February 25, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news | CNN Politics

February 25, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

Antoinette Radford

Maureen Chowdhury

Elise Hammond

Tori B. Powell

By Antoinette Radford, Maureen Chowdhury, Elise Hammond, Aditi Sangal and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 10:47 PM EST, Tue February 25, 2025

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Sunlen Serfaty explains what we know about federal workers who resigned over DOGE efforts

03:19 • Source: CNN

Sunlen Serfaty explains what we know about federal workers who resigned over DOGE efforts

03:19

What we covered here:

• House win for Trump: The House adopted a sweeping budget blueprint tonight after Speaker Mike Johnson convinced GOP holdouts to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda in a key vote. Republican leaders said the president was instrumental in convincing holdouts.

• Musk email confusion: One million federal workers responded to an email requesting an accounting of their work last week, the White House said today, after conflicting guidance from Elon Musk and agencies about the email sparked confusion. It comes as the White House said the billionaire, who is not a Cabinet member, will attend Trump’s first official Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

• US-Ukraine deal: The countries have agreed terms on a deal over natural resources and reconstruction, according to a Ukrainian official. President Volodymyr Zelensky now plans to travel to Washington, the source added, saying the White House had proposed Friday for a meeting.

52 Posts

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

Gabbard says members of intelligence community are telling her where to "clean house"

From CNN's Katie Bo Lillis

Tulsi Gabbard listens to President Donald Trump at the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington on February 12.

Tulsi Gabbard listens to President Donald Trump at the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington on February 12.

Alex Brandon/AP

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said members of the intelligence community are coming to her directly to point out places where she needs to “clean house.”

Gabbard has vowed to “rebuild trust” in the intelligence community, which she claims has been politicized — but her remarks come against the backdrop of a deep unease among some career officials that Trump’s efforts to speedily slim down the US government may be putting American secrets within the grasp of foreign spies and hackers.

On Ukraine: Gabbard also told Watters that negotiations to end the war, which Trump vowed to do on his first day in office, are “still ongoing.”

“Those negotiations are still ongoing,” she said. “President Trump wants to end the killing and most importantly, he’s looking at each of these deals and negotiations that are under way within the context of what is in the best interest of the American people and our taxpayers and for the cause of peace.”

GOP leaders credit Trump with helping to sway holdouts on the budget vote

From CNN’s Ali Main, Manu Raju, Annie Grayer, Aileen Graef and Lauren Fox

President Donald Trump delivers remarks after signing an executive order on reciprocal tariffs in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 13.

President Donald Trump delivers remarks after signing an executive order on reciprocal tariffs in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 13.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

House GOP leaders said President Donald Trump was instrumental in convincing holdouts to support the budget blueprint tonight.

Throughout the flurry of voting activity, GOP lawmakers were going on and off the floor for phone calls and side conversations.

House Speaker Mike Johnson makes a statement to reporters at the Captiol after the House passed the budget resolution Tuesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson makes a statement to reporters at the Captiol after the House passed the budget resolution Tuesday.

Francis Chung/Politico/AP

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the vote that “Trump helped a lot.”

“Trump helped us, you know, with a number of members,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise echoed.

Scalise added that not all of the GOP holdouts spoke with the president during the delayed voting process but that “some did.”

Here’s how critical lawmakers voted:

GOP Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, who previously indicated he would oppose the plan, said he decided to vote in favor of approving the blueprint after receiving assurances about spending cuts.
Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee said he too changed his mind because he had been assured by Trump that he would make progress on spending cuts.
After leaning against the proposal for days, GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana voted yes as well. The Indiana lawmaker earlier told CNN’s Manu Raju she would only change her mind if the language was altered.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against adopting the resolution, which was adopted by 217 votes to 215.

The post was updated with remarks from Burchett.