Trump's federal employee buyout in danger after shock ruling: Recap

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter on Capitol Hill:

Tulsi Gabbard moved one step closer to being confirmed in the Senate on Monday evening when senators took a procedural vote 52 to 46 on her nomintion.

Gabbard is Trump's pick to serve as Director of National Intelligence.

Several Republicans who had yet to make their intentions known on her confirmation including Sens. Mitch McConnell, John Curtis, Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy all voted to advance her nomination.

The final vote came down along party lines with Sens. Thom Tillis and John Fetterman missing the procedural action.

It sets it up so Gabbard can be confirmed as soon as early as Tuesday.

President Donald Trump issued a final ultimatum to Hamas saying 'all hell will break loose' if all remaining hostages aren't returned by noon on Saturday.

Trump made the chilling warning during an executive order signing in the Oval Office on Monday.

He said that he would allow Israel to cancel the ceasefire in place and promised 'all hell is going to break loose' if the hostages aren't back.

The biggest President Donald Trump fan in Greenland is Jørgen Boassen, a 50-year-old bricklayer who hosted Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. for a visit in January.

Boassen’s love for Trump is so well documented, CNN reports, that people in the island have nicknamed him as ‘Trump’s son’ in Greenland.

He wears his Make America Great Again hat everywhere and promotes Trump's vision and policies everywhere he goes.

Boassen is a supporter President Trump’s desire to be more engaged with Greenland, but stops short of the idea of Greenland becoming the 51st state.

'Not the 51st state but the best and closest ally with everything — with defense, mining, oil exploration, trade, everything,' he told CNN.

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent

President Donald Trump confirmed Monday evening in the Oval Office that he had fully pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

'It's my honor to do it. I've watched him. He was set up by a lot of bad people,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Monday evening after confirming that he had signed Blagojevich's pardon documents.

Trump previously commuted the sentence of the Democrat in February 2020, as the Republican president was running for reelection.

At the time, Blagojevich had served eight years of a 14 year sentence on pay-to-play charges, as the governor was accused of trying to sell President Barack Obama's Illinois Senate seat after Obama won the 2008 presidential election.

In recent days, Blagojevich has been rumored to be Trump's pick to serve as ambassador to Serbia.

'No, but I would,' Trump answered when asked if he was considering Blagojevich for the role.

Last week, Donald Trump sparked widespread celebration among fast food customers as he announced the return of plastic drinking straws.

Trump has long been a critic of efforts by environmentalists and Democrats to ban plastic straws, complaining that the paper replacements are terrible.

Over the last several years many major food outlets, including McDonald's, experimented with a move to paper, which was met with a fierce backlash from some customers.

He made the move official in an executive order signed Monday.

Democrats and activists held a rally outside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Monday as they took aim at billionaire Elon Musk after workers at the watchdog agency became the latest federal employees told not to report for work.

Workers at the CFPB were told over the weekend not to come into the offices through at least February 14, according to a memo.

Acting director Russell Vought over the weekend also directed people at the agency to pause their work.

The rally held outside the headquarters in downtown Washington, DC on Monday was the latest gathered by Democrats and activists who have sounded the alarms over the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government and spending.

That effort is being carried out by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team.

Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley was among the Democratic lawmakers who came out to rally the crowd on Monday.

She noted a sign she saw last week that read DOGE stands for ‘Dangerous Oligarchs Grab at Everything.’

Pressley said Musk needs to keep his ‘greedy grubby hands off of our government.’

‘Elon Musk and your muskrats, Elon Musk, I mean Donald Trump, same thing at this point, right? Who really is the president?’ Pressley asked.

She brought up the rising price of eggs and housing and argued ‘tell me how letting Elon put his paws in the cookie jar is helping a single person who calls this country home?’

Democrats pointed out that the CFPB was created by Congress and argued Trump and his allies do not have the power to shutter it.

President Donald Trump wants to send IRS agents to the Mexico border to remove illegal migrants.

The tax agents would be deputized to help arrest, detain and transport people out of the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a memo, asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to make the move to have IRS agents assist with immigration enforcement efforts across the country.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Capitol Police and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department are responding to a shooting blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

The Capitol Police sent out an urgent warning this afternoon telling Capitol Hill staffers to avoid Union Station, D.C.'s main rail hub.

In a follow-up announcement, the Capitol Police advised that there was an individual shot at the location.

Law enforcement is advising staff to avoid the area and that low-flying helicopters may be seen in the area.

'The USCP is on scene continuing to assist with a shooting investigation inside Union Station,' the Capitol Police said in a statement.

'Staff and other personnel are directed to AVOID THIS AREA until further notice,' the statement continued.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has terminated a multi-million dollar virtual reality project that taught soldiers how to have 'difficult conversations,' DailyMail.com can first report.

The Air Force and Space Force were dolling out millions for a training program not to better enhance soldiers' fighting capability, but to 'help grow inclusive-minded leaders.'

It was a priority for military officials under former President Joe Biden to address 'unconscious bias' in the military ranks and create a more 'inclusive' force, according to a White House memo.

So to do this the Air Force's Air Education and Training Command handed out a staggering $2.3 million contract to create a virtual reality experience where soldiers would deal with an avatar that would help them speak and act in a DEI-friendly way.

'This program allows the participants to have a conversation that are both realistic and difficult,' an Air Force soldier wrote alongside a video testimonial. 'It uses a virtual avatar that are controlled by trained actors.'

It 'is just another way that the Air and Space Force are innovating and staying one step ahead of a time when we have difficult conversations!' the soldier continued.

But that project cut directly against Donald Trump's executive order to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, so the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) canceled the initiative.

'DOGE has canceled a $2.3mm contract with the Air Force's University for the 'profession of arms center of excellence unconscious bias mixed reality service,'' a senior White House official revealed to Daily Mail.

JD Vance arrived at the Élysée Palace in Paris this evening for a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and other dignitaries ahead of a major AI summit on Tuesday.

The trip marks his international debut as vice president.

He flies on to Germany on Thursday for the Munich Security Conference.

Earlier Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected American officials to visit Kyiv this week and that he would meet Vance in Munich.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Speaker Mike Johnson spoke with Sen. Lindsey Graham about their differences in opinion over how to enact the pro-MAGA legislation Donald Trump has been calling for.

The pair spoke at the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday where they attended the big game with the president. Graham had spent all weekend with Trump, notably playing gold with the president in Florida before traveling to Louisiana.

Johnson has been advocating that Congress passes one giant bill with all of Trump's priorities, ranging from tax cuts to border security.

Graham, meanwhile, has pushed for two bills, one with border security and other priorities and another with tax cuts.

'We all want exactly the same things,' Johnson said Monday.

'[Graham is] really concerned about funding the border initiatives as am I, and we want to do it as quickly as possible.'

'The best way to guarantee that we achieve all the priorities of the President and we fulfill our campaign promises is to do it all together in one big, beautiful bill. So that still is the strategy of the House. We're going to drive this,' the speaker continued.

'If the Senate sends us a bill that is a nonstarter over here, it will just sit,' Johnson added.

Republicans are searching high and low for ways to cut federal spending to pay for Donald Trump's sweeping tax cuts, and they may reform Medicare to do it.

For weeks GOP lawmakers have been meeting privately to hammer out the details of their budget plan.

The still unformulated proposal will enable Congress to finally get the ball rolling on massive MAGA legislation that the president has been pushing.

Trump wants his 2017 tax cuts renewed, federal taxes on tips and overtime to be eliminated, money for enhanced border security, and more, all done this year.

The tax cuts are expected to slash up to $5.5 trillion of income from the federal government's balance sheet, meaning lawmakers have to find ways to cut spending in order to not implode their budget.

To do this some conservative lawmakers are looking at cuts to mandatory spending, which are expenditures required by law like Social Security, defense, servicing the interest on the national debt, and Medicare.

Medicare, which cost $874 billion in 2024, ate up about 15 percent of the government's total spending.

So now lawmakers are eyeing cuts to the popular program, which provides healthcare coverage for nearly 70 million Americans, in order to satisfy Trump's demands.

Donald Trump left the Super Bowl before the fourth quarter on Sunday, leading some to speculate over the reasoning for his early departure.

Some thought the president left because the team he picked to win – the Kansas City Chiefs – were getting an absolute beatdown by the Philadelphia Eagles. Others complained on social media that he wasted taxpayer dollars by only going to half the game.

But the president's official White House schedule always had him departing around 8:05 p.m. Central Time.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasted the FBI for a leak of a planned major ICE immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Donald Trump left the Super Bowl before the fourth quarter on Sunday, leading to speculation over the reasoning for his early departure.

Some thought the president left because the team he picked to win – the Kansas City Chiefs – were getting an absolute beatdown by the Philadelphia Eagles. Others complained on social media that he wasted taxpayer dollars by only going to half the game.

But the president's official White House schedule always had him departing around 8:05 p.m. Central Time.

Trump on Sunday became the first-ever sitting president to attend the Super Bowl. It was likely skipped by his predecessors due to the headache it could cause for the most highly protected individual to go in and out of the stadium.

READ more on why Trump left early from the big game:

Vice President J.D. Vance arrived with his family in Paris this morning, for a major A.I. summit Wednesday.

He is seen with wife Usha and children (from front to back) Vivek, four, Ewan, seven, and Mirabel, three (all still in their pyjamas.)

As we revealed earlier, the vice president is due to meet French President Emmanuel Macron, EU President Ursula von der Leyen, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before flying on to Germany for the Munich Security conference Friday.

Donald Trump was the first-ever sitting president to attend the Super Bowl on Sunday in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The White House released a 20-second hype-up video of President Trump walking out onto the Caesar's Super Dome field before the championship game and meeting with first responders.

During his Super Bowl interview with Bret Baier, Trump revealed how he plans to make America rich again.

Baier: You said that tariff is a beautiful word. There are some signs in the market, consumer confidence that they’re a little jittery. So, if all goes to plan, when do you think families would be able to feel prices going down, groceries, energy? Or are you kind of saying to them, hang on, inflation may get worse until it gets better?

Trump: No, I think we’re going to become a rich – and look, we’re not that rich right now. We owe $36 trillion. That’s because we let all these nations take advantage of us. Same thing, like 200 billion with Canada. We owe 300 – we have a deficit with Mexico of $350 billion. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to let that happen.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Elon Musk suggested Monday that FEMA might be the next agency to go after shuttering USAID last week.

He said DOGE found out the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent payments of $59 million last week to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal immigrants.

Now President DOnald Trump's 'first buddy' is demanding FEMA, which falls under DHS, push a clawback demand to recuperate the millions in distributed funds.

'Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President's executive order,' Musk claimed on his X platform on Monday.

He added: 'That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals!'

President Donald Trump jetted off to New Orleans for the Super Bowl Sunday afternoon – with several events set to put him front and center before a global audience.

He flew from Palm Beach hours after golfing with Tiger Woods on his Trump International Course.

A bevy of senators jammed onto Air Force One for the flight, with plans to join Trump in a luxury box and the Superdome.

He is the first sitting president to attend the big game, after making big sporting events a part of his career and persona.

The route takes them over the water he said was now called the Gulf of America, he will walk the field of the Caesar's Superdome.

There were reports that Trump was planning a 'stunt' to crow about the name change adopted by the government and Google maps. (Mexico's president and Democratic governors have mocked the change).

Although some reports suggested Donald Trump was booed at the Super Bowl clips showed him being cheered resoundingly.

The crowd went wild when the president was shown on the jumbotron standing alongside his kids Ivanka and Eric Trump.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift did not receive as warm of a reception.

When she appeared on the big screen the crowd savagely booed her.

Trump seized on the moment, firing off a Truth Social post that contrasted her jeers with his cheers. He wrote:

The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!