Trump live updates: Judge blocks mass firing of federal workers in blow to Musk and DOGE

As Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency take aim at the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), experts are warning that cuts could impact how forecasters warn about potential storms or get people out of areas in the line of fire.

Howard Lutnick has defended the president’s newly-announced “gold card” visa program, bragging that there were already “250,000 waiting in line” for the scheme, which essentially entitles wealthy foreigners to buy American citizenship.

Just one day after announcing the proposal, Lutnick told Fox News host Bret Baier that if all the 250,000 people he cites were willing to pay the $5 million that the gold card requires, it would amount to “over $1 trillion dollars” in stimulating the U.S. economy and paying down the national debt.

But it’s unclear where Lutnick is getting that total from. Or where anyone might be able to sign up if they were interested.

The British PM has been more barn owl than barn stormer in the White House – but it worked, writes our World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley.

This was another rather less than cosy moment, when Sir Keir dismissed Vance’s attack on Europe over censorship, a critique he offered at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month.

The British Prime Minister became the latest foreign leader to visit Donald Trump at the White House yesterday, following in the footsteps of French President Emmanuel Macron and setting the stage for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s arrival on Friday.

While securing peace in Ukraine was top of the agenda between Trump and Starmer, the president also signaled that there may be good news for Britain regarding a trade deal and accepted a historic second invitation for a state visit from King Charles III.

Although the bilateral was largely cheerful, with Trump praising Starmer as a “special” man with a “beautiful” accent and expressing admiration for his skills as a negotiator, there were a few distinctly awkward moments on Russia and Ukraine, particularly in relation to the American’s recent attacks on Zelensky.

Here’s a full report from Andrew Feinberg.

A California federal judge has ordered the Office of Personnel Management to temporarily rescind directives prompting the mass firings of probationary employees at dozens of federal agencies, a major blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to drastically slash the size of the government.

“Congress has given the authority to hire and fire to the agencies themselves. The Department of Defense, for example, has statutory authority to hire and fire,” U.S. District Judge William Alsup reportedly said from the bench on Thursday afternoon in San Francisco.

“The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees at another agency. They can hire and fire their own employees.”

The decision also required the agency to inform certain agencies it lacked the power to order the mass firings.

The finding was the latest step in a lawsuit filed last week, after thousands of early-career government workers were terminated, part of the administration’s push with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to drastically shrink the government’s spending and headcount.

The British prime minister had to press Donald Trump to exempt the UK from import tariffs, draw him closer to Europe on a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and convince him that the Chagos Islands are real.

Success would require an abundance of charm, which is not something the prime minister, a former human rights lawyer, is particularly known for.

But Starmer brought with him a secret weapon to meet the challenge…

David Maddox, The Independent’s political editor, reports from the Oval Office of the White House:

Sir Keir Starmer delivered a diplomatic success on Thursday as he appeared to charm Donald Trump into co-operation on major issues during his visit to the White House.

Even before formal talks had begun, the prime minister appeared to have secured a number of concessions on issues including trade and Ukraine.