February 10, 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, Elon Musk and others in the Trump administration are openly challenging the centuries-old power of the nation’s judiciary, foreshadowing a possible constitutional breakdown of American government.

There are signs that some judges’ orders have been disregarded. On Monday, a federal judge in Rhode Island found that the administration has violated the “plain text” of his earlier order unfreezing billions of dollars in federal aid. The judge directed funding to be reinstated to environmental, health and other programs that had been cut off.

In a separate case Monday, in Washington, DC, federal employees told a judge that the administration had failed to reinstate USAID workers who were put on leave.

In fighting the cases, the Justice Department says the president should have the authority to decide how to run the government and that the judges are overreaching.

Chief Justice John Roberts may have presaged the turn of events six weeks ago as he warned at the end of December that “elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings. These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected.”

Read more of the analysis on the looming constitutional crisis

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is bringing the name Bragg back to one of the Army’s largest installations, Fort Liberty, which replaced the namesake of a Confederate general in 2023.

But in a memorandum signed Monday, Hegseth renamed the North Carolina military installation in honor of a different Bragg: Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II veteran who was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for extraordinary bravery during the Battle of the Bulge, according to a statement from Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot.

Before it was renamed to Fort Liberty in 2023, the fort originally was named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, who drew criticism for his combative personality and often subpar field performance during the Civil War.

The installation was among nine bases that a congressional commission proposed renaming during President Joe Biden’s presidency. Removing Confederate monikers from US military bases became a contentious political issue in the final months of Donald Trump’s first presidency. While Trump vetoed the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that included the naming commission, Congress voted to override his veto with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Hegseth, a National Guard veteran and former longtime Fox News host, strongly opposed removing the names of Confederate generals from US military bases and has suggested they should be changed back. He also described the renaming efforts as “a sham,” “garbage,” and “crap” in various media appearances between 2021 and 2024 reviewed by CNN.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer and Andrew Kaczynski contributed to this report.

A top federal government investigator of political retaliation within the executive branch will be allowed to return to the job for at least a few more days, after being fired by President Donald Trump on Friday, a judge ordered Monday night.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a so-called administration stay restoring Hampton Dellinger to the role of Special Counsel through Thursday, as she further considers his lawsuit challenging the termination.

The Office of Special Counsel — which is distinct from the special counsels appointed to oversee politically sensitive Justice Department investigations — handles allegations of whistleblower retaliation and is an independent agency created by Congress.

Trump’s firing of Dellinger, who was confirmed for a five-year team by the Senate last year, appeared to run afoul the limits Congress has placed on when a special counsel can be fired.

At a hearing called hours after Dellinger’s lawsuit was filed, Jackson indicated she saw the Office of Special Counsel as different than other agencies whose leaders a president is given wide discretion to fire.

“They are not a big bureaucracy …that marches on” without a leader, she said, describing Dellinger’s former role as “much more hands on.”

The office, she noted, is different from the agencies in charge of rolling out a president’s agenda and that can issue sweeping regulations that affect the entire country.

“Independence is the essence of this,” she said of the special counsel’s office.

Her order, however, made clear it was only aimed to maintain the status quo as she considered written briefs due tomorrow from the Justice Department.

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez speaks with CNN's Manu Raju on Monday.

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez made clear that she believes House Democrats should not simply come to the table and provide Republicans with the votes to pass a government funding bill, even if it means a shutdown next month.

Ocasio-Cortez lamented that President Donald Trump and his ally, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, are “tearing up the very foundations of the federal government,” adding, “if they think that they’re gonna do that with a Democratic vote, I’ve got a bridge to sell them.”

Asked what Democrats should demand specifically from Republicans, the New York congresswoman said it’s up to party leadership to “determine what is strategically best,” but added, “it should not come cheap, whatsoever.”

“There should be really deep, large, systemic demands — if we even come to the table, given the amount of tearing up that they’re doing over there,” she said.

Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida said he would vote against a bill that would just extend current spending levels beyond the March 14 deadline, warning that it would allow Republicans to continue making the same arguments about fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Moskowitz said he believes the only acceptable way to fund the government is through the normal process of passing 12 individual appropriations bills, adding that “Speaker Johnson has a month to start that process. If he doesn’t get that process started, I think government will shut down on the 14, and that’ll be his fault.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks with the media on Monday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson maintained an optimistic tone about spending negotiations Monday night despite a sliding timeline and following a lively discussion on the House floor with key negotiators.

When asked about the sliding timeline as he tries to wrangle his slim majority, Johnson replied “everything’s sliding around here if you notice.” When asked if he was having more meetings tonight, Johnson said: “For me? Yes, they are endless.”

Johnson once again advocated for the one-bill solution, saying with two bills the probability of success “decreases dramatically.”

Johnson said doing one bill of things all Republicans agree on like energy and border security is “low-hanging fruit.”

Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne said Monday that US tariffs on steel and aluminum would be “totally unjustified,” warning that the country’s response to the measure will be “clear and calibrated.”

Canada is the United States’ largest source of both materials, according to the US Department of Commerce — a fact that Champagne highlighted in his statement on Monday.

Champagne added that Canada would consult with its international partners and examine details of the tariffs.

Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s former finance minister who is running to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister, described the tariffs as “illegal and unjustifiable.”

Freeland also called for talks with other affected countries to push back against President Donald Trump.

Some background: Trump on Monday imposed a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States with no exceptions or exemptions. And although the United States gets most of its steel from Canada, Brazil and Mexico, the tariffs are largely — albeit indirectly — aimed at China. Read more details here.

This post was updated with the statement from Chrystia Freeland.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping since taking office on January 20.

“Yeah, I have talked to him,” Trump responded to Fox News’ Bret Baier when asked if he had spoken to Chinese leader since inauguration, during a pre-taped interview aired Monday.

He also said that he knows North Korea leader Kim Jong Un “better than anybody.”

Trump told reporters he was in “no rush” to speak with Xi the same day the administration implemented 10% tariffs on Chinese imports.

Just last week, Beijing announced a broad package of economic measures targeting the US, hitting back after Trump imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese imports.

Fewer than 10 Head Start programs nationwide were having trouble accessing their federal funds on Monday, down from around 57 programs last Thursday, Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, told CNN.

Likewise, the funding disruptions affecting some community health centers “have largely been resolved at this point,” said Alexandra Walker, communications director for the National Association of Community Health Centers.

The programs were among multiple other nonprofit, community and health organizations that were experiencing delays in receiving federal money from the Department of Health and Human Services’ grant payments portal. The Office of Management and Budget released a memo in late January ordering a pause on trillions in federal grants, loans and financial assistance but quickly rescinded it. A federal judge then temporarily blocked the effort.

HHS acknowledged in a statement to CNN last week that some users of its payments system “may be experiencing lags due to the high volume of requests.” The department is working to “help expedite resolution as quickly as possible,” it said.

The agency did not immediately return a request on Monday for an update on the payment delays.

The improvement in the programs’ funding comes as a federal judge on Monday told the Trump administration for a second time that it cannot cut off grant and loan payments.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at encouraging the US government and consumers to purchase plastic drinking straws.

“We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office as he signed the order.

This move follows former President Biden’s goal to reduce the government’s reliance on single-use plastics.

In 2022, the Department of the Interior began implementing a plan to phase out single-use plastics on public lands by 2032, part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to eliminate single-use plastics across federal government operations by 2035, as previously reported by CNN.

Trump and other Republicans have frequently used paper straws as a symbol in their opposition to Democratic-backed environmental policies.