Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.
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Also Thursday, a spokesperson for China denied any suggestion that it is in active negotiations with the U.S. over tariffs. The Trump administration has sent mixed messages regarding the progress and intent of its trade negotiations. The president said it would be “physically impossible” to negotiate with dozens of countries and “we are going to, at some point, just set prices for deals.”
Meanwhile the administration asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military while legal challenges proceed. Elsewhere judges blocked orders to end DEI in K-12 public schools, to deny funds to ‘sanctuary’ cities, to deport people from Colorado under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and to require proof of citizenship before registering to vote.
Here's the latest:
Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts faces occasional jeers as he defends Trump’s cuts
Ricketts repeatedly returned to his call for spending cuts amid grumbles from a central Nebraska audience during a public meeting Thursday that illustrated the tension between some voters and Republicans.
And though Ricketts was interrupted at times by shouts and jeers, including occasional chants of “tax the rich,” the 30 minutes he allowed for questions elicited civil exchanges on health care spending, President Donald Trump ’s agenda and the war in Ukraine.
Ricketts, one of only a handful of GOP senators and representatives who have risked direct public exchanges with constituents by holding in-person town halls this year, urged support for Trump’s proposed increase of $175 billion for U.S.-Mexico border security and $150 billion more in military spending, while urging deep cuts elsewhere.
Challenged on staffing cuts and other changes during the aggressive first three months of Trump’s second term, Ricketts said something had to be done to curb the $36 billion federal debt.
▶ Read more about Ricketts’ public meeting
Barnard College staff alarmed by federal survey asking if they’re Jewish
Barnard College faculty members are expressing anger and anxiety over a survey they received from the Trump administration this week asking if they are Jewish, among other personal questions.
Barnard officials belatedly informed staff that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had ordered the college to turn over their contact information so that employees could voluntarily participate in a probe of possible discrimination. The survey was sent on government letterhead by text to their personal cellphones, as first reported by The Intercept.
“That the government is putting together lists of Jews, ostensibly as part of a campaign to fight antisemitism, is really chilling,” professor Nara Milanich said. “As a historian, I have to say it feels a little uncomfortable.”
Neither the EEOC nor Barnard College responded to emails seeking comment.
▶ Read more about the Trump administration’s antisemitism probe survey
Trump signs executive order on deep-sea mining
The order signed Thursday aims to stimulate deep-sea mining, with the White House wanting to develop domestic capabilities for exploration, collection and processing of critical minerals.
It expects to be able to eventually explore more than 1 billion metric tons of available deep-sea nodules. Those are rock formations that contain critical minerals like cobalt, manganese and cooper, which the U.S. could eventually mine and export.
The order directs federal authorities to “expedite” deep-sea mining permits and produce a report on opportunities along the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.
Trump’s action follows a Canadian company recently seeking permission from the U.S. government to start deep-sea mining in international waters, despite a U.N. agency saying such efforts could violate international law.
Hegseth had an unsecured internet line set up in his office to connect to Signal, AP sources say
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.
National Science Foundation director steps down after funding cuts
Sethuraman Panchanathan, who had led the NSF since 2020, is departing after the agency made the cuts to funding for hundreds of university research projects.
Panchanathan initially defended the NSF’s priorities but said in a statement Thursday that he had “done all I can to advance the critical mission of the agency.”
NSF grants are a key source of funding for science research at U.S. universities. On Friday the agency abruptly canceled funding for hundreds of grants to comply with Trump’s directives to end support of research on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the study of misinformation.
More than 380 grant projects have been cut so far, including work to combat internet censorship in China and Iran and a project consulting with Indigenous communities to understand environmental changes in Alaska’s Arctic region.
“NSF is an extremely important investment to make U.S. scientific dominance a reality,” Panchanathan said in his statement. “We must not lose our competitive edge.”
Reproductive health group sues over withheld clinic funding
An association that represents clinics across the country sued Thursday over the Trump Administration’s decision last month to withhold some family planning grants.
The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association contends in a federal court filing in Washington that it was illegal to withhold funding for care including birth control, cancer screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
The group says funds were cut off with virtually no notice to about one-fourth of the providers who receive Title X funding, including all of them in California, Hawaii, Maine, Missouri, Montana and Utah.
USDA withdraws a plan to limit salmonella levels in raw poultry
The Agriculture Department says it is withdrawing a plan to limit salmonella bacteria in poultry products. The move halts a Biden Administration effort designed to prevent food poisoning.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service said Thursday that it withdrew the proposal after getting more than 7,000 public comments. The agency will evaluate whether salmonella regulations should be changed.
The move drew praise from the poultry industry and criticism from food safety advocates. Salmonella causes 1.35 million infections each year, mostly from food.
State, local election officials question federal agency over Trump elections order
A key group of state and local election officials questioned the leaders of a federal agency at the center of the executive order seeking major changes to U.S. elections, raising concerns about the consequences for voters and the people in charge of voting.
The annual meeting of the Standards Board of the U.S. Election Commission was an opportunity for elections officials to ask the four EAC commissioners about Trump’s executive order.
Trump’s March 25 order directed the commission — an independent federal agency — to update the national voter registration form to include a proof-of-citizenship requirement and revise guidelines for voting systems among other actions.
Whether the president can order an independent agency to act and whether it has the authority to do what he wants will likely be settled in court.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Thursday blocking the proof-of-citizenship requirement pending legal challenges.
▶ Read more on the elections officials’ questions about the order
US and Iran set next round of nuclear talks for Saturday in Oman
Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and a technical team will head there for a third round of U.S. talks with Iran on its nuclear program, a State Department spokesperson said Thursday.
Other officials said Witkoff’s participation in this round of talks was not yet confirmed.
Iran has said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and a technical team of its own will attend Saturday’s talks.
The Trump administration is pushing Tehran to scale back its nuclear program to ensure it can never make the jump to building nuclear bombs. It has warned of a risk of war with the U.S. or Israel if Iran refuses.
Iran says its program is for civilian uses only.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the U.S. team will be led by the department’s director of policy planning, Michael Anton, a former speechwriter, author, instructor and private-equity executive.
Critics have questioned whether the administration has given nuclear experts a big enough role in the talks.
Wall Street rallies for a third straight day, sending S&P 500 up 2%
U.S. stocks rallied further as better-than-expected profits for U.S. companies piled up, though CEOs say they’re unsure whether it will last because of uncertainty created by Trump’s trade war.
The S&P 500 jumped 2% Thursday for its third straight day of big gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2.7%.
ServiceNow surged after the AI platform company delivered a stronger profit for the start of 2025 than expected.
Southwest Airlines likewise reported stronger-than-expected results, but it joined a lengthening list of companies that have pulled financial forecasts because of uncertainty around tariffs.
Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes has formal support of 2 leading federal cultural agencies
The National Endowment for the Humanities announced Thursday that, along with the National Endowment for the Arts, it is committing $30 million this year to “enable the creation of statues in marble, granite, bronze, copper, or brass depicting historical figures tied to the accomplishments of the United States.”
Trump issued an executive order at the end of his first term calling for a “new monument to our country’s greatness.” He cited hundreds of Americans he considered worthy, from Benjamin Franklin and James Madison to Kobe Bryant and Shirley Temple.
Back in office, he has targeted the NEH, the Kennedy Center and other organizations for vast cuts and restructuring, accusing them of advancing a “woke” and anti-patriotic agenda. At the same time the NEH is offering money for the garden of heroes, it has cut off millions of dollars in grants.
The garden is scheduled to open in July 2026, timed to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Eric Trump promotes third-term Trump Organization merch
The U.S. Constitution says Trump can only be elected to two terms as president. That’s not stopping his family from promoting a third campaign.
Eric Trump shared a photo on Instagram of himself wearing a red “Trump 2028” hat, now sold by the Trump Store.
Trump, who would turn 82 in 2028, has said he is considering how to breach the constitutional prohibition. He had previously made jokes about it before telling NBC news he’s serious and that “there are methods which you could do it.”
The 22nd Amendment was adopted after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times. He died at 63, before the 100th day of his fourth term, on April 12, 1945.
Trump says it’s ‘physically impossible’ to conduct detailed trade negotiations with all countries
Trump has threatened to reimpose his steep ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on nearly all U.S. partners in a manner of months if they don’t negotiate separate deals with his administration. At some point, he said, his administration will “just set prices” for each partner that doesn’t come to the table.
“I can’t think of one country that doesn’t want to negotiate a deal, and they either negotiate a deal or we set a deal that we think is fair,” Trump said. But he said one-on-one talks will end at some point because only a “very small group” understands the issues.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said bilateral talks with South Korea may be “moving faster than we thought” after meetings earlier Thursday, with an agreement possible as soon as next week.
Swiss diplomat says entire world has to join together to talk trade with the US
Switzerland’s foreign minister in China says the sweeping Trump tariffs are like an earthquake that has hit “all the other countries on the planet” and thrust them into “a sort of coalition” to reach a deal with the United States.
Ignazio Cassis spoke to reporters in Beijing on Thursday after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
“We have to convince the United States to come back to a multilateral discussion -- which for now is not a given,” the Swiss diplomat said.
Trump has imposed 31% tariffs on Swiss goods — far higher than the 20% faced by its European Union neighbors — but Switzerland is among the many places now subject to a 90-day pause.
Trump says that by not taking all of Ukraine, Russia has made a ‘pretty big concession’ to end the war
Ukraine and much of Europe have fiercely pushed back against this notion, arguing that it’s hardly a concession for Russia to pause its land grab.
Earlier Thursday, Trump posted what for him is a rare rebuke of Putin after Russia struck Kyiv for hours with missiles and drones that killed at least 12 people and injured 90 in the deadliest assault on the city since July.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
“I didn’t like last night,” Trump said. “I wasn’t happy with it.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pledges protection against Trump’s ‘chaos’
Walz’s first major address to a statewide audience since he was Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate last year is getting attention.
Republican House floor leader Harry Niska called the Wednesday night speech an “angry rant about Donald Trump.”
But Walz urged state lawmakers to prove there’s a better way to govern.
“This current administration in Washington, they’re not forever,” Walz said. “These small, petty men will disappear into the dustbin of history. And when they do, there will be an opportunity and an obligation to actually rebuild government so that it works for working people.”
▶ Read more about Walz’s speech on governing in the Trump era
Federal judge blocks Trump’s proof-of-citizenship mandate for voter registration
The order blocks the Trump administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run.
Trump’s executive order argued that the U.S. “fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections” that exist in other countries.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with voting rights groups and Democrats to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the citizenship requirement from moving forward while the lawsuit plays out.
She also blocked a requirement that public assistance enrollees have their citizenship assessed before getting access to the federal voter registration form. But she denied other requests from the Democratic plaintiffs, including refusing to block Trump’s order to tighten mail ballot deadlines.
▶ Read more about the case against Trump’s federal elections changes
US filings for jobless benefits inch up as labor market remains strong despite fears of downturn
Jobless claim applications inched up by 6,000 to 222,000 for the week ending April 19, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s just barely more than the 220,000 new applications analysts forecast.
Trump has paused or pulled back on many of his tariff threats but concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that could upend what has been an historically resilient labor market.
It’s not clear when federal job cuts will surface in the weekly layoffs data. Despite showing some signs of weakening during the past year, the labor market remains healthy with plenty of job openings and relatively few layoffs.
▶ Read more about the latest U.S. job market numbers
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pledges protection against Trump’s ‘chaos’
Walz’s first major address to a statewide audience since he was Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate last year is getting attention.
Republican House floor leader Harry Niska called the Wednesday night speech an “angry rant about Donald Trump.”
But Walz urged state lawmakers to prove there’s a better way to govern.
“This current administration in Washington, they’re not forever,” Walz said. “These small, petty men will disappear into the dustbin of history. And when they do, there will be an opportunity and an obligation to actually rebuild government so that it works for working people.”
▶ Read more about Walz’s speech on governing in the Trump era
Trump appeals order not to deport people from Colorado under rarely used 1798 law
The order on Tuesday from Denver-based federal Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney also requires the administration to inform all people they seek to deport under the Alien Enemies Act that they have 21 days to appeal.
It’s one of a series of orders halting deportations under the provision, only invoked three times in U.S. history, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the people targeted can appeal.
The Trump administration’s filing at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals argues that Sweeney lacks jurisdiction and that it’s legally sound to invoke the statute against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Trump says he has his ‘own deadline’ to forge Ukraine-Russia peace deal
The president offered a more optimistic tone about prospects for an agreement than he did in social meeting postings earlier Thursday, when he leveled rare criticism against Russian President Vladimir Putin, or on Wednesday, when he sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who pushed back against a U.S. proposal that included Kyiv ceding the territory Russia has seized.
“There’s a lot of very bad blood, a lot of distrust, but … I hope we’re going to get there for the sake of a lot of young people that are dying,” the president said at the start of a lunch with visiting Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
“I have my own deadline, and we want it to be fast,” Trump added.
Trump administration fast-tracks energy project permitting, but not for solar or wind
Solar is the fastest-growing source of electricity generation in the United States, even though green energy proponents have argued that slow and inefficient permitting significantly hinders the transition to clean sources of power.
Trump’s Interior Department says its alternative process will shorten environmental impact statement approvals from about two years to about 28 days. The new procedures apply to to energy sources including oil, natural gas, petroleum, uranium, coal, biofuels and critical minerals, and to geothermal and hydropower. But not solar or wind.
The Sierra Club said this basically turns public input into lip service.
Tariffs impact: Here’s what some corporations are telling investors:
1. Procter & Gamble said Thursday it’s doing whatever it can to reduce higher costs from Trump’s tariffs, but will likely have to raise prices for consumer products as early as July.
2. PepsiCo lowered its full-year earnings expectations, citing a pullback in consumer spending and Trump’s 25% tariff on imported aluminum.
3. Merck trimmed its earnings forecast. The pharmaceutical giant gets half its revenue in the U.S. market and expects tariffs implemented so far to cost the company about $200 million.
4. American Airlines withdrew its earnings forecast for the year as economic uncertainty prompts consumers to cut back on travel.
▶ Read more on corporate outlooks in today’s earnings reports
Trump insists US and China are talking on trade despite Beijing’s denials
“They had a meeting this morning,” Trump said, then added: “It doesn’t matter who they is.”
Trump is seeking to climb down from his 145% tariffs on Chinese goods amid growing business and consumer concerns that the import taxes will drive up inflation and potentially send the economy into a recession. China hit back with 125% tariffs on U.S. products.
Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said during a daily briefing on Thursday that for all he knows, “China and the U.S. are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, still less reaching a deal.”
A spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry, He Yadong, said “any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis.”
▶ Read more on the state of US-China trade negotiations
Trump says he’ll meet with journalist who was mistakenly texted about US military strikes
Trump says he’ll do a sit-down interview with The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, and two other writers at the magazine.
Goldberg is the journalist who reported in 2020 that Trump had privately referred to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France as “losers” and “suckers,” a story that still angers Trump.
In a social media post Thursday, the president called Goldberg “the person responsible for many fictional stories about me” but said his reporting about being inadvertently added to the Signal chat on pending airstrikes on Yemen was “somewhat more ‘successful.’”
Trump said he’s doing the interview “out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it’s possible for The Atlantic to be ‘truthful.’”
Wall Street rallies as companies keep piling up profits, for now at least
Markets are up on better-than-expected profits, but CEOs say they’re unsure whether it will last amid of uncertainty created by Trump’s trade war.
The S&P 500 was 1.3% higher at midday Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 265 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.7% higher.
Southwest Airlines reported stronger than expected first-quarter results, but its stock was flipping between losses and gains after it became the latest U.S. carrier to say the economic outlook is too cloudy to predict some of this year’s finances. CEO Bob Jordan said the company is reducing flights and “controlling what we can control.”
▶ Read more on today’s market movements
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s push to end DEI in K-12 public schools
The legal challenge by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union accused the Republican administration of violating teachers’ due process and First Amendment rights by forbidding their efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
Trump’s Education Department told schools and colleges to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race or risk losing federal grants and contracts. The department gave states until Thursday to gather signatures from each local school systems certifying compliance. Some refused, saying there is nothing illegal about DEI.
▶ Read more on this legal battle over DEI in public schools
Judge bars Trump from denying federal funds to ‘sanctuary’ cities that limit immigration cooperation
U.S. Judge William Orrick said a preliminary injunction was appropriate because the executive orders were unconstitutional just as they were in 2017 when Trump announced a similar order.
Orrick issued the injunction sought by San Francisco and more than a dozen other municipalities that sued over a pair of executive orders the Republican president issued targeting local municipalities that limit cooperation with federal immigration efforts.
Orrick, based in San Francisco, wrote that defendants are restrained and enjoined “from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds” and the administration must provide written notice of his order to all federal departments and agencies by Monday.
▶ Read more about Trump and sanctuary cities
Trump science cuts roil university labs, targeting bird feeder research, AI literacy work and more
Hundreds of university researchers had their National Science Foundation funding abruptly canceled Friday to comply with Trump’s directives to end support of research on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the study of misinformation. It’s the latest front in Trump’s anti-DEI campaign that has also gone after university administrations, medical research and the private sector.
More than 380 grant projects have been cut so far, including work to combat internet censorship in China and Iran and a project consulting with Indigenous communities to understand environmental changes in Alaska’s Arctic region. One computer scientist was studying how artificial intelligence tools could mitigate bias in medical information, and others were trying to help people detect AI-generated deepfakes. A number of terminated grants sought to broaden the diversity of people studying science, technology and engineering.
NSF has a $9 billion budget that can be a lifeline for resource-strapped professors and the younger researchers they recruit to their teams. It has shifted priorities over time but it’s highly unusual to terminate so many midstream grants.
▶ Read more about National Science Foundation funding cuts
After criticism, Trump Organization ‘moving in a different direction’ on outside ethics adviser
The Trump Organization says it’s “moving in a different direction” with regard to its hand-picked outside ethics adviser following strong criticism from President Trump about the prominent lawyer who was selected for the role months ago.
Trump on Thursday lambasted William Burck, who is one of the lawyers representing Harvard University in a high-stakes court fight with the Trump administration. Burck was also named in January to serve as an outside ethics adviser for the Trump Organization to vet deals that could pose conflicts with public policy.
Trump in a Truth Social post said Burck “should therefore be forced to resign, immediately, or be fired.” He called on his sons, who now run the company, to part ways with Burck, though he didn’t mention the attorney by name. Soon after, Eric Trump said in a statement provided to The Associated Press that: “I view it as (a) conflict and I will be moving in a different direction.”