Donald Trump “stands strongly behind” defense secretary Pete Hegseth, the White House has said, after a Sunday report alleging that he shared sensitive information about planned strikes in Yemen in a private Signal group chat that included his wife and brother.
The White House’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday:
The president absolutely has confidence in secretary Hegseth. I spoke to him about it this morning, and he stands strongly behind him.
Leavitt, speaking to Fox News this morning, said Hegseth is doing a “phenomenal job”, adding:
This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement.
Key events
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President Donald Trump is set to meet with executives from major retailers including Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s today, to discuss the impact of Trump’s tariffs on their businesses.
The news of the meeting was first reported by Bloomberg News.
ShareSummary of the day so far
Pressure is mounting on defense secretary Pete Hegseth following reports that he shared details of a US attack on Yemeni Houthi rebels last month in a second Signal chat that he created himself and included his wife, his brother and about a dozen other people.
A former top Pentagon spokesperson, John Ullyot, slammed Hegseth and said it had been a “month of total chaos” in an opinion essay that said the defense secretary would be unlikely to remain in his role.
Trump defended Hegseth, saying he was doing a “great job”. The White House said Trump “stands strongly behind” his defense secretary. Hegseth himself blamed “disgruntled former employees”.
The Trump administration is planning to pull an additional $1bn of funding for Harvard University amid an escalating fight with the university, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Four House Democrats have travelled to El Salvador to call attention to the flight of Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador. Congress members Maxwell Frost of Florida, Robert Garcia of California, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon are in El Salvador to facilitate Garcia’s return to the United States.
The US supreme court is hearing arguments today in a case that could threaten Americans’ access to free preventive healthcare services under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s purse, containing her driver’s license, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, blank checks and about $3,000 in cash, was stolen while she was dining at a restaurant in Washington DC on Sunday night.
Updated at 13.22 EDT
Trump to pull additional $1bn in funding for Harvard University – report
The Trump administration is planning to pull an additional $1bn of funding for Harvard University amid an escalating fight with the university, according to a report.
The administration has become “furious” with Harvard after it released a letter sent by administration officials listing its demands that Harvard allow federal government oversight of admissions, hiring and the ideology of students and staff, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The additional $1bn would target the school’s funding for health research, the paper said.
It would follow some $2.2bn in federal funding already frozen to Harvard after the university refused to concede to a number of the administration’s demands.
Trump has also called for its tax-exempt status to be revoked, a potentially illegal move, against Harvard.
Vice-President JD Vance met with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Monday.
Vance and Modi welcomed “significant progress” in talks for an early trade deal between the two countries, according to the White House.
The US-India bilateral trade agreement will focus on “promoting job creation and citizen well-being in both countries, with the goal of enhancing bilateral trade and supply-chain integration in a balanced and mutually beneficial manner”, it said.
Vance arrived in Delhi earlier on Monday for a largely personal four-day visit to the country with his family, which will include visiting the Taj Mahal and making a speech in the city of Jaipur.
Updated at 12.45 EDT
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s purse was stolen while she was dining at a restaurant in Washington DC on Sunday night, according to law enforcement sources.
Noem’s purse contained her driver’s license, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, blank checks and about $3,000 in cash.
Noem, who was asked about the theft at the White House Easter Egg Roll, acknowledged the incident and said the matter has not been resolved.
The secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington DC on 14 April 2025. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/UPI/Rex/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 12.36 EDT
Trump defends Hegseth: ‘He’s doing a great job’
Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at the annual Easter Egg roll at the White House, defended his defense secretary Pete Hegseth following reports of a second Signal chatroom used to discuss sensitive military operations.
“Pete’s doing a great job,” the president said. “Just ask the Houthis how he’s doing.”
It’s just fake news. They just bring up stories. It sounds like disgruntled employees. He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people and that’s what he’s doing. You don’t always have friends when you do that.
Donald Trump promised to “bring religion back in America” during remarks at the annual Easter Egg roll at the White House.
Addressing a crowd on the South Lawn from the Blue Room Balcony, Trump said he had ordered US flags to be flown half-mast in honor of Pope Francis, who he described as a “good man”.
“He loved the world and it’s an honor to do that,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the annual White House Easter Egg Roll event at the White House in Washington DC. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/ReutersDonald Trump attends the annual White House Easter Egg Roll event, on the South Lawn of the White House. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/ReutersShare
Updated at 11.54 EDT
Maxwell Frost, the Democratic congressman from Florida, posted to X this morning confirming that he and three other House Democrats had arrived in El Salvador.
Frost accused Donald Trump of “illegally arresting, jailing, and deporting people with no due process”, adding:
We must hold the Administration accountable for these illegal acts and demand Kilmar’s release. Today it’s him, tomorrow it could be anyone else.
Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat congresswoman from Arizona, warned that the country is in a “constitutional crisis”.
“I’m in El Salvador to shine a light on Kilmar’s story and keep the pressure on Donald Trump to secure his safe return home,” she said.
Updated at 11.43 EDT
Kilmar Ábrego García’s family says House Democrats visit to El Salvador ‘sends a powerful message’
Four House Democrats have travelled to El Salvador to call attention to the flight of Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador.
Congress members Maxwell Frost of Florida, Robert Garcia of California, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon are in El Salvador to facilitate Garcia’s return to the United States, they said in a statement. A statement about their visit reads:
The congressional members are in El Salvador to bring attention to President Trump’s illegal defiance of the binding and unanumous supreme court decision in Noem v. Abrego Garcia that demands the administration facilitate Abrego’s Garcia’s return and due process in the United States.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Ábrego García, said she was “deeply grateful” to them and that the visit “sends a powerful message”.
“The fight to bring Kilmar home isn’t over,” she said.
I’m fighting for Kilmar and for all the other Kilmars who have been unjustly deported without due process. We need Congress to keep showing up, both here and abroad, until justice is served and the rights of everyone are protected.
Donald Trump plans to speak with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, today to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal and the nuclear talks with Iran, according to an Axios report.
Here’s more on the continued attacks by Donald Trump on the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell.
If Trump were to fire the head of the central bank, such a move would be unprecedented.
The president has historically respected the independence of the central bank, and kept out of its way – even if there was disagreement over Fed policy. But, of course, it looks like Trump is following his own playbook.
Can Trump legally fire the Fed chair?
The clearest answer: right now, probably not, but things could change.
On Wednesday, Powell affirmed that the Fed’s independence “is a matter of law”. “We’re not removable except for cause,” Powell said. “Fed independence has pretty broad support across both political parties and on both sides of the hill.”
Donald Trump and Jerome Powell in happier times, when Trump nominated him to become the chair of the Federal Reserve, in 2017. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters
But he also mentioned a case going through the supreme court that may alter the power the president has over federal agencies, going off Trump firing an official with the National Labor Relations Board. It’s unclear how the court will rule, but it allowed the firings to stand, overruling a lower court.
“I don’t think that that decision will apply to the Fed, but I don’t know,” Powell said. “It’s a situation that we’re monitoring carefully.”
The Fed’s next board meeting is on 6 and 7 May. Trump is probably trying to pressure the Fed ahead of it, but it is unlikely that officials will budge.
Here’s what else to know about what is going on between Trump and the Federal Reserve.
Updated at 11.00 EDT
Gloria Oladipo
US government employees “improperly” shared sensitive documents, including White House blueprints, with thousands of federal workers, the Washington Post first reported on Sunday.
Staff with the General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency that oversees the construction and preservation of government buildings, shared a Google Drive folder contacting confidential files to all GSA staff members, totaling more than 11,200 people.
The folder was mistakenly uploaded to a Google workplace with the incorrect settings, making it accessible to all workers, a source told the Axios website after the Post’s story broke.
It is unclear if any of the documents shared were classified, but experts have warned that sharing some documents, including White House floor plans, poses obvious security risks.
ShareTrump demands ‘major loser’ Fed chair to lower interest rates
Donald Trump has warned that the economy could slow down unless interest rates are lowered immediately, as he resumed his attacks on the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell.
Posting to Truth Social, Trump called Powell a “major loser” and “Mr. Too Late”, writing:
With these costs trending so nicely downward, just what I predicted they would do, there can almost be no inflation, but there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW.
Trump has on previous occasions expressed a wish for Powell to be gone for his role. Last week, Trump claimed Powell would resign if he asked him to. Powell himself has said that he would not resign if asked to do so by the president.
Powell warned last week that Trump’s s tariffs were generating a “challenging scenario” for the central bank and were likely to worsen inflation.
Updated at 10.55 EDT
Democrats urge Trump to fire Hegseth
Pressure mounted on Pete Hegseth to be fired as defense secretary following reports of a second Signal chatroom used to discuss sensitive military operations.
The Guardian has independently confirmed the existence of Hegseth’s own private group chat.
Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic senator from Illinois and combat veteran, said the second Signal chat put the lives of our men and women in uniform at greater risk:
How many times does Pete Hegseth need to leak classified intelligence before Donald Trump and Republicans understand that he isn’t only a f*cking liar, he is a threat to our national security?
“Every day he stays in his job is another day our troops’ lives are endangered by his singular stupidity,” Duckworth said. “He must resign in disgrace.”
Jack Reed, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, a senior member of the Senate armed services committee, said the report “is another troubling example of Secretary Hegseth’s reckless disregard for the laws and protocols that every other military service member is required to follow”.
Reed called on Hegseth to “immediately explain why he reportedly texted classified information that could endanger American service members’ lives on a commercial app that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.”
Hegseth “must be fired,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said.
The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. But Trump is still too weak to fire him.
Joe Biden has also posted about the death of Pope Francis, saying the pontiff was “unlike any who came before him”.
“It is with great sadness that Jill and I learned of the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Biden wrote in a statement on X.
Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time and I am better for having known him.
For decades, he served the most vulnerable across Argentina and his mission of serving the poor never ceased. As Pope, he was a loving pastor and challenging teacher who reached out to different faiths. He commanded us to fight for peace and protect our planet from a climate crisis. He advocated for the voiceless and powerless. He made all feel welcome and seen by the Church. He promoted equity and an end to poverty and suffering across the globe.
And above all, he was a Pope for everyone. He was the People’s Pope – a light of faith, hope, and love.
Donald Trump posted to Truth Social this morning following the news that Pope Francis died on Friday morning.
Trump wrote:
Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!
Among the last people to see and speak to the pontiff in the hours before his death early on Monday morning was JD Vance.
The pair met on Sunday morning at the Domus Santa Marta guest house where, according to the Vatican, the two men spoke for a few minutes to exchange Easter greetings.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that disgruntled former employees who were recently fired were responsible for leaking the information about his use of Signal group chats.
“This is what the media does,” Hegseth said on Monday.
They take anonymous sources, disgruntled former employees and they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.
The US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, attends the 2025 Easter Egg Roll with his family on the South Lawn of the White House. Photograph: Samuel Corum/EPAShare
Updated at 09.42 EDT
Hegseth says he and Trump are ‘on the same page all the way’
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said he has spoken with Donald Trump after reports that he shared sensitive information about a March attack on Yemen in a private Signal group that included his wife and brother.
Hegseth spoke as he arrived at the White House for the annual Easter egg hunt:
I have spoken with the president and we are going to continue fighting. On the same page all the way.