White House pushes back on report that Trump considering bypassing Congress to pay TSA staff
Shrai Popat
Earlier, we noted that according to the Washington Post, several Senate Republicans are pressing the White House to declare a national emergency to free up money to pay TSA agents if lawmakers fail to reach a deal, citing people familiar with the matter.
In response to the Post’s reporting, Leavitt said in a statement that the White House “is having discussions about a number of ideas to blunt the impact of the Democrat shutdown crisis, but no preparations or plans are currently underway”.
She added that “the best and easiest way to pay TSA Agents is to fund DHS.”
At a cabinet meeting today, Trump continued to blame Democrats for the deadlock on Capitol Hill.” They need to end the shutdown immediately, or we’ll have to take some very drastic measures,” he said, without going into detail.
Key events
Trump’s signature to appear on US paper currency, Treasury says
The department of treasury announced that US paper currency will soon feature President Donald Trump’s signature to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary.
The move marks the first time a sitting US president’s signature will appear on legal tender. To accommodate this change, the treasurer’s signature will be removed for the first time since 1861.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are on a path toward unprecedented economic growth, lasting dollar dominance, and fiscal strength and stability,” said secretary of the treasury Scott Bessent in a statement. “There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial.”
The first $100 bills with Trump’s signature and that of Bessent will be printed in June, followed by other bills in subsequent months, according to Reuters.
“As the 250th anniversary of our great nation approaches, American currency will continue to stand as a symbol of prosperity, strength, and the unshakable spirit of the American people under President Trump’s leadership,” said treasurer Brandon Beach in a statement.
The Trump administration has opened investigations into medical school admissions at Stanford, Ohio State, and the University of California, San Diego, according to a department of justice official.
Harmeet K Dhillon, DoJ’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, reposted a report by the New York Times about the news on social media and said “We did this yesterday. Among other things!”
This is the latest step in the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs that officials say exclude white and Asian American students.
According to the report from the Times, the administration is seeking information about medical school applicants from each of the past seven years, including test scores, home ZIP codes and any familial relationships to alumni or ties to university donors. DoJ is also requesting copies of any internal messages at the universities about diversity, equity and inclusion and any correspondence between school officials and pharmaceutical companies about admissions policies.
Since Trump took office, his administration has warned schools and colleges they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, hiring, scholarships and all aspects of campus life.
“At this time, our investigation will focus on possible race discrimination in medical school admissions,” Dhillon wrote in each of the letters to the universities, per the Times.
David Smith
The Guardian’s David Smith brings us more details about today’s cabinet meeting:
They have become so notorious for displays of flattery and obsequiousness that critics have drawn comparisons with North Korea. Thursday’s cabinet meeting at the White House was no different.
Doug Burgum, the US interior secretary, outflanked his fellow praise singers by saying he believes that Venezuela – which the US attacked in January – intends to honour the president with a statue.
Trump had brought up the subject by claiming the raid that captured president Nicolás Maduro, who was replaced by interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, was a win-win situation.
“We’ve made a lot of money and they’ve made a lot of money,” Trump declared. “I am the highest polling person. In other words, after the presidency I think I may go to Venezuela and run for president against Delcy. I may run against Delcy. It’s an option. They love me in Venezuela.”
Later in the meeting, Burgum, who recently visited Venezuela with oil and mining executives, sensed his opportunity. He said: “I literally think they’re going to put up a statue to President Trump and I’m not being – it’s not a political statement.”
Read the full story:
White House pushes back on report that Trump considering bypassing Congress to pay TSA staff
Shrai Popat
Earlier, we noted that according to the Washington Post, several Senate Republicans are pressing the White House to declare a national emergency to free up money to pay TSA agents if lawmakers fail to reach a deal, citing people familiar with the matter.
In response to the Post’s reporting, Leavitt said in a statement that the White House “is having discussions about a number of ideas to blunt the impact of the Democrat shutdown crisis, but no preparations or plans are currently underway”.
She added that “the best and easiest way to pay TSA Agents is to fund DHS.”
At a cabinet meeting today, Trump continued to blame Democrats for the deadlock on Capitol Hill.” They need to end the shutdown immediately, or we’ll have to take some very drastic measures,” he said, without going into detail.
President Donald Trump said he was postponing any strikes against Iran’s power plants for 10 days, extending the pause to 6 April at 8pm Eastern Time.
“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Here’s a recap of today’s events
Senate majority leader John Thune has said he believes that DHS funding talks are beginning to make progress again, as the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security enters its sixth week, per Punchbowl News. The Democrats are in possession of “what I think is our last and final” offer, the reporter quotes Thune as saying, giving no further details.
The Senate failed to achieve 60 votes needed to pass an amendment to the Save America act that would require voters to present photo ID to cast a ballot. The chamber voted 52-47, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for it to pass. No Democrats voted for it. Earlier today, Trump urged Republicans to terminate the Senate filibuster.
During a cabinet meeting earlier, Donald Trump said that Iran was letting 10 oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz as an apparent goodwill gesture in the supposed negotiations. As a reminder, my colleagues are covering all the latest from the Middle East here.
Donald Trump wants to renovate the White House’s treaty room, traditionally a meeting space for diplomats and statesman, into a guest bedroom with an en suite bathroom. This is according to the New York Times.
The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro again appeared in a Manhattan federal court for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year. The full report by Victoria Bekiempis and Tom Phillips is here.
Trump administration considers bypassing Congress to pay TSA staff
The Washington Post reports that “unilateral action” is a possibility if Democrats and Republicans cannot reach agreement on funding the Department of Homeland Security.
The Republican Senate majority leader, John Thune, laid out the plan to fellow GOP senators at a closed-door lunch, the Post reported.
It would mean Congress being sidestepped at a time when passengers are facing record security delays.
The left wing senator for Vermont, Bernie Sanders, has teamed up with the Democratic representative from Texas, Greg Cesar, to introduce the home team act, which is designed to give sports fans the chance to buy their local franchise before owners move it to another location.
The proposed legislation is designed to protect fans and local communities from losing teams or being extorted for large subsidies by owners who threaten to move elsewhere.
Franchise owners would be required to give a year’s notice before moving out of state or to a different metropolitan area.
“The American people are sick and tired of billionaires threatening to move the sports teams they own to different states unless they get hundreds of millions in corporate welfare to build new stadiums,” Sanders said. “In my view, professional sports teams should be owned and controlled by the fans who love them, not by the multibillionaire oligarchs who are getting even richer by charging outrageous prices and getting taxpayers to pick up their extravagant costs.”
Maduro re-appears in court
Victoria Bekiempis
The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro again appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year, Victoria Bekiempis and Tom Phillips report.
The hearing opened with the defense and prosecution arguing over whether Maduro should be allowed to use Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defense. The defense has insisted that the US is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking government money from being used for his legal costs.
The full report is here
Senate fails to pass voter photo ID amendment to Save America act
The Senate failed to achieve 60 votes needed to pass an amendment to the Save America act that would require voters to present photo ID to cast a ballot.
The amendment had been sponsored by senator Jon Husted, of Ohio. The chamber voted 52-47, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for it to pass. No Democrats voted for it.
Here’s more on the proposed legislation from the Guardian’s Rachel Leingang:
The Save America act is a rebranded and expanded version of last year’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) act, which passed in the US House but didn’t get a vote in the Senate. This year’s version includes expansive documentary proof of citizenship requirements and criminal liability for election officials from the initial Save act, in addition to a very strict voter ID requirement for casting a ballot and a provision that requires states to regularly turn their voter rolls over to the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump scoops ‘America first’ award to go with his inaugural Fifa ‘peace prize”
José Olivares
Amid an aggressive war in Iran, heightening and devastating pressure on Cuba, immigration enforcement operations throughout the country and a partial government shutdown, the lead Republican in the House has given Donald Trump a newly concocted award, the Guardian’s José Olivares writes.
Democrats, lawmakers and commentators are criticizing and ridiculing the “America First” award given to Trump on Wednesday evening during the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser.
“The president has done so much for the American people and we want to honor him, in some small way, some token of our appreciation for his leadership,” said Mike Johnson, the US House speaker. “So, tonight, we have created a new award.”
Johnson then introduced the “America First” award, made up of a golden eagle statue.
Read the rest of José’s report here
Trump wants to renovate the White House’s treaty room
Having demolished the east wing, the president has set his sights on another part of the presidential mansion to transform out of recognition, the New York Times reports.
The latest plan is to turn the treaty room – traditionally a meeting space for diplomats and statesman – into a guest bedroom with an en suite bathroom.
The room is one of the most storied in the White House, having seen the signing of the peace protocol at the end of the 1898 Spanish-American war, as well as John F Kennedy’s signing of the nuclear test ban treaty of 1963. It was also the setting for wartime addresses by George W Bush and Joe Biden and was once known as the “Monroe room” after President James Monroe, who used it as his work space.
The Pentagon is considering the possibility of diverting munitions from Ukraine as the war on Iran depletes some of the US’s most vital weapons stockpiles, the Washington Post is reporting.
The paper says a final decision has not been made. But Ukraine has become heavily dependent on US-made air defense interceptor missiles, ordered through a Nato program launched last year under which allied countries purchase the missiles for Ukraine.
Trump referenced the Ukraine war in Thursday’s cabinet meeting, saying it’s deadly four-year conflict with Russia was “not our war” in a deliberate echo of the description of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran by Germany’s chancellor, Friederich Merz.
Hillary Clinton is to speak at a Democratic party fundraiser in New Hampshire next month.
The former first lady and defeated 2016 presidential candidate will address the New Hampshire party’s McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner on 25 April. It promises to be her first foray into the limelight since last month’s testimony to the House of Representatives’ oversight committee over the Epstein files, after Clinton and her husband, Bill, were subpoenaed.
The event has become something of a way station for Democrats hoping to capture the White House.
The first 100-club dinner was held in 1959 to promote the hopes of the then Democratic senator for Massachussetts, John F Kennedy. Kennedy won the following year’s presidential election.
The 2020 dinner was attended by 10 presidential hopefuls, including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg.
Trump says Iran’s ‘present’ to US was allowing 10 oil tankers through strait of Hormuz
Trump also told the cabinet meeting that Iran was letting 10 oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz as an apparent goodwill gesture in the supposed negotiations.
They said, to show you the fact that we’re real and solid and we’re there, we’re going to let you have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big boats of oil. I guess they were right, and they were real, and I think they were Pakistani-flagged … It ended up being 10 boats.
The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for more details on the vessels.
The president on Tuesday had baffled some observers when he said that Iran had given the United States an expensive, energy-related concession. At the time, he declined to elaborate on exactly what he meant, telling reporters:
They gave us a present and the present arrived today, and it was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money.
My colleague Tom Ambrose is covering all the latest from the Middle East here:
‘Iran is begging to make a deal, not me,’ Trump claims
Tom Ambrose
During the cabinet meeting earlier, Donald Trump repeated his earlier remarks that Iran is “begging to make a deal”.
Just so we set the record straight, because I’ve been watching the Wall Street Journal’s fake news and all these stories that get printed like, oh, I want to make a deal. They are begging to make a deal. Not me. They’re begging to make a deal.
Iran were “lousy fighters but great negotiators”, he added.
They are begging to work out a deal. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that. I don’t know if we’re willing to do that. They should have done that four weeks ago. They should have done it two years ago.
