Key advisers to President Donald Trump were reportedly stunned by the Oval Office blowup between Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.
Zelenskyy was confrontational and aggressive toward Trump, and Vance stepped in to suggest strongly that he show more gratitude for the hundreds of billions of dollars the U.S. has given Ukraine in money and weapons to fight against Russia.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles were joined by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina for lunch in the Cabinet Room, where they rehashed what had happened on camera and in front of reporters.
Several of the officials were in disbelief about the way Zelenskyy badgered Trump, while another one said that if Zelenskyy had disagreed with Trump privately instead of publicly, the blowup would not have happened.
In the end, the planned minerals deal with Ukraine did not go forward, and Zelenskyy was asked to leave the White House without the joint press conference that was planned taking place.
Some on Trump's team believed that Zelenskyy's chief adviser Andriy Yermak had undermined the negotiations in the days before the meeting, but others weren't so sure Zelenskyy himself wasn't the problem.
Neither side had signed the customary paperwork ahead of the deal, which made some of the advisers nervous.
But Zelenskyy seemed excited about signing the deal. No one was ready for how things turned.
The minerals deal was seen as a first step to a ceasefire agreement, but it didn't happen so now leadership has to regroup and see where to go from there.
Trump and Vance are taking a practical approach to the war. They know Ukraine can't win, so they'd rather negotiate an end than keep throwing bad money after good.
Ukraine is understandably concerned that Russia won't honor any agreement that is made, and doesn't want to look weak by giving up any of the territory Russia took away.
Other pundits have said that Trump and Vance were making it clear that Zelenskyy really had no choice but to agree to terms because the funding they needed would not be continuing.
There's no telling how much more Ukraine could lose if the U.S. stops giving aid. It really is their best move to go along with the agreement and give Trump what he wants.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi to clarify if she is under investigation after border czar Tom Homan recommended an investigation into AOC for aiding illegal immigrants.
In early February, AOC's office held a ‘Know Your Rights’ webinar, offering constituents guidance on how to interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Of course, this description isn't remotely correct as this webinar was directed at illegal immigrants, who are not AOC's constituents.
Furthermore, the advice offered to these illegal immigrants could be categorized as advising these illegal immigrants on how to evade ICE agents who are conducting mass deportation operations.
This 'Know Your Rights' webinar was so blatantly crossing a line that it led to Border Czar Tom Homan to call on the Trump administration to open an investigation, but so far, it appears that no official investigation has been launched.
AOC has framed Homan's calls for an investigation as "political" and claimed that Homan is threatening her 1st Amendment rights as an elected official.
Apparently, AOC believes that aiding and abetting illegal immigrants with information on how to evade law enforcement is protected by the 1st Amendment. It's hard to imagine that her argument will hold up in court should the Department of Justice look into this situation.
In a press release on Friday, AOC stated, "I write to request clarity on whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) has yielded to political pressure and attempts to weaponize the agency against elected officials whose speech they disagree with. Over the past two weeks, 'Border Czar' Tom Homan has gone on multiple forums threatening political prosecution against me, citing resources I distributed informing my constituents and the American public of their constitutional and legal rights."
She went on to further claim, "Mr. Homan’s repeated attempts to use your agency to politically intimidate duly elected officials are a textbook threat to the right to free speech in the United States. Threatening criminal proceedings for exercising the First Amendment is itself a violation of the First Amendment."
Naturally, the question is what "resources" did AOC distribute to her "constituents" in this webinar. For starters, in a post to X, AOC said, "Citizen or not, we all should know our rights to protect ourselves and others from illegal search & seizure."
That post was one of many in which she grouped both citizens and non-citizens together, making it clear that she's not just informing her constituents of their rights but is intentionally teaching illegal immigrants how to evade deportation.
The ball is in the Trump administration's court now, with Attorney General Bondi holding the power to press forward with an investigation that would send a message to radical Democrats about aiding illegal immigrants.
For too long, Democrat politicians from the local, state, and national levels have gotten away with ignoring immigration law, with entire Democrat cities and even states actively working against immigration enforcement to protect illegal immigrants.
So far, there has been no announcement from the DOJ on this situation, but that indicates that the DOJ is keeping quiet while putting together the facts of the case before making an official decision.
This will be an important story to keep an eye on as President Donald Trump has sworn to be tougher than ever on illegal immigration and that force must be applied to those Americans who protect these illegal immigrants from being lawfully deported.
It's taken 2.5 years, but the FBI is finally getting around to doing what is right.
The Hill is reporting that America's Federal Bureau of Investigation is returning the property seized during the 2022 raid of Mar-a-Lago to President Trump, according to the White House.
"The FBI is giving the President his property back that was taken during the unlawful and illegal raids. We are taking possession of the boxes today and loading them onto Air Force One," White House communications director Steven Cheung announced in a statement on February 28.
Donald Trump didn't see the raid coming, and it clearly upset him when it happened. Trump lashed out at law enforcement, accusing them of committing "political persecution."
"My beautiful home Mar A Lago in Palm Beach, Florida is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump said in a statement shortly after the raids. His public message also included a link for donations to his political action committee.
"After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced raid at my home was not necessary or appropriate."
The raid was part of an investigation into the attacks on America's Capitol on January 6, 2021 and Donald Trump's actions to overturn the 2020 election results in an attempt to remain in power.
While it's impossible to know everything that went on during the raid, Trump said that law enforcement officials "even broke into my safe."
The raid came after "the National Archives reportedly asked the Justice Department to investigate after authorities recovered 15 boxes of materials from Trump’s Florida home that should have been left with government records keepers. Among the retrieved materials were some that were classified," according to The Hill.
It took a little bit longer than Trump would have liked, but America's justice system ultimately prevailed. After over two long years, the boxes of belongings that were taken from Trump were finally returned.
Alina Habba, the president's counselor, said that she personally loaded some of the infamous boxes onto Air Force One.
"Justice has been and will continue to be restored in this country under President Trump. TRUTH AND JUSTICE ALWAYS WIN IN THE END. God Bless America," Habba said in a post on social media.
In total, the FBI had taken 33 boxes worth of Donald Trump's possessions.
The raid prompted heavy criticism of America's FBI by Donald Trump, and may be one of the reasons Trump is so eager to clean out unnecessary federal employees since taking back the White House.
The announcement by Governor Tim Walz (D) that he won't run for an open Senate seat in the state has reinvigorated a stalled field, bringing several prominent candidates into the picture to at least consider running.
Walz is in his second term as governor and said he would consider running for a third term in 2026 rather than looking to fill the Senate seat that will be vacated by Tina Smith (D) at the end of her term, as he had been considering.
Walz's national profile as (failed) vice presidential running mate to former Vice President Kamala Harris made him all but a shoo-in if he did try to run, which kept most others from jumping in.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) is perhaps the most prominent name weighing a run for the seat. The top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee in the House, she is also a strong fundraiser.
“I started making calls yesterday looking for feedback on what they are looking for in terms of a representative to the Senate for the state of Minnesota,” Craig said. “Tim Walz has been such a great friend, and I wanted to respect the fact that he was taking a look at this seat over the last couple of weeks.”
“I want to be very purposeful about this,” she added. “I've got a great job here in the House. I love my district and the people in it, but I also absolutely love the people of Minnesota, and so we'll see where all that lands in the coming weeks.”
Despite the fact that his Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan had already thrown her hat in the ring, Walz said he would not make an endorsement in the race.
“At this point in time, I don't want to have my thumb on the scale in any way, and I don't not so certain people care necessarily where you think on that,” he said. “I just know we've got a deep bench. We’ve got good folks.”
Politico said his refusal to endorse could be looked at as a snub to Flanagan.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar are other Democrats who could get into the race now that it has opened up. Omar, who also has a national profile, is popular in her district but may be less so at the statewide level.
Furthermore, both Ellison and Omar are quite anti-Israel, which could get the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to spend a lot of money campaigning against them.
Dave Wellstone, the son of late Senator Paul Wellstone, is also considering a run. The elder Wellstone died in a plane crash in 2002.
Two Republicans--Royce White and retired Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze--have so far announced their intentions to run for the seat.
White was the party's nominee in 2024.
As a result of the high winds that swept throughout Southwest Washington and the majority of Oregon on Monday night, tens of thousands of houses were left without electricity.
Following the issuance of a succession of thunderstorm and high wind warnings by forecasters with the National Weather Service on Monday afternoon, the power outages occurred as Fox 13 reported.
Wind gusts of up to fifty miles per hour could cause damage in certain regions, including portions of the Willamette Valley and the wider Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area, according to a warning issued by the National Weather Service (NWS).
When everything is taken into consideration, Portland General Electric (PGE) estimated that there were more than 1,000 active outages that affected about 100,000 people as of Monday evening at eight o'clock.
“PGE crews are out right now assessing damage and making repairs and will work as quickly as safety allows to restore service,” said John Farmer, a PGE spokesperson.
“We encourage customers to stay prepared for potential outages this evening as forecasted windy weather conditions continue.”
There were also large and dispersed power disruptions at Pacific Power. After midnight on Monday, the electric utility company stated that there were at least 200 current outages that affected more than 30,000 consumers.
The majority of the power outages are still being investigated, but officials with Pacific Power have stated that it is highly likely that many of the power outages are the result of trees that have fallen or branches that have fallen on power lines.
Clark Public Utilities reports that over 8,000 consumers in Clark County are currently without electricity.
Officials are advising individuals to refrain from traveling if feasible due to numerous downed trees and utility lines. Additionally, electric utilities advise individuals who encounter a downed powerline to keep away.
This outage comes just a few weeks after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee made his formal request for a federal disaster declaration in mid-Janurary following "bomb cyclone" storms that impacted the area.
Damage totaling millions of dollars was caused over the region by the storms, which featured hurricane-force winds.
Damage to public infrastructure in King County alone exceeded $11 million, according to King County Emergency Management.
This level of damage caused there to be serious debris and cleanup still underway when the more recent storms crashed into the area, furthering the damage.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency lost over 20 federal servants on Tuesday due to their refusal to use their technical expertise as part of the administration's downsizing efforts, as The Daily Mail reported.
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter.“However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
Employees reported that Musk recruited political ideologues with insufficient skills and experience to reduce the federal government under President Donald Trump.
Musk and the Republican president's tech-driven purging of federal employees suffered a momentary setback with the departure of engineers, data scientists, designers, and product managers. This follows a series of legal challenges aimed at halting the firing or coercion of thousands of government workers.
Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for the White House, issued a statement in which she dismissed the widespread resignations.
“Anyone who thinks protests, lawsuits, and lawfare will deter President Trump must have been sleeping under a rock for the past several years,” Leavitt said. “President Trump will not be deterred from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers.”
Musk posted about the issue on social media saying the story was “fake news” went on to say that the staffers were “Dem political holdovers” who “would have been fired had they not resigned.”
Staff who left the US Digital Service reported that their duties were being incorporated into DOGE. Obama created the USDS after the failed introduction of Healthcare.gov, the web gateway millions of Americans use to sign up for insurance plans under the Democrat's signature health care bill.
All those who resigned were senior executives at companies Google and Amazon and said in their resignation letters that they joined the government out of obligation to public service.
Trump's decision to allow Musk the power to make changes, seems to have amended that. Following Trump's inauguration, staffers reported being called into interviews that hinted at the covert and disruptive activities of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Staff said White House guests, some of whom would not be named, questioned nonpartisan personnel about their qualifications and politics. Many young people were driven by ideology and Musk fandom, rather than enhancing government technology.
“Several of these interviewers refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalty, attempted to pit colleagues against each other, and demonstrated limited technical ability,” the staffers wrote in their letter. “This process created significant security risks.”
About 40 office workers were laid off this month. They wrote that the firings crippled the government's technology management.
“These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services,” the resignation letter states. “Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American’s data less safe.”
Tuesday saw the resignation of about a third of the 65 USDS employees who had previously refused to take on additional responsibilities under DOGE.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is the latest official in the Trump administration to give an exception to the DOGE request that all federal workers email a list of their accomplishments for the previous week.
The Office of Personnel Managment issued the email titled "What Did You Do Last Week?" and said that any federal employee that did not respond with a list of five items would be effectively resigning from their position.
The emails elicited an outcry from many employees, with some outraged at having to be accountable for their accomplishments and others worried that it could expose classified information to the public.
The FBI and DOD quickly told their employees they should not respond to the email, and Gabbard added her refusal soon after.
“Given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work, [intelligence community] employees should not respond to the [Office of Personnel Management] email,” Gabbard wrote.
It's not that the officials are defying DOGE head Elon Musk, where the request originated, or Trump in their instructions to sensitive departments, although that's surely what media outlets like the New York Times and UK Independent want the public to believe.
Instead, the officials want email responses routed through the respective agencies in a secure way, avoiding any national security breaches.
The initial confusion shows how Musk and others at DOGE are shooting from the hip in real time, rather than carefully planning their strategies for cutting government waste, fraud and abuse.
Moving quickly may be intended to keep media pundits off-balance so they don't have a lot of time to create oppositional content about the moves.
Or it could just be Musk's usual way of acting first and thinking about it/making adjustments later.
There are signs that OPM may be backing off from the requirement.
A memo from Health and Human Services to its employees said that the agency backtracked on the email request and that responses may expose senders to malicious observers.
"In discussions with OPM officials yesterday and today, OPM has now rescinded that mandatory requirement," HHS told its staff members. "There is no HHS expectation that HHS employees respond to OPM and there is no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond."
The deadline to respond to the email was Monday at 11:59 p.m., as originally imposed.
A Delta Airlines flight on its way to Sydney, Australia had to return to LAX and make an emergency landing there late Saturday after smoke filled the aircraft.
The flight had 162 passengers and crew, all of whom were safe in this latest aircraft incident to make the news.
The smoke was said to have come from the galley. Passengers were placed on another flight after the landing.
News footage from ABC7 showed the airplane landing in the darkness.
“Upon landing, there was no smoke in the cockpit, but pilots requested medical attention for passengers who may have been affected by smoke, according to audio from LiveATC.net,” ABC7 reported.
The incident occurred just days after another Delta Airlines flight crashed in Toronto Pearson Airport during landing, caught fire, and flipped over in the snow.
No one has been killed in that incident so far, but one child and two adults were critically injured and up to eight total passengers suffered injuries, according to paramedics.
On Wednesday, two small planes collided in Arizona near Marana Regional Airport, killing two of the four people on board the aircraft. The airport, near Tuscon, has no air traffic control tower.
Airplane-related incidents have been in the news since a military helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet last month, killing all 67 people on both aircraft.
USA Today reported that there have been 14 fatal aircraft incidents already this year, but the total number of aviation accidents so far in 2025 is down significantly from last year.
Furthermore, the American Airlines collision is the only fatal aviation accident in the last 15 years. All the others were smaller private planes.
A Bureau of Transportation report states, "Transportation incidents for all modes claimed 44,546 lives in 2022, of which all but 2,032 involved highway motor vehicles. Preliminary estimates for 2023 suggest a further decline in fatalities."
This makes flying the safest mode of transportation by far, even though the constant news reports of accidents make it seem much less safe.
President Donald Trump is planning on unleashing "holy hell" on Mexican drug cartels following the decision to label the cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations."
Trump has long promised to drop the hammer on the cartels in Mexico that have been responsible for smuggling in deadly drugs, engaging in human trafficking, and committing acts of violence on the southern border.
Trump's plans to go to war with the cartels are an extension of Trump's effort to secure the southern border which has become lawless thanks to cartels which were emboldened by the previous administration.
The White House's statements on the cartel paired with the terrorist organization designation have raised speculation that the Trump administration is going to use military force in northern Mexico.
National security adviser Mike Waltz spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference saying, "We are going to unleash Holy hell on the cartels. Enough is enough. We are securing our border, and the cartels are on notice."
The Trump administration is poised to flex America's military might in crushing the cartels, and to a lesser extent, Mexico.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has been resisting Trump's calls for a crackdown leading some to suspect that Sheinbaum is a cartel asset considering the political violence and assassinations of her political opponents.
Considering the cartels run large portions of Mexico and utilize extreme violence, many suspect that Sheinbaum only rules in exchange for favors to Mexico's many brutal drug cartels.
These suspicions have only grown stronger since Sheinbaum loudly condemned the labeling of cartels as terrorist organizations and began to loudly chirp about Mexico's sovereignty.
The Trump administration appears to not care about Sheinbaum's bleating as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been clear that use of military force, even in Mexican territory is on the table.
Sheinbaum doesn't want Mexico's sovereignty violated but is harboring and aiding terrorist organizations that commit violence against Americans and traffic deadly substances into the United States.
Trump's executive order designating the cartels as terrorist organizations explicitly states that these criminal organizations are a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy and economic interests.
The Pentagon has already begun to conduct intelligence operations against the cartels as U.S. drones were seen flying over northwestern Mexico.
It remains to be seen how Trump will handle President Sheinbaum and the Mexican government but ultimately Mexico has no recourse against the United States either militarily or economically.
Sheinbaum will verbally protest Trump's military intervention but ultimately has no power to stop the United States from coming in and stomping the cartels into oblivion.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) became the only GOP Senator to break with the party in voting against a budget resolution that ultimately passed on a 52-48 vote.
The resolution will, among other things, fund Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan after his border czar Tom Homan said there were insufficient funds for the operation to deport millions of illegal immigrants let into the United States by former President Joe Biden.
The budget sets aside $175 billion for border security, which will be used for Trump’s border wall with Mexico, and a $150 billion boost to the defense budget.
The resolution is targeted at specifically border security and military spending which isn't the "one big beautiful bill," that Trump called for.
Senate Democrats were successful in putting up significant resistance to the bill via endless amendments and other procedural roadblocks. This entire situation hasn't reflected well on the Senate GOP and suggests that the next two years could be full of fruitless struggles.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the Republican chair of the Senate budget committee, defended the situation claiming that other priority issues would be addressed in separate bills.
Graham stated, "This budget resolution is a complete gamechanger when it comes to securing our border and making our military more lethal. It will allow President Trump to fulfill the promises he made to the American people – a very big deal."
Graham also highlighted the need for this resolution to pass immediately saying, "I hope the House can pass one big bill that meets President Trump’s priorities. But this approach provides money that we needed yesterday to continue the momentum on securing our border, enforcing our immigration laws and rebuilding our military. Time is of the essence."
The situation has illustrated the difficulties that the Trump administration will deal with as a result of the slim majorities that the GOP hold in both the House and the Senate.
The House GOP caucus is particularly problematic as House Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly having trouble getting all GOP Representatives to fall in line for Trump's desired "one big beautiful bill."
While Trump has significant power to prosecute his agenda in the executive branch, it's becoming clear that Congress is going to be Trump's biggest problem over the next few years.
Senator Paul wasn't the only GOP Senator who was planning a protest vote against the bill as Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) was planning on voting against it as well until he personally spoke to Trump.
Now the nation's attention will turn to the House where the biggest fight is set, likely over possible cuts to Medicare as the GOP pursues cost-cutting measures to offset tax cuts.
The GOP is looking to find $2 trillion in spending reductions and will look to cut $900 billion in unnecessary expenses related to health care programs. This has emerged as the keystone issue as many Democrats and even moderate Republicans are resistant to cuts.
Trump will have to get involved and will likely have to make more calls to get wayward Representatives to fall in line as the House gets ready to push truly game-changing legislation.