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President Donald Trump is pulling New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination for US ambassador to the United Nations due to the thin Republican majority in the House, he wrote on Truth Social today.
“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat. The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day. There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations. Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People,” Trump said.
The White House had already been engaged in discussions about pulling the nomination, according to two sources familiar with the conversations.
Trump announced that he had chosen Stefanik, a New York congresswoman and longtime ally, as his pick for the Cabinet role days after the November 2024 election.
But her nomination has languished as the GOP faces the reality of passing some of the president’s top agenda initiatives with a historically razor-thin House Republican majority. The narrow majority has routinely created headaches for Speaker Mike Johnson in bringing bills to the floor and poses a threat to congressional GOP plans to pass a sweeping package focused on tax cuts that could be Trump’s signature legislative achievement — if Republicans can stay unified to pass it without support from Democrats.
One of the sources familiar with the talks said it’s been a point of frustration for Stefanik, who forfeited her leadership position as chair of the House Republican Conference, the number three House Republican, in preparation for the role.
This post has been updated with news that Stefanik’s nomination will be withdrawn.
Republicans who chair key committees said Thursday that they’re still evaluating the newly announced cuts to the Health and Human Services Department to ensure that the agency can still perform its duties with a shrinking workforce.
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Bill Cassidy told reporters when asked about the cuts, “you want the institution to serve better,” explaining he would look at things like if Medicare beneficiaries could get help and drugs could be approved faster, and “if they can, it’s successful.”
“Otherwise, it’s something that I’m going to be looking at,” he continued.
HHS announced Thursday it is cutting 10,000 full-time employees across health agencies. This comes on top of 10,000 employees who’ve left voluntarily, reducing the workforce from about 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000.
Cassidy told CNN that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had discussed the cuts with GOP senators at a breakfast this morning.
Sen. Susan Collins said she had missed the breakfast and didn’t know details about the cuts, though she said she would “certainly take a close look at it.”
The Senate Appropriations Committee chair, who also sits on the HELP Committee, said she expects her panel’s staff to get an “in-depth briefing” by HHS next week, and “then I will certainly evaluate it.”
“I would not be surprised that there’s some duplication, for example, in HR offices, perhaps, but HHS is a critical agency and it does have to be adequately staffed in order to perform its multifaceted missions,” she continued.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is proposing merging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to a memorandum circulated to top officials at the Justice Department and its components.
The proposal circulated in recent days isn’t final and is part of a broader evaluation Justice Department officials are conducting to examine the department’s operations, according to three people familiar with the plans.
The Blanche memo also proposes changes to Justice Department grant-making programs to make them more efficient. The department administers a number of programs that send congressionally approved funds to local and state jurisdictions to help hire and train police officers and other crime-fighting efforts.
Department officials have debated a number of ideas for the ATF, which is an agency perennially the focus of gun-rights groups that oppose some of its work regulating guns. It has struggled for years to win Senate confirmation of its leaders under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Some allies of President Donald Trump has pushed for ATF to be defunded.
FBI Director Kash Patel recently outlined plans to temporarily reassign some ATF agents to work on border-related crime initiatives alongside the FBI, people briefed on the matter said. Patel has disputed that his plan included moving as many as 1,000 ATF agents to the FBI on what is called temporary detail with no end date. But people familiar with the plans say FBI officials backtracked on the plans after CNN reported on them.
Merging the ATF with another agency would require congressional approval. But Justice officials would be able to temporarily reassign agents to other agencies in the meantime.
Some House Republicans expressed concern over the impact to their constituents from President Donald Trump’s announced 25% tariffs on all cars shipped to the US, but remained supportive of the president’s move.
“Yeah, of course,” Republican Rep. Rich McCormick told CNN when asked if he’s worried about the effect the automobile tariffs could have on his Georgia district. He also acknowledged the potential uncertainty for automobile dealerships.
Asked if Trump should pull back the tariffs, McCormick said, “The president’s gonna do what he’s gonna do.”
“He’s proven to be a master at manipulating the economy in a good direction,” he said. “I don’t punch up like that. I’ll wait and see what the impact is going be and then we’ll make our decision. I think so will the president.”
GOP Rep. Ralph Norman of North Carolina said Trump’s tariffs are “painful,” but he believes they won’t “last forever” and that the president is “getting leverage now.”
“But reciprocal trade, fair trade, is what the president’s trying to do. He wants the manufacturers in America; that makes sense to me,” Norman said.
Asked if Trump should back off from imposing tariffs, Norman said, “I leave that up to him.”
Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and ranking Democrat Jack Reed — in a letter dated Wednesday to the acting Department of Defense inspector general — requested an investigation and assessment of the Signal chat incident.
“If true, this reporting raises questions as to the use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know,” the pair wrote to acting Inspector General Steven Stebbins.
Wicker declined Wednesday evening to say his committee is conducting a full investigation into the Signal chat controversy. “We are commissioning fact-finding, oversight processes about that,” Wicker said.
Wicker refused to answer questions about the timeline for the inspector general investigation into the Signal group chat, instead directing CNN to his previous statements. When asked if he is open to the idea of holding open hearings on the issue at a later date, Wicker let the elevator doors close.
What other lawmakers are saying: Several GOP senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee, however, insisted that it is “time to move on” from the Signal group chat controversy, arguing that it won’t happen again and that the officials involved have learned from their mistakes.
“It’s time to move on. The facts are not going to change. I don’t know that there are any more that could be revealed,” said GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. “We all know, I think, as I’ve said, Signal is an inappropriate platform to discuss highly sensitive information. They did that, and I’m quite confident it’s never going to happen again.”
Separately, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal called for a criminal investigation into chat, telling reporters, “There was a crime here, and likely an intentional crime. There should be accountability.”
This post has been updated with more comments from Wicker and other lawmakers.
A University of Alabama doctoral student from Iran was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents because of issues with his visa, according to an official with knowledge of the incident.
Iranian born Alireza Doroudi, a mechanical engineering grad student, was arrested by ICE agents early Tuesday morning, the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said.
The source said it was unclear if Doroudi had participated in any pro-Palestine demonstrations.
“This appears to be directly related to them, overstaying their visa,” the source added.
The Department of Homeland Security is handling all questions related to the incident.
CNN has reached out to DHS again for comment.
Venezuela is expected to receive a deportation flight from the United States on Thursday, the second this week since direct deportation flights resumed on Monday, the Venezuelan Ministry of the Interior announced.
The Trump administration has made direct deportations to Caracas a priority since entering office. Repatriations to the South American country were stalled earlier this year over the Trump administration’s decision in February to revoke a license allowing Chevron to carry out some operations in Venezuela. The two sides have since reached an agreement to resume the flights.
On Monday, nearly 200 Venezuelan migrants deported from the US landed in Caracas after a brief stopover in Honduras.
Thursday’s deportation flight will also involve a stopover in Honduras, where migrants will be handed over from US authorities and board Venezuelan planes to continue their journey to Caracas. The stopover is necessary because Venezuelan airlines are not allowed to fly to the United States, and the two countries do not share International Air Transport Association manifestos since they don’t have diplomatic relations, according to a White House source with knowledge of the issue.
The resumption of flights, however, suggests direct negotiations between the US and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro are bearing fruit.
“Today’s flight demonstrates that Maduro’s understanding of American politics shows that if he plays ball on migration, he might get to a more favorable deal in the future,” the source told CNN.
The Maduro government has also been receiving deportees from the US on flights that originate from other Latin American countries, such as Mexico.
After President Donald Trump signed an executive action authorizing 25% tariffs on cars and car parts imported to the US, leaders from foreign countries likely to be hit hardest by the taxes shared sharp public criticism.
Here’s what foreign leaders and officials have been saying:
Canada: Prime Minister Mark Carney said the tariffs was a “direct attack” in violation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and that Ottawa would examine its options for a response — including possible retaliatory tariffs. Canada’s Cabinet Committee on Canada-US Relations convened a meeting this morning to discuss its options.
Mexico: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would offer a “comprehensive response” to the tariffs on April 3, but signaled that her government is working behind the scenes to remove or reduce fees on certain Mexican-assembled autos and parts.
Japan: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tokyo would consider “all options” in response to the tariffs.
“We are strongly requesting that this 25% not be applied to Japan,” Ishiba said. “Japan invests in the United States, creating jobs and paying the highest wages.”
South Korea: Auto companies are expected to experience considerable difficulties due to the tariffs on cars and auto parts, trade minister Ahn Duk-geun said. Ahn held an emergency response meeting with representatives from automobile companies, industry associations and research institutions to discuss the tariffs.
On Tuesday, Hyundai committed to investing $21 billion in the US over the next three years. The investment would focus on expanding its manufacturing capabilities.
European Commission: President Ursula von der Leyen said tariffs would hurt Americans, though she didn’t promise any retaliation. The EU had announced retaliatory tariffs in response to steel and aluminum tariffs Trump levied this month but postponed them in hopes of a negotiated agreement.
China: Unlike its Asian rivals, China’s car industry is largely insulated from this round of tariffs. The Biden administration increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100%, which has effectively shut them out of the market. Nonetheless, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun accused the US of violating World Trade Organization rules by imposing the auto tariffs.
The United Kingdom is not planning imminent retaliatory tariffs on car imports from the US, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves said. The US is the second-largest market for UK car exports after the European Union, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Attorney General Pam Bondi defended top national security officials who discussed pending military strikes in Yemen on Signal, saying the information sent in the chat was “sensitive information, not classified.”
“What we should be talking about is, it was a very successful mission,” Bondi told reporters Thursday in northern Virginia. “Our world is now safer because of that mission.”
Under normal circumstances, the FBI and Justice Department would likely launch an investigation into whether classified information was shared without authorization — a criminal offense.
Bondi fiercely pushed back against critics who have expressed grave concerns that the conversation took place on an unclassified commercial messaging app that officials fear might be vulnerable to foreign hackers.
“If you want to talk about classified information, talk about what was at Hillary Clinton’s home,” Bondi said. “Talk about that — that classified documents in Joe Biden’s garage that Hunter Biden had access to.”
“This was not classified information, and we are very pleased with the results of that operation, and that the entire world is safer because of it,” she said.
Signal chat lawsuit: US District Judge James Boasberg will hold an emergency hearing at 4 p.m. ET over the Cabinet-level Signal chat. An advocacy group has filed a lawsuit, accusing department officials and intelligence chiefs of flouting federal records laws with the auto-delete features of the Signal texting app.
The ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is asking the directors of 24 federal agencies to explain whether individuals affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency are following privacy and cybersecurity laws as they access sensitive systems and databases.
In a series of letters dated March 24, Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters asked the head of agencies — including the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, State and Defense — to identify all DOGE-affiliated individuals working within their agencies and name all agency systems those individuals have access to. The letter asks for that information before April 11.
“Failure to appropriately control access to this data creates significant privacy and security risks and may violate federal law,” Peters wrote.
CNN previously reported the Elon Musk-led initiative has sought access to highly sensitive taxpayer data housed at the Internal Revenue Service. A federal judge earlier this month blocked the Social Security Administration from giving DOGE access to data that contained the personally identifiable information of millions of Americans.
The White House declined to offer an update on its internal investigation into the Signal group chat of top Trump national security officials, calling the incident a “mistake.”
Asked by CNN this morning about the status of the investigation promised yesterday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that she did not have any new information, but said the White House has been “incredibly transparent about this entire situation.”
Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker has said that he and the top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Jack Reed, are formally asking the administration for an inspector general report on the Signal chat and a classified briefing from a senior official, but Leavitt said Thursday that the White House has yet to see any requests from Congress.
As top officials cast the group chat reporting as a “hoax” and seek to malign The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Leavitt claimed the White House has “never denied that this was a mistake,” pinning blame on national security adviser Mike Waltz.
“We have never denied that this was a mistake, and the national security adviser took responsibility for that, and we have said we are making changes. We are looking into the matter to ensure it can never happen again,” she said.
Leavitt also highlighted Trump’s auto tariff announcement, calling it a “great thing for auto workers” as she previewed the promised reciprocal tariffs coming next week.
Judge James Boasberg is calling the Trump administration into court today at 4 p.m. ET for an emergency hearing over the Cabinet-level Signal chat about a Yemen attack this that inadvertently included a journalist.
An advocacy group has sued because of the chat, accusing department secretaries and intelligence chiefs of flouting federal records laws with the auto-delete features of the Signal texting app.
Lawsuits like these can be difficult lifts legally in court for outside groups. But concerns over the use of Signal for federal business now could prompt the judge — the chief of Washington, DC’s federal trial court, who has extensive experience with records law and national security and intelligence matters, and whom President Donald Trump has tried to paint as a political foe in recent weeks — to ask questions of the Cabinet officials and seek answers quickly.
More on Boasberg: The assignment is a mere coincidence, because the DC District Court randomly assigns cases to its collection of judges. That practice is typical among federal courts.
Boasberg is also currently overseeing the case challenging Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, where he has been fighting with the Justice Department to obtain more information on deportation flights that left the US in possible defiance of a court order.
Trump and his allies, including billionaire Elon Musk, have repeatedly criticized Boasberg for his handling of the migrants case, even calling for his impeachment, drawing a rebuke from much of the legal community, including Chief Justice John Roberts.
The Signal chat case is likely to draw their attention to the judge again if Boasberg pushes for more information from top administration officials or orders a change in agencies’ approach to using encrypted apps.
This post has been updated with more about the judge.
The US Department of Health and Human Services will announce today that it is cutting 10,000 full-time employees across health agencies, the department told CNN.
In its announcement, HHS said it will consolidate from 28 to 15 divisions, including a including a new division, Administration for a Healthy America, and will reduce regional offices from 10 to five.
The cuts were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
This comes on top of 10,000 employees who’ve left voluntarily, amounting to shrinking by about a quarter of the workforce.
HHS said Thursday that cuts will include:
- 3,500 full-time employees at the US Food and Drug Administration, not affecting drug, medical device or food reviewers, nor inspectors
- 2,400 employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- 1,200 employees at the National Institutes of Health by centralizing procurement, human resources and communications
- 300 employees at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
This post has been updated with more reporting on the HHS cuts.
Federal law enforcement officers captured an alleged “major leader” of MS-13 Thursday morning, President Donald Trump said on social media.
“Just captured a major leader of MS13,” he wrote.
The alleged 24-year-old gang member has not yet been publicly named.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was present for the raid along with FBI Director Kash Patel, said in a news conference that the man was “the leader for the East Coast, one of the top three in the entire country, right here in Virginia, living half an hour outside of Washington, DC.”
“He is an illegal alien from El Salvador, and he will not be living in our country much longer,” Bondi said.
CNN reported earlier this week that as part of the deportation flights of alleged terrorists at the center of a legal and political storm, the US quietly dropped charges against a key alleged MS-13 leader and returned him to the pro-Trump leader of El Salvador.
CNN’s Evan Perez and Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting to this post.
This post has been updated to reflect the attorney general’s comments.
President Donald Trump wrote on a Thursday post on Truth Social that the European Union and Canada would be threatened with “large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned,” if they work together to “do economic harm” to the United States.
Some context: Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said the tariff was a “direct attack” in violation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and that Ottawa would examine its options for a response — including possible retaliatory tariffs.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said tariffs would hurt Americans, but hasn’t vowed any retaliation. The EU had announced retaliatory tariffs in response to steel and aluminum tariffs Trump levied this month but postponed them in hopes of a negotiated agreement.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company was not unaffected by President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs and that the impact would be “significant.”
“Important to note that Tesla is NOT unscathed here. The tariff impact on Tesla is still significant,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.
“To be clear, this will affect the price of parts in Tesla cars that come from other countries. The cost impact is not trivial,” he wrote in another post.
More text messages published yesterday by The Atlantic from the Signal group chat of top US officials underscored a massive breach in operational security as information about the deadly attack on Houthi targets in Yemen was shared before it was carried out.
Top US officials have maintained that the information disclosed was not classified. But sources told CNN the information Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth shared was highly classified at the time he wrote it.
President Donald Trump called the fallout “a witch hunt.” He said his national security adviser Mike Waltz took responsibility for creating the Signal group but shrugged off any culpability on Hegseth’s part. He also said nothing in the chat “compromised” the attack.
The attack killed 53 people and wounded almost 100 others, including women and children.
Here’s what to know:
- Report redacted: The Atlantic decided to redact a sensitive piece of information out of their follow-up article because they “felt it was best to do” and the CIA asked them to.
- Watch a re-enactment of the chat: CNN created an audio version of the chat using AI software with the voices reading the text neutrally. Watch here.
- New details: The newly published messages included texts The Atlantic had previously withheld because they included specific operational details Hegseth sent to the group about the timing and weapons systems the US military intended to use. You can read a full, annotated version of the texts here.
- Request for report: Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker said he and the top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Jack Reed, are asking the administration for an Inspector General report on the Signal chat for the committee to review.
- Intelligence hearing: Top Trump intelligence officials were grilled again about the incident, testifying in front of the House Select Committee on Intelligence. Gabbard acknowledged the inclusion of a journalist in the Signal discussion was a “mistake,” but reiterated her belief that the chat contained no classified information. She said the National Security Council was conducting “an in-depth review.”
CNN’s Alex Marquardt breaks down what the messages say:
@cnnThe Atlantic published more messages from a group chat among top Trump Cabinet members, in which the magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added. The messages reveal that specific sensitive information about strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen was shared. CNN’s Alex Marquardt breaks down what the messages say and why they may contradict claims from President Donald Trump and top Trump officials that war plans were not discussed in the chat. #cnn #news #trump #houthis #signal
In Donald Trump’s White House, it matters less what you screw up than how hard you fight back.
The uproar over operational details of military strikes on Yemen posted on a group chat among top administration officials is highlighting this fundamental rule of life in the president’s orbit.
Naive and sloppy behavior by top Trump aides could have endangered US pilots. One of the worst intelligence breaches by top officials in years, it raises grave questions about the competence of top officials meant to keep Americans safe.
But the administration’s main concern is protecting the president and his team. They are demonizing those who point out their malfeasance and embroidering the wider conspiratorial narrative that Trump is again a victim of a deep state witch hunt.
The obsession with answering a national security scandal with a fiercely political argument is characteristic of a White House that never admits wrongdoing — following one of the core principles of Trump’s pre-political life.
But the drama may already have damaged US operations in Yemen as well as America’s reputation more broadly and offered an intelligence bonanza to its enemies. The contempt by top officials for basic security precautions and a refusal to hold themselves to account for transgressions that could get a subordinate dismissed or even prosecuted can only compromise the integrity of government.
Read Collinson’s full analysis here.
