March 28, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

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Dr. Peter Marks speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in 2021.

The head of the US Food and Drug Administration’s department responsible for assuring the safety and effectiveness of vaccines has resigned, according to a resignation letter obtained by CNN.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, was forced out of his job, having been given the choice to resign or be fired.

The news of Marks’ resignation was first reported Friday by The Wall Street Journal.

Marks’ resignation takes effect April 5.

In an email, an HHS official told CNN: “If Peter Marks does not want to get behind restoring science to its golden standard and promoting radical transparency, then he has no place at FDA under the strong leadership of Secretary Kennedy.”

Marks was instrumental in carrying out “Operation Warp Speed” — the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine program. He has overseen the approval of more recent vaccines as well, including the first influenza vaccine for self- or caregiver-administration, providing a new option for protection against seasonal flu.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna talks to reporters at the US Capitol on December 20, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said today that she will likely leave the conservative House Freedom Caucus amid pushback to her effort to allow new parents to vote remotely.

Luna, along with Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen, are trying to force a change to House rules to allow new parents – mothers as well as fathers – to vote by proxy for up to 12 weeks around the birth of a baby.

The issue has opened up a rift within among House Republicans.

Republican leaders have argued that it’s unconstitutional and a slippery slope. And, earlier this week, a group of GOP hardliners from the Freedom Caucus staged a short-lived rebellion on the House floor, holding up an unrelated vote as they demanded concessions from party leadership over the proxy voting measure, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Rep. Luna is one of the only women members of the Freedom Caucus.

Federal judges on Friday delivered a series of rulings that could challenge President Donald Trump’s agenda, with the news coming in quick succession.

Here’s what you should know:

Meanwhile, a win for the administration:

This post was updated with the latest order regarding the law firm of WilmerHale.

The State Department ordered all US embassies and consulates to screen the social media activity of certain student visa applicants for evidence they support terrorist organizations, two sources familiar with a memo from the department told CNN.

The expansive directive, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, tasks “Fraud Prevention Units” at the Department with taking screenshots of any social media activity that is relevant to the ineligibility of a visa applicant, and to preserve those records in case the applicant deletes the information, the sources said.

Decisions on visas are national security decisions, the memo says while citing executive orders from President Donald Trump to combat terrorism and antisemitism.

CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment. Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein first reported on the cable.

Rubio’s directive comes amid fierce criticism from immigration and human rights advocates over the Trump administration’s detention of some visa holders who have not been charged with a crime.

Rep. Victoria Spartz speaks during a town hall on Friday in Westfield, Indiana.

GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz faced shouts and boos from a frustrated crowd at her town hall Friday in Westfield, Indiana.

One of the biggest confrontations came over the recent Signal chat debacle, which saw top Trump administration officials accidentally include a journalist in a discussion about highly sensitive Yemen attack plans.

A woman who identified herself as Stephanie asked whether Spartz will demand the immediate resignations of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz and everyone else in the group chat. Many in the crowd cheered when the woman asked the question.

Spartz replied, “No, I will not demand their resignations.” The crowd erupted in anger.

Spartz ultimately did concede that, “It’s not a good situation. So, hopefully we’ll take some look at that.” But she went on to argue that government officials “don’t have any other tools” except Signal to discuss sensitive information.

The big picture: It’s a scene that’s played out at an increasing number of town halls held by Republican lawmakers across the country: Angry constituents confronting them about President Donald Trump’s actions during his first 100 days in office, especially his vast overhaul of government and slashes to the federal workforce.

It hasn’t only impacted GOP politicians: Democrats have also faced riled-up crowds over what voters say is a lack of sufficient resistance to Trump’s actions.

Carlos Watson, co-founder of Ozy Media, arrives for his sentencing hearing at Brooklyn Federal Court on December 13, 2024 in New York.

President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson on Friday, just hours before he was set to surrender to prison, two people familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.

Watson was convicted last summer for defrauding investors and lying about his company’s finances. He’s a former cable news anchor and investment banker who was accused of being dishonest to investors about the now-defunct startup’s finances and sham deals with Google and Oprah Winfrey.

In December, Watson was sentenced to nearly a decade in prison.

As CNN reported at the time, Ozy imploded in 2021 after news reports questioned its audience numbers and revealed that a top executive had impersonated a YouTube executive during a call with Goldman Sachs bankers in which he claimed the streaming site agreed to pay for exclusive rights to an Ozy show.

The White House declined to comment.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, left, holds a letter of intent to request changes to the state's SNAP and food dye legislation next to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on Friday, in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Friday to support newly signed legislation to ban certain synthetic dyes in food.

The ban is part of a new “Four Pillars of a Healthy West Virginia” plan that Morrisey detailed at a news conference Friday, where he also announced his intent to request that the federal government make soda ineligible for purchase with food stamps.

Kennedy expressed support for the proposed restrictions on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides food benefits to low-income families.

Friday’s announcements at a school in West Virginia took place behind a lectern with a sign that said, “MAHA Starts Here,” referring to “Make America Healthy Again,” a spin on President Donald Trump’s slogan adopted by RFK Jr. and his supporters.

The state was the first to institute a sweeping ban on synthetic food dyes, which have been tied to issues with learning and behavior in some children and of which Kennedy has been an outspoken critic. Lawmakers in more than 20 other states are also pushing to restrict access.

President Donald Trump talks to members of the press aboard Air Froce One on Friday.

President Donald Trump expressed some openness to cutting tariff deals with other countries as he plans to unveil new taxes on imports in the coming days, but he suggested any deals would be made after the tariffs go into place on April 2.

“It’s possible if we can get something for the deal — but, you know, we’ve been taken advantage of for 40 years, maybe more. It’s just not going to happen anymore. But yeah, I’m certainly open to it,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to Florida, when asked if he was open to making deals with countries like the United Kingdom that have discussed reducing tariffs on the US.

Pressed on whether that would happen before the tariffs are announced, he said, “No. Probably later.”

Trump also reiterated plans to announce pharmaceutical tariffs.

The president declined to provide a specific rate for those tariffs, but said it would be “enough to get the drugs and the pharmaceutical companies bringing their product into our country — we never want to have to rely on other countries, like we did during Covid.”

He downplayed a shift in tone regarding Canada following his Friday morning call with Prime Minister Mark Carney, saying, “I’ve always loved Canada and we had a very good conversation.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters is seen in Washington, DC, on May 22, 2022.

A federal judge is temporarily blocking the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The new preliminary injunction “maintains the agency’s existence until this case has been resolved on the merits,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote in her 112-page ruling Friday, by “reinstating and preserving the agency’s contracts, work force, data, and operational capacity, and protecting and facilitating the employees’ ability to perform statutorily required activities.”

CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed reporting.

At the invitation of Director John Ratcliffe, Elon Musk will visit the CIA for the first time on Monday, according to a person familiar with the plans and a US official.

This comes after Ratcliffe told the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday that the impact of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is “zero” on the CIA.

Representatives from the organization have not been to either the CIA or the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Ratcliffe and the nation’s spy chief, Tulsi Gabbard, said.

“The president understands the essential national security mission that we have and we are going through our own internal systems to be sure we are achieving the effects in an efficient way that is responsible to the American taxpayer,” Gabbard said Wednesday.

Musk’s impending visit was announced by Ratcliffe at a CIA town hall with the workforce on Friday, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Ratcliffe said he wanted to talk to Musk about “technology” and “advancing the mission” with it, the source told CNN.

Reaction to Ratcliffe’s announcement was tepid, according to the source, who described it, generally, as “here we go.”

Musk, who is helping spearhead President Donald Trump’s effort to vastly shrink and reshape the federal government through DOGE, notably visited the Pentagon last week.

This post has been updated with additional details about Musk and the CIA.

US President Donald Trump looks on during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Monday.

A federal appeals court on Friday allowed President Donald Trump to remove — for now — the chair of a critical “merit board” that reviews federal firings, as well as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, potentially hobbling both agencies by depriving them of a working quorum.

The emergency order issued by the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals removes Merit Systems Protection Board chairwoman Cathy Harris and NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox from their posts while their legal cases move forward.

They previously argued that Trump can’t summarily fire them because federal law specifies the president can only dismiss them for cause.

Vice President JD Vance speaks at the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, on Friday, as White House national security adviser Mark Waltz listens.

Vice President JD Vance accused Denmark of not doing an adequate job keeping Greenland safe, arguing the territory would be better off under the United States’ “security umbrella.”

“What Denmark’s security umbrella has meant is, effectively, they’ve passed it all off to brave Americans and hope that we would pick up the tab. We’re simply saying to the people of Greenland, when the president says, ‘We’ve got to have Greenland,’ he’s saying, ‘This island is not safe,’” Vance said.

“What is the alternative? To give up the North Atlantic, to give up the Arctic to China, to Russia and other regimes that don’t have the best interest of the American people at heart? We have no other option. We need to take a significant position in Greenland to keep the people here safe, to keep our own country safe, too,” the vice president added.

Some context: Greenlandic and Danish officials have rejected the US administration’s narrative about the safety of the semiautonomous territory, and a newspaper poll in January found that 85% of Greenlanders did not want to become part of the US, Reuters reported.

US Vice President JD Vance arrives at the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland today.

Vice President JD Vance said Friday that he does not foresee military force being needed in Greenland while visiting the semiautonomous Danish territory with other Trump administration officials.

Earlier, the vice president reiterated the US’ interest in Greenland, saying that it is needed for “the safety of the American people.”

“What the president has said is that we need to have more of a position in Greenland. We need it, again, for the safety of the American people. And what we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self-determination to become independent of Denmark, and then we’re going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there,” Vance said.

Vice President JD Vance said Friday that he and President Donald Trump are “standing behind” their national security team in the wake of the Signal chat scandal, adding that national security adviser Mike Waltz has taken responsibility and an update on the internal investigation should be coming “soon.”

“If you think you’re going to force the president of the United states to fire anybody, you’ve got another thing coming. President Trump has said on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, and I’m the vice president saying it here on Friday, we are standing behind our entire national security team,” he added.

The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief has said that Waltz, who stood next to Vance on the Greenland trip Friday, added him to the group chat among top national security officials about a strike on the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

During that chat, Vance said he believed the strikes on the Houthis were a “mistake,” adding that he wasn’t sure if Trump was “aware how inconsistent” it would be with “his message on Europe right now.”

“Sometimes we all agree and sometimes we all disagree, but it’s important that we all have an honest conversation amongst ourselves,” Vance said Friday.

“I support the president’s decision to strike the Houthis. I always supported the president’s decision to strike the Houthis, and I support the national security team having the argument about how best to serve the American people,” he added.

This post has been updated with Vance’s remarks on the Signal chat probe.

Canadian and American flags fly on the Canadian side of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, on March 8.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told US President Donald Trump that Canada plans to implement retaliatory tariffs on US goods next week in response to the White House’s expected taxes on imports, as well as a new tariff on automobiles and parts announced on Wednesday.

“The Prime Minister informed the President that his government will implement retaliatory tariffs to protect Canadian workers and our economy,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a news release Friday.

“The leaders agreed to begin comprehensive negotiations about a new economic and security relationship immediately following the election,” the statement said, referring to Canada’s federal election scheduled for April 28.

In the interim, trade talks are expected to “intensify to address immediate concerns,” it added.

Friday’s call was the first between the two leaders.

Carney’s office described it as a “very constructive conversation” and Trump said in a social media post that the call was “extremely productive.”

Carney warned yesterday that Canada’s relationship with the US had fundamentally changed given the Trump administrations’ tariff threats, and said Canada has “a number of measures that we can take in response.”

The motorcade of U.S. Vice President JD Vance travels through the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland today.

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Friday the US has “to have Greenland” for the sake of global security.

Trump argued control over Greenland is a matter of peace “for the entire world,” not just the United States.

“Look at it, you have warships all over the place going through right along Greenland. We’re not going to let that happen,” Trump added.

The president said he believes Denmark and the European Union understand his view of the territory’s importance, adding a warning: “And if they don’t, we’re going to have to explain it to them.”

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance are leading a US delegation on a visit to the semiautonomous Danish territory Friday, making Vance the first vice president to visit Greenland.

“They will represent us well,” Trump said.

Remember: Greenlandic politicians have repeatedly signaled they are opposed to annexation, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has urged Trump to respect “the fundamental rules of sovereignty.”

A newspaper poll in January found that 85% of Greenlanders did not want to become part of the US, with nearly half saying Trump’s interest was a threat, Reuters reported.

CNN’s Lex Harvey contributed to this report.

Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corp., exits court in New York, on Monday, December 18, 2023. Milton was ordered to spend four years behind bars for lying to shareholders about the electric-truck maker's progress.

President Donald Trump says he pardoned Trevor Milton, the CEO of now-defunct hydrogen and electric truck firm Nikola, in part because he believed Milton was persecuted for supporting Trump’s political ambitions.

In October 2022, a New York jury convicted Milton on federal charges of securities fraud and wire fraud.

Prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York had accused Milton of making false and misleading statements about “nearly all aspects of the business” as it pertained to developing electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, as well as defrauding the public through social media and podcast interviews.

He was sentenced in 2023 to four years in prison. He had been free on bail as he appealed the conviction.

On Thursday evening, Milton posted on X that he’d received a phone call from Trump, who informed him he’d been granted a “full and unconditional pardon.”

“This pardon is not just about me—it’s about every American who has been railroaded by the government, and unfortunately, that’s a lot of people,” Milton wrote.

In his remarks Friday, Trump suggested Milton’s case was unfairly moved to New York from Utah. And he alleged — without evidence — that he was targeted for being a Trump supporter.

President Donald Trump announced an agreement with Skadden Arps on Friday, calling it a “settlement” and saying the firm would provide at least $100 million in pro bono legal work during the administration.

“Skadden will provide a total of at least 100 million dollars in pro bono legal services during the Trump administration and beyond,” the president said.

The law firm will also fund a fellowship program, commit to merit-based hiring promotion and retention, and agreed not to deny representation based on political beliefs, Trump added.

CNN is reaching out to Skadden Arps.

More context: Trump has issued executive orders limiting law firms’ ability to work with the federal government and revoking security clearances for lawyers at the firms. The White House has made clear these firms are being punished because of their partners’ or clients’ political work and ties to criminal investigations that probed Trump.

This latest announcement comes a week after Trump rescinded an order targeting the law firm Paul Weiss after it reached a similar agreement with the president.

Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada Mark Carney gives a speech to his supporters during a rally at the Grand Quay of the Port of Montreal, in Canada, yesterday.

President Donald Trump said he held a “very good conversation” with his new Canadian counterpart Mark Carney earlier Friday.

The phone call, which came 14 days after Carney was sworn in as prime minister, comes amid a darkening of relations between Washington and Ottawa over Trump’s threat of tariffs and his desire to annex Canada.

Earlier, Trump wrote on Truth Social he would meet Carney after Canada’s April 28 general election.

“He’s going through an election now, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said.

“We’re going to end up with a very good relationship with Canada and a lot of the other countries,” he said.

“We had a very good talk, the prime minister and myself, and I think things are going to work out very well between Canada and the United States,” he went on.