Trump tariffs live updates: White House adviser says Canada ‘taken over by Mexican cartels’ amid brewing trade war – UK Times

House Republicans are taking steps to punish Texas Democratic Representative Al Green for disrupting the president’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, which led to Green being thrown out of the chamber.

Washington State Republican Daniel Newhouse introduced a censure resolution against Green on Wednesday.

“This was beyond the pale. It went on and on, disrupting the entire evening so I felt it had to be responded to,” said Newhouse.

“We have to uphold the expectations of decorum here, or else, what are we? We have nothing other than just a club that everybody comes and yells at each other.”

Gustaf Kilander has more.

America PAC, the political action committee started by Elon Musk, has launched its first TV commercial, highlighting “four long years of humiliation” under the Biden administration.

Here’s more from Mike Bedigan.

Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged questions about Musk’s sartorial choices yesterday following criticism over MAGA’s attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky regarding his wartime uniform, which cropped up during his ill-fated visit to the Oval Office last week.

Surprisingly, the offending question came from Fox’s Peter Doocy.

Here’s more from Madeline Sherratt.

You can see two contrasting reactions to Trump’s tariff trade war on Fox News yesterday from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and pundit Jessica Tarlov.

With stocks tanking, market confidence plunging and gas prices poised to rocket, the economic “disturbance” the president has introduced will soon be felt in Americans’ pockets and portfolios, says James Moore.

CNN is reporting that White House officials have prepared an executive order for the president to sign, possibly as soon as today, directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the department, a move he has threatened for months and which was included in the Project 2025 manifesto for his second term.

We’ll bring you all the latest on that if and when it happens.

Solo Avital, a U.S.-based filmmaker and artist, said he made the bad taste video imagining post-war Gaza as a glitzy beach resort while experimenting with AI software in early February and was “surprised” when the clip went viral.

Those USDA staffers weren’t the only ones sheepishly welcomed back to the office this week.

On Tuesday, almost 200 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) probationary employees who were laid off last month were sent emails with the subject line, “Read this e-mail immediately”, inviting them back to work at the nation’s top public health agency.

The chair of a quiet government agency secured the re-employment of nearly 6,000 fired federal workers for the next month and a half on Wednesday, just a day after her own firing was ruled illegal by a federal judge.

Cathy Harris struck what is likely the biggest blow so far to DOGE’s firing campaign on Wednesday, ruling that 5,600 probationary employees at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) were terminated in a move that may have violated federal procedures.

Her ruling halts the firings for 45 days, while the Merit Systems Protection Board, which she chairs, reviews the firings.

It’s not a permanent victory for workers hoping to keep their jobs, but one that could become lasting if the Board rules that the firings (which at USDA were predicated on supposed performance issues) were made on dubious grounds.

Meanwhile, the affected employees will remain in their respective positions.

Here’s more from John Bowden.

The Trump administration is looking to roll back staffing at the department charged with caring for American military veterans by firing as many as 80,000 workers who were hired as part of a Joe Biden initiative to improve care and cover for veterans exposed to burn pits and toxic substances.

Here’s how the news played on MSNBC (very poorly indeed) – and an astonishing defense by Trump counsel and MAGA favorite Alina Habba.

Andrew Feinberg has this report.

The GOP met with Musk behind closed doors in Washington yesterday and lawmakers implored him to run his federal cuts past them as concerns about his Department of Government Efficiency’s unchecked activities continue to grow.

The world’s richest man met separately with House and Senate Republicans on Wednesday and reportedly explained how DOGE was going about its business and even gave out his mobile number as a gesture towards transparency as those in attendance called for greater consultation with Congress.

The billionaire also admitted his staff had made mistakes and attempted to put some distance between himself and the mass firing of federal employees, saying it was ultimately the responsibility of the agencies that manage them.

Seeking to reassure his flock, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he and Musk have been in contact “almost daily now,” CNN reports.

The danger for Republicans, however, is that, should DOGE’s cuts be put to the vote, they would be expected by the president to back them and would therefore be on record as directly supporting firings that could prove deeply unpopular with the American public.

Here’s Mary Papenfuss on DOGE’s figures still not adding up.