MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s version of the Elon Musk-led effort charged with making government run more efficiently struck a more collegial, bipartisan tone in its first meeting Tuesday, taking input from Democrats and hearing testimony from a broad array of government leaders.

Wisconsin is one of several states that have sought to mimic the work of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, run by billionaire Musk at the federal level. Others that have created similar groups include Florida, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana and New Hampshire.

The Wisconsin Assembly’s GOAT committee, which stands for Government Operations, Accountability and Transparency, is much more constrained in its mandate and powers than DOGE, which has broad authority given to it by President Donald Trump.

The Wisconsin committee was created by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, but three of its nine members are Democrats. There is no counterpart in the state Senate, which means any of its recommendations may face difficulty clearing both houses of the Legislature.

And the committee can’t unilaterally fire state workers or slash government spending. Broad actions like that require action by the full Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, in addition to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Evers has broken records for vetoing Republican-sponsored bills, making it highly unlikely he would go along with anything significant the GOAT committee may recommend.

Still, as a committee of the Legislature, it was able to solicit testimony Tuesday from numerous agency heads in Evers’ administration at its first meeting Tuesday. University of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman and Bob Atwell, the founder of Nicolet National Bank, also testified.

Republican Rep. Amanda Nedweski, chair of the committee, said the goal was to address “strong demand from the public” about what is happening with telework, state office use, whether public workers are being held accountable, what cybersecurity is in place and whether there is a cost savings.

Nedweski even cut off fellow Republican and committee vice chair Rep. Shae Sortwell when he began asking questions of a state education department official about spending related to DEI.

“We’re going to stay on topic today,” Nedweski said.

Sortwell sent numerous requests seeking information to the state’s largest cities and all 72 counties related to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in local governments across the state before the committee met, drawing criticism from Democratic members of the committee. Wisconsin Watch was the first to report on Sortwell’s efforts.

Vos, the Assembly speaker who created the GOAT committee, has said that its goal was to root out waste, fraud and abuse in state government. He attributed Sortwell’s inquiries to information gathering related to that goal.

DOGE claims credit for saving more than $100 billion at the federal level through mass firings, cancellations of contracts and grants, office closures and other cuts that have paralyzed entire agencies. Many of those claimed savings have turned out to be overstated or unproven.

DOGE’s work during the early stages of the Trump administration has drawn nearly two dozen lawsuits. Judges have raised questions in several cases about DOGE’s sweeping cost-cutting efforts, conducted with little public information about its staffing and operations.

Scott Bauer, The Associated Press

The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would immediately lift its suspension of military aid to Ukraine and its intelligence sharing with Kyiv, more than a week after imposing the measures to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to enter talks to end the war with invading Russian forces.

The announcement came at talks between Ukraine and the United States in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine also said it was open to a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, subject to Kremlin agreement.

Here’s the latest:

Ukraine is ready to negotiate for a broader peace, Rubio says

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Ukraine agreed to enter immediate negotiations for an “enduring and sustainable” end to the war with Russia.

“Ukrainians are ready to stop the fighting, they’re ready to stop the shooting, they’re ready to get to the table,” Rubio told reporters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The secretary had just finished several hours of talks that included U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and a Ukrainian delegation. The U.S. now takes the offer to Russia, Rubio said.

Trump administration to resume military aid to Ukraine and intelligence sharing

The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would immediately lift its suspension of military aid to Ukraine and its intelligence sharing with Kyiv, more than a week after imposing the measures to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to enter talks to end the war with invading Russian forces.

The announcement came at talks between Ukraine and the United States in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine also said it was open to a 30-day cease-fire in the war with Russia, subject to Kremlin agreement.

▶ Read more about the Russia-Ukraine war

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stops short of calling Canada a close ally of the US

“I think Canada is a neighbor. They are a partner. They have always been an ally,” Leavitt told the White House press corps during a briefing.

“Perhaps they are becoming a competitor now,” she said, especially in light of Trump’s announcement Tuesday to double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum for Canada in an escalation of the trade war with the U.S.’s northern neighbor.

Leavitt continued to press Trump’s suggestion that Canada would be well served becoming the 51st state in the United States.

“He believes Canadians would benefit greatly from becoming the 51st state of the United States of America,” she said.

White House press secretary calls market volatility a ‘snapshot’

“We are in a period of economic transition … from the mess that was created by Joe Biden,” Leavitt said while speaking to reporters in the White House briefing room.

She was touting increases in the automotive industry while pointing to the high inflation that occurred during the early part of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.

“When it comes to the stock market, the numbers we see today, the numbers we saw yesterday, the numbers we will see tomorrow, are a snapshot in a moment in time,” she said, repeating Trump’s claim that the U.S. is entering “a golden age in American manufacturing.”

Leavitt did not mention that markets were higher in September, when Biden was nearing the end of his term in office.

University of Maine says USDA has paused funding during investigation into Title IX compliance

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said last month it initiated the compliance review in the wake of a disagreement between President Trump and Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills over the role of transgender girls in sports.

Trump signed an executive order designed to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. Trump characterized Maine as out of line with the order and told Mills “you’re not getting any federal funding” during a meeting with governors during the disagreement.

University of Maine officials said in a statement that federal funding is critical to its work supporting farmers, fishermen and foresters in the state. They said the university has complied with the USDA investigation and has been informed the funding pause is temporary until further notice.

Judge blocks federal cuts to a teacher training program

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun sided with eight states that sued to keep federal funding in place for a pair of teacher-training grants the Trump administration wants to slash.

The grants largely help bring teachers to rural districts, but California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin had argued that cutting the programs was illegal.

The Education Department had said the grants supported divisive ideologies.

Trump answers backlash against Musk by buying a Tesla

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a Tesla is being brought to the White House for Trump.

The president announced in an overnight social media post that he was going to buy a car from Elon Musk’s company, which has faced sagging sales and declining stock prices as Musk slashes government jobs, programs and funding throughout the federal bureaucracy.

Leavitt said getting the new vehicle would be a “very exciting moment,” and that Trump would pay full market price.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says to give Trump’s economic policies ‘a chance’

Johnson suggested President Trump’s economic policies amounted to a “shake-up” in the short term that would eventually result in “repairing and restoring the American economy.”

Johnson was fielding reporters’ questions at the U.S. Capitol.

“Give the president a chance to have these policies play out,” he said.

Wall Street scrapes 10% below its record after Trump’s latest tariff threat worsens its sell-off

The S&P 500 earlier sank as much as 1.5% Tuesday before paring its loss to 1.4%, which put it 9.9% below its record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 711 points, or 1.7%, as of 1:32 p.m. ET, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower.

The drops came after Trump said he would raise tariffs on steel and aluminum coming from Canada, doubling their planned increase to 50%. The president said it was a response to moves a Canadian province made after Trump began threatening tariffs on one of the United States’ most important trading partners.

Canada incoming PM says he’ll keep tariffs in place until US shows respect and commit to free trade

Incoming Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday his government will keep tariffs in place until Americans show respect and commit to free trade after President Trump threatened historic financial devastation for Canada.

Carney, who’ll be sworn in as Justin Trudeau’s replacement in the coming days, said Trump’s latest tariffs are an attack on Canadian workers, families, and businesses.

“My government will ensure our response has maximum impact in the US and minimal impact here in Canada, while supporting the workers impacted,” Carney said.

Trump said Tuesday that he’ll double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% for Canada, escalating a trade war with the United States’ northern neighbor and showing an indifference to recent stock market turmoil and rising recession risks.

▶ Read more about tariffs between the U.S. and Canada

Trump says a TikTok deal is in the works

In less than a month, TikTok could have one or a few new owners, be banned again, or simply receive another reprieve to continue operating in the United States.

Questions about the fate of the popular video sharing app have continued to linger since a law requiring its China-based parent company to divest or face a ban took effect Jan. 19. After taking office, President Trump gave TikTok a 75-day reprieve by signing an executive order that delayed enforcement of the statute until April 5.

As he returned to Washington from his Florida home Sunday, Trump told reporters a deal could come soon. He didn’t offer any details on the interested buyers, but said the administration was in talks with “four different groups” about TikTok.

“A lot of people want it and it’s up to me,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.

A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment.

▶ Read more about a possible deal on TikTok

Johnson is pleased with Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest

House Speaker Mike Johnson is making his views clear about the arrest of the Palestinian activist, a former Columbia University graduate student who helped lead last spring’s protests against Israel.

Johnson said he was glad the United States has a president “who’s strong enough to lay down the law.”

“We’re going to arrest your tail,” Johnson said, referring to deporting certain international students in the U.S. on visas. “This is just getting started.”

More than 1.1 million people have unclaimed tax refunds from 2021

The Internal Revenue Service says more than $1 billion in refunds remain unclaimed by taxpayers who haven’t filed their 1040 forms for the 2021 tax year.

The IRS estimates the median refund amount to be about $781. In all, it estimates about 1.1 million people may have money owed to them.

Taxpayers who haven’t claimed their refunds for 2021 have until April 15 to submit their returns, the service says.

The EU says it will keep supporting Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion

The European Union plans to step up humanitarian aid to Ukraine when others pull back.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas’ speech at the U.N. on Tuesday was clearly aimed at Trump’s dismissive language about Europe, his massive cutbacks in aid to poor and conflict-torn countries, and his refusal to acknowledge that Russia invaded Ukraine.

“The EU will remain the U.N.’s reliable partner of choice,” Kallas said in defending the U.N.’s commitment to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.

While the Trump administration is eliminating 83% of the programs of its former aid agency — including to the U.N. — she said the EU will always support rising humanitarian needs, with almost 2 billion euros (about $2.16 billion) this year.

A White House official says they plan to appeal ruling that DOGE is subject to FOIA

The official says the Monday ruling finding DOGE is likely subject to public record law was based on a misunderstanding of DOGE’s placement in the federal government.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the case.

— Chris Megerian

A judge finds DOGE is subject to FOIA requests

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is likely covered by public records law and must begin complying with requests from a watchdog group, a federal judge found.

Judge Christopher Cooper rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that DOGE isn’t an agency subject to public-records requests because it’s part of the White House.

In his ruling late Monday, Cooper cited social-media statements from Musk and President Trump as he found that DOGE likely does wield independent authority that makes it legally subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Judge Cooper ordered DOGE to start responding to requests about the team’s role in mass firings and disruptions to federal programs filed by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

US hasn’t determined who was behind attack that caused outage on Trump adviser Musk’s social site X

That’s according to a Trump administration official familiar with the ongoing investigation into the matter.

Monday’s outage was described as a cyberattack by the official, who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly on the matter and spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity. The official added that the Republican administration takes all cyberattacks against American companies seriously but underscored that the U.S. government had not gleaned any specific intelligence about who might have been behind the attack.

The comments came after Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and a top adviser to Trump, claimed in an appearance on Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow” show that the cyberattackers had “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area” without going into detail on what that might mean.

Cybersecurity experts quickly pointed out, however, that this doesn’t necessarily mean the attack originated in Ukraine.

▶ Read more about the apparent cyber attack against X

— Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller

Trump doubles planned tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50% as trade war intensifies

Trump says the increase of the tariffs set to take effect Wednesday is a response to the price increases the provincial government of Ontario put on electricity sold to the United States.

“I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” Trump posted Tuesday on Truth Social.

The U.S. stock market promptly fell following the social media post.

Trump slump: Can the president restore trust in his economic plans after his tariffs create fear?

After a brutal stock market selloff because of his tariff threats, President Trump faces pressure Tuesday to show he has a legitimate plan to grow the economy instead of perhaps pushing it into a recession.

Trump was set to deliver an afternoon address to the Business Roundtable, a trade association of CEOs that during the 2024 campaign he wooed with the promise of lower corporate tax rates for domestic manufacturers. But his plans for tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China, steel and aluminum — with more to possibly come on Europe, Brazil, South Korea, pharmaceutical drugs, copper, lumber and computer chips — would amount to a massive tax hike.

The stock market’s vote of no confidence over the past two weeks puts the president in a bind between his enthusiasm for taxing imports and his brand as a politician who understands business based on his own experiences in real estate, media and marketing.

▶ Read more about Trump’s effect on the economy

Wall Street’s sell-off is slowing, for now at least

That follows a scary stretch where worries about the economy and tariffs sent it close to 9% below its all-time high.

The S&P 500 was down 0.3% in early trading. While still a loss, such a modest move would be a respite after the main measure of Wall Street’s health swung by at least 1%, up or down, seven times in the last eight days.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 202 points, or 0.5%, as of 9:35 a.m. ET. A day earlier, it had been down more than 1,100 points at one point. The Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.

Several Big Tech stocks held steadier after getting walloped in recent months. Elon Musk’s Tesla rose 1.1%, for example. President Trump even said he would buy a Tesla in a show of support for “Elon’s ‘baby.’ ”

▶ Read more about the financial markets

Polls open in Greenland for parliamentary elections as Trump seeks control of the strategic island

The self-governing region of Denmark is home to 56,000 people, most from Indigenous Inuit backgrounds, and occupies a strategic North Atlantic location. It also contains rare earth minerals key to driving the global economy.

Unofficial election results should be available soon after polls close at 2200 GMT Tuesday, but they won’t be certified for weeks as ballot papers make their way to the capital from remote settlements by boat, plane and helicopter.

While the Arctic island has been on a path toward independence since at least 2009, a break from Denmark isn’t on the ballot even though it’s on everyone’s mind. Voters on Tuesday will instead elect 31 lawmakers who’ll shape the island’s debate on when and if to declare independence in the future.

▶ Read more about Greenland’s elections

White House cautious about what’s ahead in Syria after clashes

The White House is circumspect about the prospects for a peaceful Syria after clashes erupted last week that left hundreds dead.

Monitoring groups say hundreds of civilians were killed in the clashes that broke out last week. Revenge attacks primarily targeted members of the Alawite religious minority to which the ousted Syrian leader Basher Assad belongs.

White House National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt said Tuesday that the attacks on religious minorities has raised concerns in the administration “about whether Syria’s interim governing authorities are ready to include a religiously and ethnically diverse population, and whether the interim authorities even have the legitimacy to do so.”

Syria’s interim government signed a deal Monday with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the main U.S.-backed force there into the Syrian army.

Republicans are marching ahead with a government funding bill despite Democratic opposition

Republicans will face a critical test of their unity when the spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies funded through September comes up for a vote.

Speaker Mike Johnson is teeing up the bill for a vote as soon as Tuesday despite the lack of buy-in from Democrats, essentially daring them to oppose it and risk a shutdown that would begin Saturday if lawmakers fail to act.

Republicans will need overwhelming support from their members in both chambers — and some help from Senate Democrats — to get the bill to President Trump’s desk. It’s one of the biggest legislative tests so far of the Republican president’s second term.

“The CR will pass,” Johnson told reporters Monday, using Washington shorthand to describe the continuing resolution. “No one wants to shut the government down. We are governing, doing the responsible thing as Republicans. It’s going to be up to Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats to do the right thing.”

▶ Read more about the spending bill in Congress

Trump to speak to business leaders amid market turmoil over tariffs

The president stayed away from the cameras during Mondays sell-off on Wall Street, driven by concerns over his trade war and the reverberations it will cause the global economy.

Trump will get a chance to say his piece when he visits with the Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs from leading American companies, later Tuesday.

Homeland Security overhauls its asylum phone app. Now it’s for ‘self-deportation’

The Trump administration has unveiled an overhauled cellphone app once used to let migrants apply for asylum, turning it into a system that allows people living illegally in the U.S. to say they want to leave the country voluntarily.

The renamed app, announced Monday and now called CBP Home, is part of the administration’s campaign to encourage “self-deportations, ” touted as an easy and cost-effective way to nudge along Trump’s push to deport millions of immigrants without legal status.

Moments after Trump took office, the earlier version of the app, CBP One, stopped allowing migrants to apply for asylum, and tens of thousands of border appointments were canceled.

More than 900,000 people were allowed in the country on immigration parole under CBP One, generally for two years, starting in January 2023.

The Trump administration has repeatedly urged migrants in the country illegally to leave.

▶ Read more about the new CPB app

Trump calls on Republicans to primary Rep. Thomas Massie

Massie, the hardline conservative from Kentucky, has raised Trump’s ire by opposing a Republican push for a spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies funded through September.

Trump went after Massie on social media, calling him a “GRANDSTANDER, who’s too much trouble.”

“HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him,” Trump says.

Massie said he opposes the short-term spending bill because it maintains federal funding without considering budget cuts that reflect the “waste fraud and abuse” in government spending DOGE has uncovered.

“Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election,” Massie added on X. “Guess what? Doesn’t work on me.”

Trump says he’ll buy a Tesla to show support for Elon Musk

President Donald Trump says Musk, who’s effectively running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been “putting it on the line” for America and he’s going to show his support for the Tesla CEO by buying one of his electric vehicles.

Shares of Tesla slid again Monday as confidence in Musk’s electric car company continues to disintegrate following a post-election “Trump bump.”

Trump said on his social media platform that he was “going to buy a brand new Tesla” on Tuesday “as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???”

Musk has become the face of the Trump administration’s government downsizing efforts.

Analysts have said Musk’s shift to right-wing politics doesn’t appear to sit well with potential Tesla buyers, generally perceived to be wealthy, environmentally-conscious liberals.

Kentucky bourbon makers fear becoming ‘collateral damage’ in Trump’s trade war

The trade wars pose an immediate threat to an American-made success story, built on the growing worldwide taste for bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and other products.

Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said the president’s zig-zagging tariff policy is hurting the American economy and will lead to higher consumer prices while disrupting business.

Trump on Thursday postponed 25% tariffs on some imports from Canada for a month amid fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war. Yarbrough said his company’s expansion plans are still in limbo.

For an industry that has to plan well into the future, based on aging its whiskey products, such angst is widespread in Kentucky, which produces 95% of the world’s bourbon supply. At this point even a delay in tariffs wouldn’t alleviate the practical problems confronting U.S. whiskey makers.

▶ Read more about how Kentucky bourbon makers are being impacted

Ukraine-US talks on ending war with Russia start in Saudi Arabia as Kyiv launches huge drone attack

Senior officials from Ukraine and the United States opened talks Tuesday on how to end Moscow’s three-year war against Kyiv, hours after Russian air defenses shot down more than 300 Ukrainian drones in the biggest such attack since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Two people were killed and 18 were injured, including three children, in the massive drone attack that spanned 10 Russian regions, officials said. No large-scale damage was reported.

Meanwhile, Russia launched 126 Shahed and other drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine on Tuesday, the Ukrainian air force said, as part of Moscow’s relentless pounding of civilian areas during the war.

In the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, journalists briefly entered a room where a senior Ukrainian delegation met with America’s top diplomat for talks on ending Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.

▶ Read more about the talks in Saudi Arabia

Rubio says purge of USAID programs complete, with 83% of agency’s programs gone

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the Trump administration had finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development, cutting 83% of them, and said he would move the remaining aid programs under the State Department.

Hours later, a federal judge said Trump had overstepped his authority in shutting down most foreign assistance, saying the administration could no longer simply sit on the billions of dollars that Congress had provided for foreign aid. But Judge Amir H. Ali stopped short of ordering Trump officials to use the money to revive the thousands of terminated program contracts.

Rubio made his announcement Monday in a post on X, in one of his few public comments on what has been a historic shift away from U.S. foreign aid and development, executed by Trump political appointees at State and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams.

Rubio in the post thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid.

▶ Read more about the dismantling of USAID

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A small U.S. federal agency that invests in African small businesses is expected in court on Tuesday to fight for control over its operations and existence.

The U.S. African Development Foundation last week tried to keep staff from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from entering their offices in Washington. DOGE staff managed to gain entry after returning with U.S. Marshals.

Ward Brehm, the president of USADF, last week sued the Trump administration, saying in a complaint that the attempted takeover was illegal and that neither President Donald Trump nor DOGE had the authority to shut down its operations or replace its board members and president.

Hours later, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington temporarily barred the administration from replacing USADF’s leadership. Leon will hear arguments Tuesday from government lawyers and attorney’s representing Brehm about whether the Trump administration can remove the board members and appoint new ones.

Trump last month in an executive order targeted USADF and three other agencies for closure in an effort to deliver on campaign promises to shrink the size of the federal government. The independent agency was created in 1980 by Congress and is controlled by board members, who must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

A primary question in the case is whether the Trump administration has the legal authority to remove the independent board members. Presidents are restricted from firing these members without cause, thanks to a nearly 90-year-old Supreme Court decision known as Humphrey’s Executer, which has been a backstop for advocates in court against the Trump administrations’ firings. More recent Supreme Court decisions have expanded the president’s removal power and legal experts say the high court’s conservative majority may be inclined to overturn that precedent.

In a filing on Monday, attorneys for the government claimed the Trump administration last month removed USADF’s board members by emails from the White House. USDAF challenged that account, saying that just one board member, Brehm, received a removal email.

The remaining board members made Brehm president on March 3. The previous USADF president resigned before the agency was targeted for elimination.

Attorneys for the Trump administration have argued that USADF’s board has, “done everything possible to avoid complying with the President’s clear directives,” and that “the President must be able to designate acting officials to fulfill his duty to enforce the laws.”

Congress in 2023 allocated $46 million to USADF to invest in relatively small agricultural projects and energy infrastructure projects among other economic development initiatives in 22 African countries. The agency employs around 50 people.

In court filings, USADF describes staff from DOGE demanding access to their systems, which staff denied citing privacy and security requirements. They also said DOGE emailed USADF’s staff last month announcing that Pete Marocco, the deputy administrator of USAID who has overseen its dismantling, would chair USADF’s board.

Marocco and some of the same DOGE staff have succeeded in shuttering another independent agency, the Inter-American Foundation. On Feb. 28, a White House official told IAF staff that Marocco would chair the agency’s board, according to a letter sent to Congress by Eddy Arriola, the chair of IAF’s board.

The same day, Marocco held an emergency board meeting outside of IAF’s offices because he was not able to gain entry to the building. In notes entered into the Federal Register, Marocco said he designated himself the acting CEO and president of IAF, seemingly firing the sitting president.

Since, IAF’s grants and contracts have been cancelled and most of its 37 staff members have been laid off. In 2024, IAF oversaw almost $350 million in investments in Latin American and the Caribbean, with a little more than half of that coming from outside funds, meaning from countries or private funders.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Thalia Beaty, The Associated Press

In less than a month, TikTok could have one or a few new owners, be banned again, or simply receive another reprieve to continue operating in the United States.

Questions about the fate of the popular video sharing app have continued to linger since a law requiring its China-based parent company to divest or face a ban took effect on Jan. 19. After taking office, President Donald Trump gave TikTok a 75-day reprieve by signing an executive order that delayed enforcement of the statute until April 5.

As he returned to Washington from his Florida home on Sunday, Trump told reporters that a deal could come soon. He did not offer any details on the interested buyers, but said the administration was in talks with “four different groups” about TikTok.

“A lot of people want it and it’s up to me,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.

A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment.

What will happen on April 5?

If TikTok is not sold to an approved buyer by April 5, the original law that bans it nationwide would once again go into effect. However, the deadline for the executive order doesn’t appear to be set in stone and the president has reiterated it could be extended further if needed.

Trump’s order came a few days after the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law that required TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest or be banned in January. The day after the ruling, TikTok went dark for U.S. users and came back online after Trump vowed to stall the ban.

During his first term, Trump tried to ban TikTok on national security grounds, which was halted by the courts before his administration negotiated a sale of the platform that eventually failed to materialize. He changed his position on the popular app during last year’s presidential election and has credited the platform with helping him win more young voters.

The decision to keep TikTok alive through an executive order has received some scrutiny, but it has not faced a legal challenge in court.

Who wants to buy TikTok?

Although it’s unclear if ByteDance plans to sell TikTok, several potential bidders have come forward in the past few months.

Aides for Vice President JD Vance, who was tapped to oversee a potential deal, have reached out to some parties, such as the artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, to get additional details about their bids, according to a person familiar with the matter. In January, Perplexity AI presented ByteDance with a merger proposal that would combine Perplexity’s business with TikTok’s U.S. operation.

Other potential bidders include a consortium organized by billionaire businessman Frank McCourt, which recently recruited Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as a strategic advisor. Investors in the consortium say they’ve offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for TikTok’s U.S. platform. And if successful, they plan to redesign the popular app with blockchain technology they say will provide users with more control over their online data.

Jesse Tinsley, the founder of the payroll firm Employer.com, says he too has organized a consortium, which includes the CEO of the video game platform Roblox, and is offering ByteDance more than $30 billion for TikTok.

Trump said in January that Microsoft was also eyeing the popular app. Other interested parties include Trump’s former Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Rumble, the video site popular with some conservatives and far-right groups. In a post on X last March, Rumble said it was ready to join a consortium of parties interested in purchasing TikTok and serving as a tech partner for the company.

What could happen next?

Trump has said he is looking to have the U.S. government broker a deal for 50% control of TikTok. However, the administration hasn’t provided details on what exactly that would entail, or what role the U.S. government could play in the future of the short-form video app.

Some potential bidders have floated proposals that would allow the U.S. to invest or own a stake in the platform. Last month, Trump himself also said the U.S. could own part of TikTok through a new government-owned investment fund.

Chinese officials, who would have to approve the deal, appear to have softened their stance on the issue compared to last year when Beijing called the push for divestment a “robbers” act.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in January that business operations and acquisitions “should be independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles.”

“If it involves Chinese companies, China’s laws and regulations should be observed,” Mao said.

If ByteDance sits down to negotiate, the company would likely need to iron out major details with the U.S. over the proprietary algorithm that populates TikTok feeds as well as the flow of content between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

_________

Associated Press reporters Michelle Price and Didi Tang contributed to this story from Washington.

Haleluya Hadero (), The Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A special election in a Minnesota House district at the center of a post-election drama to control the chamber will decide whether control will be tied between Democrats and Republicans, or if the GOP locks in a narrow but workable majority.

The election in heavily Democratic House District 40B in the northern St. Paul suburbs of Roseville and Shoreview was scheduled after a state court ruled that Democratic state Rep.-elect Curtis Johnson failed to meet residency requirements. That disrupted an expected 67-67 tie in the House and led to the collapse of a power-sharing agreement between the two parties after Republicans decided to capitalize on their unexpected majority, prompting a three-week Democratic boycott of the chamber.

The election pits Democrat David Gottfried against Republican Paul Wikstrom, who also ran for the seat in 2024 and had challenged Johnson’s residency status in court.

The parties reached a new power-sharing agreement in February that assumed Democrats would win the special election and restore the 67-67 tie. Under the terms of the deal, Republican Lisa Demuth will remain House speaker for the next two years. If Gottfried wins, the two parties will have even strength on most committees, except for an oversight committee that Republicans will control to investigate fraud in government programs.

Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the Minnesota Senate. Given the tie in the House, where 68 votes are needed to pass most bills, some degree of bipartisan cooperation will be required to pass the big budget measures during the 2025 session and get them to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz for his signature. Updated budget projections released last Thursday suggested difficult negotiations ahead. The projected surplus for the next two-year budget slipped to $456 million, while the projected deficit for the two years after that grew to $6 billion.

As indicators of Democratic strength in the district, the ineligible Johnson received 65% of the vote in November, compared to about 35% for Wikstrom. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris carried the district with 68% of the vote, far better than the 51% she received statewide in her national loss to President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

While Democrats had the “trifecta” of control over both chambers and the governor’s office in 2023 and 2024, GOP gains in the November elections returned the state to divided government, which has been the norm for most of the past three decades.

Steve Karnowski, The Associated Press