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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to bring independent agencies under closer presidential control and supervision, directing all executive departments and agencies to submit draft regulations to the White House for review.

The order states that “it shall be the policy of the executive branch to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch. Moreover, all executive departments and agencies, including so-called independent agencies, shall submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Executive Office of the President before publication in the Federal Register.”

According to a White House fact sheet, no carve-outs will exist for independent agencies, but the order will not apply to the monetary policy functions of the Federal Reserve.

The agencies must also “consult with the White House on their priorities and strategic plans, and the White House will set their performance standards” with the Office of Management and Budget, led by Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought, “adjusting apportionments to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely,” according to the fact sheet.

The White House fact sheet specifically calls out independent agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for “exercising enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight.”

Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group, has called the move “illegal” and a “giant gift to the corporate class.”

President Donald Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, hours after US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to talk about the war in Ukraine.

Representatives from Ukraine were notably absent from the talks.

Zelensky has said Ukraine will not “give in to Russia’s ultimatums” and added he would refuse to sign any agreement negotiated without Kyiv’s involvement.

Trump, speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, said the talks were “very good” and that Russia “wants to do something.”

Here’s what else the president said today:

• Meeting with Putin: Trump says he will “probably” meet his counterpart Vladimir Putin before the end of February. Trump and Putin spoke for 90 minutes by telephone last week. The US president has said talks with the Russian leader will likely also occur in Saudi Arabia.
• False claims on the war: Trump falsely claimed that Ukraine started the war with Russia. “You should’ve ended it after three years. You should’ve never started it. You could’ve made a deal,” Trump said in the context of comments about Ukraine wanting to be involved in talks in Saudi Arabia. Trump claimed he could have made a deal for Ukraine “that would have given them almost all of the land… and no people would have been killed.”
• Elections in Ukraine: Trump indicated more openness to pushing for new elections in Ukraine, parroting a Russian talking point. “You know, they want a seat at the table. You could say the people have to, wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have to say, like, it’s been a long time since we’ve had an election,” he said. Elections in Ukraine are currently delayed as part of martial law due to the Russian invasion.
• European peacekeepers: The United States “would not object to it at all” to European peacekeeping troops being stationed in Ukraine, Trump said. “If they want to do that, that’s great. I’m all for it,” Trump said. However, he suggested the US would not participate “because we’re very far away.”
• Talks in Saudi Arabia: Earlier today, the United States and Russia agreed on four principles following lengthy talks in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, including appointing a high-level team to help “negotiate and work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine” in a way that’s “acceptable to all the parties engaged.”
• GOP lawmakers reaction: Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker said he does not think Putin can be trusted in negotiations over Ukraine. The Republican senator called the Russian president “a war criminal and should be in jail for the rest of his life, if not executed.” Fellow GOP Sen. John Kennedy said he “wouldn’t cry” if Putin was executed. “Vladimir Putin has a black heart. He clearly has Stalin’s taste for blood,” the Louisiana lawmaker said.

This post was updated with a comment from GOP Sen. John Kennedy.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston was forced to close Tuesday due to the “sudden dismissal of federal employees,” the library’s foundation said in a statement to CNN.

“As the Foundation that supports the JFK Library, we are devastated by this news and will continue to support our colleagues and the Library,” the foundation added.

A sign on the library’s doors read, “Due to the executive order, the JFK Library will be closed until further notice.”

A source familiar with the matter told CNN that library staff who interacted with the public and fundraising were let go in line with the Trump administration’s effort to reduce the size of the federal government.

The closure came days after the government broadened its effort to cut federal workers, instructing agencies on a call to move forward with layoffs of probationary workers.

While the library confirmed it was “temporarily closed until further notice,” the National Archives, which oversees the presidential library system, said in a statement later Tuesday that the library would reopen Wednesday.

Read more about the closure here.

The Trump administration continues to move forward with its agenda of reshaping the federal government. On Tuesday, a federal judge declined to temporarily block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal data systems at a slew of executive branch agencies.

The decision by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan is an early blow to efforts by a group of Democratic state attorneys general to hamstring Musk and DOGE as they undertake efforts to upend the federal workforce.

But the judge also indicated she was skeptical about the Trump administration’s statements about Musk and his powers in DOGE. Musk and DOGE’s access to closely guarded government data — including sensitive information it has collected about and from the American public — has become a battleground in the legal fight against the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal bureaucracy.

Here’s what else you should know about federal agencies:

• Musk’s role in DOGE: Trump defended Musk’s role in his administration, saying “you can call him an employee, you can call him a consultant, you can call him whatever you want.” Trump’s comments were in response to a question asking the president to clarify Musk’s position in the administration. Specifically, a recent court filing said Musk had no authority to make decisions because he is not a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee.
• DOGE defense: Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, strongly defended Musk’s DOGE, on Fox News on Tuesday evening. Bessent claimed that “for the first time in my lifetime” the country will see “a proper accounting.” He added that there is “waste, fraud and abuse” flowing through Washington. The treasury secretary was also optimistic that DOGE would save the economy tens of billions of dollars. He maintained that exporters such as China, not consumers, will eat most of the costs of the Trump-imposed tariffs and that the currency will adjust. But economist have said Americans will end up paying a high price for Trump’s tariff plans.
• FDA chief resigns: Jim Jones, who oversaw food safety and nutrition at the US Food and Drug Administration, resigned from the agency over apparent disagreements with the Trump administration and newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Government watchdog reinstated: US District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that Cathy Harris could return to her post on the federal Merit Systems Protection Board as he reviews her lawsuit challenging her firing. The independent entity reviews claims made by federal employees about violations of civil service laws.
• Fired nuclear security employees: Trump said he is “not at all” concerned after his administration fired more than 300 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration before quickly moving to rehire many at the agency, which is tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear weapons.
• Fired cybersecurity workers: The administration has started the process of firing roughly 130 personnel at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as part of its broader move to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
• Reinstatements: About 30 federal workers who help build and maintain the power grid for the Pacific Northwest have been asked to return to work after being terminated just two days earlier, according to the union that represents them. The employees hold mission critical roles at the Bonneville Power Administration, a division within the Department of Energy that serves electricity to nearly 3 million people in the Pacific Northwest.
• More jobs on the line: The Department of Defense is reviewing lists of civilian probationary employees for potential termination that could come as early as this week, multiple US officials told CNN, following a string of firings of other probationary employees at other federal agencies last week. Combatant commands — the major US military commands around the globe — were asked to submit lists of probationary employees by Tuesday afternoon, one official said.

The Senate voted today 50-47 to proceed with the Senate GOP’s budget blueprint, which lays out their overall fiscal goals and must be adopted before they can advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The Senate GOP’s goal is to adopt the budget blueprint late this week in their chamber. But in order to move ahead with the legislative text in Trump’s agenda, both chambers of Congress need to adopt an identical budget resolution first. And the House GOP is proceeding with a much more complex and expansive plan.

Now that the Senate has voted to open up debate, the chamber later this week will consider an unlimited series of amendments to the package known as a “vote-a-rama,” which could kick off as soon as Thursday night, according to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

President Donald Trump was asked today about the White House banning the Associated Press over the use of “Gulf of Mexico.”

The AP, a cooperative that transmits news to thousands of clients, has been a member of the White House pool for more than 100 years. The wire service has repeatedly signaled that it is preparing a legal challenge to the White House restrictions.

@cnnPresident Trump was asked about the White House banning the Associated Press indefinitely over the use of “Gulf of Mexico.” #CNN #News #trump

♬ original sound – CNN

President Donald Trump’s pick of Lori Chavez-DeRemer to run the Labor Department is expected to need Democratic votes to advance out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee because of expected opposition from GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

That means Democratic votes will be essential — something that is possible given Chavez-Deremer’s past pro-union positions.

Two Democratic senators on the panel — Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Tim Kaine of Virginia — signaled an openness to backing the nomination. But they both cited Wednesday’s confirmation hearing as critical for their support.

Kaine also said he was concerned about Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board — and needed to hear more about those efforts before deciding how he would vote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune took a procedural step this evening to limit debate on Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI, teeing up a confirmation vote later this week.

Senate Democrats forced a procedural vote to delay this step, in a sign of their strong opposition to Patel’s nomination. A vote to break a filibuster on the nomination is expected as soon as Thursday, followed closely by a confirmation vote.

GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a key Republican swing vote, would not say on Tuesday how she intends to vote on Patel’s nomination.

“I’ve got to talk to you about that later,” she told CNN’s Manu Raju.

Asked if she’s still reviewing the nomination, the Alaska lawmaker said, “I’m going to have another conversation with him.”

Another GOP swing vote, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said she is undecided on how she will vote. She told CNN that she has “some additional material from the hearing that I’m looking at tonight.”

This post has been updated with comments from Collins.

The Senate on Tuesday voted 51-45 to confirm Howard Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce.

Lutnick is President Donald Trump’s 17th nominee confirmed by the Senate since January 20.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order today to develop policy recommendations to expand access to and affordability of in vitro fertilization.

The executive order states that within 90 days, the assistant to the president for domestic policy should submit a list of “policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment.”

“It is the policy of my Administration to ensure reliable access to IVF treatment, including by easing unnecessary statutory or regulatory burdens to make IVF treatment drastically more affordable,” the order said.

“I think the women and families, husbands are very appreciative of it,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where cameras did not capture him signing the order.

Some background: During the 2024 campaign, Trump called himself the “father of IVF” in a Fox News town hall in October with an all-female audience. IVF was thrust into the campaign conversation when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children and those who destroy or damage them could be held liable for wrongful death.

“We really are the party for IVF,” Trump said at the time. “We want fertilization, and it’s all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we’re out there on IVF, even more than them. So, we’re totally in favor.”

President Donald Trump indicated more openness to pushing for new elections in Ukraine, parroting a Russian talking point on the matter as he took aim at his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Asked about reports that Russia wants Ukraine to agree to hold elections before any peace deal is agreed upon, Trump said:

“We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine — where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine, where the leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4 percent approval rating.

“Yeah, I would say that — you know, they want a seat at the table. You could say the people have to, wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have to say, like, it’s been a long time since we’ve had an election. That’s not a Russia thing. That’s something coming from me and coming from many other countries.”

The president was reiterating a point he raised after his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

Elections in Ukraine are currently delayed as part of martial law amid the Russian invasion, with millions of its people physically at war or refugees abroad.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is “not at all” concerned after his administration fired more than 300 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration before quickly moving to rehire many at the agency, which is tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear weapons.

“No, not at all, I think we have to just do what we have to do,” Trump told reporters traveling with him in West Palm Beach, Florida. “It’s amazing what’s being found right now — it’s amazing. Some — if we feel that, in some cases, they’ll fire people and then they’ll put some people back, not all of them, because a lot of people were let go.”

As CNN has reported, the firings created days of chaos inside the agency, with all but 25 NNSA staffers quickly reinstated after the firings. Officials backtracked on the terminations after multiple members of Congress petitioned Energy Secretary Chris Wright to reverse course, explaining the dire national security implications.

Trump on Tuesday pointed to his November victory as a mandate to continue broad cuts across the federal government.

“Don’t forget, I got elected on the basis of making our government stronger and smaller because we have millions of people that, obviously, they’re paying millions of people that shouldn’t be paid, and that has also to do with workers,” he said.

President Donald Trump says he will “probably” meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin before the end of February.

He mouthed the word as he was departing a news conference in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, after being questioned by a reporter whether the meeting would occur by the end of the month.

The president did not respond when asked if he had a date in mind. There are 11 days remaining in February, counting today.

Trump and Putin spoke for 90 minutes by telephone last week, setting up a head-spinning thaw in US-Russia relations as Trump rushes to end the war in Ukraine. Trump has said his high-stakes talks with the Russian leader will likely also occur in Saudi Arabia.

The Trump administration has started the process of firing roughly 130 personnel at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as part of its broader move to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Among them are some employees working to counter Chinese hacking threats to US infrastructure.

The firings of probationary employees working for CISA are being carried out by the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency effort, one of the sources said.

The number of firings at CISA could jump beyond 130 as Trump political appointees continue to overhaul the agency, another source familiar with the matter said.

CISA isn’t the only federal agency to lose cybersecurity talent in the last week.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response — which helps defend power plants and other energy infrastructure from hackers — has laid off more than 10 employees, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

CNN has requested comment from the Department of Energy.

Asked about the firings at CISA, a DHS official told CNN in a statement that the department’s recent personnel action “will result in roughly $50 million in savings for American taxpayers and incalculable valuable (sic) toward accountability and cutting red tape.”

“DHS component leads identified non-mission critical personnel in probationary status. We are actively identifying other wasteful positions and offices that do not do not fulfill DHS’ mission,” the DHS official said.

However, one of the sources told CNN that some of the fired CISA employees work on statutorily mandated, fully funded programs, raising more questions about why they are being terminated, the source said.

CISA employees impacted by the firings have received a memo that closely mirrors notifications sent to federal officials at other agencies by the Office of Professional Management – citing conduct and performance as the reason for their termination. But at least some of those employees who were notified in recent days did not have any performance review issues, one of the sources said.

CBS first reported that roughly 130 CISA employees are expected to be laid off.

Asked if he supports stationing European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, President Donald Trump said he “would not object to it at all.”

“If they want to do that, that’s great. I’m all for it. If they want to do that, I think that’s, that’d be fine,” he told reporters today at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, noting that France and the United Kingdom have expressed openness to doing so.

The US, he suggested, would not participate “because we’re very far away.”

The president went on to say that “nobody’s asked me to” remove all American troops from Europe if there were a peace deal, “so I don’t think we’d have to do that.” He continued: “I wouldn’t want to do that. But that question has never really come up.”

Trump characterized Tuesday’s talks with Russian officials as “very good,” adding that the country “wants to do something.”

“They want to stop the savage barbarianism,” he said. “Both Russia and Ukraine, they’re losing thousands and thousands of soldiers, and a lot of people have been killed too.”

The United States and Russia agreed on four principles following talks that lasted more than four hours in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, including appointing a high-level team to help “negotiate and work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine” in a way that’s “acceptable to all the parties engaged.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to the talks, said Ukraine will not “give in to Russia’s ultimatums” and earlier said he would refuse to sign any agreement negotiated without Kyiv’s involvement.

About 30 federal workers who help build and maintain the power grid for the Pacific Northwest have been asked to return to work after being terminated just two days earlier, according to the union that represents them.

The employees hold mission critical roles at the Bonneville Power Administration, a division within the Department of Energy that serves electricity to nearly 3 million people in the Pacific Northwest. Despite their mission-critical roles, they received termination letters on Thursday, the union said.

“Per OPM instructions, DOE finds that your further employment would not be in the public interest,” the letter said. “For this reason, you are being removed from your position with DOE and the federal civil service effective today.”

Thousands of probationary federal employees — those on the job for less than one or two years — were terminated at agencies across the government last week. AFGE Local union 928, which represents the workers, said a total 130 of its members who help run the power grid were dismissed, including employees responsible for fixing transmission lines and expanding powerlines and infrastructure to remote areas.

The terminations were in addition to 250-300 of its union members who took the Trump administrations buyout offer, and the 30 employees coming back is not enough to properly maintain and operate the power grid, the union said.

The agency does not receive congressional appropriation funds and employee salaries are recovered through its energy rates.

President Donald Trump said today that tariffs of at least 25% on autos shipped to the United States could be announced as soon as April 2. And that the rate could increase over time.

“It’ll go substantially higher over a course of a year,” he told reporters after signing new executive orders at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. The tariffs, he said, would not take immediate effect to give car companies time to move their factories to the US to avoid tariffs.

This comes days after Trump ordered an investigation into other nations’ tax and tariff policies, paving the way for new reciprocal tariffs to take effect as soon as April 2, the day after the investigation is set to conclude, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said on Thursday.

Trump also recently enacted a 10% across-board-tariff on goods coming from China as well as 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum the US imports.

The No. 2 House Republican took a swipe on social media at his Senate GOP counterparts as the two chambers pursue competing strategies to advance Donald Trump’s agenda through Congress — a battle that will likely come to a head this month.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise signaled on X that the House GOP planned to move ahead with their strategy — an all-of-the-above approach for Trump’s many priorities, including border, tax and the debt limit — as Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced plans to power ahead with his separate, narrower plans later this week.

“It’s time to act on ALL of the powerful mandates the American people gave to” Trump, Scalise wrote, referring to the House GOP’s broader plan. “All of Trump’s priorities in one big, beautiful bill start moving when we pass” the House GOP budget, Scalise said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson fired back in his own post, saying on X that the “House budget resolution implements President Trump’s FULL America First agenda, not just parts of it with promises to come back later for the rest.”

“We remain laser-focused on sending our bill to President Trump’s desk to secure the border, keep taxes low, restore American energy dominance, strengthen America’s military, and make government work better for all Americans,” Johnson wrote.

It’s a major difference in strategy — the House’s sweeping plans versus the Senate’s bite-sized approach — that will require party leaders to come to a final decision in the coming weeks.

And House leaders are making clear they won’t give up easily.

The Department of Defense is reviewing lists of civilian probationary employees for potential termination that could come as early as this week, multiple US officials told CNN, following a string of firings of other probationary employees at other federal agencies last week.

Combatant commands — the major US military commands around the globe — were asked to submit lists of probationary employees by Tuesday afternoon, one official said. Two other officials said the Pentagon is expected to be reviewing a list of the employees, including requests to exempt certain people for national security purposes, and make decisions imminently.

CNN reported last week that probationary employee firings had begun at various federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration. Federal employees on probationary status have typically served less than a year in the job.

The news comes after personnel with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency held meetings at the Pentagon on Friday. It’s unclear if DOGE personnel are still actively in the Pentagon this week — one US official said they are still going through various support requirements such as office space, IT support, and clearances, in order to be fully integrated into the building.

After top US and Russian officials held talks today that excluded Ukrainians, President Donald Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and continued to parrot the Kremlin’s talking points about the war.

“I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going well. But today I heard, ‘Oh well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you been there for three years. You should’ve ended it after three years. You should’ve never started it. You could’ve made a deal,” Trump falsely claimed about Ukraine.

Ukraine did not start the war, which began in February 2022 when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded the country.

Trump claimed he could have made a deal for Ukraine “that would have given them almost all of the land… and no people would have been killed.”

“But,” he concluded, “They chose not to do it that way.”

Trump, speaking from his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, added that he likes Zelensky “personally,” claiming, without evidence, that the leader has a “four percent” approval rating.

“He’s fine, but I don’t care about personally, I care about getting the job done. You have leadership now that’s allowed a war to go on that should have never even happened, even without the United States,” Trump said.