Trump gloats as Colombia succumbs to tariff threat; Senator calls president’s latest firings a ‘violation of the law’: Live

Senator Patty Murray will introduce a resolution this week condemning President Donald Trump’s pardoning January 6 rioters who were found guilty of assaulting police officers.

All Senate Democrats, with the exception of John Fetterman, are sponsoring the resolution.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign three executive orders today that would reshape the U.S. military, including banning transgender service members, gutting DEI programs, and reinstating service members with backpay who were discharged for refusing to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

In November, we reported on the plan to ban transgender personnel from the military.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General CQ Brown, Jr. salutes new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he arrives at the Pentagon this morning. He was sworn in on Saturday as the 29th Defense Secretary by Vice President JD Vance, the day after his 51-50 Senate confirmation.

“We’re going to hold people accountable.”-new Defense Secretary Hegseth with JCOS Chair Brown outside the Pentagon to reporters. “The lawful orders of the President of the United States will be executed inside this Defense Department, swiftly and without excuse.”

California Senator Adam Schiff condemned Donald Trump’s firing of more than a dozen independent federal government watchdogs last week as a “clear violation of law”.

The Democrat, who is one of the president’s most vocal political opponents, spoke out about Trump ousting the inspectors general at agencies via emails on Friday evening. They include personnel from the departments of state, defense and transportation.

“To write off this clear violation of law by saying, ‘Well,’ that ‘technically, he broke law.’ Yeah, he broke the law,” he told MSNBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday.

The president is required to give both chambers of Congress reasons for the dismissals – as well as 30 days notice.

On Monday, the president signed an order requiring the government only recognize a person’s gender as defined by whether their biological sex at birth is deemed male or female, effectively erasing transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people from federal law.

Buried in the fine print was a change to what the order called Part 115.41 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations. That provision is better known by its more common name: the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).

Ninety minutes before White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt publicly declared that “Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms,” finally accepting flights of deported migrants from the U.S., Trump shared a social media post touting his so-called “superpower”.

“I think Trump’s greatest superpower might be his absolutely insane ability to make everyone he has a fight with lose their mind,’ Trump posted on his Truth Social feed late on Sunday evening, sharing a supporter’s X post.

“The Colombian president was just the latest person to fall victim to that, but he wasn’t the first and won’t be the last.”

It’s been less than a week since Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde confronted President Donald Trump, but those in her inner circle are “universally concerned” about her wellbeing after she received a flood of “violent speech.”

At the National Prayer Service last Tuesday, Budde pleaded with the newly sworn-in president to “have mercy” on vulnerable communities, including LGBTQ+ youth and migrants as he steps into his second term. While some praised the bishop as “fearless” and “brave,” Trump took to Truth Social the following day to slam her as “nasty” and as a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater.”

His remarks seemed to have ignited his followers. One Republican Congressman even called for the bishop, a U.S. citizen, to be deported.

Budde told the New Yorker that she personally doesn’t pay much attention to the critics, but those around her have expressed concern.

Kelly Rissman has the full story.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is apparently due to fly to Washington next week for a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, three unnamed Israeli and American sources told the Israeli news website, Walla News.

The meeting is allegedly a gesture from the U.S. president in light of the hostage deal and the ceasefire in Gaza, according to one source familiar with the details.

Netanyahu’s visit would mark the first foreign leader invited to the White House since Trump’s return to office last week.