President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he wants the U.S. to take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere.
He made the remarks in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier Tuesday, Trump’s Middle East envoy said that a three to five-year timeline for the reconstruction of Gaza is not a viable post-war plan for the battle-torn territory.
This first visit of a foreign leader during Trump’s second term comes amid lagging support for Netanyahu in Israel. The Israeli prime minister faces competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and the 15-month conflict to end.
Here’s the latest:
Senate confirms Pam Bondi as attorney general
The Senate has confirmed Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general, putting Trump’s longtime ally at the helm of a Justice Department that has already been rattled by the firings of career employees seen as disloyal to the Republican president.
The vote fell almost entirely along party lines, with only Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, joining with all Republicans to pass her confirmation 54-46.
Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and corporate lobbyist, is expected to oversee a radical reshaping of the department that has been the target of Trump’s ire over the criminal cases it brought against him.
“Pam Bondi has promised to get the department back to its core mission: prosecuting crime and protecting Americans from threats to their safety and their freedoms,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.
Trump envisions ‘the Riviera of the Middle East’
Trump seemed to slip into his real estate developer mode when he said he envisions people living in a redeveloped Gaza that he said could look like “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
“This could be something that could be so valuable, this could be so magnificent,” Trump said.
He said “most importantly,” the people that live there would be able to live in peace and added, “We’ll make sure that it’s done world class.”
He said he envisioned “Palestinians, mostly” living there but also described his vision for Gaza as “an international, unbelievable place” where “the world’s people” live.
Press conference ends
The joint press conference with Trump and Netanyahu has wrapped.
It went on for about 40 minutes.
Trump suggests he could travel to Gaza
Trump said at the press conference that he plans to visit Israel and possibly make a trip to Gaza.
The new president has yet to announce where his first foreign trip will be, suggesting it could be to the United Kingdom or Saudi Arabia. But Trump said at the joint event with Netanyahu that he would go to Israel and could go to Gaza.
Trump offers few details on Russia-Ukraine talks but says destruction in Ukraine is worse than Gaza
Turning to the other major conflict, Trump said destruction in Ukraine has cities looking “as bad as Gaza, and worse,” but he did not offer details on what kind of peace he’s seeking in that country’s war over Russia’s incursion.
“We’re talking to the Russians, we’re talking to the Ukrainian leadership,” Trump said, without offering details.
He did not answer a question about whether he would demand the Russians leave Ukrainian territory.
Trump says Iran could have ‘unbelievable future’ if it doesn’t develop nuclear weapon
Trump reiterated that he feels Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and said if they get one, “that will be very unfortunate for them.”
But the president said Iran would find it very beneficial if the country can convince him that they won’t develop a nuclear weapon, saying in that case, “they’re going to have an unbelievable future.”
Netanyahu likens Israel’s war with Hamas to the Allies’ struggle against the Nazis in World War II
Netanyahu says lasting peace isn’t possible if Hamas is left standing.
The Israeli prime minister says, “Obviously you can’t talk about peace — either with Hamas or in the Middle East — if this toxic and murderous organization is left standing, any more than you could make peace in Europe after World War II if the Nazi regime was left standing and the Nazi army was left standing.”
Trump suggests that the US could take ownership of Gaza over the long term
“I do see a long-term ownership position,” the president said when asked about the U.S. controlling the region for an extended period.
Trump suggested that the U.S. doing so would promote stability in the region and added, “This is not a decision made lightly.”
“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land,” he said.
Trump does not rule out sending US troops to Gaza
Trump is not ruling out sending U.S. troops to secure Gaza, saying in response to a reporter’s question: “As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that.”
Netanyahu says ‘Israel’s victory will be America’s victory’
Netanyahu says Trump follows through on promises that at first seem unbelievable.
“After the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and say, ‘You know, he’s right,’” Netanyahu said.
He added, that Israel, in its ongoing fight with Hamas, “will end the war by winning the war” and that “Israel’s victory will be America’s victory.”
Netanyahu calls Trump Israel’s ‘greatest friend’
Netanyahu said of Trump, “You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”
The prime minister opened his comments at a press conference with Trump saying that Trump’s staunch defense of Israel means that his nation’s people have enormous respect for him.
Netanyahu added, “You freed up munitions that have been withheld from Israel.” That referred to Trump lifting a Biden administration pause on shipping 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) bombs to Israel amid concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza.
Trump wants US to take ownership of Gaza Strip
Trump says he wants the U.S. to take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after resettling Palestinian people in other countries.
The president did not immediately offer details on how the U.S. would manage the site and what it would do with it.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” Trump said.
He said the U.S. would work to economically develop the area after cleaning out the destroyed buildings.
Trump says he and Netanyahu discussed eliminating Hamas
Trump says he and Netanyahu focused in their closed-door meeting on discussing how Hamas can be eliminated and restoring peace “to a troubled region.”
Kicking off a joint press conference, Trump slammed his predecessor, Joe Biden, saying “nobody did anything for four years” in the Middle East except demonstrate incompetence.
“Unfortunately the weakness and incompetence of those years,” Trump said, triggered “grave damage” all over the globe.
Trump-Netanyahu press conference begins
A joint press conference with Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is underway at the White House.
Both leaders met and answered questions from reporters earlier in the Oval Office, before eventually continuing their discussions behind closed doors.
They then headed to a joint press conference in the East Room.
It was so packed with administration officials that some reporters were left without seats and forced to line up on along the sides.
Trump suggests he may be reconsidering his 2020 plan that called for a Palestinian state
President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that he may be reconsidering an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader two-state solution to the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he told reporters when asked if he was still committed to a plan like the one he laid out in 2020 that called for a Palestinian state.
“A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back,” Trump said. “Now we are faced with a situation that’s different — in some ways better and in some ways worse. But we are faced with a very complex and difficult situation that we’ll solve.”
Unions file federal lawsuit to block Trump administration buyout offer for federal employees
A coalition of government-employee unions has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration offering buyouts to millions of federal employees as long as they agree to resign this week.
The Office of Personnel Management has offered to continue paying more than 2 million federal employees through Sept. 30 if they opt to resign.
It said they have to decide by Thursday, though, and promised future layoffs and additional employment requirements for those who remain in their jobs.
Filed in district court in Massachusetts, the suit says no funds have been appropriated for buyouts, and that the deadline to decide on resignation is illegal.
Trump picks Jacobs to return a head of US weather and oceans agency
President Donald Trump picked Neil Jacobs to return as chief of the nation’s weather and oceans agency, bringing up the time when Trump dallied with weather forecasting in what was called Sharpiegate.
Jacobs was acting chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration when Trump displayed a hurricane forecast map in 2019 that had black scrawl on it to expand a hurricane warning so it would agree with an earlier presidential tweet.
That put Jacobs in the uncomfortable position of his agency chastising Alabama forecasters who were right when they said residents in the state didn’t have to worry about Hurricane Dorian hitting them. Trump had tweeted otherwise.
Dorian made landfall about 600 miles away from Alabama.
At a meteorologists convention last month, several weather experts said they were hoping Jacobs would return to the job.
Trump and Newsom to meet
Trump will meet Wednesday afternoon with Gavin Newsom while the California governor is in Washington, according to the White House.
The meeting was confirmed Tuesday by a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Trump has long sparred with the Democrat but they’ve met several times over disasters, including a brief meeting in Los Angeles last month while Trump was touring wildfire damage.
—By Michelle Price
Trump suggests Palestinians from Gaza should ‘permanently’ resettle elsewhere
“I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” Trump said sitting in the Oval Office with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location,” Trump said. “I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy. You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza. This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”
Trump has called on Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries to take in Palestinians from Gaza temporarily while reconstruction takes place in Gaza after the devastating war between Hamas and Israel. His call Tuesday was the first time he has publicly floated making that resettlement permanent.
“I hope that we could do something where they wouldn’t want to go back,” Trump said. “Who would want to go back? They’ve experienced nothing but death and destruction.”
Palestinians claim Gaza as part of a future homeland, and many have indicated a desire to remain and rebuild.
People protest Treasury’s decision to give DOGE access to sensitive data
In front of the north face of the Treasury Department, hundreds of demonstrators stood on Tuesday, holding signs, pounding drums and chanting slogans protesting the Treasury Department’s decision to hand over access to sensitive payment systems to the Department of Government Efficiency, a committee run by billionaire Elon Musk.
People chanted “Deport Musk,” “Down with Trump” and “Do your job, Congress” as they waited for a group of 15 Democratic lawmakers to speak.
Maureen Jais-Mick showed up to the event to protest the “blatant power grab” by Musk and the DOGE committee.
“This amounts to a coup,” Jais-Mick said about DOGE’s unprecedented access to important payment systems that control Social Security and Medicare payments, among others.
Trump says he
and Xi of China will speak at the ‘appropriate’ time
The leaders have yet to discuss the tariffs that Trump imposed on Chinese goods and retaliatory tariffs that Xi has slapped on some American products.
Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on tariffs against Canada and Mexico after phone conversations with the leaders of those two U.S. allies.
‘The Gaza thing has never worked,’ Trump says before meeting with Netanyahu
Trump top advisers have made the case that a three-to-five-year timeline for reconstruction of the war-torn territory, as laid out in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable.
Trump renewed his call on Arab nations to relocate displaced Palestinians as he prepares to meet later Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
“The Gaza thing has never worked,” Trump told reporters. “If we could find the right piece of land, pieces of land, and build them some really nice places, … I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”
▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on Gaza
What to know about El Salvador’s mega-prison after Trump deal to send people there
The Trump administration and the president of El Salvador said Monday that they’d struck a deal allowing the U.S. to ship both detained migrants and imprisoned citizens to the tiny Central American nation.
The U.S. government cannot deport American citizens and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that “there are obviously legalities involved.”
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has made the country’s stark, harsh prisons a trademark of his aggressive fight against crime. The crown jewel of Bukele’s fight is the mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, which he opened in 2023.
▶ Read more about the mega-prison and the deal with El Salvador
Trump wants his education chief to ‘put herself out of a job’
Trump said he nominated former wrestling executive Linda McMahon to be his Education Secretary despite his call to eliminate the Education Department because he wants her “to put herself out of a job.”
“I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.’ I want her to put herself out of a job,’” Trump told reporters.
The president said he’d like to leave the business of running schools to the states. He said he’d try to dismantle the department with an executive order but said he believed he would need to work with Congress to dissolve the agency.
Unwinding the department would likely require Congress to act.
VA nurses say they are considering the government’s deferred resignation offer
The largest group of federal employees – nurses caring for military veterans – are considering the government’s deferred resignation offer as a Thursday deadline looms.
VA nurses were among the millions of federal workers who received an email last week offering eight months of paid leave if they agreed to resign.
VA nurses make up the most common occupation in the government, numbering more than 100,000 and accounting for 5% of all federal full-time permanent employees.
Nurses unions are discouraging members from accepting the offer. National Nurses United told its members the offer is “a direct threat to the VA and its crucial mission to provide care to our Nation’s Heroes.”
“We’re already facing a staffing crisis in our hospitals,” said Irma Westmoreland, a registered nurse and chair of Veterans Affairs for National Nurses United. “We cannot afford to lose any more staff.”
Sixty percent of VA facilities are experiencing a severe nursing shortage, according to a 2024 report from the VA Office of Inspector General.
Trump says he’s studying the legality of sending dangerous U.S. prisoners to prisons in other countries
President Donald Trump says he’s studying the legality of sending violent U.S. criminals to prisons in other countries.
“If we had the legal right to do it, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t know that we do. We’re looking at it right now.”
Trump didn’t say which countries might take U.S. prisoners.
But his comments come after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said El Salvador had offered to jail some violent American criminals and that the offer was “very generous” — even tough it raised some legal concerns.
Newsom will travel to Washington this week to advocate for disaster aid for deadly Los Angeles wildfires
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is traveling to Washington D.C. this week to meet with the Trump administration and members of Congress to advocate for disaster aid for the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles that killed 29 and destroyed more than 12,000 structures, his office said Tuesday.
It’s not clear if Newsom will meet with President Trump during the two-day visit. Newsom, a vocal political adversary of Trump, has mostly abandoned his anti-Trump rhetoric since the fires erupted earlier this year.
The governor also left the state before signing a pair of bills approved by state lawmakers this week to provide new funding for efforts defending the state’s progressive policies against challenges by the Trump administration.
Democratic senators ask for investigation into Treasury’s decision to grant DOGE access to sensitive data
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), have asked for a Government Accountability Office investigation into Treasury’s decision to grant access to sensitive Treasury data including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems to the Department of Government Efficiency, run by President Donald Trump’s billionaire adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The investigation requests the GAO to find out which systems were accessed, which individuals accessed the information and whether they have the appropriate clearances, among other things.
“Given the threats to Americans’ privacy and the national and economic security risks posed by Mr. Musk and his team’s access to critical federal payment systems, we ask that the GAO conduct this investigation as rapidly as possible,” the letter signed by Warren and Wyden states.
A collection of unions and advocacy groups filed a lawsuit this week against the Trump administration over DOGE’s access of Treasury payment systems.
Trump says he’s given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him
“If they did that, they would be obliterated,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters while signing an executive order calling for the U.S. government to impose maximum pressure on Tehran. “I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”
The Justice Department announced in federal charges in November that an Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election had been thwarted.
The department alleged Iranian officials had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran.
Some Head Start preschools are still locked out of federal funding
A week after President Trump’s aborted effort to pause federal grants, Head Start centers that serve thousands of preschoolers are still struggling to access their federal grant money, delays that have forced some to abruptly close their doors.
Head Start, which serves some of nation’s neediest kids and families, ran into trouble last week when directors discovered they were locked out of the online payment system. Medicaid administrators had the same problems. The website eventually went back online, but administrators are still experiencing intermittent outages. Some have not been able to draw down funding for a week.
It led centers in Michigan and Wisconsin to close temporarily, and at least one center in Pennsylvania is contemplating shutting its doors until it regains access to its funds.
The disruption coincided with a directive from the Trump administration to halt federal grants, a mandate that was not supposed exclude Head Start and Medicaid. The directive was withdrawn after outcry. The White House has not said whether the payment system was purposefully taken offline.
Trump says he and Xi of China will speak at the “appropriate” time
The leaders have yet to discuss the tariffs that Trump imposed on Chinese goods and retaliatory tariffs that Xi has slapped on some American products.
Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on tariffs against Canada and Mexico after phone conversations with the leaders of those two U.S. allies.
Dr. Mehmet Oz on Capitol Hill to meet with senators
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, is on Capitol Hill today to meet with senators.
After meeting with Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wy., Oz said he plans to meet with Sens. Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.V., Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., among others.
“They’re all from different parts of the country,” Oz said, which would help him field ideas. He invoked the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan in talks with reporters.
“I promise you, we’re going to work hard to make sure the American people feel empowered to get their health back,” Oz said.
He declined to say whether he supported Congress reducing the budgets of Medicare or Medicaid.
Maryland congressman creates online portal for federal workers to share concerns
A Maryland congressman is asking federal workers to share their concerns about President Donald Trump administration’s hiring freeze, deferred resignation program and confusion regarding executive orders.
Rep. Johnny Olszewski, a Democrat, has created an online portal on his congressional website that enables federal workers to share their experiences, either just with his office or publicly. People who participate publicly can choose to identify themselves fully, with their first name and city only, or remain anonymous.
The congressman has included a link at the top of his website that reads: “Federal Employees: Share Your Story with Rep. Johnny O.” The first-term congressman says he’s working to defend Maryland’s federal workforce from “the reckless assault from the Trump Administration.”
All Senate Democrats to oppose Trump’s budget chief over freeze
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday that Democrats will unanimously oppose the nomination for Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management Bureau after a series of executive orders have cause a frenzy over federal funding in the U.S.
“We are united in our agreement that Russell Vought is a dangerous and disruptive choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget,” the. New York lawmaker said at a press conference. “And we saw a precursor to his leadership last week during the dangerous federal funding freeze.”
Democrats had been voting in favor of some of Trump’s Cabinet nominations over the last two weeks but have no decided to halt their support over Vought over Trump’s decision to halt federal assistance programs.
Canadian minister says problems cited by Trump are overstated
A Canadian official says concerns raised by Trump about an influx of fentanyl and illegal immigration from his country were vastly overstated.
Fentanyl from Canada represents 0.2% of total U.S. seizures of fentanyl, Canada’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said. About the same amount of fentanyl was seized by Canada from the U.S.
Illegal immigration from Canada also is low, Wilkinson said, although officials agree with Trump that “one illegal migrant is too many.”
Trump’s claims “were made in good faith in the sense that I do think that President Trump is seized with these issues,″ Wilkinson said. “I think it’s also fair to say that there are two borders (for the U.S.) and, and on the southern border, it’s been a bigger issue.”
“The problem on the northern border, I think, is smaller than many people, and perhaps even President Trump, understand,″ he said.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to oversee US spy agencies, clears Senate committee
Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be President Donald Trump director of national intelligence cleared a key Senate committee Tuesday despite concerns raised about her past comments sympathetic to Russia and a meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader.
A former Democratic congresswoman, Gabbard is one of Trump’s most divisive nominees, with lawmakers of both parties also pointing to her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden. But the Senate Intelligence Committee advanced her nomination in a closed-door 9-8 vote, and it now heads to the full Senate for consideration. A vote has not been scheduled yet.
Until three GOP members seen as swing votes announced their support, it wasn’t clear her nomination would advance. Gabbard will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes to win confirmation.
▶ Read more about Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence
Trump and Musk demand termination of federal office leases through General Services Administration
Office space is next on the hit list for Trump and Musk’s sweeping effort to fire government employees and curtail operations.
The General Services Administration’s regional managers got the memo last week to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, where more than 1 million federal civilian employees work.
The email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee seems to contradict Trump’s own return-to-office mandate, adding confusion to what was already a scramble by the GSA to bring in remote employees. They may believe they won’t need as many offices once workers have resigned or been fired.
According to the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, the office closures are being led by Nicole Hollander, an employee of Musk’s X company now embedded in the GSA’s headquarters. Her LinkedIn profile says she has a background in real estate.
▶ Read more about the GSA office leases
Trump envoy calls Gaza rebuilding timeline ‘preposterous’
Envoy Steve Witkoff said “it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years.”
He’s reiterating the Trump administration call for Arab nations to temporarily relocate displaced Palestinians from the war-torn territory.
Egypt and Jordan, as well other Arab nations, have rejected Trump’s calls to take in 2.3 million Palestinians during a post-war rebuilding effort.
Netanyahu and Witkoff began the daunting work of brokering the next phase of a ceasefire agreement ahead of the Israeli leader’s meeting with Trump on Tuesday.
▶ Read more about Trump-Netanyahu developments
Canada’s energy minister proposes closer cooperation on critical minerals, uranium
A 30-day tariff delay allows Canada and the United States time to prevent a “lose-lose” cycle of tariffs and retaliation, a Canadian official says.
Instead of treating each other as adversaries, the two longtime trading partners should more closely cooperate on issues such as critical minerals, uranium and other energy, Canada’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday.
Canada can “find ways to ramp up production of uranium,” thereby reducing U.S. imports from hostile countries such as Russia, Wilkinson said. A number of uranium mines in Canada are not running at full capacity, but “certainly could be,″ he said. “There certainly are options for enabling the displacement of Russian fuel by Canadian fuel.″
The U.S. has banned imports of Russian uranium under a law Congress passed last year, but exceptions are allowed if approved by the Energy Department. About 12% of the uranium used to produce electricity at U.S. nuclear power plants was imported from Russia in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Wilkinson was in Washington for a speech to the Atlantic Council think tank.
Doctors for America sues the federal government for removing health information from government web sites
Some advocacy groups are suing the federal government over the removal of health information from government web sites, asking a court to order that the information be restored.
Doctors for America, working with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a federal court in Washington, D.C. The suit targets removal of the government health-focused webpages and datasets in the last week, arguing the action creates a dangerous gap in scientific data needed to respond to disease outbreaks and deprives doctors of information they need to treat patients.
Doctors for America is a not-for-profit representing over 27,000 physicians and medical trainees. The organization was born from an earlier organization that pushed for health reform and supported Barack Obama when he was running for president.
The defendants include the Office of Personnel Management, which directed federal health agencies to remove or modify webpages, and government health agencies that took those steps — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Secret Service readies for Trump at the Super Bowl
Secret Service agents are on the ground in New Orleans preparing to protect President Trump as he watches Kansas City face Philadelphia in the Super Bowl.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the agency tasked with protecting the president, said Tuesday that security measures at the game have been “enhanced this year, given that this will be the first time a sitting President of the United States will attend the event.”
Guglielmi says the Secret Service has been “on the ground for days” working with the NFL and other law enforcement agencies to prepare for the president’s visit.
More details will be coming soon on what fans can expect especially when it comes to going through security checkpoints.
First military flight to deport migrants to Guantanamo Bay is set to depart, official says
Tuesday’s flight was confirmed by a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.
It is the first step in an expected surge in the number of migrants held at the Navy base in Cuba.
President Donald Trump has eyed the facility as a holding center and said it has the capacity to hold as many as 30,000.
▶ Read more about plans to hold migrants at Guantanamo
‘We have a Constitution’ — Rubio acknowledges ‘legalities’ about jailing Americans in El Salvador
The U.S. secretary of state said El Salvador’s offer to accept and jail violent American criminals raises clear legal issues.
“There are obviously legalities involved. We have a Constitution,” Rubio said Tuesday, a day after reaching an unusual agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to allow the Central American country to imprison U.S. deportees of any nationality, including American citizens and legal residents convicted of violent crimes.
“But it’s a very generous offer. No one’s ever made an offer like that — and to outsource, at a fraction of the cost, at least some of the most dangerous and violent criminals that we have in the United States. But obviously, the administration will have to make a decision.”
Rubio spoke at a joint news conference with President Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica, the next stop on his tour.
▶ Read more about Rubio’s controversial State Department moves
FBI agents sue over Justice Dept. effort to ID employees involved in Trump-related investigations
FBI agents who participated in investigations related to President Donald Trump have sued over Justice Department efforts to develop a list of the employees involved, fearing it could lead to mass firings.
The class-action complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington seeks an immediate halt to plans to compile a list of investigators who participated in probes of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol as well as Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The lawsuit notes Trump’s repeated campaign promises of ‘vengeance’ or ‘retribution.’ They said even compiling such a list is “retaliatory in nature, intended to intimidate FBI agents and other personnel and to discourage them from reporting any future malfeasance” by Trump or his appointees.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
▶ Read more about the FBI agents’ lawsuit
US coal industry leader on Chinese tariffs: We can sell elsewhere
National Mining Association President Rich Nolan says the Chinese tariffs are “significant,” but noted that global coal demand is at record levels.
“U.S. coal exports go to more than 70 nations and are a critical, stabilizing force in global markets,” Nolan said. “While China tries to damage a core U.S. industry, we expect global demand for high-quality U.S. coal to remain robust.”
U.S. coal exports peaked in 2012 under former President Barack Obama, accounting for about 12% of the fuel mined in the U.S. that year. Now the U.S. is exporting more than 20% of the total mined.
Doug Collins confirmed as veterans affairs secretary
The U.S. Senate confirmed Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs on Tuesday, putting the former congressman and Iraq War veteran at the helm of a department that provides crucial care to America’s veterans.
The former Air Force chaplain was confirmed on a 77-23 vote to join Trump’s Cabinet.
The Department of Veterans Affairs manages a more than $350 billion budget and oversees nearly 200 medical centers and hospitals nationwide. Collins has promised to cut regulations and elevate the quality of care for veterans.
“I’m an Iraq War veteran. I understand burn pits because I slept next to one for many months,” Collins said at his confirmation hearing.
Democrat Mazie Hirono of Hawaii dissented over concerns that Collins will limit access to reproductive care. Democrat Tammy Duckworth of Illinois pressed him not to resort to privatization.
▶ Read more about Collins’ confirmation
Trump sings in Cantonese and wins cheers in Hong Kong in an operatic twist
A traditional Hong Kong theater has come alive with an untraditional twist: Donald Trump singing in Cantonese.
The Cantonese production “Trump on Show” drew crowds to the soon-to-be-closed Sunbeam Theater. Its latest edition of the opera, “Trump, The Twins President,” featured scenes about Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency and the 2024 election.
Cantonese actor Lung Koon-tin, wearing a blond wig, sang the part of Trump. Roger Chan, in a blue blazer and pearls, played former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
The production, which debuted in 2019 during Trump’s first term, sparked laughter and applause from the audience on Monday night.
▶ Read more about the Cantonese opera
Melania Trump’s 2018 Africa trip highlighted US aid agency Trump and Musk want to eliminate
USAID had partnered with Melania Trump for her trip to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt. Each stop called attention the international developmental agency’s work in Africa.
At a primary school in Malawi, she watched as textbooks were donated by USAID.
Her tour of the pyramids and the Great Sphinx called attention to the agency’s work with the Egyptian government on lowering groundwater levels to prevent further damage to the landmarks.
President Trump twice proposed to cut the agency’s budget during his first term.
Trump to attend Super Bowl
President Donald Trump will attend the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, according to the White House.
It will be his first trip as president to the game, as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Trump’s trip was confirmed by a White House official that was not authorized to speak publicly about the president’s plans.
Trump is also scheduled to sit for an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier as part of the network’s pre-show programming, which is set to be taped from Florida before the game. It’s a tradition that’s been inconsistently followed by Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, who have both in the past opted to skip the interviews.
—By Michelle Price
New Trump order targets transgender athletes
Trump plans to sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at preventing people whose assigned sex at birth was male from participating in women’s or girl’s sporting events.
That’s according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement.
The precise mechanism or impact of Trump’s order wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday. He could direct a reinterpretation of Title IX, the law best known for its role in pursuing gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses.
At minimum, it’s his latest attempt to use his public influence as president to target medical care and reject the public recognition of transgender people, after the sweeping order he issued on his first day signaling how the federal government would deal with transgender people and their rights.
China coal tariffs target a US industry that depends on exports
China’s 15% tariff announced Tuesday on coal from the U.S. — a retaliation against Trump’s across-the-board tariffs on Chinese goods — targets a sector of the U.S. coal industry that’s grown in recent years, helping offset a dramatic long-term decline from domestic customers.
Total U.S. coal exports were on track to top 100 million tons (90 million metric tons) in 2024, with the biggest demand in Asia, where new coal-fired power plants are fueling expanding economies despite concerns about increasing greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change.
China has followed India as the largest customer for U.S. coal, accepting shipments of about 8.7 million tons (7.9 million metric tons) valued at about $1.2 billion through September, according to the Energy Information Administration.
JD Vance will meet world leaders in Paris and Munich
The vice president is off to Paris next week for a summit of world leaders focusing on artificial intelligence. Then he’ll appear at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany.
The AI Action Summit on Feb. 10-11 puts top government officials together with corporate executives at the the Elysee Palace amid galloping advances in technology. And the global talks on international security come amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine as Trump reasserts his “America First” agenda.
Sustaining support for Ukraine, constraining Russia’s partnership with Iran and containing China are on the table, all while Trump threatens tariffs on friends and foes alike. Other attendees at the AI summit include China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
▶ Read more about JD Vance’s trip (edited)
Trump hosting talks with Netanyahu, warning ‘no guarantees’ that peace in Gaza will hold
Trump will meet Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House Tuesday afternoon as the Israeli prime minister faces competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and the 15-month conflict to end.
This first visit of a foreign leader during Trump’s second term comes amid lagging support for Netanyahu in Israel and could distract from his ongoing corruption trial, which Netanyahu called a “witch hunt.”
Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which accused him, Israel’s defense minister and Hamas’ slain military chief of crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza. The U.S. does not recognize ICC authority over U.S. citizens or territory.
▶ Read more about the Trump-Netanyahu talks
Musk claims he ‘deleted’ IRS’ free tax filing program — it’s still available
Hours after Musk posted on X that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as the IRS’ Direct File program, there was confusion about whether Direct File is still available to taxpayers.
But the free filing program is still available for now.
An individual with knowledge of the IRS workforce said the Direct File program was still accepting tax returns. They spoke anonymously with The Associated Press because they were not authorized to talk to the press. As of Monday evening, 18F’s website was still operational, as was the Direct File website. But the digital services agency’s X account was deleted.
The IRS announced last year that it would make the free electronic tax return filing system permanent.
Private tax preparation companies have made billions charging people about $140 each to use their software, and have spent millions lobbying Congress.
▶ Read more about Musk and the IRS’ free filing program
__By Fatima Hussein and Barbara Ortutay
Senators offer some ‘weird,’ ‘wild,’ parting words on RFK Jr.
Kennedy’s quick committee vote did not go without some parting words from senators.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said that maybe Kennedy as a non-health care professional will be just the kind of “disrupter” needed to improve the nation’s health outcomes.
“I hope he goes wild,” Tillis said, listing all the ways the nominee could shake things up.
But Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont spoke about Kennedy’s odd behavior, including leaving a dead bear in New York’s Central Park.
“These are just weird things,” he said before the 14-13 party line vote sent the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.
Cassidy said JD Vance, White House influenced his vote for RFK Jr.
“I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning. I want to thank VP JD specifically for his honest counsel,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, posted on X. “With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes.”
Cassidy had expressed deep concern ahead of the vote about Kennedy’s views on routine childhood vaccinations. He said he would speak on the Senate floor later Tuesday morning.
Tuesday’s vote sets up a high stakes campaign to pressure the full Senate to confirm Kennedy in the coming weeks. If four GOP senators and all Democrats vote against his confirmation, it would fail.
▶ Read more on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination
Senate committee advances RFK Jr. for health secretary despite worry over his vaccine stance
Kennedy cleared his first hurdle to becoming the nation’s top health official on Tuesday with the Senate finance committee voting to advance his nomination for a floor vote.
Republicans voted together to advance his nomination, while Democrats all opposed.
His nomination now faces the full Senate, where concerns include the work he’s done to sow doubts around vaccine safety and his potential to profit off lawsuits over drugmakers. To gain control of the $1.7 trillion Health and Human Services agency, Kennedy will need support from all but three Republicans if Democrats uniformly oppose him.
▶ Read more on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination
A key Republican senator enters the RFK hearing
The Senate Finance Committee began a meeting to vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination, though one key Republican wasn’t there at first.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician who had raised concerns over Kennedy’s views on vaccines, finally entered the hearing room several minutes after it was underway. Cassidy’s jaw was clenched and his face downcast.
Cassidy then voted in favor of advancing Kennedy’s nomination for health secretary to the Senate floor with a simple “aye.”
Trump says Musk is doing his bidding
Elon Musk is rapidly consolidating control over large swaths of the federal government with President Donald Trump ’s blessing, sidelining career officials, gaining access to sensitive databases and dismantling a leading source of humanitarian assistance.
Working with stunning speed and scope, the world’s richest man has created an alternative power structure for the purpose of cutting spending and pushing out employees, none of it with congressional approval, inviting a constitutional clash over the limits of presidential authority.
Trump named Musk a “special government employee,” subject to less stringent rules on ethics and financial disclosures. He’s given Musk office space in the White House complex to oversee the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, sending teams into federal agencies Trump has vowed to abolish to gather information and deliver edicts.
Republicans defend Musk as simply carrying out Trump’s slash-and-burn campaign promises. Democrats accuse Musk of leading a coup from within by amassing unaccountable and illegal power.
▶ Read more on Musk’s moves
White House correspondents’ group announces Amber Ruffin as dinner entertainer
Ruffin is an Emmy- and Tony-award nominated writer, comedian, host, performer and best-selling author who soon will return for the second season of the comedy-news series, “Have I Got News For You,” which she leads with fellow comedians Roy Wood Jr. and Michael Ian Black.
She also writes for and appears on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual black-tie dinner is set for April 26 in Washington.
“She has the ability to walk the line between blistering commentary and humor all while provoking her audience to think about the important issues of the day. I’m thrilled and honored she said yes,” said Eugene Daniels of Politico, president of the association.
Mexico surges troops to its US border
Mexico began moving troops Tuesday to reinforce its shared border in the United States, part of the deal President Claudia Sheinbaum reached with U.S. President Donald Trump Monday to suspend 25% tariffs that were set to go into effect.
AP observed more than 100 members of the National Guard boarded a plane Tuesday morning in the southeastern city of Merida, bound for Ciudad Juarez. Additional units were scheduled to depart Cancun and Campeche. Still more were going by road.
A similar deal to surge troops and head off tariffs was made in 2019 between Trump and then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. More than 10,000 Mexican troops stationed along the border have been unable to stifle persistent violence or break the tight grip of organized crime on the smuggling of drugs, migrants and guns.
US negotiates to have El Salvador imprison deportees and jailed US citizens
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left El Salvador on Tuesday with an agreement that President Nayib Bukele will accept jailed U.S. citizens as well as deportees from the U.S. of any nationality and put them in his nation’s prisons.
Bukele “has agreed to the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world,” Rubio said.
“We can send them, and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio said of migrants of all nationalities detained in the United States. “And, he’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States even though they’re U.S. citizens or legal residents.”
Bukele confirmed the offer in a post on X, saying El Salvador would accept only “convicted criminals” and would charge a fee that “would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”
▶ Read more about whether the U.S. will outsource its prisons to El Salvador
What kind of tariffs is China threatening?
China said it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S. The tariffs would take effect next Monday.
“The U.S.’s unilateral tariff increase seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” the State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement. “It is not only unhelpful in solving its own problems, but also damages normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the U.S.”
The impact on U.S. exports may be limited. Though the U.S. is the biggest exporter of liquid natural gas globally, it does not export much to China. In 2023, the U.S. exported 173,247 million cubic feet of LNG to China, representing about 2.3% of total natural gas exports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
▶ Read more about China’s tariffs against the U.S.
The Associated Press
