Trump wants to shrink size, reach and focus of state department – report
Donald Trump wants to radically shrink the state department – leaving it with fewer diplomats, a smaller number of embassies and a narrower remit that critics argue could hand China wins across the world, Politico reports.
The administration appears “determined to focus state on areas such as transactional government agreements, safeguarding US security and promoting foreign investment in America”. That would mean slashing bureaus promoting traditional soft power initiatives – such as those advancing democracy, protecting human rights and supporting scientific research.
It’s not clear yet how many embassies would be closed, but Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, is on board with cutting a significant number, a person familiar with the internal discussions told Politico.
The move is “going to dramatically shrink the ambit of American diplomacy, dramatically shrink the purpose and the practice of our diplomacy and return it, if not to the 19th century, at least” before the second world war, said Tom Shannon, a former senior state department official who served under Republican and Democratic presidents.
Key events
Trump-Zelenskyy press conference cancelled with Zelenskyy set to leave early
Following heated talks earlier, the joint press conference with the Ukrainian president has been cancelled, the White House said.
A White House source confirmed to Reuters that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leaving the White House early.
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Zelenskyy was “not ready for peace.” He claimed Zelenskyy had “disrespected” the US (something his vice-president, JD Vance, also accused Zelenskyy of during the meeting for apparently not thanking the US enough for its support thusfar).
Trump added:
He can come back when he’s ready for peace.
For all the details head to over Europe live blog:
Federal workers could get a second ‘what did you do last week’ email that may require a response
This report is from the Associated Press.
Federal employees could get another email on Saturday requiring them to explain their recent accomplishments, a renewed attempt by Donald Trump and Elon Musk to demand answers from the government workforce.
The plan, first reported by the Washington Post (paywall), was disclosed to AP by a person with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The first email, which was distributed a week ago, asked employees “what did you do last week?” and prompted them to list five tasks that they completed. Musk, who empowered by Trump is aiming to downsize agencies and eliminate thousands of federal jobs, said anyone who didn’t respond would be fired. Many agencies, meanwhile, told their workforces not to respond or issued conflicting guidance.
The second email will be delivered in a different way, according to the person with knowledge of the situation, potentially making it easier to discipline employees for noncompliance.
Instead of being sent by the Office of Personnel Management, which functions as a human resources agency for the federal government but doesn’t have the power to hire or fire, the email will come from individual agencies that have direct oversight of career officials.
It’s unclear how national security agencies will handle the second email. After the first one, they directed employees not to write back because much of the agencies’ work is sensitive or classified. Less than half of federal workers responded, according to the White House.
The Office of Personnel Management ultimately told agency leaders shortly before the Monday deadline for responses that the request was optional, although it left the door open for similar demands going forward.
On Wednesday, at Trump’s first cabinet meeting of his second term, Musk argued that his request was a “pulse check” to ensure that those working for the government have “a pulse and two neurons”.
Both Musk and Trump have claimed that some workers are either dead or fictional, and the president has publicly backed Musk’s approach.
Trump said that people who didn’t respond to the first email “ are on the bubble”, adding that he wasn’t “thrilled” about them not responding.
“Now, maybe they don’t exist,” he claimed without providing evidence. “Maybe we’re paying people that don’t exist.”
Florida first lady Casey DeSantis doesn’t rule out running for governor alongside her husband.
At an event at the Florida International University Academic Health Center on Friday, after reporters asked if she could confirm if she was considering a run, the first lady said: “Well, I would say one thing. To quote the late, great Yogi Berra, ‘when you come to a fork in the road, take.’”
Florida governor Ron DeSantis said of his wife that people have been approaching him “for years, begging to get her in the fray.”
Russian state media gets kicked out of the White House during Zelenskyy meeting
Russian state media Tass was removed from the Oval Office during the bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy.
The White House said they were not on the approved media list for the meeting, so they were removed as soon as it came to the attention of press office staff.
Trump says he is ‘for both Ukraine and Russia’
In the meeting with Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, Trump plays diplomat. Zelensky responds to Trump, pleading for “no compromises with a killer”, in reference to Russian President Vladmir Putin.
For more on this story, follow along on our Europe liveblog:
29 Mexican cartel members were extradited to the United States, the White House announced on Friday.
Of those extradited is Rafael Caro Quintero, which the White House calls “one of the most evil cartel bosses in the world.” Quintero is accused of murdering a US DEA agent in 1985.
The cooperation between the US and Mexican government comes despite the fact that Mexico is trying to prevent a 25 percent tariff on all of its imports into the US, which will begin Tuesday.
Hugo Lowell
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, saw few political consequences in supporting Donald Trump’s ouster of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff because he never had the support of the senators who wanted Gen Charles Brown to remain in the role, advisers close to the secretary said.
The ramifications of Trump’s decision to fire Brown and seven other senior officials at the Pentagon took on new urgency on Thursday after five former defense secretaries, outraged at Trump’s firings, urged Congress to hold hearings and extract justifications for their dismissals under oath.
But people close to the defense secretary said Hegseth felt that some senators who voted against his nomination, like Susan Collins who pushed for Brown to stay in his role, could be ignored because Hegseth never had their support in first place.
That calculus appears to have come into play when Hegseth met with Trump on 14 February to discuss the personnel moves, broadly agreeing that they should not have a joint chiefs chair or any other senior official who was associated with the Biden administration.
It could also be tested in the coming weeks as Congress weighs whether to entertain the letter and hold a series of hearings.
Zelenskyy arrives at White House to meet with Trump
The stakes could not be higher for the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has arrived at the White House to meet with Donald Trump.
Can he persuade the US president to provide a backstop to guarantee any peace deal? Will the minerals deal happen?
My colleague Jakub Krupa will bring you all the latest on that here:
‘USAid cuts make world less safe’: Guterres calls for US to reverse cuts to humanitarian aid
Going through with these cuts will make the world less healthy, less safe and less prosperous, Guterres says.
The reduction of America’s humanitarian role and influence will run counter to American influence globally, he says.
I can only hope that these decisions can be reversed based on more careful reviews, and the same applies to other countries that have recently announced reductions in humanitarian and development aid.
In the meantime, Guterres says, every UN agency stands ready to provide information and justification for its projects, adding that the UN will do everything it can to provide life-saving aid to those in need.
From Gaza to Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria, Ukraine and beyond, US funding supports people living through wars, famines and disasters, providing essential healthcare, shelter, water, food and education, Guterres says.
The message is clear, he says.
America’s generosity and compassion have not only saved lives, built peace and improved the state of the world; they have contributed to the stability and prosperity that Americans depend on.
Guterres starts by expressing deep concern over developments over the last 48 hours regarding “severe cuts in funding” by the US.
These cuts impact a wide range of critical programs, he says, from life-saving humanitarian aid to support to vulnerable communities recovering from war or natural disasters, from development to fights against terrorism and drug-trafficking.
The consequences will be especially devastating for vulnerable people around the world, he says.
In Afghanistan, more than 9 million people will out on health and protection services. In Syria, where 2.5 million people need assistance, where the absence of US funding leaves large populations even more vulnerable. In Ukraine, cash-based programming has been suspended in key regions. In South Sudan, funding has run out for programs supporting people who have fled the conflict, leaving border areas dangerously overcrowded.
Meanwhile, he says, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime will be forced to stop many counter-narcotics programs, including the one fighting the fentanyl crisis [a preoccupation of the Trump administration with regards to justifying its proposed sweeping tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico], and dramatically reduce activities against human trafficking.
And funding for many programs fighting HIV/AIDs, TB, malaria and cholera have stopped, Guterres says.
The UN secretary-general António Guterres is making a statement on USAid cuts to reporters now. You can watch along here, I’ll bring you the main lines.
Ex-US defense chiefs urge congressional hearings on Trump’s military firings
Robert Tait
Five former US defense secretaries have demanded congressional hearings on Donald Trump’s firings of several military commanders, including the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, saying it was done for “purely partisan reasons” and weakens national security.
The five – including James Mattis, who served as defence secretary during Trump’s first presidency – wrote in a letter that they were “deeply alarmed” by the dismissals, which they said were “reckless” and unjustified by operational reason.
Trump fired Gen CQ Brown, the chair of the joint chiefs, last Friday night. The sacking was followed by an order from Pete Hegseth, the newly installed defence secretary, dismissing the head of the navy, Adm Lisa Franchetti, and Gen James Slife, the air force’s vice-chief of staff.
Calling on Congress to “exercise fully its constitutional oversight responsibilities”, the five defence secretaries argue that “the president offered no justification for his actions”.
These officers’ exemplary operational and combat experience, as well as the coming dismissals of the Judge Advocates General of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, make clear that none of this was about warfighting.
Mr Trump’s dismissals raise troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicise the military and to remove legal constraints on the president’s power.
Read the full report here: