy-duty truck orders continue to be negatively affected by market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes, and the impact of tariffs,” spokesperson Kimberly Pupillo said.
Trucking nationwide was already experiencing a slump as the economy has slowed down from its post-Covid boom; now, there are too many trucks for too few orders. Earlier this week, trucking and logistics group JB Hunt reported an 8% decrease in operating income from the year prior, causing a significant decline in its share price.
A union official confirmed the layoffs at the Lehigh Valley facility, which employs more than 3,000 total workers.
“Due to the market being in decline, there will be a rate and line reduction. I have heard all the same rumors you guys have heard. This is the first time I have an official word from the company that there will be a layoff,” United Auto Workers Local 677 shop chair Tim Hertzog said in a letter posted on the union’s Facebook page yesterday.
All AmeriCorps volunteers have been sent home and pulled from projects across the country, per a notice sent to an AmeriCorps volunteer obtained by NBC News.
The email cites Trump’s executive order implementing DOGE’s ‘Cost Efficiency Initiative’ which has resulted in AmeriCorps “working within new operational parameters that impact the program’s ability to sustain program operations.”
“As a result, AmeriCorps is sending all NCCC members to their homes of record as soon as possible,” the email said.
All volunteers were instructed to return to their region campus “immediately— as soon as is safely practicable” and were told they would be on administrative hold with pay through April 30, after which they will be exited from the program.
The National Civilian Community Corps, known as AmeriCorps, was founded in 1993 for young adults ages 18 to 26 to engage in community projects across the U.S. in areas including disaster response, environmental conservation, and education.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said on X last night that his state would be suing to stop the termination of the AmeriCorps program: “DOGE’s actions to dismantle AmeriCorps threaten vulnerable Californians, disaster response and recovery, and economic opportunities. California will be suing to stop this.”
A spokesperson for AmeriCorps or DOGE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump lashed out at Van Hollen in a post on Truth Social this morning after the Democratic senator revealed last night that he met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador.
“Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!” Trump wrote.
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said at a town hall last night that he hopes the U.S. doesn’t transform into Germany during the rise of the Nazi party.
The congressman was discussing the current climate under the Trump administration and explaining what Democrats can and can’t do to fight back.
“All we can do is share with you what we’re doing and ask for your prayers for this country will not allow itself to go the way of Germany in the 1930s when people stood by,” said Clyburn at the town hall in Summerton, South Carolina.
He then read to the audience Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem, “First they came” which reflects on the inaction of Germans as the Nazis targeted vulnerable groups including Jews.
“And we remember what happened to the Jews,” Clyburn said after reading the poem.
The longtime congressman who previously served in Democratic leadership said that people will have to speak out because Democrats lack the votes in the House and Senate to pass their agenda.
Vice President JD Vance spoke briefly about the negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine during a bilateral meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Palazzo Chigi in Rome this morning. Meloni met with Trump at the White House yesterday.
“I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and also some of the things that have happened, even in the past 24 hours. I think we have some interesting things to report on, of course, in private,” Vance said. “Some of those negotiations — I won’t prejudge them — but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close.”
A controversial deportation case has opened up a rift within the Democratic Party over how aggressively to go after Trump on an issue that has been one of his biggest political strengths.
Some members of the party are leaning heavily into Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador without due process, accusing Trump of defying a court order. But others, while still objecting to Trump’s actions, have sought to shift the focus to economic concerns amid the whiplash of the president’s tariff policies and persistently high prices.
Trump officials initially conceded that Abrego Garcia, who was subject to a withholding order preventing his expulsion to El Salvador and wasn’t convicted of a crime, was removed to his home country due to an “administrative error.” The administration has alleged he was a gang member and deserved deportation.
Mehmet Oz is set to be sworn in today as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees health care coverage programs for roughly half of the U.S. population.
Trump is set to participate in the ceremony, scheduled for noon ET in the Oval Office.
The Senate confirmed Oz earlier this month in a 53-45 vote along party lines.
The U.S. may be ready to “move on” from its efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if there is no clear progress in the coming days, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“We’re not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end,” Rubio told reporters in Paris after a grueling day of talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials in Paris.
