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Trump pressures Congress to pass strict voter ID and farm bills
Donald Trump has spent the morning putting pressure on Congress to pass his bills by posting on his Truth Social platform, emphasizing that there is “nothing more important” for the US at the moment than voter ID.
“THE SAVE AMERICA ACT MUST BE PASSED BY THE SENATE. THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR THE U.S.A. Voter I.D., Proof of Citizenship, etc. Get it done and watch all of the good things that will happen!!!” the president wrote.
In a separate post, he stated “CONGRESS, PASS THE FARM BILL, NOW!”
Key events
Clergy will be allowed to minister to immigrants in a holding facility at the headquarters of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge in Minnesota after US district judge Jerry Blackwell granted an injunction requested on Friday by Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and a Catholic priest who had sued the Department of Homeland Security, according to the Associated Press.
Under his ruling, clergy will be allowed in-person pastoral visits to all detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the site of frequent protests over the roughly 3,000 federal officers who were brought into the state during the crackdown.
The government says the enforcement surge officially ended in February and restrictions have eased since. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) called the building a short-term holding facility, and not the kind of long-term detention center where clergy visits are normally allowed.
A Nevada judge on Friday temporarily blocked prediction market operator Kalshi from offering events contracts that would allow the state’s residents to place financial bets on its platform related to sports, entertainment, and elections.
Carson City district court judge Jason Woodbury issued a temporary restraining order at the behest of the Nevada Gaming Control Board that will prevent Kalshi from continuing to operate in the state without a license.
Joe Kent, former counter-terrorism chief, says he has a ‘mission’ to stop Iran war
Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counter-terrorism Center and a far-right political figure who stepped down from his position on Tuesday in protest of the war in Iran, spoke about his resignation and the ongoing investigation into him over an alleged leak of classified information.
In an interview on Friday with journalist Megyn Kelly, Kent said he feels “very confident in what I’m doing right now. I think I have a mission. I think it is to do everything I can to stop this war.”
Regarding the investigation into him, he said he is “not concerned because I know I did nothing wrong. Of course, I am concerned because we’ve all seen the FBI and the full weight of the government come down on individuals,” adding: “That has me a little bit concerned, but I know the truth, and the facts are on my side.”
Kent went on to say that the investigation “does anger” him, but “it’s all just to be expected. I knew this was going to happen. I know their playbook. I think we’re all very familiar with their playbook.”
The Chicago transit agency on Friday sued the Trump administration after the White House in October froze $3.1bn in funding for major Chicago subway projects, saying it was an act of political retaliation, Reuters reported.
The suit, filed in the US district court in Chicago, said the federal government is attempting “to hold hostage billions of dollars in federal grants for crucial infrastructure projects in the City of Chicago”.
The suit says the frozen grants, which were approved during the administration of former president Joe Biden, are crucial to modernize and expand the “L”, Chicago’s system of elevated and underground trains.
Donald Trump has reinstated his endorsement of Jeff Hurd, a Republican House representative of Colorado, nearly a month after the president rescinded his support in response to Hurd’s vote to repeal the administration’s tariffs on Canada.
To resolve the primary conflict in Colorado’s third congressional district, Trump revealed that Hurd’s GOP challenger, Hope Scheppelman, has agreed to suspend her campaign. In exchange, both Scheppelman and her husband have been offered positions within the Trump administration.
“Together with them, we decided that Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, should in no way, shape, or form, be impeded from winning the District in that the Democrat alternative is a DISASTER for our Country,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, I will be fully supporting Jeff’s Re-Election to the House of Representatives, giving him my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
Absences among Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security officers fell slightly on Thursday to 9.8% nationwide, but were much higher at some major airports, the government said on Friday.
The absenteeism rate among the 50,000 TSA officers fell from 10.2% on Wednesday but was significantly higher at major airports on Thursday, including 29% at New York’s JFK, 27% at New Orleans, Baltimore Washington at 23%, 32% at Atlanta and over 30% at both Houston airports, the Department of Homeland Security said.
The justice department filed a new lawsuit on Friday against Harvard University, saying its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus, creating grounds for the government to freeze existing grants and seek repayment for grants already paid.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, is another missive in a protracted battle between the Trump administration and the elite university.
“The United States cannot and will not tolerate these failures,” the justice department wrote in the lawsuit. It asked the court to compel Harvard to comply with federal civil rights law and to help it “recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution”.
The lawsuit also asks a judge to require that Harvard call police to arrest protesters blocking parts of campus and to appoint an “independent outside monitor”, approved by the government, to ensure it complies with court orders.
US health department investigates 13 states that require insurance plans to cover abortion
Anna Betts
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Thursday that it is investigating 13 states that require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover abortion services.
HHS officials said in a news release that the department’s office for civil rights (OCR) is looking into the states for allegedly violating the federal Weldon amendment, which prohibits federal funding for programs or state or local governments that “subjects any institutional or individual healthcare entity to discrimination on the basis that the healthcare entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions”.
“OCR launches these investigations to address certain states’ alleged disregard of, or confusion about, compliance with the Weldon amendment,” Paula Stannard, director of the OCR, said in the announcement. “Under the Weldon amendment, healthcare entities, such as health insurance issuers and health plans, are protected from state discrimination for not paying for, or providing coverage of, abortion contrary to conscience. Period.”
While HHS did not list the states, the Associated Press reported that the 13 states with the coverage requirements are California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey’s governor, criticized the investigations in a statement on Thursday, calling the investigation “nothing but a fishing expedition wasting taxpayers’ money”.
I will fight tooth and nail to defend and protect New Jerseyans’ abortion rights against attacks from Donald Trump, or anyone else. New Jersey requires health insurance plans to follow all applicable laws, including protecting women’s reproductive freedom.
In Vermont, Kaj Samsom, the commissioner of the Vermont department of financial regulation, said that the agency stands “firmly behind the law in question and the protections and choice it provides Vermonters” and “does not believe that it has unlawfully coerced or discriminated against any insurer related to the coverage of abortions as outlined in the [federal government’s] request”.
More on this story here:
Trump releases AI policy for Congress to pre-empt state rules
The White House released a broad framework today for Congress to “pre-empt state AI laws” that would slow down development, after significant lobbying from Silicon Valley to curtail liability and instate an industry-friendly national standard for the regulation of the fast-moving technology.
“The federal government is uniquely positioned to set a consistent national policy that enables us to win the AI race and deliver its benefits to the American people,” the White House said in an announcement accompanying the release.
“The administration looks forward to working with Congress in the coming months to turn this framework into legislation that the president can sign.”
The framework explicitly calls on Congress to pre-empt any state laws that regulate the way models are developed penalize companies for the way their AI is used by third parties, and it supports limiting the liability of AI developers due to harms from AI systems. It also instructs lawmakers not to create any new federal agencies to regulate AI.
The legislative blueprint also includes a half-dozen guiding principles for lawmakers, focusing on protecting children, preventing electricity costs from surging, respecting intellectual property rights, preventing censorship and educating Americans on using the technology.
Fuel spikes, flight delays and storms threaten US spring break travel
Victoria Bekiempis
Spring breakers in the US could see their long-awaited trips to party destinations disrupted by a trifecta of issues: airport security delays, high gas prices, and chaotic weather.
The potential for flight delays comes as US airlines expect that they will see a record-shattering spring travel season. Airlines for America, an aviation industry group, said that 171 million passengers are expected to fly – a 4% increase from the 2025 spring travel period.
US airlines are expected to transport 2.8 million passengers every day between 1 March and 30 April. Airlines will provide 2% more flights and seats, the group said.
But Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents working at the nation’s airports have gone weeks without pay, spurring long security lines at some travel hubs. Several airline CEOs have made public entreaties to end the impasse.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes the TSA, has not been funded since mid-February. Democrats said they will not vote to approve DHS’s operations unless Republicans agreed to new rules governing federal agents’ manner of immigration enforcement.
Congressional Democrats want federal agents to show identification and cease wearing masks – and to stop detaining people on the street.
“It’s not sustainable, and what’s going to happen is lines are just going to continue to get longer and longer as spring breaks goes on,” Cameron Cochems, vice-president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1127 and a lead TSA officer based in Boise, Idaho, told the Hill.
“What’s going to happen is longer wait times. Passengers are going to get more frustrated. They’re going to take their anger out on, who do you think? Us,” Cochems also reportedly said. “We’re not the ones in charge of any of this, and so they’re going to continue to push back on us.”
Here’s the full story:
Jeremy Barr
CBS News announced today that it is laying off dozens of employees and ending CBS News Radio – its nearly 100-year-old radio service – as part of a strategic restructuring.
The news was announced in a memo to staffers from its editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, and president, Tom Cibrowski. Employees will be informed by the end of the day if their job has been affected, the two executives said in the memo.
The cuts are expected to affect 6% of a roughly 1,100 person staff, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Earlier reports had put the cuts at closer to 15%.
The CBS News Radio team and about 700 affiliated stations were informed that the radio service will end on 22 May 2026.
Read more about it here:
Richard Luscombe
The father of a US military member killed in the Iran war has contradicted Pete Hegseth’s claim that bereaved families urged him to “finish” the job in the Middle East.
Hegseth, the defense secretary and a former weekend Fox News host, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing on Thursday that he had spoken with relatives of all six service members killed in last week’s refueling tanker crash during a “dignified transfer” of their remains at Delaware’s Dover air force station the night before.
“What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength and through unbreakable resolve, was the same from family after family. They said, ‘Finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done,’” Hegseth said.
However, on Thursday night, Charles Simmons, the father of Tech Sgt Tyler Simmons, 28, from Ohio, said he had no such conversation.
“I can’t speak for the other families. When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about,” he told NBC News.
Read more about it here:
Trump also thanked Brendan Carr, the FCC chair, in his remarks on Friday.
“I also want to thank FCC chairman Brendan Carr, perhaps the most powerful man in this room,” Trump said. “You are doing some job. He’s trying to make the fake news real and respected again, which is not an easy job, but you’re doing a really amazing job.”
Trump began his remarks on Friday at the commander-in-chief trophy presentation at the White House, where he is presenting the trophy to the navy football team while discussing Iran.
“I want to begin by just saying we’re doing extremely well in Iran,” Trump said. “The difference between them and us is they had a navy two weeks ago, they have no navy any more, it’s all at the bottom of the sea. Fifty-eight ships knocked down in two days, and we have the greatest navy anywhere in the world, it’s not even close.
He continued: “So we are doing really well. We’re not going to let them have nuclear weapons, because if they had them, they’d use them, and we’re not going to let that happen. Should have been done a long time ago by other presidents.”
Donald Trump is currently speaking at a White House event, where he is set to present the commander-in-chief’s trophy to the navy football team.
The team won the 2025 series against the army and the air force.
Representative Lauren Boebert, the longtime Maga supporter, has publicly broken with the Trump administration over its latest military spending request, citing the economic struggles of her constituents as her primary reason for opposition.
In an interview with CNN, Boebert stated she would not support the Pentagon’s $200bn war supplemental, a massive funding package intended to sustain the ongoing conflict with Iran. The package is aimed at replenishing US munition stockpiles and funding Operation Epic Fury, but Boebert argued that such a high price tag is unjustifiable while people in Colorado face a rising cost of living.
“I am a ‘no’. I’ve already told leadership I am a ‘no’ on any war supplementals. I am so tired of spending money elsewhere,” Boebert said. “I am tired of the industrial-war complex getting all of our hard-earned tax dollars. I have folks in Colorado who can’t afford to live. We need America-first policies right now, and that? I’m not doing that.”
US federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn have launched early-stage criminal investigations into the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, focusing on alleged ties to international drug trafficking, sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times.
The inquiries involve specialized narcotics prosecutors alongside agents from the DEA and Homeland Security Investigations. The inqueries are reportedly examining whether Petro held undisclosed meetings with traffickers and if his presidential campaign solicited or accepted illicit donations from criminal organizations.
