The Associated Press is returning to a Washington courtroom Thursday to ask a judge to restore its full access to presidential events. That’s weeks after the White House retaliated against the news outlet last month for not following President Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
In a previous hearing last month, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden refused the AP’s request for an injunction to stop the White House from barring reporters and photographers from events in the Oval Office and Air Force One. He urged the Trump administration to reconsider its ban before Thursday’s hearing. It hasn’t.
The AP has said it needs to take a stand against Trump’s team for punishing a news organization for using speech that it doesn’t like. The news outlet said it would still refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its style guidance to clients around the world, while also noting that Trump has renamed it the Gulf of America. The White House said it has the right to decide who gets to question the president.
“For anyone who thinks the Associated Press’s lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal. “It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”
The president has dismissed the AP as a group of “radical left lunatics” and said that “we’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”
Election officials, state attorneys general and legal experts say Trump’s executive order seeking to reshape election processes throughout the U.S. will likely face legal challenges for violating the Constitution.
Tuesday’s executive order demands sweeping changes for how Americans can register to vote and when they can cast their ballots. But the Constitution leaves it to states to determine the “times, places and manner” of how elections are run.
The president’s order also issues directives to the independent Election Assistance Commission, which election law experts say he doesn’t have the authority to do.
A day after the order was issued, several voting rights groups and state attorneys generals already are hinting they plan to challenge it in court.
▶ Read more about the constitutionality of Trump’s order
In this image taken from security camera video, Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, is detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on a street in Sommerville, Mass., Tuesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo)
A Turkish national who is a doctoral student at Tufts University has been detained by federal agents without explanation, her lawyer said.
Rumeysa Ozturk had just left her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, when she was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents.
Surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking the 30-year-old’s phone as she yelled and was handcuffed Tuesday.
A federal judge ordered Ozturk not be moved out of Massachusetts and gave the government until Friday to respond. Messages to DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were not immediately returned.
▶ Read more about the student’s detainment
The Social Security Administration is partially backtracking on a plan that would require all new and existing beneficiaries to travel to an agency field office to verify their identity.
The administration said people applying for Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare or Supplemental Security Income who are not able to use the agency’s online portal can complete their claim entirely over the phone instead of in person. Other applicants will still be required to verify their identities at a field office.
The changes will apply to all beneficiaries beginning April 14, instead of the previously announced date of March 31.
“We have listened to our customers, Congress, advocates, and others, and we are updating our policy to provide better customer service to the country’s most vulnerable populations,” Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, said in a statement.
▶ Read more about the ID requirement change
A cancer survivor, an ALS patient and Alzheimer’s disease researchers told Senate Democrats on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s siege on the National Institutes of Health is destroying hope for cures.
“I ask you to protect this funding so more people can outlive their expiration dates,” Dr. Larry Saltzman, a retired physician who’s survived leukemia years longer than expected by enrolling in clinical trials of new therapies. “I am living proof of what NIH-based research can do.”
Democrats held the hearing to explore the impacts of drastic cuts at the world’s leading funder of biomedical research. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin, described more than 300 NIH grants abruptly canceled and delays of $1.7 billion in funding for new or ongoing studies.
An Emory University researcher described dreading telling a woman in one of her Alzheimer’s studies that it had been canceled.
“The news is going to devastate her,” neuroscientist Whitney Wharton said. “It’s already having real-world impacts.”
Trump grumbled about Democratic scrutiny over his national security team using the Signal app to plan an attack on Houthis in Yemen. The president said the criticism and media coverage was distracting from the successful operation that his team conducted on militants that have wreaked havoc in the Red Sea.
“I think it’s all a witch hunt,” Trump said.
Trump said he was not bothered by calls from Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat, for an expedited inspector general investigation into the use of Signal by the national security team.
Trump said he didn’t know if classified information was shared by his team on the app.
Vice President JD Vance is saluted as he arrives at Marine Corps Air Station Quantico for a tour, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Quantico, Va. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
The vice president’s visit to the Marine Corps base at Quantico included serving and eating lunch with some Marines and a trip to the shooting range.
Vance spent about 40 minutes at the range. He fired several weapons and flew a drone.
Trump said he would consider a reduction in tariffs on China if they were able to reach a deal on TikTok.
“Sounds like something I’d do,” he said.
Legislation signed into law by then-President Joe Biden set a deadline for forcing the sale of the social media platform. Trump has extended the deadline and suggested he could do so again.
North Carolina’s state government health agency says the “abrupt and immediate termination” of several federal grants by the Trump administration will result in the loss of more than 80 positions and over $100 million in funding.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which has more than 18,000 employees, learned of the grant terminations on Tuesday, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
The agency said the lost funding is related to several work areas, including immunization efforts, infectious disease monitoring, behavioral health and substance use disorder services. Local health and social service offices, universities and hospitals that complete grant-related work also are affected.
Some department vendors are being asked to pause work until more information is provided by the federal government, the state agency said.
Trump says he is placing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a move that the White House claims would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.
“This will continue to spur growth,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll effectively be charging a 25% tariff.”
The tariffs could be complicated as even U.S. automakers source their components from around the world, meaning that they could face higher costs and lower sales. Shares in General Motors have fallen roughly 3% in Wednesday afternoon trading. Ford’s stock was up slightly. Shares in Stellantis, the owner of Jeep and Chrysler, have dropped nearly 4%.
▶ Read more about the tariffs
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the State Department will reevaluate its travel warnings for Jamaica and other countries.
In Jamaica as part of a tour of the Caribbean, Rubio heard complaints from Jamaican officials about the warning for their country, which is heavily dependent on tourism. The current travel warning for Jamaica advises Americans “to reconsider” visiting the country due to high crime rates.
Rubio did not promise the warning would be changed, but he did agree to look at possible revisions.
Rubio’s trip will take him from Jamaica to Guyana and Suriname as the Trump administration increasingly turns its attention to the Western Hemisphere.
▶ Read more about the trip
Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has called for dismantling and defunding the nation’s public broadcast system following a contentious public hearing.
“We believe that you all can hate us on your own dime,” said Taylor Greene, of Georgia.
FILE – The headquarters for National Public Radio (NPR) stands on North Capitol Street, April 15, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
The leaders of PBS and NPR appeared before the committee as congressional Republicans and Trump have roughly half a billion dollars in public funding for them in their sight.
Republicans complain of left-wing bias in the news and programming. Democrats mocked the hearing as shameful considering other issues, as the broadcast company leaders tried to explain what they delivered for taxpayers.
▶ Read more about the hearing
He recognized Susie Wiles, the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, as “the most powerful woman in the world,” and he said Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person to be press secretary, was “knocking them dead.”
Trump mentioned “legends” like Harriet Tubman and Amelia Earhart and recognized many women lawmakers at the event. When he got to Sen. Joni Ernst, of Iowa, Trump said, “I owe you a call. I’ll call you.”
Near the end of a White House event for Women’s History Month, Trump expressed satisfaction at how his pressure campaign on colleges and law firms was working.
“You see what we’re doing with the colleges, and they’re all bending and saying ‘Sir, thank you very much, we appreciate it,’” Trump said.
He also mentioned “law firms that have been so horrible.”
“They’re just saying, ‘Where do I sign?’” Trump said. “Nobody can believe it.”
Columbia University and the law firm Paul Weiss agreed to make changes under pressure from the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a reception celebrating Women’s History Month in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
At the White House event, Trump said the previous administration wanted to “abolish the very concept of womanhood.”
“No matter how many surgeries you have or chemicals you inject, if you’re born with male DNA in your body, you can never become a woman,” Trump said.
He said there would be “tremendous goodies” for women in Republican legislation this year, including support for in vitro fertilization.
“I’ll be known as the fertilization president,” he said.
A federal appeals court has refused to lift an order barring the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law.
A split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a March 15 order temporarily prohibiting deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Invoking the law for the first time since World War II, the Trump administration deported hundreds of people under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.
The Justice Department appealed after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked more deportations and ordered planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants to return to the U.S. That did not happen.
Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan noncitizens who were being held in Texas.
▶ Read more about the court’s decision
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Trump’s trade war “is hurting American consumers and workers and it will hurt more.”
American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low and U.S.-Canadian kinship is under more strain than ever before, Carney said while campaigning in Windsor, Ontario ahead of Canada’s April 28 election.
Trump put 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening to impose sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products on April 2.
But America will never own Canada, Carney said: “It will never ever happen because we just don’t look out for ourselves we look out for each other.”
▶ Read more on the Canadian view of Trump tariffs
“Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist” to the Signal group chat with the most senior Trump officials, Marco Rubio said. “Nothing against journalists, but you aren’t supposed to be on that thing.”
Speaking alongside Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness during his tour of the Caribbean, Rubio said he’s been assured by the Pentagon that the group chat’s details about attacking Houthis in Yemen weren’t classified.
“It didn’t put in danger anyone’s life or the mission. There was no intelligence information,” Rubio said. “There was no war plans on there. This was a sort of description of what we could inform our counterparts around the world when the time came to do so.”
▶ Read more about Rubio’s Caribbean trip
“Signal chats are set to delete after a short time. Isn’t this also a violation of the Presidential Records Act?”Winona O.
Hey, Winona. It’s a good question, and remains one of the many unanswered in this story. What we do know is that the government has a requirement under the Presidential Records Act to archive all of those planning discussions. What we don’t yet know is whether any o f the group’s 18 members archived the messages as required by law to a government server.
AP reporter Tara Copp gave us a deeper dive into what we do (and don’t) know about this situation.
Vice President JD Vance offered a good excuse after he arrived hours behind schedule.
“I was in the Oval Office talking to the president and I stood up and I said, ‘Sir, I realize we’re in the middle of something but the Marines at Quantico are waiting on me.’”
He asked the president for a message for the Marines.
“The president of the United States said he wanted me to tell you two things. First of all, that he loves you and, second of all, that he’s proud of you,” Vance said.
Vance is the first Marine Corps veteran to become vice president. He enlisted after graduating from high school in Ohio and served four years, including a tour in Iraq.
The Education Department says applications for income-driven repayment plans are available online again for student loan borrowers.
The applications were taken down in response to a February court ruling that blocked some Biden-era programs. The materials’ removal had complicated the renewal process for borrowers already enrolled in other repayment plans.
The department said Wednesday that revisions to the form were necessary to comply with the court ruling.
The American Federation of Teachers had filed a lawsuit seeking to force the department to accept and process applications for the repayment plans.
The complaint filed Wednesday before the Merit System Protection Board accuses the Trump administration of violating the workers’ First Amendment rights and unlawfully targeting them because they promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.
The complaint also alleges that the mass firings violated anti-discrimination laws because they were based on pair of anti-DEI executive orders that “disproportionately singled out federal workers who were not white men for hostility, suspicion, job interference, and termination.”
The complaint was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward and two law firms on behalf of Mahri Stainnak, a former employee of the Office of Personnel Management, and “similarly-situated federal workers.”
“What will happen to student federal and financial aid and scholarships, like FAFSA?”Albert
Hey, Albert. This question has been on a lot of readers’ minds since Trump last week ordered the dismantling of the Education Department. We asked AP reporter Collin Binkley, who covers the department, for the latest.
Here’s what he had to say:
There’s no clear answer yet.
The FAFSA form – or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – is used to apply for federal student aid to help pay for college, such as federal grants and loans. It’s run by the Federal Student Aid office, which was hit hard by layoffs. More than 300 FSA jobs were eliminated, including an entire team that provided tech support for the FAFSA website.
The Trump administration has said the cuts won’t affect students and families. When the Education Department announced the biggest round of layoffs, an agency spokesperson said no employees working on FAFSA or student loan servicing were eliminated.
But some advocates worry disruption will be inevitable after FSA’s workforce was cut in half. A day after the layoffs, the FAFSA website had an outage for hours, raising concerns that problems could continue to emerge as students apply for college aid.
“I would characterize this messaging thread as a policy discussion, a sensitive policy discussion amongst high level cabinet officials and senior staff,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Wednesday.
Asked to square how classified information wasn’t shared, considering launch times and weapon systems were included, Leavitt cited a social media post by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that said the information wasn’t classified.
She also assailed The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg — mistakenly added to the thread by the national security adviser — as an “anti-Trump sensationalist reporter.”
“Do you trust the secretary of defense — who was nominated for this role, voted by the United States Senate into this role, who has served in combat, honorably served our nation in uniform — or do you trust Jeffrey Goldberg?” she asked.
▶ Read more about the Signal chat exposure fallout
Senate Democrats said Frank Bisignano should withdraw his nomination to lead the Social Security Administration.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer compared appointing Bisignano to “hiring an arsonist to run the fire station.”
“And what is the intent? Kill Social Security — by strangling, by not letting it work, by making it so that it’s impossible for people to get their help and their benefits,” Schumer said.
Bisignano, a Wall Street veteran and self described “DOGE person,” faced tough questions at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
FILE – The Supreme Court building is seen on June 28, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
The justices heard nearly three hours of arguments Wednesday in a new test of federal regulatory power, reviewing an appellate ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the Universal Service Fund, the tax that has been added to phone bills for nearly 30 years.
Liberal and conservative justices alike expressed concerns about the potentially devastating consequences of eliminating the fund that has benefitted tens of millions of Americans. The Court seems likely to preserve the subsidies for phone and internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas.
▶ Read more on this test of federal regulatory power
Committee chairman Tom Cotton said “I don’t think so” when asked Wednesday if his panel has more work to do in terms of asking intelligence leaders about the inclusion of a reporter in a group text chain about military plans.
“What I think is most important here is not the way this information was communicated, but the action that was taken to actually attack the Yemen rebels who have been targeting our sailors and international shipping Saudi Arabia for more than a year,” Cotton said.
Cotton’s fellow Senate Republican, Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, said Wednesday that he and his committee’s ranking Democrat are requesting an Inspector General investigation and a classified briefing on the use of Signal by top national security officials.
The White House claims the tariffs will foster domestic manufacturing.
It could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she would leave it to the president to flesh out his plans to tax foreign-made autos and parts, which could be complicated as even U.S. automakers source their components from around the world.
Shares in General Motors have fallen roughly 1.7% in Wednesday afternoon trading. Ford’s stock was down roughly 1.5%.
The Georgia congresswoman made her declaration after her contentious House Oversight committee hearing featuring the leaders of PBS and NPR.
Greene said the systems “can hate us on your own dime.”
Republicans on the committee repeatedly attacked the public broadcasting outlets for what they called biased reporting. Trump also called for ending federal funding in what represents the most serious threat to the system in many years.
The leaders acknowledged some mistakes — NPR chief Katharine Maher said they should have offered more coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop — but said they work hard to present viewpoints of all Americans.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrives to board her plane, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Noem is traveling to El Salvador, Colombia and Mexico. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Department of Homeland Security says in a post on X that Kristi Noem will discuss how the U.S. can expand deportation flights of “violent criminals” to the Central American nation.
Noem is visiting a prison where Venezuelans removed from the U.S. are being held. The Trump administration has acknowledged that many do not have criminal records, but alleges that they are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. It has not identified who was deported or given any evidence that they’re gang members.
She’ll also meet with President Nayib Bukele. He agreed to imprison the deportees at the administration’s request.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is on Capitol Hill, meeting privately with Republican senators at their daily lunch. He declined to answer questions as he joined the meeting behind closed doors off the Senate chamber.
U.S. District Judge James Bredar is briefly extending a temporary order requiring the Trump administration to bring back federal workers who were fired as part of a dramatic downsizing of the federal workforce.
During a hearing in Baltimore on Wednesday, the judge said he is reluctant to issue a sweeping national preliminary injunction in the case. The government is appealing Bredar’s earlier decision to require the federal government to reinstate more than 24,000 federal workers.
His ruling came in a lawsuit filed by 19 states and the District of Columbia. They contend the Trump administration blindsided them with the layoffs, which could have devastating consequences for their state finances.
The so-called X-date is when the country runs short of money to pay its bills.
Without another deal between lawmakers and the White House, the government will exhaust the accounting maneuvers used to stretch existing funds by August, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday.
The House added $4 trillion to the debt ceiling in the Republican budget plan, which sets the stage for extending tax cuts passed in Trump’s first term. Whether the Republican-led Senate will agree remains unclear.
“Democrats are ready to work across the aisle to prevent a catastrophic default. But Republicans must work with us to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
Sen. Roger Wicker said he and Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat, will send a letter to the Trump administration requesting an Inspector General investigation into the use of Signal by top national security officials to discuss military plans.
Wicker is also calling for a classified Senate briefing from a top national security official and verification that The Atlantic published an accurate transcript of the Signal chat.
Wicker’s move is notable given the Trump administration’s defiance. Most Republicans seem content to allow the episode to blow over.
Asked what the consequences for Hegseth should be, Wicker said, “Let’s see.”
He added that the administration — “right up to the president” — should take a conciliatory approach to the episode.
Wednesday’s filing seeks approval to go ahead with cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training.
A federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the cuts, finding they were already impacting a nationwide teacher shortage. Eight Democratic-led states challenged Trump’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs as his administration follows his executive order calling for the dismantling of the Education Department.
The Justice Department has filed three other emergency appeals of court rulings that blocked administration actions.
The Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether to narrow nationwide holds on executive actions as Trump seeks to restrict birthright citizenship. Also pending is an appeal to halt an order requiring the rehiring of thousands of federal workers.
▶ Read more on this Trump appeal to the Supreme Court
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, flanked by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, left, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Jeffrey Kruse, testifies as the House Intelligence Committee holds a hearing on worldwide threats, at the Capitol, in Washington, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The questioning of John Ratcliffe descended into yelling as a California Democrat asked the CIA director whether Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was drinking when he used the Signal app to text his plans for attacking Houthis in Yemen.
“I think that’s an offensive line of questioning,” Ratcliffe told Rep. Jimmy Gomez. “The answer is no.”
Ratcliffe and Gomez then began shouting over each other as Gomez tried to follow up.
“We want to know if his performance is compromised,” Gomez said.
“It is completely outrageous to me that administration officials come before us today with impunity, no acceptance of responsibility,” said Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado. He said Pete Hegseth “must resign immediately. There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there is accountability.”
Other Democrats on House Intelligence Committee rejected assertions by Gabbard and Ratcliffe that no classified material was included in the chat. They pointed out chat messages released by The Atlantic on Wednesday as evidence the exposure could have jeopardized the mission’s success or endangered U.S. service members’ lives.
“This is classified information. It’s a weapon system, as well as a sequence of strikes, as well as details of the operations,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. “He needs to resign immediately.”
Asked if he thinks they’re “eager” to become American citizens, Trump said he didn’t know “but I think we have to do it, and we have to convince them.”
Trump repeated in an interview Wednesday on “The Vince Show” that the U.S. needs control of Greenland for national security reasons. His pronouncements have irked residents of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Vance and his wife, Usha, are scheduled Friday to visit a U.S. military base on the Arctic island.
Now the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, the Georgia Republican summoned the leaders of PBS and NPR to a hearing, demanding to know why taxpayers funded what she considers biased news resembling content from communist China.
Trump suggested Tuesday that public funding for PBS and NPR be cut off.
NPR chief Katherine Maher says the radio network is making progress in presenting different viewpoints on the air.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, left, joined by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, testifies as the House Intelligence Committee holds a hearing on worldwide threats, at the Capitol, in Washington, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Gabbard acknowledged before the House Intelligence Committee that the texts contained “candid and sensitive” discussions but said again that no classified information was included.
“It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added,” Gabbard said.
National security adviser Mike Waltz has taken responsibility for the addition of The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to the chat, which also included the defense secretary, the vice president and other top Trump administration officials.
Democrats blasted it as a sloppy mistake that could have put American service members at risk.
Texts released by The Atlantic on Wednesday referred to the timing of strikes and the types of weaponry involved.
Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe face more questioning about how Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a group chat in which they discussed American military strikes in Yemen.
Gabbard, Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Michael Waltz and other top national security officials were on the chat, which included the times of warplane launches and other actions.
Waltz has taken responsibility. Trump called it “a glitch.” Democrats said it was an irresponsible security lapse that could require resignations.
Republican Rep. Rick Crawford urged his fellow House Intelligence Committee members not to focus on the Signal chat leak during Wednesday’s hearing on global threats.
“It’s my sincere hope that we use this hearing to discuss the many foreign threats facing our nation,” Crawford said in opening remarks.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, President Donald Trump’s choice to be Director of the National Institutes of Health, appears before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee for his confirmation hearing, at Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya passed a 53-47 party-line vote to become director of the the National Institutes of Health.
The Stanford University health economist, an outspoken critic of COVID-19 policies, has vowed to encourage scientific dissent. He now leads the world’s top funder of biomedical research as Trump drastically reduces its funding and workforce.
Dr. Marty Makary won over a handful of Democrats in a 56-44 vote to become commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates drugs, medical devices and food safety.
The Johns Hopkins University researcher also has contrarian views, and like the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has criticized food additives, ultraprocessed foods and the overprescribing of drugs.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and top Senate Democrats on the national security committees want answers from Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials as the Signal app fallout deepens, questioning whether the actions violate the Espionage Act.
“We write to you with extreme alarm about the astonishingly poor judgment shown by your Cabinet and national security advisors,” the senators wrote in a letter to the president.
“Our committees have serious questions,” they wrote, detailing a 10-part probing line of inquiry.
The senators noted that if any other American military servicemember or official committed such breach “they would be investigated and likely prosecuted.”
▶ Read more on the Signal text chat fallout
The bill gives corporate officers and controlling stockholders more protections against conflict-of-interest complaints and limits the discovery of internal documents or communications in certain shareholder lawsuits. Two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware.
Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer had urged quick passage after pressure from Elon Musk, who encouraged a “Dexit” and moved his companies’ legal homes from Delaware to Texas after he lost a shareholder challenge of his Tesla compensation package that was potentially worth more than $55 billion.
Critics warned that investors, pensioners, middle-class savers and ultimately the companies themselves will suffer.
State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton warned against “cooking that golden goose.”
▶ Read more about Delaware’s loosening of corporate accountability
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin says Tuesday night’s victory means state House Democrats “can stand up to Trump’s mayhem in Washington.”
Democrat Dan Goughnour handily won the special election, keeping majority control by a single seat, 102-101. He beat Republican Chuck Davis in the Pittsburgh-area district. This removes a potential barrier to Gov. Josh Shapiro, a rising star among Democrats who is seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.
Martin’s statement says the victory will block efforts to weaken Shapiro’s authority and “continue to expand job opportunities, strengthen schools and create safe communities in Pennsylvania.”
▶ Read more on the Pennsylvania race’s impact
