Trump’s federal changes face legal hurdles as president pushes Gaza plan – CNN
Source: CNN
• DOGE order: President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to work with the Department of Government Efficiency to cut staff and limit hiring. Speaking at his side in the Oval Office, Elon Musk defended the mission of DOGE, which he’s running, while admitting that “some of the things I say will be incorrect” in response to a question about claims he made about Gaza.
• Trump meets Jordan’s king: The president made no attempt to soften his proposal to relocate Palestinians in Gaza and redevelop the land into premium housing as he met King Abdullah II of Jordan. In a social media post after the meeting, Abdullah said Jordan has a “steadfast position” against displacing Palestinians.
• Fired after criticism: The inspector general of the US Agency for International Development was fired, a day after his office released a report critical of the impact of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who is now leading a sweeping effort to reshape the federal government, offered the most sustained defense of his far-reaching moves during a question-and-answer session in the Oval Office late Tuesday.
As President Donald Trump watched from his seat at the Resolute Desk, Musk — who stood a few feet away, wearing a long black coat and accompanied by his 4-year-old son, X — denied that his extensive business dealings with the government amounted to conflicts of interest in his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
Here’s what else was said during the Oval Office Q&A:
Both men touted their aggressive efforts to downsize and remake the federal government, saying American voters sent Trump to the White House to reform the workings of Washington. Trump has dismissed government watchdogs, or inspectors general, at agencies across the city, raising myriad oversight questions.
Musk said he is interested in investigating federal employees with high salaries. He accused staffers of “getting wealthy at taxpayer expense” and said he wants to look into it.
Also, Trump vowed that federal workers who opt to accept the government’s deferred resignation offer will “get their money” when asked whether he could “personally guarantee” that workers who opt to resign will be paid through September.
Gaza: Musk conceded that “some of the things that I say will be incorrect” when he was asked about claims made on his social platform, X, and by the White House about condoms being sent to Gaza. It’s a remarkable concession from the world’s richest man — who bought the social media platform Twitter, now known as X, in 2022 and posts many updates to his more than 217 million followers on the site.
Comments on the courts: Trump on Tuesday complained about the judges who ruled to block several of his recent actions as he works to enact his agenda.
“Any court that would say that the president or his representatives — like secretary of the treasury, secretary of state, whatever — doesn’t have the right to go over their books and make sure everything’s honest… I mean, how can you have a country? You can’t have anything that way. You can’t have a business that way. You can’t have a country that way,” Trump said.
Also, Trump said he will “always abide by the courts,” after reporters asked if he’d follow a judge’s ruling if it blocked one of his administration’s policy priorities.
Adam Boehler, President Donald Trump’s pick for special envoy for hostage affairs, told CNN Russia’s release of Marc Fogel did not play out as a direct one-for-one exchange with a Russian held in the United States on the tarmac Tuesday night.
Fogel has returned to the US, according to a post on X and a photo from the White House.
“For us, it was the start,” Boehler said in a video call with CNN Tuesday from Joint Base Andrews, where Fogel landed Tuesday evening. “This was a unilateral decision. It means for us we make and give thoughts to other people that are nonviolent from a Russia perspective. So, it means the president’s open to things now.”
Asked by Collins if this signals a conversation for something to happen, but not actually a one-for-one exchange on the tarmac, Boehler said, “That’s correct.”
“You won’t see an exchange go on right now. I think you will see the president give consideration if there are some nonviolent people where maybe there’s no issues one way or the other, but you will not see a one-for-one thing happening at the same time,” Boehler said.“What happened here is there was consideration one way or the other for non-violent criminal. And so, the United States ga
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