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The US Postal Service says it has temporarily suspended accepting international parcels from China and Hong Kong until further notice.

It did not provide a reason for the change, but said in a statement Tuesday the flow of letters will not be affected.

Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that terminated the “de minimis” exemption, a long-standing rule that allowed anyone, including exporters, to ship packages worth less than $800 to the United States without duties or needing to undergo inspections.

The new rule could also affect e-commerce sites like Shein and Temu, which have built their gargantuan business models around this exemption. The relaxed restrictions and tax exemptions on cheap products have allowed more than a billion packages to pour into the US at low prices for consumers looking for deals on clothing to household goods.

While it is unclear whether the suspension was related to the executive order, experts have told CNN the delivery of international parcels into the US would be “slowed down” if every package must be examined.

Currently, US Customs and Border Protection has the authority to open and inspect all international packages, though in practice it doesn’t open every single item.

Senate Democrats are planning to hold the floor from Wednesday afternoon until Thursday evening to protest the nomination of Russell Vought to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget, according to a Democratic leadership aide.

The effort willl begin after Vought clears the final procedural hurdle tomorrow afternoon, limiting debate to 30 hours before the final confirmation vote Thursday night.

Vought, whose staunchly conservative views and ties to Project 2025 have drawn the ire of Democrats, is expected to be confirmed along party lines for the powerful position. He was Trump’s former budget director during his first administration when Vought oversaw a widespread deregulation push.

OMB oversees the development and execution of the federal budget, and the office has significant influence over the president’s agenda.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed reporting.

A US district judge granted the requests of anonymous federal employees in multiple cases against the Trump administration to move forward in the proceedings under pseudonyms in an effort to protect themselves from potential public harassment and threats.

Chief Judge James Boasberg of DC’s federal trial court on Tuesday pointed to concerns raised by the employee’s lawyers that they faced certain safety risks by bringing litigation against the Trump administration.

The FBI employees are suing over the Justice Department’s collection of information from them about their work on Trump investigations as part of an alleged effort to purge those involved in those cases. Two of the requests were made in separate cases brought by FBI employees against the Justice Department, and a third was in a case against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM.)

The filings in one of the cases, Boasberg said, showed “numerous instances in which FBI agents have been doxed in online posts or subjected to violent attacks because of their involvement in investigations concerning President Trump.” The efforts by January 6 rioters, including those pardoned by Trump, to publicize the identities of the FBI agents working on those cases also weighed on Boasberg’s decision.

“Such concerns are as troubling as those that typically justify pseudonymity,” Boasberg wrote.

In the FBI cases, the plaintiffs’ names will be shared confidentially with the Justice Department. But Boasberg is allowing the OPM staffers to withhold their identities from the government defendants, as their lawyer argued they could also face professional consequences if the government learned their identity. That case alleges OPM failed to assess data security issues when setting up an email distribution system used to blast the entire federal civil service.

The three cases will now be assigned to judges who will oversee them going forward. Boasberg said those judges could revisit his decisions on anonymity.

Packed outside of the Treasury Department Tuesday evening, hundreds gathered to protest what they described as Elon Musk’s illegal invasion of financial systems holding the sensitive security information of millions of Americans.

Members of Congress rallied the crowd and chants of “Deport Musk” could be heard.

The “Nobody Elected Elon” rally was organized by several left-leaning groups including Indivisible, MoveOn and the Working Families Party.

Congressional representatives voiced alarm at the lack of oversight over Musk’s role and assured the public that despite frustrations, many lawmakers are “holding the line,” fighting for constituents and not carrying on business as usual.

Speakers also argued President Donald Trump ran on an agenda to uplift the working class, but that he’s instead using the government to further enrich billionaires and corporations.

“They want us to believe that the reason we can’t pay for our health insurance, the reason we can’t cover rent, the reason kids are dying on the streets due to gun violence, the reason there’s so much wealth inequality and that so many people live paycheck to paycheck is because of the immigrant or because of the trans person or because of your neighbor. They lied. It’s because of corrupt billionaires like Elon Musk and corporations, not our fellow working people,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost to loud applause.

Democrats characterized themselves as a unified “opposition” party committed to oversight as they warned of an authoritarian takeover.

“I want you to know that the crisis is here. I want you to know that the power belongs to the people though y’all. Do not feel powerless in this moment,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

Speakers identified part of their work as persuading Republican voters they could also be adversely impacted by the early actions of the Trump administration as they vowed to take the fight to the streets and the courts.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced all 47 Democratic senators would vote against Office of Management and Budget nominee Russell Vought, but didn’t engage with demonstrators who called on him to shut down the Senate. Chants of “shut down the Senate” and “no regular order,” blared from the crowd as Schumer departed the podium.

Asked Tuesday night about President Donald Trump’s remarks that the US will “take over” the Gaza Strip, GOP senators largely refused to comment as they dashed to-and-from floor votes, including Trump ally Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch.

Others expressed some skepticism.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called it an “interesting proposal” but also “problematic.”

“We’ll see what our Arab friends say about that. I think most South Carolinians would probably not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza. I think that might be problematic. But I’ll keep an open mind,” he said.

North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said that “there are probably a couple of kinks in that Slinky, but I’ll have to take a look at the statement.”

“I don’t know what to make of it,” said Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn. “Check back with me tomorrow, that’s a good idea.”

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut called the idea “crazy, and you can quote me.” He said it would “blow apart the Abraham Accords,” adding that “all the progress that we have made including the brave and costly battles that Israel has waged would be effectively undercut by this crazy notion.”

New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democratic on the Foreign Relations Committee, said, “No, I don’t think it’s something that is in America’s interest.”

She added: “This idea, I think it fails to recognize the need to have a Palestinian state, and the fact that until we address the concerns of the Palestinians, there will continue to be conflict in the region.”

Sen. Chris Coons, another key Democratic member of the committee, also criticized the plan.

“You can put me down as this is between offensive and insane and dangerous and foolish,” he said.

Two Arab officials who spoke with CNN immediately following President Donald Trump’s unexpected Tuesday comments about the US taking over Gaza expressed puzzlement, concern and pessimism.

It was “rough, raw, hard to grasp and digest” one official said, adding that they “need clarity and further development to become understood.”

A second official, a diplomat, said the comments will jeopardize the fragile ceasefire deal in Gaza and likened them to what Trump has said about absorbing Canada and buying Greenland.

“It is essential to recognize the profound implications such proposals have on the lives and dignity of the Palestinian people, as well as the broader Middle East,” the diplomat said.

The source continued: “Furthermore, the reality remains that 1.8 million people in Gaza would resist such an initiative and refuse to leave,” said the diplomat. “Saudi Arabia is unlikely to pursue peace under these circumstances, and other nations may reconsider their commitments to the Abraham Accords.”

The diplomat went on to say that the move’s timing “raises significant concerns, particularly as we strive to maintain a fragile ceasefire and negotiate a potential hostage deal.”

“Statements like these can inadvertently jeopardize the progress we have made and threaten to unravel the delicate balance we are working to achieve,” they said.

Some background: On Monday, foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as the Secretary General of the PLO, sent a joint letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict “the key to regional peace” and saying it can only come about through a two-state solution.

“It is imperative that Israel does not annex any Palestinian land,” says the letter, a copy of which was seen by CNN. “Such annexation will simply render the two-state solution unviable.”

“Palestinians do not want to leave their land. We support their position unequivocally,” the ministers wrote.

The Treasury Department said that aides of Elon Musk detailed to the agency that they have “read-only” access to its sensitive $5 trillion US payments system and that no payments have been suspended or rejected as part of an ongoing review.

The information, provided in a letter to lawmakers from a Treasury official, amounts to the first substantive effort to detail the role Department of Government Efficiency staff detailed to the agency have in the operations of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

Efforts to gain access to the systems, which are closely held and the lynchpin of federal government payments, have rattled career Treasury officials and raised significant concern among lawmakers and former government officials in recent days, as CNN has reported.

“The ongoing review of Treasury’s systems is not resulting in the suspension or rejection of any payment instructions submitted to Treasury by other federal agencies across the government,” an unnamed official said in the Tuesday evening letter. “In particular, the review at the Fiscal Service has not caused payments for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare to be delayed or re-routed.”

The letter marks Treasury’s first public acknowledgment and explanation of the role held by Tom Krause, the chief executive officer at Cloud Software Group with ties to DOGE. Krause was described in recent weeks as the central DOGE-connected staffer driving the effort to secure access to the payment systems. Krause clashed with career officials over the request and was eventually granted access by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Read more here.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing its anti-trans prison policy against three transgender women currently housed in women’s facilities at federal prisons.

The narrow ruling from US District Judge Royce Lamberth applies to just three trans inmates, but it nonetheless represents another legal setback for a divisive executive order issued by President Donald Trump on his first day in office after a separate judge made a similar ruling week.

Among other things, the executive order from Trump required officials to ensure that transgender women detained in federal facilities be housed in men’s facilities and prohibited the Bureau of Prisons from providing gender-affirming care to inmates.

Three transgender women currently housed in women’s facilities sued over the policy, alleging it represented unconstitutional sex-based discrimination and violates their protections against cruel and unusual punishment “given the serious risk of violence and sexual assault” they’ll face in men’s facilities, their attorney, Jennifer Levi, told the judge during a hearing on Tuesday.

In an 11-page ruling granting the inmates’ request for a temporary restraining order, Lamberth agreed that their safety could be at risk if they were transferred to men’s facilities and said that they would likely succeed on their cruel and unusual punishment claims during a later stage in the litigation.

“With respect to the transfer provision, the plaintiffs cited to various government reports and regulations recognizing that transgender persons are at a significantly elevated risk of physical and sexual violence relative to other inmates when housed in a facility corresponding to their biological sex — which the defendants do not dispute,” he wrote.

Lamberth said that prison officials “shall maintain and continue the plaintiffs’ housing status and medical care as they existed immediately prior to January 20, 2025.”

The judge said his block will remain in effect “pending further Order of this Court.”

The National Institutes of Health has quietly restarted some paused activities, such as reviewing research grant proposals in closed meetings. But other activities, like hiring research trainees and recruiting study participants, remain on hold, according to sources familiar with the decisions who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to share the information.

On January 21, the acting secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services ordered a blanket and unprecedented freeze on external communications, causing federal health agencies to go silent.

The US Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Tuesday that some external communications have been restored.

“HHS continues to increase staff levels as we look forward to the new Secretary leading the agency,” the department said. “HHS has approved numerous communications related to critical health and safety needs and will continue to do so.”

Long-running scientific publications like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report didn’t publish on schedule. Critical meetings to review research proposals were halted. Presentations at scientific meetings were abruptly stopped. Researchers were told they couldn’t order needed supplies for ongoing studies because the purchase orders required amounted to external communications.

Tuesday, there were signs that some NIH activities were resuming, including meetings called study sections, where panels of outside experts review research proposals and rate them for future funding. The most highly rated proposals then go on to another round of review before they are funded.

Closed sessions of the NIH’s advisory council meetings, another key step in the grant review process, were also allowed to resume, according to a guidance document obtained by CNN. Travel for those sessions was allowed, although it remained on hold for large public events, the document said.

Other activities remained verboten, as well.

Scientists were told they could not recruit study participants by posting notices for them; they were also told not to review scientific papers for medical journals or write commentary and perspective articles for publication, according to internal communications shared with CNN.

The guidance document for employees said the communications pause is still in place on public documents and communications, including grant announcements and news releases, until they can be reviewed by a presidential appointee. Sources at multiple agencies within HHS said they still hadn’t been able to get clearance for regular outside communications.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he intends to visit Gaza and other areas in the Middle East after he repeatedly disparaged the war-torn region and suggested that the US should take a “long-term ownership position” of the enclave.

“I love Israel. I will visit there, and I’ll visit Gaza, and I’ll visit Saudi Arabia, and I’ll visit other places all over the Middle East. The Middle East is an incredible place, so vibrant — it’s just one of the really beautiful places with great people,” Trump told reporters during a news conference.

He added: “I’ll be visiting a lot of different places in the Middle East. I’ve been invited everywhere, but I will be visiting some.”

His comments about visiting came after he said multiple times Tuesday that he wants the US to be involved in redeveloping Gaza.

“I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East,” Trump said, declining to rule out sending US troops to Gaza to secure such ownership.

He also suggested that Palestinians should be relocated to multiple areas where “you build really good quality housing, like a beautiful town, like some place where they can live and not die, because Gaza is a guarantee that they’re going to end up dying.”

Some context: The president has previously claimed to have traveled to Gaza, but there is no public evidence of Trump ever having been to Gaza. Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Gaza last week, becoming the first high-ranking US official known to visit the strip in years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed support for US President Donald Trump’s remarks about the possibility of the US taking a “long-term ownership position” in Gaza.

Pointing to Israel’s war objective of making sure Gaza does not pose a threat to it, Netanyahu said, “President Trump is taking it to a much higher level. He sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism.”

He added: “I think it’s worth paying attention to this. We’re talking about it.”

The Israeli leader said Trump’s idea could “change history” and that it is “worthwhile really pursuing this avenue.”

President Donald Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins the “potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable” and that it could become the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

“We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don’t want to be cute, I don’t want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so — this could be so magnificent,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“More importantly than that is the people that have been absolutely destroyed that live there now can live in peace, in a much better situation, because they’re living in hell, and those people will now be able to live in peace. We’ll make sure that it’s done world class,” Trump continued.

Initially asked by Collins who he envisions living in Gaza, Trump said, “I envision the world people living there. The world’s people. I think you’ll make that into an international, unbelievable place. I think the potential and the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world.”

Asked, “But not the Palestinians?” Trump replied, “Palestinians also. Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there.”

“They’ve tried the other and they’ve tried it for decades and decades and decades. It’s not going to work. It didn’t work. It will never work. And you have to learn from history,” Trump continued.

The Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as attorney general on Tuesday evening. The vote was 54-46.

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania joined Republicans to support Bondi.

Bondi was President Donald Trump’s second pick to lead the Justice Department, after former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew due to a lack of support from Republican senators. She has faced criticism from Democrats over her loyalty to Trump.

Democrats on the Senate Intelligence committee on Tuesday said they’re still concerned about Tulsi Gabbard’s judgement after President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence advanced along a party-line vote.

“I have significant concerns about her decision making, her judgement to do this job,” Sen. Mark Kelly told reporters, adding that he was worried about Gabbard’s “propensity to use people that aren’t experts and to distrust the U.S. intelligence community.”

“My Republican colleagues had concerns as well,” he said, pointing to concerns about Gabbard’s views on Edward Snowden.

Both Sen. Susan Collins and Todd Young, GOP swing votes on the committee, said they were able to overcome their worries after being offered assurances about Gabbard’s position on Snowden.

“I think we all understand that they can be under tremendous pressure, but this is our national security we’re talking about,” he said, later adding, “I think our national security should always come first, not political pressure and partisanship, especially on a vote like this when you see the way it came out. It’s unfortunate.”

Asked by CNN about Democrats getting rolled on nominations, after Trump’s controversial picks continue to advance, Sen. Mark Kelly responded, “This is a democracy. I do not agree with us getting rolled. You know, this is the way it works. There are consequences of elections.”

He noted that he and his Democratic colleagues voted not to approve Gabbard’s nomination, adding, “that’s not getting rolled. That’s just a vote.”

Kelly said “absolutely” Democrats plan on using whatever leverage they can in government funding negotiations, adding, “there’s opportunities here to try to move this in a different direction.”

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he still has deep concerns about Gabbard’s judgement, and said if she is confirmed as director of National Intelligence, he hopes she would be willing to stand up to the encroaching influence of Elon Musk in the Trump administration.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he thinks peace with Saudi Arabia “is going to happen.”

“I think peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only feasible, I think it’s going to happen,” he said at the White House on Tuesday, adding that it would have happened during US President Donald Trump’s first term if they’d had another six months.

Just weeks before Hamas launched its October 7 attack on Israel in 2023, Saudi Arabia had said it was inching closer to normalizing diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

However, since Israel launched a retaliatory war on Hamas in Gaza — that has since killed tens of thousands of people, according to Palestinian authorities — Saudi Arabia has been highly critical of the country’s actions.

In November last year, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accused Israel of carrying out “collective genocide” in Gaza, in some of his strongest criticism of the country since the war began. A month prior, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told CNN’s Becky Anderson that the prospect of Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel was “off the table” without the Palestinians being granted an independent state.

Netanyahu on Tuesday said he could not guess how peace with Saudi Arabia will be achieved, but said he and the Saudi leadership are committed to achieving it.

“I think we’ll succeed,” he said.

President Donald Trump expressed uncertainty on whether the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel will hold, praising his role in helping to secure it in the first place while diminishing his predecessor.

“I can’t tell you whether or not the cease fire will hold. We’ve done, I think, a very masterful job. We weren’t helped very much by the Biden administration, I can tell you that, but we’ve gotten quite a few hostages out. We’re going to get more out, but we’re dealing with very complex people,” Trump said. “We are going to see whether or not it holds. We certainly want to have more come out. They’ve come out damaged, in many ways, damaged, very damaged people, but they’re going to get better, and they’re going to be strong, and they’re going to have a good life, because we hope to gain as many as possible. Whether or not it holds, I don’t know. We hope it holds. We hope it holds.”

Trump also said more hostages will be released tomorrow: “Tomorrow, more are being released, and over the days, more, then we’re going to a phase two.”

The president also stressed the urgency of the situation, adding, “But we’d like to get all of the hostages, and if we don’t, it will just make us somewhat more violent.”

Some context: On Monday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “I have no assurances that it’ll hold,” adding, “I’ve seen people brutalized. I’ve never — nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, offered a slightly more optimistic view of the ceasefire.

“It’s holding so far,” Witkoff said. “We’re certainly hopeful, and that’s the president’s direction: Get the hostages out and save lives and come to, hopefully, a peaceful settlement of it all.”

This post has been updated with Trump’s comments on hostages.

Mexico has sent a diplomatic note to the United States over sending migrants to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and assured that no Mexican will be sent there “under any circumstances,” according to Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente.

“Regarding the Guantanamo issue, I can tell you that no Mexican man or woman will be sent there under any circumstances,” he said to press on Tuesday.

“Since the news broke, a diplomatic note was sent to the US Embassy, saying that we will receive all Mexicans who wish to return, and that’s what has happened so far and will continue to happen,” he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, a military flight carrying migrants was headed to Guantanamo Bay, according to a US official. It was carrying around 10 migrants with criminal records, according to a Homeland Security official.

The migrants will be housed at the detention facility part of Guantanamo, separate from the current detainees, according to a US official and a source familiar.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believes US President Donald Trump will help Israel achieve all its war goals.

“As we discussed, Mr. President, to secure our future and bring peace to our region, we have to finish the job,” Netanyahu said during a news conference with Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s objectives of bringing back the remaining hostages being held in Gaza, destroying Hamas’ capabilities, and ensuring the enclave does not pose a threat to Israel.

“Your willingness to think outside the box with fresh ideas will help us achieve all these goals,” Netanyahu said to the US president.

“You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” he said.

Netanyahu commended Trump in helping bring back some of the hostages from Gaza, and touted the blows Israel dealt to Iranian proxies.

“We’ve devastated Hamas, we decimated Hezbollah, we destroyed (former Syrian President Bashar) Assad’s remaining armaments, and we crippled Iran’s air defenses,” he said. “We defeated some of America’s worst enemies.”

President Donald Trump did not rule out sending American troops to help secure Gaza after saying the US would take ownership of the Palestinian enclave.

“As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take over that piece that we’re going to develop it,” Trump said when questioned whether he was willing to send US troops to fill a security vacuum in Gaza.

Trump said his plan of taking over Gaza would “create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”

Trump’s willingness to dispatch troops to the Middle East is a stark development for a president who ran on a pledge to keep American troops from engaging in war overseas.

In his remarks at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump framed his proposal as a way to end decades of cyclical violence in the region.

“The killing starts and all of the other problems start, and you end up in the same place. And we don’t want to see that happen,” he said, adding later: “I think we’ll be a great keeper of something that is very, very strong, very powerful and very, very good for the area, not just for Israel, for the entire Middle East.”

President Donald Trump offered a vision for a “long-term ownership position” and redevelopment of Gaza, a remarkable assertion from a sitting US president amid a centuries-long conflict — particularly one who rose to political power in the US through his criticism of America’s longest wars in the Middle East.

“I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East,” Trump told reporters in the East Room.

He continued, “This was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent.”

The president also said Tuesday that the US “will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too.”

“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” he said. “Level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, do a real job, do something different.”

Some background: Trump on Tuesday has repeatedly floated the idea of relocating Palestinians from the strip — a suggestion that has been dismissed by several Arab nations in the region.

And weeks ago Trump suggested he would like to “clean out” Gaza and move Palestinians to neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan, an assertion the leaders of those countries have rejected. CNN has reported that 90% of Gaza residents have been displaced and many have been forced to move repeatedly, according to the United Nations.

This post has been updated with additional comments from President Trump.