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US District Judge James Boasberg is holding a hearing after the apparent defiance by the Trump administration of his court order to hold off on carrying out deportations of some migrants the US has accused of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
He has demanded answers from the Justice Department, which argued in a six-page filing this afternoon that Boasberg’s oral order is “is not enforceable,” and that “an oral directive is not enforceable as an injunction.”
Take a look at CNN’s minute-to-minute timeline of Saturday’s order and flights.
How CNN is covering the hearing: The hearing is audio-only. No video or recording in any format is allowed. CNN reporters will be present in court.
President Donald Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center today that he plans to release the unredacted files associated with John F. Kennedy’s assassination tomorrow, following a longtime campaign trail promise.
“We are tomorrow announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files — so people have been waiting for decades for this, and I’ve instructed my people that are responsible, lots of different people, put together by (Director of National Intelligence) Tulsi Gabbard, and that’s going to be released tomorrow,” Trump said.
“We have a tremendous amount of paper, you’ve got a lot of reading. I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything — I said, ‘Just don’t redact, you can’t redact.’ But we’re going to be releasing the JFK files, and that would be tomorrow,” he said.
Pressed on if the White House had prepared an executive summary for his perusal, Trump said, “No way — I’m not doing summaries.” The president said the total document release was “approximately 80,000 pages.”
Some background: One of Trump’s first actions after taking office in January was to sign an executive order to release files related to the assassinations of Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. The FBI said in February it had discovered about 2,400 new records related to the JFK assassination from a new records search following Trump’s executive order.
In 2023, the National Archives concluded its review of the classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of JFK, with 99% of the records having been made publicly available, as CNN reported.
Despite previous pledges from presidents, including Trump, to release those records, the CIA, Pentagon and State Department still have documents they’ve refused to release. The justification for those documents remaining classified largely stems from efforts to protect the identities of confidential sources who are still alive, or might be alive, and protecting methods.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.
Days after a Maryland federal judge ruled that terminated probationary workers must be temporarily reinstated, multiple federal agencies have told their staffers that they are complying with the decision — but by placing the employees on paid administrative leave.
Workers at the Internal Revenue Service, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Food and Drug Administration, among other agencies, received emails that said they are being reinstated. However, they are being put on administrative leave and essentially being paid not to work.
Separately, at least one US Department of Agriculture probationary employee who was terminated received notice late last week that they would be reinstated and placed on paid administrative leave initially. But this decision stems from an earlier order by the Merit Systems Protection Board, which said that nearly 6,000 probationary workers who lost their jobs in mid-February had to be reinstated for at least 45 days. The agency told staffers it is developing a phased plan to return these staffers to duty.
CNN has viewed the emails from multiple agencies.
Some agencies specified that the workers will receive retroactive pay. While the IRS’ email to employees did not mention back pay, a separate email sent to agency managers said probationary workers will receive it.
Workers interviewed by CNN said they were pleased that they would be reinstated but expressed frustration that they cannot return to their jobs.
“I’m ready and raring to go,” one USDA probationary worker told CNN.
Andy Hazelton, a hurricane hunter with NOAA who was fired as a probationary employee, told CNN the letter left him with “a lot more questions than answers.” While Hazelton said he’s relieved to be getting back pay, the letter he received notes he could be re-fired at any time, depending on how the court case goes.
President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that he plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday morning, amplifying disputed claims from Putin that Russia has “surrounded” troops in the Kursk region.
“Tomorrow, I’m speaking with President Putin of Russia to save some soldiers who are in deep trouble — they’re captured, essentially, they’re surrounded by Russian soldiers,” Trump said during a tour of the Kennedy Center. “But it’s a big deal, they’re surrounded by Russian soldiers, and I believe it was, if it wasn’t for me… they wouldn’t be here any longer.”
Although Kyiv is now on the back foot in Kursk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and military analysts have questioned Putin’s claims, echoed by Trump in a Friday post to Truth Social, that Russian forces have surrounded Ukraine’s soldiers.
“Reports of the alleged ‘encirclement’ of Ukrainian units by the enemy in the Kursk region are false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners,” Ukraine’s military said.
Pressed on if he thought the decision to pause aid and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine might’ve caused Ukraine’s forces to pull out of the Kursk region, Trump balked, telling reporters, “Really the opposite.”
“A lot of people are being killed over there, and we had to get Ukraine to do the right thing, it was not an easy situation,” he said. “You got to see a little glimpse at the Oval Office, but I think they’re doing the right thing right now, and we’re trying to get a peace agreement done.”
The Justice Department made an extraordinary argument to a federal judge today that an oral order he issued during a court hearing Saturday afternoon “is not enforceable.”
The Trump administration is defending itself against accusations that it violated an order to hold off on carrying out deportations of some migrants whom the US has accused of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The argument — submitted in a 6-page filing to US District Judge James Boasberg shortly before a hearing on the issue is set to get underway later today — argued that “an oral directive is not enforceable as an injunction.”
“Written orders are crucial because they clarify the bounds of permissible conduct,” Department of Justice attorneys told Boasberg, an appointee of former President Barack Obama and the current chief judge of the federal trial-level court in Washington, DC.
Though the judge’s order from the bench said any planes in the air carrying some of those migrants must turn back to the US, his brief written order contained no such language about planes and instead just said the administration was enjoined from removing the individuals while the temporary restraining order remained in effect.
“The narrower written order may well represent a more considered judgment by the court about the proper exercise of its powers,” the attorneys wrote, referring the judge’s order that was posted shortly after he announced his decision from the bench. “In accord with this well-established law, the written minute order governed.”
“The Court’s written injunction, which issued at approximately 7:25 PM EDT, properly did not seek to interfere with the President’s Article II powers to conduct military operations overseas by directing the return of aliens associated with a designated foreign terrorist organization who had already been removed from United States territory — even though the written order did memorialize other, narrower oral directives from the hearing,” the DOJ wrote.
Boasberg has ruled that the hearing will proceed at 5 p.m. ET as scheduled, rejecting DOJ’s request for a delay.
President Donald Trump told reporters it would have costed $30,000 for Lee Greenwood to perform at the Kennedy Center board meeting he attended today.
“Lee Greenwood wanted to sing a little song today, and because of the cost of the union structure, for him to sing a song just for the board, just a board meeting, it was going to cost $30,000. That doesn’t sound too good. They wanted $30,000 to move a piano. So you can’t have that,” Trump said.
The meeting, which Trump is attending, included members of his newly selected board, including second lady Usha Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Interim Executive Director Ric Grenell. Cameras were brought in briefly for the meeting, held on stage at the Opera House.
Greenwood, who sings “God Bless the U.S.A.” – a favorite at Trump campaign rallies – performed inside Capitol One Arena at Trump’s “Victory Rally” ahead of Inauguration Day.
Presidents use an autopen — or a device used to automatically sign a signature — to sign official documents. And the president’s pardon power has few limitations. Those two things are still true, even after now-President Donald Trump posted overnight on social media that he wants to declare as “void” the clemency Joe Biden gave to members of the House Select Committee that investigated the 2021 US Capitol attack because they were signed with an autopen.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on Trump’s statement on Monday:
“Did the president even know about these pardons? Was his legal signature used without his knowledge?” she told reporters.
Neither Trump nor Leavitt have offered any evidence that Biden was somehow unaware of the actions, that an autopen was actually used on the clemency document or whether the use of an autopen is somehow open to legal dispute.
The Justice Department in 2005, during the second Bush administration, looked at the legality of the president’s use of the autopen, endorsing it.
A president doesn’t have to physically sign his signature to a bill for it to have the power of law–and this “well-settled legal understanding,” the Justice Department said, dates back to the founding of the country. As long as the president personally makes the decision to approve and sign a bill, he’s using his authority appropriately, the Office of Legal Counsel opinion says.
Trump is “just having fun at Biden’s expense,” John Yoo, the conservative law professor and Bush-era Office of Legal Counsel attorney, told CNN on Monday. The Bush Justice Department’s conclusion was thorough, Yoo added. “I cannot see the courts rejecting this — it builds on centuries of practice and a long legal tradition of allowing agents to sign on behalf of their principals.”
Biden and former President Barack Obama used autopens to sign legislation at times, but the issue has never been tested in court.
French President Emmanuel Macron said President Donald Trump is committed to ensuring Russia meets the necessary conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
After speaking today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron said on X that it is “up to Russia to prove it truly wants peace.”
Among the conditions mentioned by Macron are stopping “abuses and sabotage” and reuniting deported Ukrainian children with their families.
“These are all conditions that Russia must meet. And I know President Trump’s commitment to this,” Macron said.
The French leader added that all partners should move forward by presenting a “concrete peace plan” that provides security guarantees for Ukraine and lasting peace in Europe.
Last week, Ukraine accepted a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the proposal with further demands and conditions.
Trump announced that he will speak with Putin tomorrow.
Dozens of New York-based activist groups are calling for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step aside, arguing he hasn’t articulated a clear plan to fight President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“We’ve asked you for months to have a well-executed plan to be ready for this funding fight. We made our expectations clear – protections against (Elon) Musk’s coup, and no GOP cuts,” New York chapters of Indivisible and other progressive groups wrote in a letter to Schumer. The letter added later: “In this instance, you’ve failed Democrats and New Yorkers. Leadership is needed now, and your failure to coalesce your caucus in this critical moment leads us to call for your immediate resignation from your Minority Leader role.”
Schumer postponed a pre-scheduled book tour events today, citing security reasons, according to representatives for the Senate Democratic leader.
Local Indivisible chapters had planned several demonstrations throughout the week around events for the tour.
Congress averted a government shutdown Friday just hours before the funding deadline, after the Senate approved a House-passed spending bill. Senate Democrats came under intense pressure to oppose the Trump-backed bill, and Schumer faced swift backlash after helping to clear a path for its passage.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs is ending its policy of providing medical treatment for gender dysphoria following an executive order from President Donald Trump, it said in a statement today.
“Any and all savings VA achieves by stopping specific medical treatments for gender dysphoria will be redirected to help severely injured VA beneficiaries — such as paralyzed Veterans and amputees — regain their independence,” the department said in the statement.
There are some exceptions, including veterans who are already receiving this kind of gender affirming care from the VA, the statement said.
“All eligible Veterans — including trans-identified Veterans — will always be welcome at VA and will always receive the benefits and services they’ve earned under the law. But if Veterans want to attempt to change their sex, they can do so on their own dime,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said.
The VA said it has offered care including hormone therapy, voice training and prosthetics to those with gender dysphoria. However, the agency said it has “not kept consistent and reliable records” about how many veterans have used these services or how much money it cost.
Trump signed the executive order, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” on January 20.
The order states that it is the policy of the United States to “recognize two sexes, male and female” and instructs agencies to remove all statements that say otherwise.
Democratic Rep. Mark Takano, the ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, attacked the move, saying that “this isn’t cost-cutting, it’s cruelty.” He said in a statement to CNN that veterans “deserve access to the medical care their providers deem appropriate.”
“Secretary Doug Collins is unilaterally restricting medical care for transgender veterans, ignoring the clinical judgment of the VA providers that have prescribed this care and the expertise of all the major medical associations in the United States that support this care,” he said.
This post has been updated with comments from Takano.
After President Donald Trump claimed that President Joe Biden’s pardons of members of the House January 6 committee are “void,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday refused to say if attorneys at the White House have told Trump he has the legal authority to undo such pardons.
Leavitt claimed that Trump, by suggesting the pardons were signed with autopen, was merely questioning Biden’s awareness of the preemptive pardons he granted.
“The president was raising the point that, did the president even know about these pardons? Was his legal signature used without his consent or knowledge?” Leavitt said.
Neither Trump nor Leavitt have offered any evidence that Biden was somehow unaware of the actions, that an autopen was actually used on the clemency document or whether the use of an autopen is somehow open to legal dispute.
Presidents use an autopen to sign official documents. A president doesn’t have to physically sign his signature to a bill for it to have the power of law — and this “well-settled legal understanding,” the Justice Department said in 2005, dates back to the founding of the country.
As long as the president personally makes the decision to approve and sign a bill, he’s using his authority appropriately, according to the Office of Legal Counsel opinion.
During his tour of the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center this afternoon, President Donald Trump may be inclined to make some recommendations for improvement, the White House said, furthering his goal to reshape the center.
“The president will be doing a tour of the center. In his business-developer mind, I’m sure he will make some recommendations on how the center itself can be improved,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing today.
The newly constituted board of the Kennedy Center elected Trump as its chair last month. After he took office, several new Trump appointees were added to the board and other trustees who had been appointed by Democratic presidents were removed.
Trump’s ongoing push to reshape the DC-based performing arts complex puts it in the middle of the culture wars. The president also previously called out the center’s programming.
The president’s goal is to “restore arts and culture that embrace American tradition, don’t disparage it,” Leavitt said today.
Leavitt said Trump will also discuss future programs “that the center will be hosting under his new leadership and the board’s new leadership.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper, Pamela Brown, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Betsy Klein contributed reporting to this post.
The Trump administration is looking at potential opportunities to use federal land to build affordable housing, officials said.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced a joint task force on the initiative today. The partnership between the two departments will “unlock federal lands for the benefit of all Americans,” Turner said in a YouTube video.
According to the secretaries, the task force will:
- Assess where there are housing needs
- Identify where there are “under utilized” federal lands to put housing programs in place
- “Streamline the land transfer process” to move forward on the plans, in coordination with states and local communities
“It will also promote policies to increase the availability of adorable housing while balancing important environmental and land use considerations,” Burgum said in the video.
Some background: Many experts say the US needs to build millions of homes to properly meet increased demand, spurred in part by a growing number of millennials, the largest generation, reaching the age at which they would like to buy a home.
That housing shortage, along with elevated interest rates, has made purchasing a home significantly more difficult for many Americans.
The Department of the Interior says it oversees 500 million acres of public land.
Over the weekend, the Trump administration invoked wartime powers to deport hundreds of alleged members of a Venezuelan gang from the US to El Salvador. After a lawsuit was filed, a federal judge ordered the administration to stop the deportations, for now.
Here is a timeline of the events (all times Eastern):
March 15 before noon: US District Judge James Boasberg issues a written order temporarily blocking the government from removing five specific individuals who sued the administration over President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act.
March 15 at 5:00 p.m.: Boasberg’s hearing begins, according to a CNN reporter covering the proceedings.
March 15 at 5:22 p.m.: The court hearing adjourns for a break, according to a CNN reporter covering the proceedings
March 15 at 5:26 p.m.: The first flight carrying non-citizens for deportation, GlobalX Flight 6143, departs from Harlingen, Texas, according to FlightRadar24 data, a live air traffic tracker.
March 15 at 5:45 p.m.: A second flight carrying non-citizens for deportation, GlobalX Flight 6145, departs from Harlingen, Texas, according to FlightRadar24.
March 15 at 6:00 p.m.: The court hearing resumes, according to a CNN reporter covering the proceedings.
March 15 between 6:45 p.m. and 6:48 p.m.: Boasberg verbally tells Justice Department lawyers that they need to turn around any planes carrying anyone being deported under the Alien Enemies Act. The exact timing for this utterance is based on what the defendants who sued the Trump administration put in a court filing.
March 15 at 7:26 p.m.: The judge’s written order is posted to the online federal docket system known as PACER, according to the lawyers who sued the Trump administration. The brief written order did not specifically include language about turning flights around.
March 15 at 7:36 p.m.: The first flight carrying non-citizens for deportation, GlobalX Flight 6143, arrives in Comayagua, Honduras, according to FlightRadar24.
March 15 at 7:37 p.m.: The third flight carrying non-citizens for deportation, GlobalX Flight 6122, departs from Harlingen, Texas, according to FlightRadar24.
March 15 at 8:08 p.m.: The second flight carrying non-citizens for deportation, GlobalX Flight 6145, lands in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, at 8:08 p.m., according to FlightRadar24.
March 15 at 9:52 p.m.: The third flight carrying non-citizens for deportation, GlobalX Flight 6122, arrives in San Salvador, El Salvador according to FlightRadar24.
March 15 at 11:37 p.m.: The second flight carrying non-citizens for deportations continues its journey, departing from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, according to FlightRadar24
March 16 at 12:21 a.m.: The second flight carrying non-citizens for deportations finishes its journey, landing in San Salvador, El Salvador, according to FlightRadar24.
March 16 around 3:46 p.m.: The Justice Department submits a notice to the judge, acknowledging his rulings, but also saying some people were already deported “before the issuance of this Court’s second order,” specifically referring to Boasberg’s written ruling posted to the docket at 7:26 p.m.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that dividing up territory between Ukraine and Russia has been part of the discussions between the United States and the Ukrainians, but was reluctant to give specifics ahead of President Donald Trump’s call with his Russian counterpart tomorrow.
“The president and his entire national security team have been engaged directly with President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and the Ukrainian team, and that has been part of the discussion between the president’s team and the Ukrainians,” Leavitt said. “As for where those lines will be drawn, or any specifics, I am not going to get into that from this podium. It would be unwise for me to get ahead of the president’s call with President (Vladimir) Putin tomorrow.”
However, later in the briefing, Leavitt indicated that Trump would be discussing with Putin a power plant that sits on the border.
Leavitt added that the press can expect a statement or readout after the call tomorrow.
The Trump administration on Monday continued to defend this weekend’s deportation flights and claimed there may be a legal distinction between a federal judge’s written and verbal order.
“This administration acted within the confines of the law, again, within the President’s constitutional authority and under the authority granted to him under the Alien Enemies Act,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a press briefing. “We are quite confident in that, and we are wholly confident that we are going to win this case in court.”
US District Judge James Boasberg, who has a hearing scheduled Monday evening, temporarily blocked on Saturday the deportations to consider the implications of using the act — and said in court that any planes already in the air carrying migrants should return to the US. The administration later announced that 250 deportees it said were affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang were in El Salvadorian custody.
“All of the planes that were subject to the written order, the judge’s written order, took off before the order was entered in the courtroom on Saturday,” Leavitt said Monday.
But pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, the press secretary seemed to imply that the judge’s verbal order — which was made between 6:45 p.m. and 6:48 p.m. on Saturday — wouldn’t hold the same weight as his written order, which was posted at 7:26 p.m., according to a CNN timeline.
“There’s actually questions about whether a verbal order carries the same weight, as a legal order, as a written order,” Leavitt said. “And our lawyers are determined to ask and answer those questions.”
Pressed on the identities of the deportees, Leavitt insisted they posed a threat to Americans.
The White House said today officials are on the “10th yard line of peace” in talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It comes as US President Donald Trump says he will have a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin tomorrow. Trump made that comment to reporters on board Air Force One during a flight back to the White House after his weekend at Mar-a-Lago.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to get “ahead of those negotiations” during the call between the two leaders, but said, “We’ve never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment.”
Some more context: Trump said Sunday that negotiators had already pinpointed certain issues up for discussion, including “dividing up certain assets.”
“We’ll be talking about land. A lot of land is a lot different than it was before the war, as you know. We’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants, that’s a big question,” Trump said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian media today that the call between Trump and Putin will focus on restoring dialogue between the two countries and issues related to the Ukraine conflict.
CNN’s Anna Chernova, Katharina Krebs and Lauren Kent contributed reporting to this post.
White House border czar Tom Homan on Monday defended the administration’s deportation of hundreds of mostly Venezuelan alleged gang members to El Salvador, despite a federal judge’s order to turn around the flights this weekend.
“By the time the other order came, the plane was already over international waters with a plane full of terrorists and significant public safety threats,” Homan told reporters outside the White House. “The president did exactly the right thing.”
“We removed terrorists. That should be a celebration in this country,” he said.
When asked by CNN to explain the timing of the judge’s order, Homan sidestepped, saying, “The president, through proclamation, took his authority under the Alien’s act and imposed it, which he has a right to do.”
President Donald Trump said Monday he’d hold Iran responsible for any further Houthi attacks and that the “consequences will be dire.”
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Over the weekend, Trump ordered “decisive” strikes action against Houthi rebels in Yemen, marking a new escalation against the Iran-backed group that has been targeting shipping lanes in the Red Sea. On Sunday, the Houthis claimed to have launched 18 missiles and drones at the American aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman in the northern Red Sea in response to American “aggression.”
Some context: The Houthis, based in Yemen, started launching drone and missile strikes on vessels in the Red Sea in late 2023 in what they say is revenge for Israel’s war in Gaza. The sustained strikes significantly impacted global trade.
“The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN,” Trump wrote on Monday. “Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there.”
A Hamas spokesperson has told CNN that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s threat to the group “complicates matters” and “doesn’t leave a pleasant atmosphere.”
Hazem Qassem was responding to Witkoff’s interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, in which he encouraged “Hamas to get much more sensible than they have been” and referred to US strikes against the Houthis in Yemen as an indication “as to where we stand with regard to terrorism and our tolerance level for terrorist actions.”
“There is an opportunity for them, but the opportunity is closing fast,” Witkoff added.
In response, Qassem told CNN in Gaza City that Witkoff’s words don’t “contribute to getting things done.”
“It’s best for the US administration to pressure the occupation to implement the terms of the agreement,” Qassem added. “This is better than issuing threats that offer nothing.”
Qassem also said talks between Hamas and mediators were still ongoing.
