January 30, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) isn’t just about saving money, but about “making the bureaucracy more accountable to the elected president.”

Vance told Fox News that DOGE will re-align the administrative branches of government to better reflect and serve the will of the president “as elected by the people.”

Vance said DOGE will act as a check on “bureaucracy,” and pointed to the group identifying funding grants “that were going to be made in violation of an executive order and stopped them right before the money was wired.”

The Trump administration attempted to place an indefinite freeze on federal grants and loan programs Monday night, a move that left many questions for organizations that have come to depend on government support for their plans and activities before it was rescinded, as previously reported by CNN.

President Donald Trump signs documents as he issues executive orders in the Oval Office, on January 20.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign executive orders Friday at 3 p.m. ET at the White House, according to the White House.

Trump is then scheduled to depart from the South Lawn at 5 p.m. ET, en route to Palm Beach, Florida, where he is expected to spend the weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will brief the media at 1 p.m. ET.

While President Donald Trump continues to consolidate power as some close allies face confirmation hearings to serve in his cabinet, Democrats are on a quest to find their new Democratic National Committee leader.

Eight candidates appeared at a Georgetown University event Thursday for the fourth and final party-run forum to make their case ahead of an election this Saturday:

The forum was raucous at times. After about a dozen climate change protestors from the Sunrise Movement interrupted the forum to ask about the environment and money in politics, the moderators — MSNBC hosts Jonathan Capehart, Symone Sanders Townsend and Jen Psaki — shifted to ask the candidates about those issues.

Psaki asked the panel if they would refuse to accept money from oil and gas companies — all eight raised their hands. Psaki also asked if they would refuse to accept money from corporate PACs — several candidates raised their hands, but some, including Wikler and Martin, did not.

In their opening remarks, several Democrats mentioned the Wednesday night aircraft collision — and the president’s response to it — and argued that the next chair must be prepared to take on the challenge of the current political climate.

Candidates were asked about how they would respond to misinformation and get the party’s message out. The candidates were also asked to raise their hands if they believed racism and misogyny played a role in the 2024 election. All eight raised their hands.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on nominations for Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, and Scott Turner, Trumps pick for secretary of Housing and Urban Development — a key step toward confirmation votes on the Senate floor, before the Senate adjourned for the weekend.

The Senate is expected to vote to break a filibuster on Bondi’s nomination, and to vote to confirm Chris Wright as Energy Secretary on Monday evening.

That night, the Senate will also take a procedural vote to allow Thune to file cloture on Russ Vought’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget. That procedural vote is part of Democratic efforts to delay and oppose Vought’s confirmation.

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday night, issuing another stern warning to the BRICS nations — a coalition of emerging economies backed by China and Russia — that any attempt to move away from the US dollar in international trade will result in 100% tariffs.

Trump made it clear that economic retaliation would follow if these countries try to replace or diminish the dollar’s role in global commerce.

This statement echoes Trump’s previous remarks on the issue during his campaign and when he was elected.

The BRICS nations, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, expanded earlier this year to include Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt — the first expansion in over a decade. According to South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, 34 additional countries have expressed interest in joining the group, as CNN has reported.

Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks as he attends a dinner in Washington, DC, on January 18.

Vice President JD Vance expressed confidence that President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, particularly Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel, will ultimately be confirmed, though he stressed that securing their approval will require significant effort.

Vance highlighted the distinction between how Senate Republicans and Democrats approach such decisions, suggesting that Republicans tend to be more independent in their thinking.

“I admire that Senate Republicans are a little bit more free thinking,” he said.

However, Vance emphasized that while independent thought is valuable, Senate Republicans should not block Trump’s nominees over disagreements on specific policy issues.

“President Trump gets to make these decisions, and he already has,” Vance said.

Trump’s controversial cabinet picks, including Kennedy, Gabbard and Patel, faced sharp questions from both Democrats and Republican lawmakers during Senate committee hearings on Thursday, as reported by CNN.

Lourdes Tiglao is seen outside her office after being dismissed as the Director of the Center for Women Veterans on Thursday.

Lourdes Tiglao, the director of the Center for Women Veterans, is one of the latest officials to be fired under the new Trump administration.

She was terminated from her position within the Department of Veterans Affairs Wednesday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the matter and confirmed by a department spokesperson.

Tiglao was seen by a CNN crew on Wednesday shortly after being fired leaving her office near the White House with boxes of belongings.

Tiglao served as primary advisor to the secretary of Veterans Affairs on policies, programs and legislation that affect women veterans.

The VA spokesperson said the director for the Center for Minority Veterans has also been replaced.

The firings were not related to President Donald Trump’s mission to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, the spokesperson said.

Trump, just over a week into his second term in office, has been terminating officials from across the federal government.

Earlier this week, he fired more than a dozen career Justice Department officials who worked on investigations into him and who should have civil service protections after being told they could not be trusted to “faithfully” implement his agenda.

Trump also dismissed more than a dozen government agency watchdogs, known as inspectors general, last week.

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, arrives to testify during her confirmation hearing on Thursday, in Washington, DC.

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence, was grilled Thursday during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

During her hearing, Gabbard wouldn’t say whether NSA leaker Edward Snowden is a traitor, repeatedly defaulting to an answer that Snowden had “broken the law” but declining to say whether his actions amounted to treason.

Sen. James Lankford, a key Republican on the Intelligence Committee, told reporters he was “kind of surprised” by Gabbard’s response to questions about Snowden and warned that it raised “a lot of questions.”

“I thought that was going to be an easy softball question, actually” he said.

Sen. Todd Young, a Republican who also sits on the committee and had pressed Gabbard on Snowden during the hearing, did not say whether he would back her confirmation. Instead, he told reporters: “I think I’ve got, for now at least, all the information I need.”

Sen. Susan Collins, a key vote Gabbard needs to secure her confirmation, said she was “happy” with Gabbard’s responses to her questions.

“I was happy with her responses to my questions, including the question of whether she would recommend a pardon of Edward Snowden, where she clearly said ‘No,’” the Maine Republican told reporters in the Capitol. She declined to talk about her interactions with Gabbard when they met later in a classified session.

Sen. John Curtis, a freshman Republican who doesn’t sit on the Intelligence Committee, raised serious concerns about Gabbard’s nomination, saying her answers today “created more confusion than clarity and only deepened my concerns about her judgement and what that will mean in this vital role.” Curtis said he is still evaluating how he will vote.

It’s unclear if Gabbard has the votes to be approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee. If approved, she can only afford to lose three Republicans on the floor on a party-line vote.

This post has been updated with additional details from US senators.

Chris Wright arrives to testify before a US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of Energy, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 15.

The Senate voted 62-35 to break a filibuster on Chris Wright’s nomination to lead the Department of Energy. Senators have agreed to vote on Wright’s final confirmation to the post on Monday.

The Senate confirmation vote for Doug Collins, the nominee for the Department of Veterans Affairs, is also scheduled for Monday after an 83-13 vote to break a filibuster on his nomination.

Former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum testifies before a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of the Interior, on January 16.

The Senate voted 79-18 Thursday to confirm Doug Burgum to be secretary of the Department of the Interior.

Burgum had previously advanced on a procedural vote 78-20. He had received bipartisan support from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which voted 18-2 to advance his nomination last week.

A total of 26 Democrats, including one Independent who caucuses with Democrats, backed Burgum’s confirmation.

Burgum will take a leading role in overseeing President Donald Trump’s promise to streamline permitting and review regulations that “impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals” with the president declaring immediately upon taking office a “national energy emergency” — even as the US has produced more oil now than any other country at any other time.

Burgum during his hearing in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier this month praised Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda, arguing that the government should be “prioritizing innovation over regulation.”

The former governor of North Dakota also looked to assuage fears from Democratic senators during the hearing. Burgum said that he will “follow the law and follow the Constitution” if confirmed, when asked whether he would stand up to potential demands made by Trump that are antithetical to the department’s mission or to the Constitution.

Burgum ran for president against Trump in the 2024 Republican primary but avoided criticizing Trump on the trail. He did not immediately endorse Trump when he suspended his long-shot campaign last December and had initially said he would not consider serving as a running mate for Trump or in a future Trump Cabinet.

In his new role, the former Microsoft executive will inherit the agency that oversees natural resources, public lands and Indian affairs from Secretary Deb Haaland, a former member of Congress who made history as the first Native American Cabinet secretary.

Burgum will also chair the newly formed Council of National Energy, which Trump said “will consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy” and involve other members of the president’s Cabinet, including Chris Wright, who is poised to be confirmed as secretary of energy.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, Jeremy Herb, Ella Nilsen, Matt Egan and Chris Isidore contributed to this report.

Bipartisan senators reached an agreement to cast three votes Thursday at 6:15 p.m.

The first will be to confirm Doug Burgum as Interior secretary.

The second will be to break a filibuster of Christopher Wright to be Energy secretary.

The third will be to break a filibuster of Doug Collins to be Veterans Affairs secretary.

By the agreement, confirmation on Wright and Collins will happen sometime Monday.

This means the Senate won’t be in Friday or over the weekend, which was possibly going to happen.

President Donald Trump’s desire to buy Greenland “is not a joke,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, acknowledging that Trump approaches foreign policy “from a transactional business point of view.”

“He wants to buy it. He wants to pay for it,” Rubio said, arguing that “this is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land,” but rather US “national interests.”

He discussed Greenland, Russia-Ukraine war and other details during an interview on “The Megyn Kelly Show”

Here’s what else he said during his interivew:

More on Greenland: Rubio tried to walk back the notion that the US would take the island, which is Danish territory, by military force — something that Trump did not rule out. The president “is a businessman who is involved in politics, not a politician involved in politics,” Rubio noted. “So he is not going to begin what he views as a negotiation or a conversation by taking leverage off the table.” The top US diplomat tied the Greenland issue to the threat from China, arguing Beijing will attempt to project influence there, in which case Denmark would rely on the US for help. Trump’s point, he said, is that “if we’re already on the hook” for protecting Greenland, “we might as well have more control over what happens there. And so I know it’s a delicate topic for Denmark, but it’s, again, a national interest item for the United States.”

Russia-Ukraine war: Both Russia and Ukraine “are going to have to give something up” in negotiations to end the war, Rubio said, adding that “both sides are paying a heavy price for this” and “both sides have incentive for this conflict to end.” Rubio said the war is “not going to end with the maximalist goals of either side, and there’s going to have to be a lot of hard work done. And I think only the United States, under the leadership of President Trump, can make that possible.”

Pulling Mike Pompeo’s security detail: A “risk assessment” was done in Trump’s decision to pull former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s security detail, Rubio said. CNN reported last Thursday that the former secretary of state had received ongoing protection due to threats from Iran. Rubio said “if circumstances change and new threats emerge or additional threats emerge, that will always be an option to address.”

Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission’s new chairman, on Wednesday ordered an investigation into the sponsorship practices of NPR and PBS member stations.

In a letter obtained by CNN, Carr said he was “concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials.”

Some context: NPR and PBS programming is aired to a network of around 1,500 member stations, all of which choose which programs to broadcast. The stations require licenses approved by the FCC to operate, and these licenses limit them as non-commercial educational broadcast stations, which are prohibited by federal law from airing advertisements. The FCC’s investigation will probe the underwriting announcements and policies of NPR and PBS, as well as their broadcast stations.

In a statement, Maher emphasized that the radio broadcaster and its member stations have complied with FCC regulations.

“We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR’s adherence to these rules,” Maher wrote.

PBS, likewise, defended its compliance with FCC standards, saying in a statement that it has worked “diligently to comply with the FCC’s underwriting regulations.”

The investigation was first reported by the New York Times.

President Donald Trump talks to reporters from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday, in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump reiterated that the United States is going to place 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada and Mexico while signing executive actions from the Oval Office on Thursday.

Trump confirmed the tariffs will take effect on Saturday, February 1, while citing trade deficits and the flow of fentanyl as primary reasons for the move, emphasizing the need to address those issues through the tariff policy.

“We’ll be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons. Number one, people poured into our country, so horribly, drugs, fentanyl and everything else that will come into the country,” Trump said.

Trump first announced as president a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada, an extraordinary change in North American trade policy, during an Oval Office signing ceremony on Inauguration Day.

Trump is also considering tariffs on China due to what he said is China sending fentanyl into the US and causing many deaths.

“China is going to end up paying a tariff also for that, and we’re in the process of doing that. We’ll make that determination of what it’s going to be, but China has to stop sending fentanyl into our country and killing our people,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said the midair collision believed to have killed dozens of people over the Potomac River won’t lead him to reconsider his buyout offer for federal employees.

In remarks to the press while signing aviation-related actions in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said the February 6 deadline for federal employees to decide whether to resign and take the buyout is still in effect.

If those people choose to accept the buyout, Trump added, “Then they’ll be replaced with very competent people. We have a lot of competent people in this country.”

CNN previously reported that there was one air traffic controller working two different tower positions at the time of the collision Wednesday night. Asked if a manpower shortage might have contributed, Trump replied: “Well, that’s part of competence right there.”

“They shouldn’t have that happen. Right there is what I’m talking about. Competence would be, you’re not going to have a shortage. But if you had the right people, you wouldn’t need as many people, either.”

His remarks came hours after Trump baselessly blamed the crash on diversity initiatives in the government.

As the White House implements President Donald Trump’s executive orders, some public health groups and state and local health departments have been ordered to “immediately terminate” all programs and activities promoting diversity, equity and inclusion that are supported by certain funding through the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to two people in the public health field who received the memo.

A memo that was sent to certain CDC grant recipients Wednesday, and obtained by CNN, states in part:

“No additional costs must be incurred that would be used to support any DEI programs, personnel, or activities,” it added.

One of the people who received the memo said that, at the state level, some of the impacted awards include public health infrastructure and health equity grants from the CDC.

“The confusion lies in the definition of DEI at this point. It is important to try to distinguish our health equity work (focused on addressing non-medical determinants of health) from broader DEIJ targets here,” the person said Thursday, referring to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. “The guidance isn’t yet clear on what might be included/impacted in the broader DEIJ umbrella.”

At least five senior FBI leaders who were promoted by former Director Christopher Wray have been notified they are being demoted or reassigned, according to sources briefed on the matter.

This is an extension of a purge that began last week at the Justice Department across the street from the FBI headquarters.

The senior officials are at the executive assistant director level and include those who oversee cyber, national security and criminal investigations, the sources told CNN.

The leadership changes have drawn internal consternation, in part because these officials didn’t have anything to do with prosecutions of Donald Trump, which has been the focus of the president’s ire.

Read more about the moves.

Three of President Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees for major administration roles faced sharp questions in the Senate during hearings Thursday from Democrats as well as several Republican senators in what amounted to the most direct skepticism from GOP senators over Trump’s nominees to date.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to be Health and Human Services secretary, was pressed on his views on vaccines by GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who said he had “reservations” about Kennedy’s past positions on vaccine safety.

And Tulsi Gabbard, who has been tapped to be the director of national intelligence, faced questions from several Republicans about her views on Russian aggression, US government surveillance and NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to be FBI director, had numerous heated exchanges with Democrats during his hearing Thursday over his past comments about going after Trump’s perceived “deep state” enemies. But Patel found a largely friendly audience among Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, signaling his confirmation is on firmer ground.

Remember: If all Democrats oppose Trump’s nominees, they can only afford to lose three GOP senators on the floor to win confirmation. But Gabbard’s nomination could be in danger of not making it that far – as it would only take one Republican to block her nomination in the Senate Intelligence Committee if all Democrats on the panel oppose her.

Trump’s allies mounted a significant pressure campaign against on-the-fence Republicans to get Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation over the finish line, and similar campaigns have been promised toward GOP senators if they oppose any more Trump nominees, such as Gabbard or Kennedy.

Catch up here on other takeaways from a consequential day of Senate confirmation hearings.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was confirmed last week by the narrowest of margins, a 50-50 tie vote broken by Vice President JD Vance because three Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky – joined Democrats to oppose him.

That’s the same math Trump’s trio of nominees who testified Thursday likely face, with no Democrats so far directly signaling they will back Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Kash Patel.

While Patel appears on solid ground to win confirmation, Gabbard and Kennedy could face a more difficult path.

Collins could play a key role if she opposes Gabbard’s nomination, as she sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, where Republicans have a 9-8 majority, meaning Gabbard’s nomination could fail if Collins joins all Democrats in voting against Gabbard.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated Wednesday to CNN that he didn’t think he could set up a confirmation vote for Gabbard if the committee votes down the nomination.

After she questioned Gabbard, Collins said it was “too early to tell” whether Gabbard would receive enough committee votes to make it to the full Senate.

“There’s a lot more of the hearing to go,” Collins said when asked if she was satisfied with Gabbard’s responses to her questions.