Trump presidency: Here’s how Friday unfolded.

By the Associated Press

An advocacy group has filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, the federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers, asking for an investigation into whether the mass firings violated federal personnel practices.

Democracy Forward’s complaint also asked that the firings be halted while that inquiry is being conducted.

The complaint charges that the Trump administration violated federal personnel rules by dismissing employees solely because they were in their probationary periods — not because of work performance.

How many dismissed employees are represented in the complaint has not been made public. But, like a class-action lawsuit, that number could grow over time.

By the Associated Press

The White House is planning to hold a reception honoring Black History Month next week and has invited former wide receiver Antonio Brown.

The onetime Pittsburgh Steelers star posted an invitation to the Feb. 20 event on social media.

The White House press office confirmed Brown’s invitation but offered no further details about the event.

Brown played in Pittsburgh from 2010 to 2018 before he was traded to the Raiders — a team then-based in Oakland — in the spring of 2019. That followed a series of public missteps, including famously opting not to show up for the team’s 2018 season finale.

By the Associated Press

The White House barred a credentialed Associated Press reporter and photographer from boarding the presidential airplane Friday for a weekend trip with Trump, saying the news agency’s stance on how to refer to the Gulf of Mexico was to blame for the exclusion. It represented a significant escalation by the White House in a four-day dispute with the AP over access to the presidency.

The administration has blocked the AP from covering a handful of events at the White House this week. It’s all because the news outlet has not followed Trump’s lead in renaming the body of water, which lies partially outside US territory, to the “Gulf of America.”

Journalists consider the administration’s move a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment — a governmental attempt to dictate what a news company publishes under threat of retribution. The Trump administration says the AP has no special right of access to events where space is limited, particularly given the news service’s “commitment to misinformation.”

AP calls that assertion entirely untrue.

“Freedom of speech is a pillar of American democracy and a core value of the American people. The White House has said it supports these principles,” AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said Friday night. “The actions taken to restrict AP’s coverage of presidential events because of how we refer to a geographic location chip away at this important right enshrined in the US Constitution for all Americans.”

By the Associated Press

US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan heard arguments Friday in Washington on a restraining order request to stop Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal agencies’ data and initiating government layoffs.

Attorneys general from 14 states are challenging Musk and his DOGE team’s authority to access sensitive government data and exercise “virtually unchecked power,” citing constitutional provisions that delineate the powers of Congress and the president.

Chutkan made no immediate decision and asked plaintiffs to draft a proposed restraining order by Saturday evening.

“Once financial or other confidential data is made public you can’t un-ring that bell, you can’t get it back,” Chutkan said.

Chutkan previously presided over Trump’s election interference case before it was dismissed.

By the Associated Press

A federal judge has offered a stern warning to attorneys challenging moves made by Trump’s administration: Don’t expect a hearing when a phone call will do.

US District Judge Ana Reyes gave the verbal rebuke Friday to former US Solicitor General Seth Waxman, who now is representing eight government watchdogs suing the Trump administration over their mass firing last month.

Waxman’s legal firm had filed an emergency motion asking that the inspectors general be reinstated to their positions at various federal agencies. The judge refused, instead setting an expedited briefing schedule for the case.

“Why on earth this could not have been handled with a five-minute phone call is beyond my comprehension,” Reyes said.

She and her clerk have been “working around the clock on really monumental, time-sensitive issues,” such as a lawsuit challenging Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military, she said.

More than 30 lawsuits against the Trump administration are pending in federal court in Washington.

By the Associated Press

The Justice Department has formally asked a court to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Acting Deputy US Attorney General Emil Bove and lawyers from the department’s public integrity section and criminal division in Washington filed paperwork seeking to end the case. A judge still has to sign off on the request.

The formal move to end the prosecution was expected, and it came after days of turmoil in the Justice Department. At least seven prosecutors in New York and Washington quit rather than carry out a directive to halt the case.

Among the people leaving were the interim US attorney in Manhattan and a veteran prosecutor who worked on the Adams case, along with the acting chief of the public integrity section.

The Justice Department’s three-page motion sought to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning the charges could be revived in the future.

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By the Associated Press

Trump has signed an executive order formally creating a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-settinTrump pushes to drive up domestic oil and gas production — 6:25 p.m.

By the Associated Press

Trump has signed an executive order formally creating a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-setting domestic oil and gas production.

Trump’s administration also announced it has granted conditional export authorization for a huge liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana, the first approval of new LNG exports since former president Joe Biden paused consideration of them a year ago.

And Trump said he has directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to undo Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. Biden’s last-minute action last month “viciously took out” more than 625 million acres (253 million hectares) offshore that could contribute to the nation’s “net worth,” Trump said.

By the Associated Press

The Trump administration agreed to halt any plans for mass layoffs, deletion of data or removal of funding from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The agreement was ordered by a judge after the employees’ union filed a lawsuit to prevent the agency’s dismantling. Their lawyers argued Friday that fast action was needed to prevent large-scale firings and deletion of its data.

The order will stay in place at least until March 3, when US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson will hear arguments in the case.

The administration has already ordered the CFPB to stop nearly all its work and closed its building.

The agency was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal.

By the Associated Press

Nicholas Detter had been working in Kansas as a natural resource specialist, helping farmers reduce soil and water erosion, until he was fired by email late Thursday night.

That’s despite Detter, who had been employed by the Agriculture Department’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, agreeing to the administration’s deferred resignation program, under which he was supposed to be paid until Sept. 30 if he agreed to quit.

Detter responded to the letter accepting the deferred resignation, according to documents shared with The Associated Press. While his response was acknowledged, he never received the official agreement.

He said when the Trump administration first announced the deferred resignation program, he understood that it was part of an effort to improve the efficiency of the federal government, but he said “that’s not what this has been.”

“None of this has been done thoughtfully or carefully,” he said

Detter said laying off workers like him will create backlogs in the program that was created in the wake of the 1930s Dust Bowl to try keep America’s farmland healthy and productive.

By the Associated Press

Among those impacted by the federal layoffs is Andrew Lennox, a 10-year Marine veteran who was working as a probationary employee at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

He received an email Thursday evening “out of the blue” informing him that he was being terminated.

“In order to help veterans, you just fired a veteran,” said Lennox, 35, a former USMC infantryman who was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

Lennox had been working as an administrative officer at the VA since mid-December and said he “would love nothing more” than to continue the work.

“This is my family, and I would like to do this forever,” he said.

In a post on its website, the VA announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees, saying the personnel moves “will save the department more than $98 million per year” and be better equipped to help vets.

“I was like: ‘What about this one,’” Lennox said.

By the Associated Press

Federal workers were responding with anger and confusion Friday as they grappled with the Trump administration’s latest effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who have yet to qualify for civil service protections.

As layoff notices began to go out agency by agency this week, federal employees from Michigan to Florida were left reeling from being told that their services were no longer needed.

Many of those impacted say they had already accepted the administration’s deferred resignation offer, under which they were supposed to be paid until Sept. 30 if they agreed to quit. That left some wondering how many others who signed will nonetheless be fired.

The White House and Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government, declined to say Friday how many probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, have so far been dismissed.

By the Associated Press

Singer-songwriter Victoria Canal has decided to perform as scheduled at the Kennedy Center on Saturday, but she will donate all of her proceeds to Trans Equality Now.

Since Trump fired the board of directors and was elected board chair of the center, numerous officials and performers have quit or canceled appearances, including the actor Issa Rae.

In a statement issued Friday through her manager, Canal noted that she had been recognized at the Kennedy Center during the Obama administration as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a “memory I still cherish.”

“After learning about the changes in leadership at the Kennedy Center, including Trump becoming self-appointed Chairman, I was debating whether or not to perform,” she said.

“I am a proud queer, Latina, disabled woman and ally to the unprotected and vulnerable trans community in the United States,” she added. “I figured if the new guys want to eliminate DEI, I’ll let them decide to cancel the show if they want to — otherwise, see you February 15th.”

By the Associated Press

NCSU is the state’s largest public university by population, with more than 38,400 students as of Fall 2024.

“Given the uncertain impacts of the presidential administration’s Executive Orders and guidance, the potential shut down of the federal government on March 14, and financial challenges that the state government is dealing with, leadership is becoming increasingly concerned with our budgets over the next year or two,” Warwick Arden, the university’s executive vice chancellor, said in a memo to the university’s college deans and vice provosts.

Student workers, including graduate student appointments, and part-time employees are not a part of the hiring freeze, Arden said.

“I also encourage you to be conservative in the use of all your funds given the challenging financial climate we currently find ourselves in,” Arden said in the memo.

By the Associated Press

The president and the billionaire will sit with the Fox News host next week, the network announced.

It’s their first televised sit-down together and comes as Musk leads Trump’s effort to slash the size and scope of the government, with efforts to freeze spending and fire federal workers proceeding in earnest.

By the Associated Press

Schools, colleges, and states that require immunizations against COVID-19 may risk of losing federal money under an executive order President Donald Trump signed Friday.

It should have little national impact: Most schools have dropped such mandates. And it isn’t clear what money is at risk.

Candidate Trump often said he would “not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate,” but this order applies only to COVID-19 vaccines.

All states require schoolchildren to be vaccinated against certain diseases including measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, whooping cough and chickenpox. And all allow exemptions for certain medical or religious reasons.

By the Associated Press

Alice Weidel is the co-leader and candidate for chancellor of the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.

Vance met Weidel during a visit to Munich on Friday, nine days before a German election, in which he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy and said there is no place for “firewalls.”

Mainstream German parties say they won’t work with the party, which polls put in second place ahead of the Feb. 23 election.

By the Associated Press

Trump said Keir Starmer asked during their phone call to visit him in the US, which he accepted.

“Friendly meeting, very good. We have a lot of good things going on,” he said.

No date was set, Trump said, but it could be next week or the week after.

By the Associated Press

Top Republicans say they trust Doug Collins. Democrats have no such faith that cutting $98 million through dismissals won’t harm veterans.

“I take Secretary Collins at his word when he says there will be no impact to the delivery of care, benefits, and services for veterans with this plan,” said Representative Mike Bost, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

The ranking Democrat, Representative Mark Takano, said the firings show a shocking disregard. The terminated include disabled veterans, military spouses and medical researchers.

By the Associated Press

Prosecutor Hagan Scotten at least the seventh to resign rather than follow Trump administration orders in the corruption case.

Scotten told acting deputy US Attorney General Emil Bove Friday it would take a “fool” or a “coward” to meet his demand to drop the charges.

Bove told prosecutors that Mayor Eric Adams is needed to support the administration’s immigration enforcement and that the charges could be reinstated after this year’s mayoral election.

A Special Forces troop commander in Iraq who graduated at the top of his Harvard Law class and clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts, Scotton wrote Bove: “No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives.”

By the Associated Press

A second federal judge on paused Trump’s executive order halting federal support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19.

US District Court Judge Lauren King granted a temporary restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration last week. Three doctors joined as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in the Western District of Washington.

The decision came one day after a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked the executive order in response to a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children.

By Emily Spatz, Globe Correspondent

A crowd of more than a thousand people are rallying outside the JFK federal building after marching through the city from Boston Common where they gathered earlier to protest the Trump administration’s policies on everything from climate change to foreign relations.

The march shut down parts of Court Street, Tremont Street, and Washington Street to traffic when they moved through the city.

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By the Associated Press

The Associated Press interviewed four such conservatives about Musk’s effort to slash the federal workforce and disfavored programs.

Some point to early successes. Others see DOGE stoking outrage without targeting the biggest spending: defense spending and programs with bipartisan support like Medicare and Social Security.

The DOGE website claims at least $5.6 billion in savings so far — a tiny fraction of Musk’s initial goal of $2 trillion.

“This thing has paid for itself many times over now,” said Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Relief.

But Manhattan Institute senior fellow Jessica Riedl said: “So far, DOGE seems more about looking for symbolic culture war savings than truly reducing the budget deficit in any meaningful way.”

Here’s what the budget hawks said.

By the Associated Press

With the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association under threat from President Trump’s Department of Education for a transgender student’s participation, some Democrats said Republicans were missing the real issues in women’s sports.

Citing scare tactics and haphazard policymaking, Representative Lori Trahan blasted her Republican colleagues for using transgender athletes as a political cudgel.

“It’s politics at its worst,” said Trahan, who represents the state’s third congressional district.

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By the Associated Press

“Clearly it’s a new day,” new Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters outside the White House.

She said Trump’s winning back the presidency shows the American people “believe that government was too big.”

Rollins said Elon Musk’s government efficiency team was working at her agency and that it had already canceled some contracts and nearly 1,000 employee trainings related to diversity, equality and inclusion.

Rollins also said she’d welcome DOGE’s input in the nation’s food stamp program.

By the Associated Press

Trump’s mass layoffs of federal workers and spending freezes could come back to bite him in the economic data.

The monthly jobs reports could start to show a slowdown in hiring, if not go negative at some point after the February numbers are released. The last time the economy lost jobs during a month was in December 2020, when the United States was still muscling its way out of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Overall, it doesn’t seem that DOGE has managed to actually cut spending substantively yet — instead they’ve just created chaos,” said Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale University. She noted that employers that rely on government grants and contracts would also show declines in hiring, if not worse.

“Given everything that is happening in the federal government, it is very plausible that job growth could turn negative at some point,” Gimbel said. “But it may take a few more reports for the impact to show up.”

By Danny McDonald, Globe Staff

The question was meant as a moment of levity, but it cut to the trepidation of scientific communities across the nation in the early days of Trump’s new administration.

“Is anyone else here concerned?” asked Melissa Varga, after introducing herself as the science network senior manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Cambridge-based nonprofit.

The line was met with laughs inside a nondescript room at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston’s Back Bay Thursday, where more than a hundred scientists, engineers, researchers, and academics from across the country, and a few from abroad, gathered for a town hall forum as part of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The political backdrop of the meeting was recognized during the town hall, early and often. After all, the confab is happening after two weeks of what some local Democratic lawmakers have called disorder and confusion at the nation’s largest funders of research: the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

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By the Associated Press

German defense minister Boris Pistorius said US Vice President JD Vance’s comparison of Europe to “ugly Soviet era” authoritarianism was unacceptable.

Vance lectured European governments about free speech nine days before Germany’s election, accusing them of hostility to the idea that “somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election.”

Pistorius countered that Germany’s right-wing AfD party can campaign completely normally, and “democracy doesn’t mean that the loud minority is automatically right.”

“Democracy must be able to defend itself against the extremists who want to destroy it,” Pistorius said.

By the Associated Press

The Golden Theatre marquee for the new musical “Operation Mincemeat” is dark because special light bulbs ordered to spell out the show’s title are stuck in China, said Rick Miramontez, president of DKC/O&M and a spokesman for the show.

Thousands of the ceramic yellow LED bulbs by Satco were meant to arrive in early February, in time to install them for Saturday’s first preview. Now the show on the Great White Way, named after Broadway’s famous theater lights, will have to welcome theatergoers with a blank space.

On Feb. 1, Trump announced a 10 percent tariff on imports from China, which led the country to quickly implement retaliatory tariffs on select American imports.

The bulbs have apparently been caught in the contest. The ad agency in charge of the marquee was told March would be the earliest they’d arrive.

By Anjali Huynh, Globe Staff

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell joined a group of more than a dozen attorneys general on Friday in criticizing Vance for claiming this week that the courts did not have the authority to infringe on the president’s power. The group fired back, saying Vance’s statement “is as wrong as it is reckless.”

In his first weeks in office, Trump has signed dozens of sweeping executive orders aimed at aligning federal policy with his vision for the country. Many of those orders have since faced legal challenges from those affected by his changes, advocacy groups, and coalitions of state Democratic attorneys general, several of whom prepared to counter his administration’s actions for months before Trump took office.

Several judges have issued rulings to temporarily pause some of Trump’s orders or declare them unconstitutional, such as the Trump administration’s efforts to end birthright citizenship for some children and cut biomedical research funding.

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By STAT

The Trump administration is set to eliminate thousands of federal health care jobs, targeting employees across public health and science agencies who were hired in the past one to two years.

Senior officials were informed in meetings Friday morning that roughly 5,200 people on probationary employment — recent hires — across agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be fired that afternoon, according to sources briefed on the meetings.

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By the Associated Press

Jeremy Powers of Florida doesn’t think Trump’s unsolicited suggestion that the US annex its neighbor to the north is a good idea: “We don’t need to try and manifest destiny and gather more land. We need to partner and work with other countries in a more friendly manner.”

Shannon Robinson of Canada said Trump’s proposal is offensive and ignorant, but “he can say what he wants and it’s actually bringing Canadians together right now.”

Said Joseph Sullivan of Louisiana: “All he’s doing is creating chaos and making other countries want to hate America. That’s all he’s doing right now.”

Added Robinson: “We’re allies. We love you guys. And we’re proud of the amicable relationship we have, but we’re also proud to be distinct.”

By the Associated Press

Two senior Senate Democrats are asking Trump to reinstate the top watchdog for the US Agency for International Development, calling his firing illegal.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the foreign affairs committee, and Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the homeland security committee, wrote Trump saying the firing of Inspector General Paul Martin without justification appeared to be an act of retaliation.

Martin’s office had released a report the day before warning that dismantling USAID had all but eliminated proper oversight for billions of dollars in unspent humanitarian funds.

Shaheen and Peters say the law requires 30-days notice to Congress and a reason.

By the Associated Press

Republicans are trying again to exclude people in the US illegally from the numbers used to portion out congressional seats among the states. But a new study suggests their inclusion has had little impact on presidential elections or control of Congress.

If residents lacking permanent legal status had been excluded from the apportionment process from 1980 to 2020, no more than two House seats and three Electoral College votes would have shifted between Democrats and Republicans, according to demographers from the University of Minnesota and the Center for Migration Studies of New York.

“This would have had no bearing on party control of the House or the outcome of presidential elections,” they wrote.

By the Associated Press

Hungary’s nationalist prime minister said Trump’s administration will reconnect Russia with Europe’s economies and energy networks if the war in Ukraine ends.

“The United States has initiated a change that puts the whole Western world’s system of arguments, value system, and way of thinking on a new track,” Orbán said on Hungary’s state radio. “This process is progressing much faster than many people thought. We call this the Trump tornado.”

Hungary, unlike most European countries, continues to rely on Russian oil and gas. Orbán predicted the European Union will “fall apart” if energy prices aren’t brought down.

By the Associated Press

During the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said he would only agree to meet in person with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after a common plan is negotiated with US President Trump.

He also said he believes Trump is the key to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and that the US president had given him his cellphone number.

By the Associated Press

Grenell, currently working on special projects for Trump, suggested he’d be interested in the 2026 race to succeed Democrat Gavin Newsom if the former vice president throws her hat in the ring.

“If Kamala Harris runs for governor, I believe that she has such baggage … that it’s a new day in California, and that the Republican actually has a shot,” Grenell told reporters. “And I wouldn’t say no.”

Grenell spoke after taking part in Vice President JD Vance’s meetings with world leaders in Munich.

Harris hasn’t publicly expressed an interest in the governor’s race, but would be a heavy favorite to win the Democratic nomination.

By the Associated Press

A large group of federal workers and labor activists rallied in Washington against the layoffs.

Many wore masks to protect their identities, for fear of reprisal from the administration. One carried an enormous silver spoon covered in aluminum foil, in reference to the “Fork in the Road” letter informing federal workers of government-wide buyouts.

One rally-goer who identified himself as Jeff, held a “No One Voted for Elon Musk” sign. He said Democrats should be more forceful, saying “We can’t fight illegality with legality.”

By the Associated Press

The Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General said it was launching an audit of the security controls for the federal government’s payment system after Democratic senators raised red flags about the access provided to Trump aide Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team.

The audit will also review the past two years of the system’s transactions as it relates to Musk’s assertion of “alleged fraudulent payments,” according to a letter from Loren J. Sciurba, Treasury’s deputy inspector general, that was obtained by The Associated Press.

The audit marks part of the broader effort led by Democratic lawmakers and federal employee unions to provide transparency and accountability about DOGE’s activities under President Donald Trump’s Republican administration. The Musk team has pushed for access to the government’s computer systems and sought to remove tens of thousands of federal workers.

By the Associated Press

The Trump administration is cutting $336 million in contracts designed to help schools and states adopt best practices in the classroom.

An Education Department news release said officials uncovered “wasteful and ideologically driven spending” at 10 regional centers hired to help schools apply research such as “equity audits.”

The department said it plans to open new contracts to replace the Regional Educational Laboratories. They were ordered by Congress in 1965 and are still required under federal law, with a mission to support school policies that improve student outcomes.

Trump officials also cut four contracts for equity service centers totaling $33 million. Without providing evidence, the department said the centers supported “divisive training in DEI, Critical Race Theory and gender identity.”

By the Associated Press

Vance met separately with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and said NATO members must spend more on their militaries.

Vance told Rutte that the Trump administration wants to ensure “that NATO does a little bit more burden sharing in Europe, so the United States can focus on some of our challenges in East Asia.”

Rutte agreed: “We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more.”

Steinmeier told the conference that how exactly the Russia-Ukraine war ends “will have a lasting influence on our security order and on the position of power of Europe and America in the world.”

By the Associated Press

In Danielle Sassoon‘s resignation letter to Trump’s new attorney general, Pam Bondi — The Associated Press obtained a copy — she accused Adams’ lawyers of offering the mayor’s help on immigration policy if the case were dropped — a “quid pro quo” deal that she said would set “a breathtaking and dangerous precedent” if approved.

Bove’s memo to Sassoon directed her to drop the case so that the mayor of America’s largest city could help with Trump’s immigration crackdown and could himself campaign for reelection unencumbered by criminal charges.

In response to her resignation, Bove placed case prosecutors on leave and said they and Sassoon would face internal investigations.

Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro — who also represents Elon Musk in unrelated cases — called the “quid pro quo” claim a “total lie.”

By the Associated Press

The federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams remains active, for now.

As of Thursday night, no paperwork asking a judge to drop the charges had been filed in court. The acting deputy U.S. attorney general, former Trump personal lawyer Emil Bove, wrote in a letter obtained by the AP that the Justice Department in Washington would file a motion to drop Adams’ charges and bar “further targeting” of the mayor.

Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, and five high-ranking Justice Department officials resigned Thursday rather than follow that order to drop the charges — a stunning escalation in a dayslong standoff over the Trump administration prioritizing political aims over criminal culpability.

By the Associated Press

JD Vance urged European officials to stem illegal migration on the continent during his speech before the Munich Security Conference.

Vance says the European electorate didn’t vote to open “floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.”

The vice president also accused Europeans of squelching free speech, saying freedom is in danger.

By the Associated Press

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was supposed to join Vance in the U.S. meeting with Zelenskyy Friday but was delayed when his Air Force plane had to return to Washington after developing a mechanical problem en route to Munich.

He took a different aircraft, but it was unclear whether he would arrive in time for the meeting.

By the Associated Press

Hours ahead of the Vance and Zelenskyy meeting, the Ukrainian president said a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective confinement shell of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kyiv region.

Radiation levels have not increased, Zelenskyy and the U.N. atomic agency said.

The strike is a “very clear greeting from Putin and Russian Federation to the security conference,” Zelenskyy told reporters.

The Kremlin denied this, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the Munich organizers of making a “strange and politicized” decision not to invite Russia.

By the Associated Press

Vice President JD Vance is appearing at the Munich Security Conference at a time of intense concern and uncertainty over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.

The future of Ukraine is top on the agenda following President Donald Trump’s lengthy phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, when they pledged to work together to end the 3-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Vance is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later Friday for talks that many observers, particularly in Europe, hope will shed at least some light on Trump’s ideas for a negotiated settlement to the war.

By the Associated Press

No longer in charge, Sen. Mitch McConnell has been speaking his mind, the long-serving GOP leader rejecting President Donald Trump’s more high-profile Cabinet nominees — alone at times, among the Republicans, casting his no votes.

When it came to Pete Hegseth, now the defense secretary, who faced allegations of excessive drinking and aggressive behavior toward women, McConnell said the combat veteran had “failed, as yet, to demonstrate” he was ready for the job.

On Tulsi Gabbard, who was sworn in this week as director of national intelligence, he said she has displayed “a history of alarming lapses in judgment,” citing in particular her views toward Russia, China and the security breach by former government contractor Edward Snowden.

And as Senate Republicans confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, McConnell, a survivor of childhood polio who used a wheelchair during the vote, opposed.

“A record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts,” the Kentucky senator said.

This is McConnell unplugged, three weeks into the Trump administration, and his new role as no longer the Senate GOP leader but one of 100 senators. It is testing the strength, but also the limits, of his influence on the institution, where he has been a monumental presence for nearly 40 years.

By the Associated Press

Trump said Thursday that he wants to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and that eventually, he hopes all three countries could agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent. He also said he hopes to gain commitments from the U.S. adversaries to cut their spending.

“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Trump said. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully much more productive,” Trump said.