March 24, 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.

Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg appears on CNN on Monday.

The Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s assertion that “nobody was texting war plans” was a lie, reiterating that top members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet were sending highly sensitive information about US military strikes on Yemen in a group chat he was accidentally added to.

Goldberg said he didn’t include the specific plans in his story, published Monday, because he felt that it was “too confidential, too technical” and that revealing the information to the public could endanger American military personnel.

Goldberg said he initially thought he was being subjected to a foreign intelligence influence operation. After he realized the chat was real, he removed himself and began writing the story “in order to expose the security breach.”

The Trump administration acknowledged the messages, sent over the nongovernment encrypted chat app Signal, appear to be authentic.

When asked if he had figured out who was meant to be added to chat, Goldberg said it could have been “a mistyped name. It doesn’t necessarily have to be somebody with the initials JG.”

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate agreements with refugee resettlement agencies, after the government canceled the contracts despite a prior ruling from the judge that broadly halted efforts to implement suspension of refugee admissions and resettlement funding.

Monday’s preliminary injunction from Judge Jamal Whitehead said that the federal government has “great leeway in how it administers” refugee resettlement programs, but it “cannot exercise that discretion in a manner that renders it unable to fulfill statutory obligations.”

His order requires the administration to reinstate the resettlement agreements as they existed before the administration began canceling the individual contracts on February 26.

Terminated Department of Education employees collect their belongings on Monday, in Washington, DC.

A coalition of advocacy organizations — including the NAACP and the National Education Association (NEA) — sued the Trump administration today after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to begin dismantling the US Department of Education.

The groups said in a news release Trump’s “escalating series of steps to dismantle” the department overstep his authority, and that it can’t be eliminated without congressional approval.

While the department has not shuttered entirely, it announced earlier this month that nearly half its staff would leave through layoffs and voluntary buyouts. And last week, Trump said the Small Business Administration will absorb the department’s massive student loan portfolio, while the Department of Health and Human Services will take the lead on funding efforts for students with special needs.

The administration’s actions taken altogether “constitute a de facto dismantling of the Department by executive fiat,” reads the lawsuit, filed in Maryland.

The groups are seeking a court order to prevent further dismantling of the department.

The White House is pushing rapid changes to Social Security services, the agency’s acting commissioner Leland Dudek told advocates on a call today, according to two attendees.

Advocates expressed concern that significant anti-fraud measures were being implemented too quickly and could harm beneficiaries, but Dudek said that the leadership above him believes in a rapid rollout, one attendee told CNN.

Normally changes like these would take two years to institute, but the White House directed Dudek to do it in two weeks, the attendees said.

Some context: The agency announced last week that it would require people filing benefit applications who cannot prove their identities online to visit a Social Security office to complete the claim in person. This, along with another new rule barring beneficiaries from changing their bank account information over the telephone, could send millions more people to the agency’s offices, forcing folks to wait longer for payments and straining Social Security’s operations at a time when the agency is downsizing its staff, advocates have warned.

The new identity verification process takes effect on March 31, while the bank account rule starts on March 29.

AARP, the nation’s largest organization of older Americans, raised concerns on the call about its members receiving calls and text messages saying they need to share their personal information to continue receiving benefits.

Dudek agreed that enacting the changes so quickly could increase scams, one attendee told CNN. He said the agency had been too “thoughtful” in taking beneficiaries into account before making changes in the past, the attendee said.

Other advocates pointed out that children who are eligible for certain disability benefits through Social Security cannot use identity verification software or file online applications, the attendee said. Dudek responded that if the changes don’t work, the agency would fix it later.

Rep. Don Bacon, a former Air Force Brigadier General, talks with CNN's Manu Raju.

GOP Rep. Don Bacon, a former Air Force Brigadier General, said he would have lost his security clearance if he did something like the group chat security lapse by senior national security officials reported in The Atlantic, adding, “there’s no excuse.”

Bacon, a member of the House Armed Services, said he has always had concerns about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and has tried to move forward since his confirmation, but the Nebraska Republican called it a “gross error.”

“They intentionally put highly classified information on an unclassified device. I would have lost my security clearance in the Air Force for this and for a lot less,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju.

Bacon said his first concern was US adversaries were likely monitoring those devices.

His second concern was the disdain with which the participants, including Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, spoke about allies of the United States.

“I just hate to see the loathing toward Europe. I’m using their words. Europe’s our ally. NATO is our ally. Canada’s our ally. I think now we can see why they’re so condescending and rude to our allies, because you just see it in a private text. To me, the concern is that they’re making foreign policy based on this quote, loathing, and I don’t like it,” he said.

Republican lawmakers are looking to channel the frustration the party is feeling toward federal judges providing a check on President Donald Trump’s actions through legislation instead of getting on the impeachment-push bandwagon.

Even though the impeachment effort is backed by Elon Musk and a number of far-right GOP lawmakers have introduced impeachment resolutions targeting specific federal judges, the support needed to move such efforts isn’t currently there, and some want to avoid setting a precedent.

Instead, Republicans are lining up behind GOP Rep. Darrell Issa’s bill that would limit the authority of district courts to issue nationwide injunctions. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced the bill will get a vote next week.

House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain told CNN that Republicans discussed the impeachment effort during the House GOP closed-door leadership meeting today and the “general consensus” was to focus on Issa’s bill.

Some Republicans remain adamant on the impeachment route.

“I think we should hold impeachment, regardless of what the Senate does or doesn’t do. We work for the people, and we should do the people’s work, which is impeach those bastards,” Rep. Andy Ogles told CNN’s Manu Raju.

The Tennessee lawmaker said reports that House Speaker Mike Johnson was not supportive of the effort are “correct.”

Even if House Republicans were able to overcome their narrow majority to impeach a judge, it is very unlikely the Senate would be able to convict given it would require significant Democratic support.

On top of Issa’s legislation, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan is planning to hold hearings on the decisions federal judges are making in the coming weeks.

CNN’s Aileen Graef, Manu Raju and Sarah Davis contributed to this post which was updated with Ogles’ remarks.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks with reporters on Monday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied today that anyone in Trump’s Cabinet was “texting war plans” after a report from The Atlantic revealed that he and other top administration officials sent detailed operational plans about US military strikes on Yemen to a group thread on a messaging app which accidentally included a reporter.

The defense secretary was getting off of a plane at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.

CNN reported earlier that the administration acknowledged the messages, sent over the nongovernment encrypted chat app Signal, appear to be authentic. The administration has not offered any explanation for why senior officials were discussing national defense information outside of approved classified government systems.

Hegseth also railed against the reporter that was in the group chat, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, calling him a “deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist” before talking about US operations against the Houthis.

CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed reporting to this post which has been updated with additional context.

President Donald Trump was briefed this afternoon on the Atlantic story published by the publication’s Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, two sources familiar with the briefing told CNN.

During the briefing, Trump expressed his disdain for Goldberg, the sources said.

The president has long disliked Goldberg, dating back to his 2020 story in which Goldberg reported that Trump described Americans who died in war as “losers” and “suckers.”

“You couldn’t have picked a worse person than Goldberg to add to the chat,” said one person close to Trump.

As of this evening, White House officials said that Trump remains supportive of his national security adviser Michael Waltz, who, according to Goldberg, inadvertently added the reporter to a secret Signal chain detailing sensitive national security plans regarding US attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The officials told CNN that Trump currently has no plans to fire Waltz.

US officials reacted with shock — and in many cases, horror — to revelations in The Atlantic today that top members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet sent detailed operational plans and other likely highly classified information about US military strikes on Yemen to a group thread on a messaging app to which a reporter had accidentally been added.

Watch the latest from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Sen. Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, talks with CNN's Manu Raju on Monday.

Republican lawmakers are reacting to revelations in The Atlantic that top members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet sent detailed operational plans about US military strikes on Yemen to a group thread on the Signal messaging app.

The messages in the chat, to which an Atlantic reporter was accidentally added, contained likely highly classified information.

Here’s what some other GOP lawmakers are saying:

This post was updated with more GOP reaction.

President Donald Trump has just reposted an X post from Elon Musk that appeared to make light of the administration’s national security team including an Atlantic editor in highly sensitive messages about military strikes on Yemen.

The repost, while not a direct statement from Trump, suggests that he is now aware of The Atlantic report after telling reporters earlier today he knew nothing about it.

Attorney Alina Habba looks on during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York on September 6, 2024.

President Donald Trump announced the appointment of Alina Habba, his one-time personal lawyer, as interim US attorney for the district of New Jersey “effective immediately.”

Habba is currently serving as counselor to the president.

The president continued his post by also announcing that John Giordano, who had been serving as the interim attorney in New Jersey, will now be nominated as the new ambassador to Namibia.

Habba wrote on X that she is “honored” to serve as interim US attorney for New Jersey.

As the White House scrambles to contain fallout from an explosive Atlantic report that revealed a conversation among top national security advisers about plans for a military strike in Yemen, senior administration officials are reviewing the use of Signal amid concerns there is an over-reliance on the encrypted app.

Even as President Donald Trump’s press secretary said Monday that he had the “utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz,” a sense of concern was palpable inside the West Wing and across key agencies as questions emerged over whether new guidance or rules should be put in place for internal communications.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who was on the group chat reported by the Atlantic, was among the senior officials who apparently did not raise questions or concerns that a highly sensitive conversation was taking place on the commercial messaging app. Officials declined to answer questions about whether the text chat violated legal procedures for the handling of such information.

Signal was used extensively to communicate during the presidential campaign, officials said, and some of the same text chains among some aides have been underway for months.

One Trump adviser said Monday staffers were waiting for signs from the president about his level of outrage to determine whether any changes would be made in the wake of one of the most notable mistakes of the second term, even as they awaited his reaction to the substance of the communications that he was not a part of.

Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state who was castigated by Republicans for her handling of classified emails, weighed in today on the report that Trump administration officials discussed plans for the US military to strike Yemen in a Signal chat that included a reporter.

Here’s how several of the administration officials reportedly taking part in the Signal chat had denounced the former Democratic presidential nominee for her use of a private email server while serving as top US diplomat.

A Petroleos de Venezuela SA oil pumpjack on Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Venezuela, on November 17, 2023.

Venezuela says it “firmly” rejects US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on any nation that purchases oil and gas from them.

The Venezuelan government called such a secondary tariff “arbitrary, illegal and desperate,” according to a statement published by Foreign Minister Yván Gil on Telegram.

It claimed that the US was attempting to repeat coercive measures designed to limit Venezuela’s growth — a strategy it says has failed so far.

The South American country also warned that it would take “take all pertinent actions before international organizations” to denounce the measure.

Remember: Upon announcing the tariff, Trump claimed, without evidence, that Venezuela had “purposefully and deceitfully” sent criminals, including violent individuals and members of gangs like Tren de Aragua, to the United States.

Several Trump administration officials were stunned after a report published today revealing that a reporter was included on a group chat with senior aides about sensitive war plans in Yemen.

After The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that national security adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently included him on a group chat about pending military strikes, multiple Trump administration officials told CNN they were shocked by the matter, with at least two speculating that this could result in the dismissal of one of their colleagues.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to CNN that Trump continues to have the “utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.”

Not only was the move seen as a major unforced error with serious national security implications, these officials noted that Trump holds a personal disdain for Goldberg, adding insult to injury in the matter.

For now, Trump has given no indication that he plans to fire anyone over the matter. He expressed surprise when asked about the story.

As soon as the story published, it was blasted out in multiple text threads throughout the administration, with officials reacting with disbelief, according to those who spoke to CNN privately.

FEMA workers attend claims by a local residents after being affected by floods following the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Marion, North Carolina, on October 5, 2024.

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers have introduced a bill in the House to remove the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Department of Homeland Security and make it an independent, Cabinet-level agency that reports directly to the president.

Florida Reps. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat, and Byron Donalds, a Republican, introduced the bill today, signaling the lawmakers are looking to play an active role in determining the future of FEMA.

Moskowitz was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to be Florida’s director of emergency management in 2019.

During today’s Cabinet meeting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said DHS would be eliminating FEMA, which has long been a target of Trump.

President Donald Trump last week issued a memo that aims to grant the Office of Personnel Management broad authority to terminate federal workers — both those in their probationary period and those who have completed it — if the office finds the staffers are not “suitable” for federal employment.

Trump’s memo gives OPM the authority to make suitability determinations and take actions regarding employees who have completed their probationary period, including directing an agency to dismiss a staffer who does not meet the suitability criteria.

The memo also tasks the agency with crafting new regulations to include this expanded authority and implement rules on suitability for post-probation employees.

The move comes as federal courts have temporarily blocked the administration’s efforts to lay off probationary workers, who have typically been in their positions for less than a year or two and have fewer job protections. OPM earlier this month updated a January guidance to specify that federal agencies, not the office, are responsible for laying off their probationary staffers.

While it remains to be seen how OPM will propose changing the existing regulations, federal worker unions and experts fear that the office will seek to broaden the scope of actions deemed unsuitable for federal employment.

If OPM has more power over firing staffers, it will be easier for the administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to fulfill its goal of greatly downsizing the federal workforce, said Don Kettl, former dean of the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. The office could revise the rules to include conduct that is inconsistent with an administration’s policies, for instance.

“The ultimate goal here is clear: They want to have the authority to make all federal employees ‘at will,’ to be able to fire them at any point, at any time, for any reason,” Kettl said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump continues to have the “utmost confidence” in national security adviser Mike Waltz after he added a journalist from The Atlantic to a Signal chat on highly sensitive Yemen strike plans.