Trump to cut off funding for schools and universities with Covid vaccine mandates – US politics live
Trump signs executive orders on Covid-19 mandates and ‘energy dominance council’
Donald Trump has convened the press in the Oval Office to sign an executive order cutting off federal funding for schools and universities that require students be vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend classes.
In addition to that order, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the president had signed another order establishing an “Energy Dominance Council” led by the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, and energy secretary, Chris Wright. Leavitt made a point to note that the Associated Press was not in attendance.
Key events
Donald Trump and Elon Musk will jointly appear on Fox News next week with host Sean Hannity. It will be the pair’s first televised interview together.
In recent months, Trump has formed a close relationship with Musk, resulting in his appointment to lead the newly formed “department of government efficiency”. On Tuesday, Musk took questions from reporters alongside the president in an Oval Office ceremony regarding the closure of government offices. Musk spent $250m on the president’s re-election campaign.
IRS to cut thousands of jobs amid tax season – report
The Internal Revenue Service will lay off thousands of probationary employees, beginning potentially next week, the New York Times reports.
The firings are in line with orders from the Office of Personnel Management, which acts as the federal government’s human resources department, to let go of employees new in their positions, who have fewer job protections.
The layoffs come amid the annual tax season, as Americans file returns ahead of the 15 April deadline. The Times notes the layoffs seem to contradict comments to Bloomberg News from Treasury secretary Scott Bessent last week, who said any layoffs at the IRS would come after that deadline.
At his speech today to a high-profile security conference in Germany, JD Vance made a number of claims that offer a window into how he views the United States’s relationship with the world.
The problem is, several of them stretch the truth, as the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey and Alexandra Topping report:
Donald Trump has green-lit the first new export of liquified natural gas since Joe Biden paused approvals early last year amid concerns over their impact on climate change, Reuters reports.
The decision allows Louisiana’s Commonwealth LNG to export gas to markets in Asia and Europe. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump also said 600m acres (243m hectares) of offshore waters controlled by the federal government will reopen to oil and gas drilling, reversing a ban imposed by Biden.
Here’s more about Biden’s steps against natural gas:
Trump says he’s spoken to Starmer and meeting could happen in a few weeks
Donald Trump revealed to reporters that he had spoken to Keir Starmer, and that they may meet in the next few weeks, Reuters reports.
We first heard about the call, which came as something of a surprise to the British prime minister and his aides, earlier today:
Trump signs executive orders on Covid-19 mandates and ‘energy dominance council’
Donald Trump has convened the press in the Oval Office to sign an executive order cutting off federal funding for schools and universities that require students be vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend classes.
In addition to that order, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the president had signed another order establishing an “Energy Dominance Council” led by the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, and energy secretary, Chris Wright. Leavitt made a point to note that the Associated Press was not in attendance.
Vance snubs German chancellor and meets with far-right party
JD Vance had no time to meet with Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz during his travel to the country, but did find an opportunity to sit down with the leader of the far-right AfD party, according to media reports.
It was German broadcaster ZDF that broke news of the vice-president’s encounter with the AfD chief Alice Weidel, which lasted for about 30 minutes and saw them discuss the war in Ukraine and politics in Berlin. As for Scholz, Politico reports that Vance’s spokesperson cited a “scheduling conflict” the prevented them from meeting. But a former US official, referring to team Vance’s thinking, put it this way:
We don’t need to see him, he won’t be chancellor long.
Vance’s speech to the Munich security forum earlier in the day included a line seen as indicating his support for the AfD, which is expected to make gains in elections later this month. Follow our live blog for more:
Top White House official says Associated Press will be barred from Oval Office and Air Force One
Deputy White House chief of staff Taylor Budowich indicated that Associated Press journalists will no longer be allowed on Air Force One or in the Oval Office until it begins referring to the Gulf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America”.
On X, Budowich writes:
The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America. This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One. Going forward, that space will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration. Associate Press journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex.
Journalists from the authoritative news agency were stopped from attending two White House events earlier this week, apparently over the agency’s refusal to use the term in its widely followed style guide. Here’s the agency’s rationale for not making the change:
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.
The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.
Here’s more on the dispute:
The White House advises that Donald Trump will sign his executive order on Covid-19 vaccines in the Oval Office at some point this afternoon, and that the press is invited.
That will present the opportunity for another wide-ranging question-and-answer session with the president, which he has made almost a daily occurence.
Trump to sign executive order barring federal funding for schools with Covid vaccine mandates
Donald Trump will soon sign an executive order cutting off federal funding for schools and universities that require students receive a Covid-19 vaccine to attend class in person, a White House official said.
The president is scheduled to sign executive orders right about now, without press in attendance, though that could change.
The order satisfies a campaign promise from Trump, and will also direct Robert F Kennedy Jr, the newly sworn in secretary of health and human services, to “provide a plan to end coercive Covid-19 vaccine mandates”, according to Breitbart News, which first reported on the order.
Shortly after taking office, Trump ordered officials to reinstate a small number of military personnel who had been fired for refusing to take the vaccine. Here’s a look back at that:
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Joanna Walters about the Trump administration’s decision to drop charges against New York mayor Eric Adams, which has prompted a cascade of resignations at the justice department:
Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor and five high-ranking justice department officials have resigned amid a scandal over orders from above to drop corruption charges against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, in exchange for his cooperating with Donald Trump’s administration over immigration crackdowns.
The senior prosecutor, interim US attorney for the southern district of New York Danielle Sassoon, and the acting US deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, formerly a personal lawyer to Trump, then exchanged stinging letters over the order from Bove to drop the federal criminal case against Adams.
The events unfolding late on Thursday were a stunning escalation in a days-long standoff over the Trump administration prioritizing political aims over criminal culpability and also coincided with Adams talking to the so-called “border czar”, Tom Homan, about allowing federal immigration agents to set up an office at a city jail in violation of sanctuary city laws.
Sassoon, a Republican with conservative credentials, resigned on Thursday accusing the Department of Justice of acceding to a “quid pro quo” – dropping the case to ensure Adams’s help with Trump’s immigration agenda. She stood up for the federal criminal indictment that came down against Adams last year as his mayoralty spiraled into crisis with allegations that he accepted illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks worth more than $100,000 while serving in his previous job as Brooklyn borough president. He has pleaded not guilty. Trump has said he would consider a pardon for Adams.
Reuters is reporting that a federal prosecutor has agreed to file a motion to dismiss the criminal corruption charges against the New York City mayor, Eric Adams.
According to Reuters, which is citing “sources briefed on the matter”, the decision was made in bid to spare other career staff from potentially being fired by the acting deputy attorney general.
Reuters also reports that the decision came amid pressure from the acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, who imposed a one-hour deadline on all public integrity attorneys on Friday to decide among themselves who would file the motion.
Another prosecutor involved in the corruption case against the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, resigned on Friday, the seventh federal prosecutor resignation related to the justice department’s efforts to dismiss the charges against Adams.
In a resignation letter to the acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, Hagan Scotten, an assistant US attorney, who was the lead prosecutor on the federal corruption case against Adams, wrote that any federal prosecutor “would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials”.
He added: “If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”
Two Senate Democrats have written to Donald Trump requesting the reinstatement of the inspector general for the US Agency for International Development (USAid), calling his firing illegal.
The Democratic senators Jeanne Shaheen and Gary Peters expressed their concerns in a letter to Trump, stating that the firing of the inspector general Paul Martin without justification seemed to be an act of retaliation, according to the Associated Press.
Shaheen and Peters say the law requires 30 days’ notice to Congress and a reason.
Democratic attorneys general condemn Vance’s judiciary remarks
A coalition of 17 Democratic attorneys general have issued a statement condemning vice-president JD Vance’s recent remarks that judges are not allowed to control the president’s “legitimate power”.
Vance’s comments came after several federal judges issued rulings temporarily blocking some of Donald Trump’s most contentious executive orders.
“The vice-president’s statement is as wrong as it is reckless. As chief law enforcement officers representing the people of 17 states, we unequivocally reject the vice-president’s attempt to spread this dangerous lie” the statement from the attorneys general reads.
“Judges do not ‘control’ executive power. Judges stop the unlawful and unconstitutional exercise of power” it adds.
The statement continues, and states that “as Attorneys General, we will carefully scrutinize each and every action taken by this administration. If the constitution or federal law is violated, we will not hesitate to act.”
The signatories include the Attorneys General of California, Connecticut, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
The Democratic Georgia senator Jon Ossoff has criticized the Trump administration’s decision to cut nearly 10% of the employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a statement, Ossoff said:
President Trump’s indefensible, indiscriminate firing of more than 1,000 CDC personnel in a single day leaves Americans exposed to disease and devastates careers and livelihoods for the world’s most talented doctors and scientists, many of them here in Georgia.
The CDC, located in Atlanta, Georgia, was notified on Friday morning that it would lose approximately 10% of its workforce due to the Trump administration’s order to terminate all employees still in their probationary period, as reported by the Associated Press.
A new survey found that a majority of Americans say it would be “too risky” to grant Donald Trump more power and expressed concerns about expanding presidential power.
The new survey of about 5,000 US adults, published by Pew Research on Friday, found that 65% of participants said that it would be “too risky” to give Trump more power to deal directly with many of the nation’s problems.
Only 33% agreed with the idea that “many of the country’s problems could be dealt with more effectively if Trump didn’t have to worry so much about Congress or the courts.”
And even more Americans – 78% – expressed concerns about expanding presidential power when asked about US presidents in general.
