President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s leader sought security guarantees as the U.S. tries to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump told Zelenskyy he was being disrespectful as Zelenskky was pushing for U.S. security commitments to keep his country safe from further Russian aggression.
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Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy devolves into open antagonism
The last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute engagement turned into a tense back and forth between Trump, Vance and Zelenskyy — who had urged skepticism about Russia’s commitment to diplomacy, citing Moscow’s years of broken commitments on the global stage.
It began with Vance telling Zelenskyy, “Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
Zelensky tried to object, prompting Trump to eventually raise his voice and say, “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people.”
“You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” Trump said.
It was an astonishing display of open antagonism in the Oval Office, a setting better known for somber diplomacy. Trump laid bare his efforts to coerce Zelenskyy to reach an agreement giving the U.S. an interest in his country’s valuable minerals and to push him toward a diplomatic resolution to the war on the American leader’s terms.
Federal workers will get a new email demanding their accomplishments, with a key change
They should expect it Saturday. It’s a renewed attempt by President Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to demand answers from the government workforce.
The plan was disclosed by a person with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The first email, which was distributed a week ago, asked employees “what did you do last week?” and prompted them to list five tasks that they completed. Musk, who empowered by Trump is aiming to downsize agencies and eliminate thousands of federal jobs, said anyone who didn’t respond would be fired. Many agencies, meanwhile, told their workforces not to respond or issued conflicting guidance.
▶ Read more about the DOGE emails
— Chris Megerian and Adriana Gomez Licon
Trump and Vance call Zelenskyy ‘disrespectful’ during heated Oval Office meeting
Zelenskyy told Trump that promises of peace from Vladimir Putin can’t be trusted, noting the Russian leader’s history of broken promises. Trump said Putin hasn’t broken agreements with him.
“You’ve got to be more thankful,” Trump told Zelenskyy. He said the Ukrainian leader is “gambling with World War III.”
Trump chided Zelenskyy after Vice President JD Vance, one of the administration’s most skeptical voices on Ukraine, said Zelenskyy was being disrespectful for debating Trump in the Oval Office in front of the American media.
“Have you said ‘thank you’ once?” Vance asked Zelenskyy.
White House says it mistakenly let a reporter from Russian news agency Tass into the Oval Office
It happened as Trump was meeting with Zelenskyy.
TASS was not on the approved media list, according to the White House, and when the press office learned the reporter was in the Oval Office, he was escorted out by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump and Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office
Trump told Zelenskyy that Ukrainian soldiers have been unbelievably brave and talked up an economic agreement between their two countries.
“It is a big commitment from the United States,” Trump said. He added that the United States has little of the rare earth minerals that are abundant in Ukraine, and says those resources will support uses in the U.S. including artificial intelligence and military weapons.
Zelenskyy talked up the prospect for liquid natural gas exports to Europe, but gently disagreed when Trump repeated his claim that Europe “did much less” than the United States to support Ukraine against Russia.
Zelenskyy called Putin a killer and a terrorist and told Trump there should be “no compromises with a killer.” He brought along printed photos to show Trump, but journalists in the room could not see them.
Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, acknowledges the pope’s criticism of US immigration crackdown
Vance’s acknowledgment of the criticism came without responding to any of its specifics or to the pontiff’s apparent criticism of Vance’s own deployment of Catholic tradition to justify such policies.
Vance, a Catholic convert, spoke Friday at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington. He sought to downplay the controversy and said he and his family pray daily for Pope Francis during the 88-year-old pontiff’s hospitalization for pneumonia and other health troubles.
Vance told the gathering he wasn’t there to litigate “about who’s right and who’s wrong,” though he said he would continue to defend his views. But he spoke in conciliatory terms, crediting Francis as one who “cares about the flock of Christians under his under his leadership and the spiritual direction of the faith.”
▶ Read more about Vance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast
UN chief warns cuts in US funding will make the world less healthy, safe and prosperous
And United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expressing hope that the Trump administration’s decisions can be reversed.
Guterres is also warning that “The reduction of America’s humanitarian role and influence will run counter to American interests globally.”
He told reporters that information received by the U.N. and many humanitarian and development organizations in the last 48 hours about U.S. funding cuts impact a wide range of critical programs — from lifesaving aid to the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking. This week the administration terminated over 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s contracts for humanitarian and development work around the world.
As examples, Guterres says, cash-based humanitarian aid programs in Ukraine that reached one million people in 2024 have been suspended in key regions. He also cited the suspension of hundreds of mobile health teams and other services affecting 9 million people in Afghanistan and aid programs to 2.5 million people in northeast Syria. And he said funding has run out to help support Sudanese people who fled the war to neighboring South Sudan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at the White House to meet with Trump
The Ukrainian president is set to speak with Trump in a high-stakes meeting as he seeks assurances of U.S. security support.
Zelenskyy’s delegation also is expected to sign an economic agreement that’s seen as a step toward ending conflict in eastern Ukraine three years after Russia invaded.
Trump greeted Zelenskyy with a handshake. The leaders looked toward journalists and Trump pumped his fist. They did not respond to the shouted questions.
Trump and Zelenskyy are scheduled to meet in the Oval Office followed by a lunch meeting and a news conference.
Zelenskyy arrived Thursday in Washington for his fifth visit to the U.S. as president and met with U.S. senators. Later Friday, he’s expected to speak at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank, and meet with members of the Ukrainian community in the United States.
French president: ‘I believe there are misunderstandings’ in Trump administration approach to trade
French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged Friday he has “very little hope” to make Trump change his mind on applying wholesale tariff of 25% on all EU products, after his trip to Washington earlier this week.
“I believe there are misunderstandings” and “misconceptions in the trade approach” of the Trump administration, Macron said, speaking in a news conference during a trip to Portugal. He added that describing as a tariff the value added tax, which is implemented on all local and foreign goods and services in France, is “factually false.”
Macron argued tariffs are “bad for everyone” because they’re leading to price increases. “The United States has nothing to gain from them,” he said.
He warned that if the U.S. decision was to be confirmed, Europeans would respond through “reciprocal tariffs.”
Democratic lawmakers praise government agency for its recommendations against mass firings
More than 80 House Democrats praised the Office of Special Counsel, a nonpartisan government watchdog agency tasked with protecting federal workers, for opposing efforts by the Trump administration to fire workers throughout the federal workforce.
That sweeping effort has been coordinated from the White House between the Office of Personnel Management, the Office of Management and Budget and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a select government reform championed by billionaire Elon Musk.
“The brazen attack on the federal government’s oversight infrastructure is alarming and emphasizes the importance of OSC,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter spearheaded by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.
“There has never been a more cruel and baseless attack on our civil service in the history of our nation. We urge you to continue fulfilling OSC’s mission and ensure federal workers are protected from abuse,” the authors write.
Aid group says US leaders ‘using the lives of millions of people as a budgetary adjustment variable’
Paris-based humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger said Friday it’s forced to halt more than 50 projects in 20 different countries that were helping hundreds of thousands of people after the Trump administration said it’s eliminating more than 90% of the USAID’s contracts.
Action Against Hunger “is deeply outraged by this drastic decision, which will have dramatic consequences for populations cut off from vital aid overnight,” the statement said.
“For the past month, the American authorities have been using the lives of millions of people as a budgetary adjustment variable. We have received termination notices for nutrition projects that help nearly 1.5 million people, including more than 797,000 severely malnourished children under the age of 5,” Aïcha Koraïchi, President of Action Against Hunger, said. “These activities are vital to their survival.”
Action Against Hunger said it will be forced to “shut-down critical operations, leaving vulnerable populations without essential assistance in several major humanitarian crises including Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
President Trump to designate English as the official language of the US
He’s expected to sign an executive order on Friday designating English as the official language of the United States, according to the White House.
The order will allow government agencies and organizations that received federal funding to choose whether to continue to offer documents and services in language other than English, according to a fact sheet about the impending order. The executive will rescind a mandate from former President Bill Clinton that required the government and organizations that received federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.
Designating English as the national language “promotes unity, establishes efficiency in government operations, and creates a pathway for civic engagement,” according to the White House.
Appeals court rejects Trump administration effort to block injunction on birthright citizenship order
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said in a ruling Friday that the government didn’t make a strong showing that it could succeed on the merits in the case concerning Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for people born to parents not legally in the country.
It’s the second appeals court to reject the administration. The Ninth Circuit similarly rejected the government’s petition for a stay in a Seattle case brought by four states. At issue is the president’s January executive order that would eliminate automatic citizenship at birth for people whose parents aren’t legally in the country. The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to those born or naturalized in the United States.
The Trump administration centers its arguments around part of the amendment that says those born and naturalized and “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, arguing those born to people not legally in the U.S. fail this test.
Amid a national ‘economic blackout’ effort, some call for boycotts targeting Trump’s actions on DEI
A grassroots organization is encouraging U.S. residents not to spend any money Friday as an act of “economic resistance” to protest what the group’s founder sees as the malign influence of billionaires, big corporations and both major political parties on the lives of working Americans.
The People’s Union USA calls the 24 hours of spending abstinence, which started at midnight, an “economic blackout,” a term that has since been shared and debated on social media. The activist movement said it also plans to promote weeklong consumer boycotts of particular companies, including Walmart and Amazon.
Other activists, faith-based leaders and consumers already are organizing boycotts to protest companies that have scaled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and to oppose Trump’s moves to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies. Some faith leaders are encouraging their congregations to refrain from shopping at Target, one of the companies backing off DEI efforts, during the 40 days of Lent that begin Wednesday.
▶ Read more about the economic blackout and other boycott efforts
Consumers cut spending by most in four years last month even as inflation fell
A key price gauge declined last month, a sign that inflation may be cooling though stiff tariffs threatened by the White House threaten that progress.
Yet data released Friday by the Commerce Department also showed that Americans cut their spending last month 0.2% in January from the previous month, likely in part because of unseasonably cold weather. Still, the drop may raise alarms about whether Americans are growing more cautious amid widespread uncertainty about the economic outlook.
Inflation declined to 2.5% in January compared with a year earlier, down from 2.6% in December, the government said. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices dropped to 2.6%, the lowest since June, from 2.8%.
Inflation spiked in 2022 to its highest level in four decades, propelling President Donald Trump to the White House and causing the Federal Reserve to rapidly raise interest rates to tame prices.
Hundreds of weather forecasters fired in latest wave of DOGE cuts
Hundreds of federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired Thursday, lawmakers and weather experts said.
Federal workers who were not let go said the afternoon layoffs included meteorologists who do crucial local forecasts in National Weather Service offices across the country.
Cuts at NOAA appeared to be happening in two rounds, one of 500 and one of 800, said Craig McLean, a former NOAA chief scientist who said he got the information from someone with first-hand knowledge. That’s about 10% of NOAA’s workforce.
The first round of cuts were probationary employees, McLean said. There are about 375 probationary employees in the National Weather Service — where day-to-day forecasting and hazard warning is done.
▶ Read more about the cuts to NOAA
Trump makes US copper mining a focus of his domestic minerals policy
From talk of acquiring Greenland and its vast mineral wealth to prodding Ukraine for minerals in exchange for help fending off Russia’s invasion, Trump has made the raw materials of modern life a pillar of his foreign policy.
An executive order Trump signed Tuesday calls for boosting the domestic copper industry by investigating the national security implications of imports and weighing tariffs as a response.
It could mean a new day for U.S. copper mining, and new worries for environmental groups that are contesting proposals such as the stalled Twin Metals project in northern Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, a lake-filled wilderness on the U.S.-Canada border.
▶ Read more about the U.S. copper industry
Social Security Administration could cut up to 50% of its workforce
The Social Security Administration is preparing to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, according to a person familiar with the agency’s plans who is not authorized to speak publicly. The workforce reduction, according to a second person who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, could be as high as 50%.
It’s unclear how the layoffs will directly impact the benefits of the 72.5 million Social Security beneficiaries, which include retirees and children who receive retirement and disability benefits. However, advocates and Democratic lawmakers warn that layoffs will reduce the agency’s ability to serve recipients in a timely manner.
Some say cuts to the workforce are, in effect, a cut in benefits.
▶ Read more about the Social Security Administration’s plans to reduce its workforce
Former defense chiefs call for congressional hearings on Trump’s firing of senior military leaders
Five former secretaries of defense are calling on Congress to hold immediate hearings on President Donald Trump’s recent firings of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior military leaders, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
The five men — who represented Republican and Democratic administrations over the past three decades — said the dismissals were alarming, raised “troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military” and removed legal constraints on the president’s power.
▶ Read more about the defense chiefs’ call for congressional hearings
Judge finds mass firings of federal probationary workers were likely unlawful
A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday found that the mass firings of probationary employees were likely unlawful, granting temporary relief to a coalition of labor unions and organizations that has sued to stop the Trump administration’s massive dismantling of the federal workforce.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees, including at the Department of Defense.
Lawyers for the government agree that the office has no authority to hire or fire employees in other agencies. But they said the Office of Personnel Management asked agencies to review and determine whether employees on probation were fit for continued employment. They also said that probationary employees are not guaranteed employment and that only the highest performing and mission-critical employees should be hired.
Attorneys for the coalition cheered the order, although it does not mean that fired employees will automatically be rehired or that future firings will not occur.
▶ Read more about the judge’s ruling
A good rapport but mixed signals on Ukraine: Takeaways from Keir Starmer’s trip to Washington
Starmer wore a broad smile aboard the plane home from Washington. He landed back in Britain on Friday with the satisfaction of a tricky mission not quite accomplished, but off to a flying start.
Starmer’s goals for his trip were to persuade Trump to provide Ukraine with security guarantees in any peace deal and head off duties on British goods while pursuing a rapport with an unpredictable U.S. leader who is the center-left prime minister’s opposite in temperament and political outlook.
On the personal front, he appeared to be remarkably successful. Whether that will bolster U.S. support for Kyiv or spare the U.K. from tariffs, only time will tell.
▶ Read takeaways from Starmer’s White House visit
At meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy will seek security assurances against future Russian aggression
Ukraine’s leader will meet with Trump in Washington on Friday at a pivotal moment for his country, one that hinges on whether he can persuade Trump to provide some form of U.S. backing for Ukraine’s security against any future Russian aggression.
During his trip to Washington, Zelenskyy’s delegation is expected to sign a landmark economic agreement with the U.S. aimed at financing the reconstruction of war-damaged Ukraine, a deal that would closely tie the two countries together for years to come.
Though the deal, which is seen as a step toward ending the three-year war, references the importance of Ukraine’s security, it leaves that to a separate agreement to be discussed between the two leaders — talks that are likely to commence Friday.
As Ukrainian forces hold out against slow but steady advances by Russia’s larger and better-equipped army, leaders in Kyiv have pushed to ensure a potential U.S.-brokered peace plan would include guarantees for the country’s future security.
▶ Read more about Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington