White House orders pause of federal grants
An internal memo sent by the White House on Monday instructs agencies to pause all federal grants while evaluating their compliance with Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), among others.
“Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The memo included some vague caveats – including that agencies pause grants “to the extent permissible under applicable law,” although it is not clear how the agencies will interpret that. Another line in the memo stipulated that “nothing in this memo should be construed to impact Medicare or Social Security benefits.”
The memo could impact billions of dollars of federal grant money for state, local and tribal governments.
Key events
Senator Patty Murray, of Washington, and Connecticut congresswoman Rosa DeLauro – top Democrats on the Senate and House appropriations committees – reacted to the memo ordering a pause on federal grant money with shock.
“The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country,” they wrote.
“We write today to urge you in the strongest possible terms to uphold the law and the Constitution and ensure all federal resources are delivered in accordance with the law.”
White House orders pause of federal grants
An internal memo sent by the White House on Monday instructs agencies to pause all federal grants while evaluating their compliance with Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), among others.
“Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The memo included some vague caveats – including that agencies pause grants “to the extent permissible under applicable law,” although it is not clear how the agencies will interpret that. Another line in the memo stipulated that “nothing in this memo should be construed to impact Medicare or Social Security benefits.”
The memo could impact billions of dollars of federal grant money for state, local and tribal governments.
Independent watchdogs summarily dismissed by Donald Trump have denounced the move as illegal and a threat to democracy that paves the way for the appointment of “political lackeys” and widespread institutional corruption.
The sacking of the 18 inspectors general from federal agencies last Friday, including the departments of defence, energy and state, has also been widely condemned as illegal.
Hannibal “Mike” Ware, who was the inspector general for the Small Business Administration until his sudden firing, told MSNBC that the dismissals are anti-democratic because they ride roughshod over a law requiring the president to give Congress 30 days’ notice and the reasoning for any such move.
“This is not about any of our individual jobs. We acknowledge that the president has the right to remove any of us that he chooses. But the protections that were baked into the act is everything, absent having to provide a real reason. We’re looking at what amounts to a threat to democracy, a threat to independent oversight, and a threat to transparency in government,” he said.
Read the full story here:
DeepSeek a ‘wake-up call’ for US tech, says Trump
Donald Trump has said the release of the DeepSeek AI model by a Chinese firm should be a “wake-up call” for the US tech industry.
DeepSeek, which was released last week, became the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store on Monday, and appears to compete with the models of US leaders such as OpenAI while costing much less.
“I’ve been reading about China and some of the companies in China… coming up with a faster method of AI, and [a] much less expensive method,” Trump told a meeting of House Republicans in Miami on Monday.
“If it’s true – and nobody really knows if it is – I view that as a positive. You won’t be spending as much and you’ll get the same result, hopefully.
He added that the app “should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.”
“Because we have the greatest scientists in the world. We always have the ideas. We’re always first. We’re going to unleash our tech companies and we’re going to dominate the future like never before,” he said.
The youngest person ever to serve as White House press secretary is preparing to deliver her first briefing.
Karoline Leavitt, 27, is scheduled to make her debut at 1pm eastern time (6pm GMT) on Tuesday.
Leavitt became hooked on politics while at college during Trump’s first term, later securing an internship in his administration and rising quickly to become assistant press secretary, according to a profile in the Times.
After Trump’s loss in 2020, she became communications director for Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik, now the nominee for US ambassador to the UN, and in 2022 made her own unsuccessful bid for Congress.
Leavitt is a gun enthusiast and has described the liberal media as “unjust, unfair and sometimes just plain old false”.
Four people – Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany – served as press secretary during Trump’s first term.
House Republicans are gathered in Donald Trump’s National Doral resort near Miami, Florida for a three-day summit at which they will strategize about how to pass their legislative agenda.
Pictures from Trump’s appearance at the event on Monday show him dancing onstage alongside the Republicans’ congressional leadership and addressing the assembled crowd.
Trump questions whether he can hold third term: ‘Am I allowed to run again?’
Donald Trump has publicly questioned whether he might be allowed to run for a third term as US president.
Under a constitutional amendment introduced in 1951, no individual is allowed to serve more than two terms in the White House.
Speaking to a gathering of House Republicans in Florida on Monday, Trump said: “I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100% sure, because I don’t know.
“I think I’m not allowed to run again. I’m not sure, am I allowed to run again?”
The comments drew laughter from the audience.
More now on that series of executive orders signed by President Trump on Monday
As well as the one directing the Pentagon to reassess its policy on transgender troops, there was an order that removed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives from the US military.
The order directed the Pentagon to get rid of “any vestiges” of such initiatives, saying they promote a “race-based preferences system that subverts meritocracy” and perpetuate “unconstitutional discrimination”.
It also prohibited the promotion of “un-American” theories that suggest America’s founding documents are racist or sexist.
Another order offered reinstatement to the roughly 8,200 personnel who had to leave the military because they refused to get the Covid vaccine during the pandemic.
Trump has also said they will be restored to their full rank and receive back pay.
A fourth order called for the development of an “American Iron Dome” defence system, similar to the one used by Israel.
It said the threat of attack by “ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States” and directed the Pentagon to submit a plan within 60 days.
What was in Trump’s executive order on transgender troops?
Among a number of executive orders signed by Donald Trump on Monday was one that the White House said was intended to eliminate “gender radicalism in the military”.
The order directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, and is widely expected to lead to a ban.
It said the adoption of a gender identity different to a person’s biological sex “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and was harmful to military readiness.
During his first term, Trump said he would ban transgender troops from serving in the military. He did not fully follow through with that ban, but his administration froze recruitment of transgender people while allowing serving personnel to remain.
Joe Biden overturned the decision when he took office in 2021.
About 1.3 million active personnel serve in the military, Department of Defense data shows. While transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender service members, officials say the number is in the low thousands.
Trump’s executive orders reshape US military
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of all the latest from US politics.
Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders late last night to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from the military, reinstate thousands of troops who were kicked out for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, and direct officials to reassess the military’s policy on transgender troops.
As Reuters reports, Trump signed the executive orders while flying back from Miami to Washington DC. One of the executive orders said that expressing a “gender identity” different from an individual’s sex at birth did not meet military standards.
The move does appear to be paving the way for a ban of transgender soldiers in the military. Trump had tried to implement such a ban during his first term, but it was tangled up in the courts for years before being overturned by Joe Biden shortly after he took office.
Lawyers for transgender troops who challenged the ban in the courts during Trump’s first term have already pledged to fight a new ban.
We’ll be bringing you more on this soon. In other developments:
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Yesterday Pete Hegseth, who narrowly secured enough votes to become defense secretary, referred to the names of Confederate generals that were once used for two key bases during his remarks to reporters as he entered the Pentagon on his first full day on the job. Hegseth referred to Fort Moore and Fort Liberty by their previous names, Fort Benning and Fort Bragg. The names honouring Confederate officers were changed under former Biden as part of an effort to reexamine US history and the Confederate legacy.
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Trump has suggested that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a bidding war over the app. When asked last night if Microsoft was in talks to buy the app, the US president said “I would say yes”, adding: “A lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.” Microsoft declined to comment.
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Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will reportedly be the first foreign leader to meet Trump at the White House since his inauguration. It is thought the meeting could come as early as next week.
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Trump called the apparent success of an AI model released by Chinese company DeepSeek a “wake-up call” for US tech. The share prices of some of the leading tech firms fell on Monday following the release of the model, which can perform as well as existing models but at a much lower cost, according to its developers.
Article by:Source: Alice Herman (now) and Christy Cooney (earlier)
