The Latest: Trump overhauls US elections in new executive order, including proof of citizenship

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive action to overhaul U.S. elections, including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and demanding that all ballots be received by Election Day.

The order says the U.S. has failed “to enforce basic and necessary election protections” and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes. It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don’t comply.

Trump often claims elections are being rigged, even before the results are known, and has waged battles against certain voting methods since he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden and falsely blamed it on widespread fraud.

Here's the Latest:

Waltz on Signal group chat: ‘We made a mistake’

National Security adviser Mike Waltz says he created the Signal group chat where details about an upcoming U.S. attack on targets in Yemen were mistakenly shared with a journalist.

Waltz told Fox News Channel, “We made a mistake. We’re moving forward.” He said he was taking responsibility for what occurred and that no staffer was to blame.

Waltz said he’d not spoken to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, who was added to the chain. He said he was trying to add someone else’s number and that Goldberg’s somehow appeared under another name. He wouldn’t say whom he meant to add.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulls back $11.4 billion in COVID-19 funds

Federal health officials say they were withdrawing the funds sent to recipients, which include public health departments throughout the nation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. “HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.”

The statement said the CDC will start recovering the money 30 days after termination notices, which the agency started sending on Monday. They were issued to health departments and other recipients.

Nonprofit sues Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to preserve Signal messages about Yemen strike

American Oversight alleges in the lawsuit that messages on Signal about official government actions “are federal records and must be preserved in accordance with federal statutes, and agency directives, rules, and regulations,” citing the Federal Records Act.

The government transparency advocacy group also alleges using Signal to relay sensitive plans for a military strike against Yemen’s Houthis was “unauthorized,” saying the app can be set up to automatically delete messages and that messages are only stored on an individual’s device, with no back-ups on the company’s servers.

The lawsuit also names Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, among others.

Republicans in Mike Waltz’s old district aren’t mad at him or Trump over Yemen Signal chat

As Washington was roiled by the news that Trump’s national security adviser added a journalist to a group chat discussing military plans, many Republicans going to the polls in Florida to replace Mike Waltz’s old U.S. House seat have brushed off the story.

“I think it was a faux pas, and it was a mistake that somebody made,” said Gary Caples, a Republican voter in DeLand, Florida. “Nobody’s perfect.”

Zelma Cohen, West Volusia’s Republican Party vice president, said none of the early voters had mentioned the report and that in Washington, “they get excitable about everything.”

The muted Republican reaction both in Florida and among many lawmakers nationally reflects how incidents that may have once sparked bipartisan outrage are dismissed as hiccups as Trump stands firm backed by his allies and supporters.

▶ Read more about how Republicans in Waltz’s old district are reacting

America’s allies are alarmed by a leaked group chat about attack plans

Allies of the United States see the group chat between top U.S. officials about a planned attack in Yemen that accidentally included a journalist as a jaw-dropping security breach which casts doubt on intelligence-sharing with Washington and the security of joint military operations.

Neil Melvin, a security expert at defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute, called it “pretty shocking.”

“Scary” and “reckless” was the verdict of one European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

In public, however, European officials insisted all was well in the trans-Atlantic relationship.

▶ Read more about U.S. allies’ reaction to the attack plans leak

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Associated Press reporters Jill Lawless, Emma Burrows and Nicholas Riccardi contributed.

Columbia student protester can’t be detained for now as she fights deportation, judge rules

Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old lawful permanent resident who came to the U.S. as a child, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday, arguing the government is “attempting to use immigration enforcement as a bludgeon to suppress speech that they dislike.”

Her suit said immigration officials moved to deport her after she was identified in news reports as being one of several people arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest this month.

U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said the government has not laid out enough facts about its claims against Chung to warrant her detention.

In a statement Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said Chung had “engaged in concerning conduct,” including being arrested at a protest.

▶ Read more about Chung’s lawsuit and the administration’s effort to deport her

Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman moves Wyoming town halls online after contentious event

The Republican until now had kept up a schedule of in-person town halls even as House Speaker Mike Johnson told lawmakers to skip town halls where protesters have been speaking out against Trump’s downsizing of the federal government.

A crowd beyond of over 1,300 people — many of which booed, shouted and carried protest signs — dominated a Hageman town hall in Laramie on March 19.

The next day, an attendee at a town hall in Wheatland, followed her outside and got into a “physical confrontation” with Hageman’s staff that required police intervention, Hageman said in a statement.

“The continuation of in-person town halls will be a drain on our local resources due to safety concerns for attendees,” she said in the statement.

Former high-ranking intelligence officials say Signal app debacle shows ‘blatant disregard’ for secure communications protocols

The National Security Leaders for America says reports that senior Trump officials used Signal to share top-secret war plans demonstrated a “remarkable disregard for operational security.”

The organization of retired former high-ranking intelligence officials and military officials and officers says in a statement, “These officials risked lives and mission success by sharing highly sensitive information on an unsecure mobile phone app and then inadvertently including a journalist in the message group.”

The statement adds that “this blatant disregard for using established secure communications protocols to execute a military operation reflects poorly on the competence of the United States’ military while potentially benefiting our adversaries.”

House Democratic leader calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to be fired

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is calling for Trump to fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he discussed military plans on an unclassified Signal chat with other top national security officials.

In a letter to Trump, Jeffries says that Hegseth “threatens the nation’s security and puts our brave men and women in uniform throughout the world in danger.”

Hegseth “should be fired immediately,” adds Jeffries.

But the defense secretary has been defiant, and though Republicans have been critical of the episode, none have joined the call for his dismissal.

Trump signs sweeping executive action overhauling US elections

Tuesday’s order demands documentary proof of citizenship be added as a requirement for federal voter registration. It also requires that all ballots be received by Election Day throughout the country

The order says the U.S. has failed “to enforce basic and necessary election protections” and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes. It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don’t comply.

The move is consistent with Trump’s long history of railing against election processes.

He says more election actions will be taken in the coming weeks.

Trump issues an executive order targeting a law firm with ties to his 2016 campaign investigation

President Donald Trump has taken aim at another law firm over legal work he doesn’t like.

An executive order issued Tuesday targets the law firm of Jenner & Block because one of the attorneys who used to work there previously served on the special counsel team of former FBI Director Robert Mueller that investigated Trump and his 2016 campaign during his first term.

The executive order is similar to ones he’s issued against other firms, including Covington & Burling, Perkins Coie and Paul Weiss. It threatens the suspensions of security clearances and the termination of federal contracts.

Judge hears arguments on whether to block order barring trans people from military service

The case was brought by several long-serving transgender military members who say the ban is insulting and discriminatory. They say their firing would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations.

A Justice Department lawyer argued the president was entitled to deference in military affairs. The judge peppered him with questions, noting the government had offered no evidence that allowing transgender troops to serve openly has caused any problems for military readiness.

The judge said he will rule by 5 p.m. Thursday.

Last week a judge in Washington, D.C., issued an order blocking enforcement of Trump’s executive order, but then put her own ruling temporarily on hold. Following additional legal briefing, she is expected to make a final decision by Thursday.

Trump greets a group of Medal of Honor recipients on a day designated to recognize them

Tuesday is Medal of Honor Day, and the president spoke in the White House East Room with a group of recipients of the nation’s highest military honor.

“We’ll do it again,” he said. “I like to do it, I feel good. I feel brave among you people.”

The meeting wasn’t on the president’s public schedule. An aide posted a brief video clip of the interaction on social media.

The National Medal of Honor Museum was set to open Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, to highlight the lives and service of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients from the Civil War to the global war on terrorism.

Vance announces he’s joining his wife on her trip to Greenland on Friday

In a video announcement, Vance said there’s been so much excitement about Usha Vance’s visit to Greenland on Friday that “I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself and so I’m going to join her.”

Vance said he’ll visit U.S. Space Force members based on the northwest coast of the self-governing region of Denmark “and also just check out what’s going on with the security there of Greenland.”

Trump wants the U.S. to take control of Greenland and cites national security concerns as a reason.

The White House announced this week that Usha Vance was visiting with her 7-year-old son to attend the national dogsled race. Separately, Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit a U.S. military base in northern Greenland.

Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration’s termination of Fair Housing Act enforcement funding

A federal judge temporarily halted the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s cancellation of millions of dollars in grants that went to nonprofits that enforce the federal anti-discrimination law.

Those nonprofits field the majority of fair housing complaints, most of which concern discrimination based on a disability, and use the grants to help investigate and litigate the cases for Americans nationwide.

The Associated Press first reported last month that HUD sent letters of termination to over 60 of the nonprofits. The department said the terminated grants were incompatible with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which partly targeted funding awards that included diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, language.

The judge ordered the money to keep flowing to the nonprofits for now, saying that he wanted to see how other, similar cases over funding cuts by the Trump administration proceed.

Trump says Signal ordeal is the price when everyone can’t be in the same place

Trump said what happened with Signal is “one of the prices you pay when you’re not sitting in the Situation Room with no phones on, which is always best.”

Asked about the possibility of an FBI investigation, Trump said, “It’s not really an FBI thing,” but added that “we’ll look into it” and “it’s something we should look into.”

The Situation Room is a secure space in the White House where the president and his top national security advisers often meet to discuss classified matters.

Colorado removes from its Capitol a portrait of Donald Trump that he called ‘distorted’

The portrait of the president by a Colorado artist that had been hanging in the Colorado Statehouse since 2019 was taken down at the request of Republican leaders in the Legislature.

Colorado Republicans had raised more than $10,000 to commission the oil painting, but Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday that he would prefer no picture at all over that one.

By Tuesday morning, it was no longer hanging next to other presidents’ portraits and was placed in storage. The portraits are under the purview of the Colorado Building Advisory Committee.

Filling a space on the wall of presidential portraits in the Colorado Capitol with a new painting of Trump could take time.

It’s not clear when lawmakers will have a chance to make decisions on a new painting. The Legislature is focused on the state budget. A spokesperson for Republicans in the Colorado Senate said it’s also yet to be seen whether Trump will get a chance to approve a new portrait.

Trump says he may issue an executive order prohibiting ‘sanctuary cities’

President Donald Trump suggested that he could soon take executive action to end “sanctuary cities,” which generally are described as areas that limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“We’re gonna end sanctuary cities for some of these jurisdictions that aren’t cooperating with law enforcement,” Trump said during a White House meeting with his administration’s ambassadors to various overseas posts.

Trump didn’t provide details, but he has spent years criticizing Democrat-led jurisdictions for failing to impose harder-line immigration policies.

He added, “We may be presenting you very shortly with an executive order ending sanctuary cities.”

Trump says Waltz doesn’t need to apologize for Signal flap

Asked if Waltz owed an apology, Trump said, “I don’t think he should apologize. I think he’s doing his best.”

Trump added that he thinks “we won’t be using it very much,” referring to the Signal app.

Waltz says he doesn’t know, has never met journalist on Signal chat

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said the team is looking into “how in the heck” a journalist ended up in a group text chain on the Signal app where top officials were discussing plans for military strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Waltz appeared at the White House with Trump as the president met with individuals he’s nominated for U.S. ambassador posts around the world.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, reported Monday that he had been invited to the chat group by Waltz.

Waltz said of Goldberg, “This one in particular, I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with.”

Schumer calls for ‘full investigation’ of Signal chat while Thune says one is ‘already happening’

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for a “full investigation” in the Senate, challenging Republicans to join in probing how national security leaders came to discuss wartime plans on a secure messaging app chat that also included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.

However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters an investigation is “already happening,” with the Trump administration’s intelligence leaders facing tough questioning at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Thune added that the Senate Armed Services Committee “may want to have some folks testify and have some of those questions answered as well.”

The top Republican and Democratic senators on the Armed Services Committee have been discussing how to proceed with an investigation.

Trump wants to defund NPR and PBS

President Donald Trump says he would “love” to strip PBS and NPR of any federal funding.

Trump told reporters that he thinks both outlets are “very unfair” and “very biased.”

Looking at the assembly of reporters around him, Trump said, “Right now, there’s plenty of coverage,” stressing that the two outlets that also depend on donations were “from a different age.”

“It’s a waste of money,” Trump said of PBS and NPR.

Republicans criticize Crockett over comments about Texas governor

Republicans are criticizing Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett for referring to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, last weekend as “Governor Hot Wheels.”

“You all know we got Governor Hot Wheels down there. Come on, now,” Crockett, a Dallas Democrat, said about Abbott, a Republican, while addressing the Human Rights Campaign event. “And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot ass mess, honey.”

Crockett, a Dallas Democrat elected in 2022, made the comments Saturday while speaking at a weekend banquet for civil rights group Human Rights Campaign, according to video posted on the group’s YouTube channel.

Abbott, elected in 2014, was paralyzed in 1984 after a tree fell on him while he was running. The accident severely damaged Abbott’s spinal cord, requiring him, now 67, to use a wheelchair for more than 40 years.

“Crockett’s comments are disgraceful,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn posted on the social platform X. “Shameful.”

Trump signs sweeping executive action to overhaul elections

It is designed to “cut down” on the number of immigrants in the country illegally who are on the voter rolls and would “fully weaponize” Department of Homeland Security data to ensure such migrants aren’t casting ballots.

The action seeks to include a “citizenship question” on federal voting forms and reduce federal election funding to states that don’t take “reasonable steps” to secure their balloting.

It also revokes a Biden administration order from 2021 designed to promote access to voting.

The administration is calling it “the farthest-reaching executive action taken in the history of the Republic to secure our elections.”

After signing, Trump said more election actions would be taken in the coming weeks.

Trump signs pardon for Devon Archer, former business partner of Hunter Biden

“I think he was treated very unfairly,” Trump said before he signed the pardon. “He was a victim of a crime, as far as I’m concerned.”

Archer was convicted of securities fraud in 2018. A Trump aide told the president on Tuesday that the “tone and tenor” of the prosecution changed after Archer began to cooperate and serve as a witness against Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden’s son.

Archer’s conviction was overturned later in 2018, but the court of appeals in New York reinstated it in 2020. The U.S. Supreme Court later rejected Archer’s appeals to overturn the conviction.

“Congratulations, Devon,” Trump said after he signed the pardon document.

Trump signs an order to have the Treasury Department issue fewer paper checks

“It’s basically modernization of equipment and methods,” said Trump after an aide told him that paper checks were likely to be tied to fraud.

Trump also signed an order to centralize more government payments through the Treasury Department. Trump, during his first term, famously issued COVID-19 pandemic relief checks with his name on them, something that may have helped him politically. But while signing the order, Trump suggested that paper checks should have ended decades ago.

“It’s something that should have been done 25, 30 years ago,” he said.

Appeals court allows Trump administration to suspend approval of new refugees amid lawsuit

Refugees conditionally approved before President Donald Trump took office must still be processed under the order from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but it allows the Republican administration to suspend new approvals.

The appeals court panel halted a ruling from U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead. He found that Trump could not nullify the law passed by Congress establishing the program.

SSA Commissioner nominee grilled by Democrats on DOGE plans at agency

During the 2 1/2-hour hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren illustrated a scenario of an individual with limited internet access and mobility issues being turned away from an understaffed Social Security office hours away from their home.

The agency has announced a series of federal worker layoffs, cuts to programs, office closures and a planned cut to nationwide Social Security Administration phone services as part of an overhaul by the Department of Government Efficiency.

The Massachusetts Democrat ended with a question for Bisignano, who is tapped to lead SSA: “Isn’t that a benefit cut?”

Bisignano responded, “I have no intent to have anything like that happen under my watch.”

Republicans were largely in favor of Bisignano’s nomination.

“If confirmed, you will be responsible for leading an agency with a critical mission and numerous operational and customer service challenges,” said Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican. “Based on your background, I am confident you are up to the task.”

5 high-level CDC officials are leaving the agency

The departures were announced at a meeting of agency senior leaders. The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has two dozen centers and offices. The heads of five of them are stepping down, and that follows three other departures in recent weeks. This means close to a third of the agency’s top management is leaving or has left recently.

The departures — described as retirements — were not announced publicly. The Associated Press confirmed the news with two CDC officials who were not authorized to discuss it and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The announcements come a day after the White House announced it is nominating Susan Monarez to be CDC director. But it’s not clear how much, if any, influence that had on the leaders’ decision to leave.

The Trump administration earlier this month withdrew its nomination of former Florida congressman Dr. David Weldon just before a Senate hearing.

— AP reporter Mike Stobbe reported from New York.

Trump nominates a Republican once accused of mishandling taxpayer funds to be HHS inspector general

If confirmed by the Senate, Thomas March Bell will oversee fraud, waste and abuse audits of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which taxpayers spend more than $1 trillion on annually.

Bell serves as general counsel for House Republicans and has worked for GOP politicians and congressional offices for decades. His nomination is a brazenly political one for a job that has long been viewed as nonpartisan and focuses largely on accounting for and ferreting out fraud in some of the nation’s biggest spending programs.

Bell was terminated from his role at Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality in 1997 after a state audit showed he improperly authorized a nearly $8,000 payment to the agency’s former spokesman, according to Washington Post reporting at the time.

He also has a history of launching investigations against abortion clinics.

Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Panama declines to commit to upholding the country’s sovereignty

Kevin Cabrera, President Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to Panama, faced a call from Democrats in his confirmation hearing to commit to upholding Panama’s sovereignty and advising the president to do the same. But Cabrera responded that he would defer to Trump.

Cabrera pointed out that Trump has said “all the options are on the table” when asserting U.S. control over the Panama Canal, but added that part of that included “diplomacy.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said she appreciated a “focus on diplomacy,” but was worried by the threats of sending military force or coercing Panama to relinquish control over the canal.

Cabrera responded, “President Trump is our commander in chief, and I stand behind him and his policies.”

Gabbard won’t say if she participated in Signal chats on her personal phone

“I won’t speak to this because it’s under review by the National Security Council,” Gabbard said during Tuesday’s hearing.

Gabbard was one of several top U.S. security officials who participated in a Signal group chat that included a journalist, where information about an upcoming strike in Yemen was shared.

Gabbard was on an overseas trip when the group chat occurred, she said in response to a question from Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who also asked if she was using a personal phone or a government phone.

Encrypted messaging apps promise privacy. Government transparency is often the price

As a devastating wildfire burned through a Maui town, killing more than 100 people, emergency management employees traded dozens of text messages, creating a record that would later help investigators piece together the government’s response to the 2023 tragedy.

One text exchange hinted officials might also be using a second, untraceable messaging service.

“That’s what Signal was supposed to be for,” then-Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator Herman Andaya texted a colleague.

Signal is one of many end-to-end encrypted messaging apps that include message auto-delete functions.

While such apps promise increased security and privacy, they often skirt open records laws meant to increase transparency around and public awareness of government decision-making. Without special archiving software, the messages aren't frequently returned under public information requests.

▶ Read more about government use of encrypted messaging apps

Nominee to lead Social Security Administration faces questions during confirmation hearing

Frank Bisignano, a self-professed “DOGE person,” is facing the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday for his confirmation hearing to serve as commissioner of the beleaguered Social Security Administration.

Several Democratic lawmakers asked Bisignano during the hearing whether the Trump Administration plans to privatize Social Security or cut recipients’ benefits.

When asked by one lawmaker, “Do you think social security should be privatized?” Bisignano responded: “I’ve never heard a word of it, and I’ve never thought about it.”

The agency has taken center stage in the debate over Department of Government Efficiency cuts to taxpayer services.

Gabbard says she doesn’t recall targeting details being included in the leaked chat

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., asked Ratcliffe and Gabbard whether the chat mentioned targets, weapons, specific units or timing of the strike on Yemen.

“I don’t remember a mention of specific targets,” Gabbard said. “I believe there was discussion around targets, in general.”

“I think that’s consistent with my recollection,” Ratcliffe said when Kelly asked him the same question.

Democrats have asked for an investigation into the leak, which Ratcliffe and Gabbard have said contained no classified information.

Senate Democrats, Trump’s CIA director clash over Signal leak

Senate Democrats are calling for further investigations and possible resignations following news that top national security officials texted military plans to a group chat that included Jeff Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., told CIA Director John Ratcliffe that the leak was an “embarrassment” and asked whether it was “just a normal day at the CIA?”

“Don’t insult the intelligence of the American people,” Bennet told Ratcliffe before asking how Goldberg was added to the chat. “Did he invite himself to the Signal thread?”

“I don’t know how he was invited,” Ratcliffe said in response. “Clearly, he was added to the Signal group.”

Protesters removed from Huckabee’s confirmation hearing as US ambassador to Israel

Four protesters interrupted the hearing in Congress to decry former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s ardent support for Israel.

One blew a shofar, and another shouted, “I am a proud American Jew!” and then “Let Palestinians live!”

Police quickly grabbed the protesters, but their shouts could still be momentarily heard in the Senate hallway.

‘They ought to just be honest and own up to it’

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said on Tuesday he would defer to the White House on whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or National Security Adviser Michael Waltz should face repercussions over war plans that were texted in a group chat that included a journalist.

“But I think we should be critical,” he said.

“The fact that classified information was put on an unclassified system, I think the secretary of defense needs to answer for that,” Bacon added.

He dismissed the need for an Armed Services committee investigation, simply because the facts were apparent.

Bacon also called the White House’s saying that no war plans were shared “baloney.”

“They ought to just be honest and own up to it,” Bacon said.

Bacon served nearly thirty years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, specializing in electronic warfare and intelligence.

CIA Director says leaked military plans contained no classified information

“My communications to be clear in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe told lawmakers during a Senate hearing on global security threats.

Democrats have said the leaked military plans in a Signal group message that included a journalist show a sloppy disregard for security, but Ratcliffe said no rules were violated.

During heated questions from Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said there’s a difference between “inadvertent” releases of information and intentional leaks.

“There was no classified material that was shared,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are top US security challenges

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said China has heavily invested in stealth aircraft, hypersonic weapons and nuclear arms and is looking to outcompete the U.S. when it comes to artificial intelligence.

Noting Russia’s large nuclear arsenal, she called the country a “formidable competitor.” She added that while Iran is not currently seeking to build a nuclear weapon, it has become a critical supplier of weapons to Russia.

And North Korea, she said, remains committed to pursuing military capabilities that would allow it to strike U.S. forces in the region or the U.S. homeland.

Gabbard’s remarks came during her testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee during a hearing on worldwide threats to the U.S.

“These actors are in some cases working together in different areas to target U.S. interests,” Gabbard told lawmakers.

Warner calls leak of war plans ‘sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior’

Democrats are blasting national security officials in the Trump administration for texting war plans to a group chat that included a reporter, saying it demonstrates sloppy conduct that would often result in firings.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., blasted Pentagon and intelligence officials for engaging in the chat, which he said revealed secret information about U.S. plans to strike Yemen.

Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the leak “sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior.”

Warner said that if a lower ranking officer had texted similar secret plans, “They would be fired.”

The comments came at the start of a Senate hearing featuring testimony from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Cotton says intel community is too politicized

The Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee has told the leaders of America’s intelligence community that it has become too bureaucratic and political to keep up with emerging national security threats.

“As the world has become more dangerous, our intelligence agencies have gotten more politicized, more bureaucratic, and more focused on promulgating opinions than gathering facts. As a result of these misplaced priorities, we have been caught off guard and left in the dark too often,” Cotton said in his opening statement.

At the hearing, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe are likely to face questions after it emerged that Gabbard, Ratcliffe and other national security officials texted war plans to a group chat that included a reporter.

Sen. Cotton calls Senate Intelligence Committee hearing to order

The Arkansas Republican delivered an opening statement in which he ticked through a litany of challenges facing the United States from a report on worldwide threats.

Cotton asked, “Are our intelligence agencies well-postured facing against these threats? I’m afraid the answer is ‘no,’ at least not yet.”

Cotton said that after years of “drift,” the intelligence community “must recommit” to what he said is its core mission of “collecting clandestine intelligence from adversaries.”

Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat and vice chairman of the committee, called the report “one of the most complicated and challenging” during his 14 years on the panel.

Faculty and teacher groups sue over Trump administration cuts at Columbia University

The federal lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in New York by the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers, which represent members of Columbia’s faculty. The groups allege the Trump administration violated free speech laws and federal procedures when it cut $400 million in funding for Columbia over allegations of antisemitism tied to pro-Palestinian protests.

Tolerating that at Columbia risks turning other colleges into “servile arms of the government, advancing only the political preferences of the latest president in order to secure federal funding,” the lawsuit says.

The Education Department did not immediately comment.

Columbia on Friday agreed to several demands from the administration as a condition for restoring its federal funding. It put its Middle East studies department under new supervision and overhauled its rules for protests and student discipline, measures that the suit calls an unprecedented intrusion on the school’s autonomy.

Trump’s national security officials used Signal to coordinate plans for airstrikes. What is Signal?

The Atlantic editor-in-chief’s account of being added to a Signal group chat of U.S. national security officials coordinating plans for airstrikes has raised questions about how highly sensitive information is supposed to be handled.

The National Security Council has since said the text chain “appears to be authentic” and that it is looking into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain.

Signal is an app that can be used for direct messaging and group chats as well as phone and video calls.

Signal uses end-to-end encryption for its messaging and calling services that prevents any third-party from viewing conversation content or listening in on calls.

▶ Read more about Signal

White House rejects report that officials texted war plans to group that included journalist

In a social media post, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “war plans” were not discussed and that no classified material was sent to the thread.

She said the counsel’s office has provided guidance on different platforms that Trump’s top officials can use to communicate “safely and efficiently.”

Leavitt reiterated that the National Security Council is looking into how a telephone number for Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief, was added to the thread.

She said U.S. military strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen were successful, “terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump.”

International students weigh new risks of pursuing higher education in the US under Trump

Since plunging during the COVID-19 pandemic, international student enrollment in the U.S. has been rebounding — a relief to American universities that count on their tuition payments. Two months into the new Trump administration, educators fear that could soon change.

Unnerved by efforts to deport students over political views, students from other countries already in the U.S. have felt new pressure to watch what they say.

Educators worry it’s a balancing act that will turn off foreign students. As the U.S. government takes a harder line on immigration, cuts federal research funding and begins policing campus activism, students are left to wonder if they’ll be able to get visas, travel freely, pursue research or even express an opinion.

Some students are waiting to see how policy changes will play out, while others already have deferred admission offers for fall 2025, he said. Student social networks are active, and news about immigration-related developments in America — like a Republican proposal to prevent Chinese students from studying in the U.S. — spreads quickly.

▶ Read more about the impact the Trump administration is having on international students

Senate Intelligence Committee chairman says he hopes to keep hearing focused on worldwide threats

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas says the news that several top Trump national security officials texted war plans in a group chat that included a journalist on a secure messaging app will come up.

But Cotton said on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” that he’d like to keep the focus on the subject for the hearing, which is threats facing the United States and what the government is doing to counter them.

FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, are among the officials set to appear on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee and Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee.

Transgender Americans aim to block Trump’s passport policy change

When Ash Lazarus Orr went to renew his passport in early January, the transgender organizer figured it would be relatively routine.

But more than two months on, Orr is waiting to get a new passport with a name change and a sex designation reflecting who he is. The delay has prevented him from traveling overseas to receive gender-affirming care this month in Ireland since he refuses to get a passport that lists an “inaccurate sex designation.”

Orr blames the delay on President Donald Trump, who on the day he took office issued an executive order banning the use of the “X” marker as well as the changing of gender markers.

“This is preventing me from having an accurate identification and the freedom to move about the country as well as internationally,” said Orr, who is among seven plaintiffs — five transgender Americans and two nonbinary plaintiffs — who have sued the Trump administration in federal court over the policy.

▶ Read more about the lawsuit challenging the policy

Come back or move on? Fired federal workers face choices now that a judge wants them rehired

Whether to return to the federal workforce is a decision confronting thousands of fired employees after two judges this month found legal problems with how Trump is carrying out a dramatic downsizing of the U.S. government. One ruling by a California federal judge would reinstate 16,000 probationary employees.

On Monday, the Trump administration sought to stop giving fired workers any choice by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the rehiring orders. It was not clear how quickly the nation’s high court could rule on the emergency appeal, which argued that U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, went beyond his legal authority.

Although it is unknown how many federal workers are taking up the offers to return to work, some employees have already decided to move on, fearing more reductions down the road.

Others who were asked to return were immediately put on administrative leave, with full pay and benefits, or offered early retirement. For those who chose to return, some say the decision came down to their dedication to the work and a belief that what they do is important.

▶ Read more about the choice that fired federal workers now face

Trump’s schedule for Tuesday

Trump and Vance are scheduled to have lunch in the White House private dining room at 12:30 p.m. ET, according to the White House. Later, Trump is expected to sign executive orders at 2 p.m. ET.

Intelligence officials to brief Senate on national security threats facing the United States

The Trump administration’s top intelligence officials face Congress for back-to-back hearings this week, their first opportunity since being sworn in to testify about the threats facing the United States and what the government is doing to counter them.

FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, are among the witnesses who will appear on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee and on Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee.

Tuesday’s hearing will take place one day after news broke that several top national security officials in the Trump administration, including Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic.

The annual hearings on worldwide threats will offer a glimpse of the Trump administration’s reorienting of priorities, which officials across agencies have described as countering the scourge of fentanyl and fighting violent crime, human trafficking and illegal immigration.

▶ Read more about Tuesday’s briefing

Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in case over deportations under wartime law

The Trump administration on Monday invoked a “state secrets privilege” and refused to give a federal judge any additional information about the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th-century wartime law — a case that has become a flashpoint amid escalating tension with the federal courts.

The declaration comes as U.S. District Judge James Boasberg weighs whether the government defied his order to turn around planes carrying migrants after he blocked deportations of people alleged to be gang members without due process.

Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, has asked for details about when the planes landed and who was on board, information that the Trump administration asserts would harm “diplomatic and national security concerns.”

Government attorneys also asked an appeals court on Monday to lift Boasberg’s order and allow deportations to continue, a push that appeared to divide the judges.

▶ Read more about the Trump administration invoking state secrets privilege