Trump live: Mike Waltz caught using Signal app knockoff after being ousted as national security adviser – UK Times

Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump’s decision to remove Mike Waltz as his national security adviser could be followed by a mass firing of White House staff being dubbed “The Purge,” according to a report.

The dismissals could come as soon as late next week, sources have told Politico, with one insider saying “a lot” of employees will be let go over perceived loyalty concerns, with the president preferring to announce their removal in one sweeping gesture, rather than in piecemeal fashion one-by-one.

While Trump has so far managed to avoid a repeat of the same level of staffing chaos as his first term, which saw almost as high a turnover as the average season of his NBC reality show The Apprentice, Waltz’s firing could mark the opening of the floodgates.

Joe Sommerlad has the story:

Donald Trump suggested that two Democrats who have filed articles of impeachment against the president should be expelled from Congress.

Trump appeared to refer to Michigan Representative Shri Thanedar, who introduced seven articles of impeachment targeting the president on Monday. The bid is being co-sponsored by Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky. Texas Representative Al Green said last month he will present articles of impeachment against Trump.

“The Democrats are really out of control. They have lost everything, especially their minds! These Radical Left Lunatics are into the ‘Impeachment thing’ again,” Trump began his Truth Social tirade just before midnight.

“They have already got two ‘No Name,’ little respected Congressmen, total Whackjobs both, throwing the ‘Impeachment’ of DONALD J. TRUMP around, for about the 20th time, even though they have no idea for what I would be Impeached.”

He added: “The Republicans should start to think about expelling them from Congress for all of the crimes that they have committed, especially around Election time(s).”

Fresh data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate remains at 4.2 percent.

The report also comes with a downward revision of job numbers for the reports from February and March.

Rhian Lubin in New York and Eric Garcia in Washington, D.C., report.

The partial budget proposal the White House is set to release today will call for $163 billion in federal spending cuts next fiscal year, a person familiar with the matter told The Washington Post, confirming earlier reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The upcoming “skinny budget” will propose cuts to a broad array of federal spending on environmental, education, foreign aid and health-care programs, including many of those already targeted for reductions by the Trump administration or billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, the person said. Among the agencies proposed to see reductions include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, among others, the person said.

The White House is expected to release a much lengthier, traditional budget later in the month.

The fiscal 2026 budget proposal is a largely symbolic wish list that lays out President Donald Trump’s spending and political priorities.

The budget plan will propose $557 billion in nondefense discretionary spending, officials told the Journal, reducing nondefense discretionary spending by $163 billion. The administration said that represents a 22.6 percent cut from projected spending in fiscal year 2025, which ends September 30, though it wasn’t clear how that percentage was calculated.

Nondefense discretionary spending is federal money that must be reauthorized each year to fund areas such as education, transportation, and public health, but not defense, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Congress will spend months debating which elements of the proposed plan should be turned into law. Republicans control both the House and the Senate, but only by a slim margin, so satisfying individual lawmakers’ spending priorities to wrangle the necessary votes will be a tricky balancing act for congressional leaders.

Donald Trump signed an executive order to end public funding of National Public Radio and PBS to stop what he considered partisan coverage and “left-wing propaganda.”

The order, which the president signed Thursday evening, instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS” to the extent legally allowed.

“Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options,” it reads. “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”

Beijing announced Friday that it was weighing whether to hold trade talks with Washington after the Trump administration’s multiple attempts to kick off negotiations.

China’s Commerce Ministry said that the Asian nation was “evaluating” the U.S.’s offer to talk.

The Chinese department said it would do so under one condition: if Donald Trump cancels its hefty tariffs on Chinese goods.

“If the United States does not correct its wrong unilateral tariff measures, it means that the United States has no sincerity at all and will further damage the mutual trust between the two sides,” a ministry spokesperson said.

China and the U.S. have been engaged in a bitter trade war, throttling trade between the two nations after Trump imposed a 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods. In retaliation, China raised its tariffs on US products to 125 percent.

Trump is set to expand his property empire into Dubai – with a new 80-story skyscraper.

Plans have been unveiled for Trump Hotel & Residences Dubai in the heart of the UAE, measuring almost 1,150 feet with a swimming pool at the top.

Prices for two-bed apartments start at $1 million and the website for the property offers free 10-year “golden visas.”

The advertised golden visa does not specify which country it is for but in February, the President announced the concept of selling a “gold card” visa for $5 million, potentially offering wealthy buyers residency in the U.S. and granting them a pathway to citizenship.

Madeline Sherratt has the story:

Donald Trump said that he wants to rename Veterans Day, which takes place annually on November 11 to remember fallen soldiers, to “Victory Day for World War I.”

The president said that he also wishes to celebrate May 8—which marks Victory in Europe (VE) Day—as “Victory Day for World War I.”

“We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything — That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday evening. “We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”

Trump also said that the U.S. “did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II.”