PRESIDENT TRUMP IS SHUFFLING his national security team in the first major shake-up of his second term.
Trump on Thursday nominated national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his Ambassador to the United Nations.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take over as interim national security adviser while continuing to lead the State Department. Rubio will be the first person since Henry Kissinger to serve simultaneously as both secretary of State and national security adviser.
Trump announced the changes over Truth Social following media reports that Waltz and a senior aide had been ousted from the National Security Council.
“From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first,” Trump said. “I know he will do the same in his new role.”
Waltz was the central figure in the Signal chat controversy, accidentally adding The Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat with senior administration officials discussing a military strike.
Waltz left a safe GOP seat in the House to be national security adviser and now the nominee for ambassador to the United Nations.
Trump had previously nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to be ambassador to the United Nations, but her nomination was pulled so she could return to the House to bolster the GOP’s narrow majority.
Trump also pulled from the slim House majority when he nominated former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to be attorney general, but Gaetz withdrew and resigned from the House amid allegations of ethics violations.
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TRUMP HEADS TO CAMPUS AMID CRACKDOWN
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Trump is headed to back to school this evening amid his crackdown on campus culture.
Trump will give the commencement address at the University of Alabama, which comes as he seeks to force elite universities to bend to his vision for the country.
The Trump administration is locked in a court fight with Harvard University over $2 billion in frozen funds. Trump also threatened Harvard’s tax exempt status after it rebuffed demands to change its leadership, alter its hiring practices and end its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
“Universities are on notice and universities are already facing the consequences of noncompliance with federal law,” White House adviser Stephen Miller said Wednesday at a press briefing.
“This administration is not going to let our society devolve into communist woke DEI strangulation,” he added. “We are going to have a system of merit.”
The Trump administration has cast elite colleges as hotbeds for liberal activism, citing the pro-Palestinian protests they say are antisemitic. The government has also arrested and sought to deport foreign student protesters.
Harvard has acknowledged and apologized for some antisemitic activity.
This week, the university renamed its DEI office as the office of Community and Campus Life as part of an effort to “sharpen our focus on fostering connections across difference, creating spaces for dialogue, and cultivating a culture of belonging.”
However, Harvard has rejected other demands from Trump, accusing the administration of seeking intellectual control over its faculty and students.
The White House on Thursday sought to focus on cultural issues as part of its media blitz following Trump’s 100th day in office.
The Department of Health and Human Services released its “best practices” review of transgender health care, which advocates for therapy over surgery for young people.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
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It was another topsy-turvy day concerning Trump’s tariffs.
General Motors (GM) said it has a “current tariff exposure of $4 billion – $5 billion.” But GM CEO Mary Barra said on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” that she appreciates the steps the administration has taken to ease some tariffs on automakers and to crack down on foreign trade imbalances.
“We’re really appreciative that he is taking these steps, because we’re very aligned on the mission to have a strong manufacturing base, have a strong automotive industry in this country, and to make sure that we have a level playing field around the globe,” she said.
“I think what we’re seeing, though, is a shift that is necessary, because for decades, we’ve not had a level playing field,” she added.
Mercedes-Benz announced it would open a new vehicle plant in Alabama, following similar announcements from at last a half-dozen other car companies.
However, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce asked the Trump administration for tariff exemptions on certain businesses and products over concerns the trade war would provoke a recession.
Microsoft announced it would raise prices on all of its gaming products, from Xbox consoles to games and accessories.
And GOP lawmakers are growing increasingly concerned about the tariffs being a drag on the economy and their own electoral fortunes.
“I don’t think there is any doubt that the tariffs and trade war has injected a lot of uncertainty and instability into the economy,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said. “I think investment, what I’m hearing from businesses, is drying up. That’s not good.”
A Senate vote to scrap Trump’s tariffs narrowly failed Wednesday, with the vote ending in a 49-49 tie.
Three Republicans backed the measure — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
The measure might have passed, but Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) was traveling in South Korea, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who had voted in favor of a similar bill reversing tariffs, was sick and could not vote.
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A federal district judge ruled that the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) does not permit President Trump to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador, extending a block on the law being used against migrants detained in South Texas.
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Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett reached a settlement with the city of Chicago, which sought to recoup costs of the investigation pertaining to his 2019 false police report.
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Florida is poised to become the second state to outlaw the addition of fluoride to its public water, despite concerns from dentists and public health advocates.
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Trump, Johnson huddle as budget battle lines form
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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and top House Republicans huddled with President Trump at the White House on Thursday amid fractures in the GOP conference over the budget bill containing Trump’s agenda.
Johnson was joined by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), who are charged with finding consensus in the unruly House GOP caucus that must find a way to pass a funding bill with only a bare majority in the lower chamber.
Johnson has been meeting privately with various factions in his conference. Two main sticking points have materialized.
• Republicans from high-tax states say they won’t support any bill that doesn’t raise the deduction cap on state and local taxes (SALT).
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) left the meeting with Johnson and said:
“I think we need more dialogue.”
• Johnson and Guthrie also met with moderates who oppose any cuts to Medicaid, as well as conservatives seeking caps on Medicaid funding to states that expanded their programs under the Affordable Care Act, Politico reports.
Guthrie has been tasked with finding nearly $900 billion in health care cuts, which some say can only be achieved by reining in spending on the social safety net programs that make up about half the federal budget.
But Trump on Wednesday night during the NewsNation town hall said those cuts are off the table.
“We’re not doing anything with entitlements,” he said
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© Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via Associated Press
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U.S., Ukraine strike mineral deal, peace deal elusive
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The U.S. and Ukraine signed a long-awaited minerals deal, but a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine could still be far off.
Here’s everything you need to know about the minerals deal, which gives the U.S. a stake in Ukraine’s natural resources in exchange for future U.S. aid in the war against Russia.
The Hill’s Filip Timotija writes:
“The deal entails the formation of a joint investment fund that Ukraine sees as a way to harden the U.S. backing for the war-torn country, though it does not include specific security gaurantees, which Kyiv has demanded as part of a larger peace deal. It symbolically attaches Trump to the nation’s future, and according to Washington marks a step toward ending the largest land war in Europe since World War II.”
The Trump administration is casting it as a means of recouping past aid to Ukraine, although that could take decades.
“We’ll move it and operationalize as fast as we can,” White House adviser Stephen Miller said Thursday. “It’s meant to pay back the US … for the hundreds of billions of dollars our taxpayer have spent subsidizing the war in Ukraine.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking a three-day pause in fighting next week, but it does not appear the countries are any closer to a long-term ceasefire.
“The Ukrainians have said, ‘This is what we want.’ The Russians have said, ‘This is what we want,’” Vice President Vance told Fox News Digital. “And now, the work of diplomacy is to try to sort of bring these two sides closer together. Because there’s a very big gulf between what the Russians want and what the Ukrainians want.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he’s getting close to having a bipartisan, filibuster-proof majority co-sponsoring legislation that would impose new sanctions on Russia and tariffs on countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and uranium.
MEANWHILE…
The next round of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran set for this weekend in Oman have been postponed for “logistical reasons,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said on X.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth leveled new threats at Iran over its support for the rebel Houthis in Yemen.
“Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis,” he posted on X. “We know exactly what you are doing. You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.”
The U.S. on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on entities accused of illicitly trading Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals.
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