February 18, 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.

President Donald Trump will begin his Wednesday flying from Palm Beach, Florida, to Miami at 8:25 a.m. ET and arriving at 9 a.m. ET, according to a release from the White House.

He will spend the morning and part of the afternoon at his Doral golf property.

At 5 p.m. ET, he will attend the FII Priority Summit at the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach, the White House said.

Trump is expected to speak at the event hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, a person familiar with the planning told CNN.

Then at 6:45 p.m. ET, he’ll fly from Miami to Joint Base Andrews, arriving at 8:50 p.m. ET and will be back at the White House at 9:10 p.m. ET.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk speak with Sean Hannity during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk offered a look at their relationship in a joint interview on Fox News that aired Tuesday, showering each other with praise.

Patting Musk with his hand, Trump said, “It’s nice the way he said that.”

The president explained the value he sees in the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO.

“He gets it done,” Trump said, giving an example of developers who draw renderings but never get to building the actual structure. “And then you have other guys are able to get it done, you know, they could just get it done.”

Asked if anyone at the Department of Government Efficiency is paid for their work, Musk said some people are federal employees.

“Yeah, they’re helping, but it’s fair to say that the software engineers at those could be earning millions of dollars a year instead of earning a small fraction of that as federal employees,” Musk said.

Responding to criticism of DOGE and his sweeping cuts, Musk said people “wouldn’t be complaining so much if we weren’t doing something useful.”

During the interview, Trump insisted that if a conflict of interest arose between Musk’s involvement in the administration and any potential contracts with his businesses, “we wouldn’t let him do it.”

Musk said he hasn’t “asked the president for anything ever.”

Hannity then asked Musk how he would handle it if a conflict of interest came up.

Trump responded first: “He won’t be involved.”

“I’ll recuse myself,” Musk said.

“If there’s a conflict he won’t be involved. I mean, I wouldn’t want that, and he won’t want it,” Trump said.

Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander speaks with CNN on Tuesday.

Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander, a former Federal Aviation Administration employee, told CNN on Tuesday that “the American public does need to be concerned” following mass firings across the federal government last week as many of the jobs were involved in public safety and national security.

The Trump administration’s assertion that no one involved in public safety was fired “was a flat-out false statement” from his perspective.

Spitzer-Stadtlander said he was fired Friday from his work on a FAA defense program in Hawaii looking to detect incoming cruise missiles.

He said he found out about his firing after he got home from a work trip where he got a briefing at an Air Force base.

The Trump administration ordered legal service providers working with unaccompanied migrant children to stop their work, according to a memo obtained by CNN.

The move is the latest in a string of actions stripping key resources from immigrants in the United States — this time, targeting children and teenagers who crossed the southern border without their parents.

The Department of Interior sent the order, dated Tuesday, to the Acacia Center for Justice, a nonprofit that says it assists nearly 26,000 children in and released from Office of Refugee Resettlement custody.

The resettlement office, which falls under the Health and Human Services Department, is charged with the care of unaccompanied migrant children.

The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, which provides “Know Your Rights” presentations for children in government custody as well as other legal services, also condemned the move.

The stop work order is unlikely to affect children who are already represented, but the abrupt cutting off of funding could force groups to downsize or close entirely.

Days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the Justice Department similarly told legal service providers to stop work intended to help support immigrants, stripping away critical access for people in detention trying to navigate the tangled US immigration system. That order was later rescinded without explanation.

The White House in Washington, DC, on January 24.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to bring independent agencies under closer presidential control and supervision, directing all executive departments and agencies to submit draft regulations to the White House for review.

According to a White House fact sheet, no carve-outs will exist for independent agencies, but the order will not apply to the monetary policy functions of the Federal Reserve.

The agencies must also “consult with the White House on their priorities and strategic plans, and the White House will set their performance standards” with the Office of Management and Budget, led by Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought, “adjusting apportionments to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely,” according to the fact sheet.

The White House fact sheet specifically calls out independent agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for “exercising enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight.”

Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group, has called the move “illegal” and a “giant gift to the corporate class.”

President Donald Trump leaves after speaking during the signing of executive orders at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, hours after US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to talk about the war in Ukraine.

Representatives from Ukraine were notably absent from the talks.

Zelensky has said Ukraine will not “give in to Russia’s ultimatums” and added he would refuse to sign any agreement negotiated without Kyiv’s involvement.

Trump, speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, said the talks were “very good” and that Russia “wants to do something.”

Here’s what else the president said today:

This post was updated with a comment from GOP Sen. John Kennedy.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts on Tuesday.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston was forced to close Tuesday due to the “sudden dismissal of federal employees,” the library’s foundation said in a statement to CNN.

“As the Foundation that supports the JFK Library, we are devastated by this news and will continue to support our colleagues and the Library,” the foundation added.

A sign on the library’s doors read, “Due to the executive order, the JFK Library will be closed until further notice.”

A source familiar with the matter told CNN that library staff who interacted with the public and fundraising were let go in line with the Trump administration’s effort to reduce the size of the federal government.

The closure came days after the government broadened its effort to cut federal workers, instructing agencies on a call to move forward with layoffs of probationary workers.

While the library confirmed it was “temporarily closed until further notice,” the National Archives, which oversees the presidential library system, said in a statement later Tuesday that the library would reopen Wednesday.

Read more about the closure here.

The Trump administration continues to move forward with its agenda of reshaping the federal government. On Tuesday, a federal judge declined to temporarily block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal data systems at a slew of executive branch agencies.

The decision by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan is an early blow to efforts by a group of Democratic state attorneys general to hamstring Musk and DOGE as they undertake efforts to upend the federal workforce.

But the judge also indicated she was skeptical about the Trump administration’s statements about Musk and his powers in DOGE. Musk and DOGE’s access to closely guarded government data — including sensitive information it has collected about and from the American public — has become a battleground in the legal fight against the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal bureaucracy.

Here’s what else you should know about federal agencies:

The Senate voted today 50-47 to proceed with the Senate GOP’s budget blueprint, which lays out their overall fiscal goals and must be adopted before they can advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The Senate GOP’s goal is to adopt the budget blueprint late this week in their chamber. But in order to move ahead with the legislative text in Trump’s agenda, both chambers of Congress need to adopt an identical budget resolution first. And the House GOP is proceeding with a much more complex and expansive plan.

Now that the Senate has voted to open up debate, the chamber later this week will consider an unlimited series of amendments to the package known as a “vote-a-rama,” which could kick off as soon as Thursday night, according to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

President Donald Trump was asked today about the White House banning the Associated Press over the use of “Gulf of Mexico.”

The AP, a cooperative that transmits news to thousands of clients, has been a member of the White House pool for more than 100 years. The wire service has repeatedly signaled that it is preparing a legal challenge to the White House restrictions.

Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer listens as the House of Representatives votes for a new Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on October 17, 2023.

President Donald Trump’s pick of Lori Chavez-DeRemer to run the Labor Department is expected to need Democratic votes to advance out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee because of expected opposition from GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

That means Democratic votes will be essential — something that is possible given Chavez-Deremer’s past pro-union positions.

Two Democratic senators on the panel — Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Tim Kaine of Virginia — signaled an openness to backing the nomination. But they both cited Wednesday’s confirmation hearing as critical for their support.

Kaine also said he was concerned about Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board — and needed to hear more about those efforts before deciding how he would vote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune took a procedural step this evening to limit debate on Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI, teeing up a confirmation vote later this week.

Senate Democrats forced a procedural vote to delay this step, in a sign of their strong opposition to Patel’s nomination. A vote to break a filibuster on the nomination is expected as soon as Thursday, followed closely by a confirmation vote.

GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a key Republican swing vote, would not say on Tuesday how she intends to vote on Patel’s nomination.

“I’ve got to talk to you about that later,” she told CNN’s Manu Raju.

Asked if she’s still reviewing the nomination, the Alaska lawmaker said, “I’m going to have another conversation with him.”

Another GOP swing vote, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said she is undecided on how she will vote. She told CNN that she has “some additional material from the hearing that I’m looking at tonight.”

This post has been updated with comments from Collins.

The Senate on Tuesday voted 51-45 to confirm Howard Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce.

Lutnick is President Donald Trump’s 17th nominee confirmed by the Senate since January 20.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order today to develop policy recommendations to expand access to and affordability of in vitro fertilization.

The executive order states that within 90 days, the assistant to the president for domestic policy should submit a list of “policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment.”

“It is the policy of my Administration to ensure reliable access to IVF treatment, including by easing unnecessary statutory or regulatory burdens to make IVF treatment drastically more affordable,” the order said.

“I think the women and families, husbands are very appreciative of it,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where cameras did not capture him signing the order.

Some background: During the 2024 campaign, Trump called himself the “father of IVF” in a Fox News town hall in October with an all-female audience. IVF was thrust into the campaign conversation when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children and those who destroy or damage them could be held liable for wrongful death.

“We really are the party for IVF,” Trump said at the time. “We want fertilization, and it’s all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we’re out there on IVF, even more than them. So, we’re totally in favor.”

President Donald Trump indicated more openness to pushing for new elections in Ukraine, parroting a Russian talking point on the matter as he took aim at his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Asked about reports that Russia wants Ukraine to agree to hold elections before any peace deal is agreed upon, Trump said:

The president was reiterating a point he raised after his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

Elections in Ukraine are currently delayed as part of martial law amid the Russian invasion, with millions of its people physically at war or refugees abroad.

President Donald Trump speaks during the signing of executive orders at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is “not at all” concerned after his administration fired more than 300 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration before quickly moving to rehire many at the agency, which is tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear weapons.

As CNN has reported, the firings created days of chaos inside the agency, with all but 25 NNSA staffers quickly reinstated after the firings. Officials backtracked on the terminations after multiple members of Congress petitioned Energy Secretary Chris Wright to reverse course, explaining the dire national security implications.

Trump on Tuesday pointed to his November victory as a mandate to continue broad cuts across the federal government.

“Don’t forget, I got elected on the basis of making our government stronger and smaller because we have millions of people that, obviously, they’re paying millions of people that shouldn’t be paid, and that has also to do with workers,” he said.

President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin.

President Donald Trump says he will “probably” meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin before the end of February.

He mouthed the word as he was departing a news conference in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, after being questioned by a reporter whether the meeting would occur by the end of the month.

The president did not respond when asked if he had a date in mind. There are 11 days remaining in February, counting today.

Trump and Putin spoke for 90 minutes by telephone last week, setting up a head-spinning thaw in US-Russia relations as Trump rushes to end the war in Ukraine. Trump has said his high-stakes talks with the Russian leader will likely also occur in Saudi Arabia.

The Trump administration has started the process of firing roughly 130 personnel at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as part of its broader move to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Among them are some employees working to counter Chinese hacking threats to US infrastructure.

The firings of probationary employees working for CISA are being carried out by the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency effort, one of the sources said.

The number of firings at CISA could jump beyond 130 as Trump political appointees continue to overhaul the agency, another source familiar with the matter said.

CISA isn’t the only federal agency to lose cybersecurity talent in the last week.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response — which helps defend power plants and other energy infrastructure from hackers — has laid off more than 10 employees, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

CNN has requested comment from the Department of Energy.

Asked about the firings at CISA, a DHS official told CNN in a statement that the department’s recent personnel action “will result in roughly $50 million in savings for American taxpayers and incalculable valuable (sic) toward accountability and cutting red tape.”

However, one of the sources told CNN that some of the fired CISA employees work on statutorily mandated, fully funded programs, raising more questions about why they are being terminated, the source said.

CISA employees impacted by the firings have received a memo that closely mirrors notifications sent to federal officials at other agencies by the Office of Professional Management – citing conduct and performance as the reason for their termination. But at least some of those employees who were notified in recent days did not have any performance review issues, one of the sources said.

CBS first reported that roughly 130 CISA employees are expected to be laid off.

President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.

Asked if he supports stationing European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, President Donald Trump said he “would not object to it at all.”

“If they want to do that, that’s great. I’m all for it. If they want to do that, I think that’s, that’d be fine,” he told reporters today at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, noting that France and the United Kingdom have expressed openness to doing so.

The US, he suggested, would not participate “because we’re very far away.”

The president went on to say that “nobody’s asked me to” remove all American troops from Europe if there were a peace deal, “so I don’t think we’d have to do that.” He continued: “I wouldn’t want to do that. But that question has never really come up.”

Trump characterized Tuesday’s talks with Russian officials as “very good,” adding that the country “wants to do something.”

“They want to stop the savage barbarianism,” he said. “Both Russia and Ukraine, they’re losing thousands and thousands of soldiers, and a lot of people have been killed too.”

The United States and Russia agreed on four principles following talks that lasted more than four hours in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, including appointing a high-level team to help “negotiate and work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine” in a way that’s “acceptable to all the parties engaged.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to the talks, said Ukraine will not “give in to Russia’s ultimatums” and earlier said he would refuse to sign any agreement negotiated without Kyiv’s involvement.