{"id":553,"date":"2025-03-06T03:23:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T03:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/06\/trump-live-updates-supreme-court-rejects-foreign-aid-freeze-and-latest-tariff-news-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T03:23:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T03:23:01","slug":"trump-live-updates-supreme-court-rejects-foreign-aid-freeze-and-latest-tariff-news-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/06\/trump-live-updates-supreme-court-rejects-foreign-aid-freeze-and-latest-tariff-news-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Live Updates: Supreme Court Rejects Foreign Aid Freeze and Latest Tariff News – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"John<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hegseth\u2019s personal lawyer to be commissioned as a Navy commander in the reserves.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Timothy C. Parlatore appearing on \u201cMeet the Press\u201d in Washington in 2023.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>William B. Plowman\/NBC, via Getty Images<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In a Pentagon ceremony on Friday morning, Timothy C. Parlatore, a former naval officer who has been Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s personal lawyer for the past eight years, will be directly commissioned as a Navy commander in the Judge Advocate General\u2019s Corps as a reservist.<\/p>\n

Mr. Parlatore confirmed his plans in an interview on Wednesday evening, and said he will be assigned to a reserve unit that works for the secretary of defense\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

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During his periods of reserve duty in uniform, Mr. Parlatore intends to focus on improving how the military\u2019s uniformed lawyers are trained. When he returns to civilian life between his reserve obligations, he will continue to run his private practice.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Mr. Parlatore successfully defended Eddie Gallagher, a SEAL accused of first-degree murder in the death of a captive ISIS fighter as well as the attempted murder of civilians in Iraq. That case brought Mr. Parlatore to President Trump\u2019s attention, and he has appeared frequently on Fox News to discuss his defense of military clients.<\/p>\n

A 2002 U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Mr. Parlatore served aboard the cruiser U.S.S. Normandy in Norfolk, Va., before taking an early release from active duty in 2005 to attend law school. While building his legal practice, he served as the officer in charge of a security detachment in the Bronx as lieutenant in the reserves, and was honorably discharged in 2013.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Zach<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Appeals court rules Trump can remove federal ethics watchdog.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Credit…<\/span>Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A federal appeals court cleared the way on Wednesday for the Trump administration to remove Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, from his position, lifting a lower court\u2019s order that had allowed the federal watchdog lawyer to remain.<\/p>\n

In a brief order<\/a> on Wednesday evening, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the government had succeeded in arguing that an order keeping Mr. Dellinger in place should be lifted.<\/p>\n

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The ruling effectively dealt the Trump administration the upper hand in the struggle over Mr. Dellinger\u2019s fate. The Supreme Court could weigh in on whether Mr. Dellinger and other officials who play a similar role in the executive branch are subject to removal and replacement by the president.<\/p>\n

Lower courts had previously sided with Mr. Dellinger and Cathy Harris<\/a>, a government lawyer on the Merit Systems Protection Board<\/a>, an independent agency that reviews actions by the Office of Personnel Management. Both lawyers received letters last month notifying them that they had been fired.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court appeared to be poised to step in on at least one of those cases to issue the final word on whether those positions, which were created by Congress and designed to have certain independence, could be shielded from efforts to control them.<\/p>\n

The appeals court decision also came as Mr. Dellinger and Ms. Harris had recently intervened<\/a> on behalf of federal workers challenging their termination as the Trump administration shrinks the federal work force. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Dellinger issued a statement<\/a> urging all agencies to rescind any \u201cunlawful terminations\u201d of probationary workers. Last week, a federal judge ruled<\/a> that guidance sent by the Office of Personnel Management directing those firings was unlawful.<\/p>\n

Michelle Bercovici, a lawyer who represents federal employees in litigation before the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Special Counsel, said in an email that efforts to remove Mr. Dellinger had potential to jeopardize his agency\u2019s advocacy on behalf of federal workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that the independent, primary watchdog of the civil service can be replaced by political whim is deeply unsettling and his termination is a true threat to the integrity of the government,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Cecilia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A federal grant program opens the door to Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Elon Musk at President Trump\u2019s address to Congress on Tuesday. Mr. Musk\u2019s Starlink satellite internet service could benefit from a rules change in the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Trump administration said on Wednesday that it would overhaul a $42 billion federal grant program aimed at expanding high-speed internet to the nation, including easing some rules that could benefit Elon Musk\u2019s satellite internet service, Starlink<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The program will be revamped to \u201ctake a tech-neutral approach\u201d in its distribution of funds to states, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement. The program\u2019s rules, which were created during the Biden administration, previously favored broadband lines made of fiber-optic cables attached to homes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe department is ripping out the Biden administration\u2019s pointless requirements,\u201d Mr. Lutnick said. The Commerce Department will also remove regulatory and other barriers that slow down construction and connection to households, he added.<\/p>\n

Congress created the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program<\/a> in 2021 to extend broadband to the most remote areas of the nation. The Commerce Department came up with standards and rules for states and territories applying for the funds \u2014 including the preference for fiber-optic broadband, which provides the fastest internet service speeds.<\/p>\n

Mr. Musk, who is a close adviser to President Trump and helping to lead a government efficiency initiative<\/a>, is chief executive of SpaceX, the rocket company that makes Starlink. Starlink uses low-altitude satellites to beam internet service to dishes anywhere on the planet and then to devices. It serves nearly five million subscribers worldwide and was used by emergency responders late last year in North Carolina when communications networks shut down after a hurricane.<\/p>\n

The Commerce Department\u2019s internet program has not yet disbursed any funds, and Republicans have used it as an example of a program that was slowed down by red tape.<\/p>\n

Some have accused the Biden administration of unfairly blocking Starlink from the grants and say the satellite service can immediately serve some of the most remote areas of the nation.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Federal Communications Commission rejected Starlink\u2019s application for almost $900 million in subsidies in a separate rural broadband program, saying the company failed to show it could meet service requirements for the funding.<\/p>\n

Brendan Carr, then a Republican F.C.C. commissioner and now chairman of the agency<\/a>, opposed that decision and said the action had put the F.C.C. on a \u201cgrowing list of administrative agencies that are taking action against Elon Musk\u2019s businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Musk\u2019s business interests<\/a> \u2014 which also include the electric-car maker Tesla and the social media company X \u2014 have prompted concerns about potential conflicts of interest as he makes important decisions in Washington.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, some public interest groups expressed concern that Mr. Lutnick\u2019s plans to change the broadband program could directly benefit Mr. Musk.<\/p>\n

\u201cFiber broadband is widely understood to be better than other internet options \u2014 like Starlink\u2019s satellites \u2014 because it delivers significantly faster speeds,\u201d said Drew Garner, a director of policy engagement for the nonprofit Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.<\/p>\n

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for details on the plan. Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Zach<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A three-judge panel from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals lifted an injunction<\/a> on Wednesday evening that had allowed Hampton Dellinger, the head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, to keep his job after attempts by the Trump administration to remove him. A lower court had found that Mr. Dellinger\u2019s role should be insulated from political efforts to replace him. He will likely appeal to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Maya<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The House speaker\u2019s top aide was arrested for alleged drunken driving after Trump\u2019s speech.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s office confirmed on Wednesday that Hayden Haynes, Mr. Johnson\u2019s chief of staff, was involved in an \u201cencounter\u201d with Capitol Police on Tuesday night.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The U.S. Capitol Police said the chief of staff to Speaker Mike Johnson was arrested for drunken driving on Tuesday night after the top aide backed his car into a parked Capitol Police vehicle.<\/p>\n

The arrest came soon after President Trump, with Mr. Johnson presiding behind him, finished delivering his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to office.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA driver backed into a parked vehicle last night around 11:40 p.m.,\u201d a Capitol Police spokesman said in a statement. \u201cWe responded and arrested them for D.U.I.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Johnson\u2019s office confirmed on Wednesday that Hayden Haynes, the speaker\u2019s chief of staff, was involved in an \u201cencounter\u201d with Capitol Police on Tuesday night, releasing a statement that indicated that he would continue to hold his powerful post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speaker has known and worked closely with Hayden for nearly a decade and trusted him to serve as his chief of staff for his entire tenure in Congress,\u201d Taylor Haulsee, Mr. Johnson\u2019s spokesman, said in a statement about the arrest, which was reported earlier by NBC News<\/a>. \u201cBecause of this and Hayden\u2019s esteemed reputation among members and staff alike, the speaker has full faith and confidence in Hayden\u2019s ability to lead the speaker\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Haynes was released with a citation, rather than taken to jail, and would have a court date \u201cwithin the coming weeks,\u201d according to the Capitol Police. Since drunken driving cases in Washington, D.C., are prosecuted by the district\u2019s attorney general rather than the U.S. district attorney\u2019s office under the Justice Department, the Trump administration would have no apparent role in the case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Edward<\/a>\"Mattathias<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

National Endowment for Democracy sues top Trump aides over funding freeze.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Peter Roskam in 2017. A former Republican congressman, Mr. Roskam, now the chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, said the organization filed a lawsuit on Wednesday because it had been unable to get the State Department to restart the flow of money.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Tom Williams\/CQ Roll Call, via Getty Images<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit that has had bipartisan support over decades for its work promoting democracy abroad, is suing the U.S. government and cabinet officials for withholding $239 million in congressional appropriations.<\/p>\n

Members of the group\u2019s board, which includes current and former Republican and Democratic lawmakers, said the organization filed the lawsuit on Wednesday afternoon as a last resort because it had been unable to get the State Department to restart the flow of money.<\/p>\n

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The group is also asking a court to prevent the government from withholding any future funds appropriated by Congress.<\/p>\n

The group has had to put about 75 percent of its staff on unpaid leave, and about 1,200 grant recipients have received no money for projects since late January, after President Trump signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the group argues<\/a> that its money from Congress is not foreign aid and does not fall under the purview of the State Department, which manages the transfer of funds, or any other executive branch agency. Withholding the funding, the board members say, is illegal.<\/p>\n

Peter Roskam, a former Republican congressman from Illinois who chairs the nonprofit, said the board voted on Tuesday to go to court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d be delighted to learn that this was just an oversight and someone just forgot to hit the send button,\u201d he said in an interview on Wednesday, minutes before the lawsuit was filed. \u201cBut clearly that\u2019s not what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The endowment\u2019s plight is emblematic of the colossal shift in foreign policy that is taking place in the second Trump administration, as the president tries to move the government away from work aimed at strengthening values-based alliances, democracy and human rights toward a more nakedly transactional and nationalistic approach.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election that he lost to Joseph R. Biden Jr., and the House of Representatives voted to impeach him for a second time because of his incitement of a riot at the Capitol against lawmakers certifying Mr. Biden\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

Some senior administration officials have adopted language<\/a>, including phrases once common among progressive critics of the U.S. government, about the downside of American projects that seek to extend influence across societies abroad, calling such programs \u201cnation-building\u201d and attempts at \u201cregime change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representatives for the White House, the State Department and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser to Mr. Trump, posted scathing criticism<\/a> of the National Endowment for Democracy online last month, saying without providing evidence that it was \u201cRIFE with CORRUPTION!!\u201d \u201cThat evil organization needs to be dissolved,\u201d he wrote, using the same conspiratorial language he has employed to describe the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Mr. Musk has helped dismantle.<\/p>\n

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Elon Musk criticized the National Endowment for Democracy as being \u201cRIFE with CORRUPTION!!\u201d in an online post last month.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Representative Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican who is Mr. Trump\u2019s pick for ambassador to the United Nations, was on the National Endowment for Democracy board until she had to step down to prepare for Senate confirmation for her new job. Senator Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, is currently on the board.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d policy has also been brought into sharp relief in recent weeks by his criticism of democratic Ukraine in its defensive fight against Russia; his imposing of high tariffs on two allies, Canada and Mexico; his insistence on taking mineral-rich Greenland from Denmark, another ally; and his decision to cut off almost all U.S. foreign aid, which strategists have seen as an important component of American soft power.<\/p>\n

The grants the National Endowment for Democracy gives out are focused on promoting democracy, free speech and religious freedoms in more than 100 countries and territories, including ones that the first Trump administration and the Biden administration considered rivals or adversaries \u2014 China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.<\/p>\n

The grants fund projects such as the development of software that allows citizens to view banned websites and efforts to support independent journalism.<\/p>\n

One recipient, China Labor Watch<\/a>, a New York-based group with overseas offices, monitors the coerced labor and trafficking of Chinese workers. Its founder, Li Qiang, said in an interview that he had not received $150,000 of National Endowment for Democracy funds he had been expecting this year, and that most funding directly from the State Department was still frozen. He has had to lay off workers or put them on unpaid leave.<\/p>\n

Mel Martinez, a former Republican senator representing Florida, said the Trump administration\u2019s unwillingness to release funding for organizations that support overseas dissidents was an affront to exiles from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. \u201cThat entire group of people are politically active,\u201d he said. \u201cMany have been strong supporters of the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Venezuela, National Endowment for Democracy grants support independent groups that monitor elections and help provide legal defense to dissidents targeted by the autocratic government.<\/p>\n

Authoritarian governments, including those of China and Russia, have denounced<\/a> the work of the endowment over many years.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit noted that the sudden halt in funding further endangers grant recipients living under a hostile government: \u201cThe freezing of the endowment\u2019s funds poses special risk to partners operating in highly authoritarian contexts, as the sudden interruption in support may expose their operations and staff as endowment grantees.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group traces its origins to a speech<\/a> by President Ronald Reagan to the British Parliament in 1982. He vowed that \u201cthe march of freedom and democracy\u201d would \u201cleave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.\u201d Congress passed a law<\/a> establishing the National Endowment for Democracy the following year.<\/p>\n

The endowment gives funding to several sister nonprofits, notably the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute. Those groups are also ending programs because of the funding freeze. Several Senate allies of Mr. Trump, including Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, sit on the International Republican Institute board.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a defendant in the lawsuit, is a former board member.<\/p>\n

The Republican group\u2019s website<\/a> says it has had to disable its operations to save on expenses, but a page aims to remind people of the work that it does: \u201cDictators are afraid of their own people. Helping citizens have a voice in their country is at the heart of what I.R.I. does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last November, a post on the group\u2019s X social media account, which is now defunct, congratulated Mr. Rubio on being picked to be Mr. Trump\u2019s secretary of state and called him a \u201cleading champion of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Super, a professor who studies administrative law at Georgetown University, said the National Endowment for Democracy\u2019s case had some similarities to a lawsuit filed by contracting companies for U.S.A.I.D. The Trump administration also froze that agency\u2019s funds. In both cases, Mr. Super said, Congress had passed \u201cclear, mandatory authorizing and appropriations statutes.\u201d Withholding money from the endowment, he said, \u201cis clearly violating both laws.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Glenn<\/a>\"Adam<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Attorney general\u2019s brother seeks to lead D.C. bar association.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2019s brother Bradley is a partner at a global white-collar criminal defense firm with offices in Washington.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Bradley J. Bondi, brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi, has announced his candidacy to lead the bar association in Washington at a time when the group might be asked to consider accusations that political appointees at the Justice Department violated professional or ethical norms.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bondi, a partner at Paul Hastings, a global white-collar criminal defense firm with offices in Washington, threw his hat in the ring in late February, according to a roster of candidates posted on the association\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

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The three-year position of president at the 118,000-member association is unpaid. The role does not extend to controlling disbarments and other disciplinary actions, which are handled by a board of professional responsibility that is appointed and overseen by a court, according to the association\u2019s bylaws.<\/p>\n

But his candidacy comes at a time when Ms. Bondi, like many other Trump appointees, is quashing internal dissent and seeking retribution against President Trump\u2019s perceived enemies in ways that have challenged norms of prosecutorial independence from politics.<\/p>\n

The association, which acted to disbar former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York for promoting lies about the 2020 election, could soon become a venue to resolve complaints about the conduct of other Trump allies. Former prosecutors and Democrats are considering filing complaints against department officials over what they claim are efforts to inject politics into prosecutorial decision making, particularly at the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in Washington.<\/p>\n

The bar association\u2019s election period starts next month and ends in early June. Mr. Bondi\u2019s opponent is Diane A. Seltzer, a Maryland-based lawyer who runs a small firm specializing in employment law. She has been far more active in the bar association than Mr. Bondi.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bondi, 51, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bondi, a former top staff member at the Securities and Exchange Commission, was already a well-known and deeply connected defense lawyer in Washington before his sister became attorney general. But his professional life has, in recent years, intersected with people in her orbit \u2014 including Mr. Trump\u2019s business associates and Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

He represented Tesla Inc. in a 2018 settlement<\/a> with the S.E.C. over Mr. Musk\u2019s social media posts<\/a> about taking the company private. Six years later, Trump transition officials considered Mr. Bondi as a candidate to run the commission, but opted for Paul Atkins, whom Mr. Bondi has described as a close friend.<\/p>\n

Last year, Mr. Bondi\u2019s practice group at Paul Hastings was hired to represent Miami-based Digital World Acquisition Corp., in its merger negotiations with Mr. Trump\u2019s media company.<\/p>\n

Ms. Bondi later reported owning nearly $3 million in Trump Media shares after the parent company of Truth Social went public a year ago, according to financial disclosures.<\/p>\n

In January, a group of investors seeking to buy TikTok enlisted Mr. Bondi to prepare a bid. Mr. Trump later reversed President Joseph R. Biden Jr.\u2019s ban on the Chinese social media app.<\/p>\n

Shortly before Mr. Trump\u2019s inauguration, Mr. Bondi signed on to represent Carolina Amesty, a former Republican state legislator in Florida charged by federal prosecutors with stealing $122,000 in pandemic relief aid, according to court filings.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bondi has given more than $25,000 to political committees in support of Mr. Trump since 2020, according to federal campaign finance records. But he does not seem to share Mr. Trump\u2019s determination to roll back diversity and inclusion efforts, a cause enthusiastically championed by his sister.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Mr. Bondi set aside $100,000 to create the \u201cBradley J. Bondi Diversity and Inclusion Endowed Scholarship\u201d at the University of Florida College of Law, his alma mater.<\/p>\n

Kitty Bennett contributed research, and Charlie Savage contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Carl<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Congressional memo<\/p>\n

With Musk targeting Social Security, Democrats see a political opportunity.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Democrats, like Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, second from left, have pounced on Elon Musk for deriding the nation\u2019s most popular federal program as a pyramid scheme.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

After the 2004 elections, a Republican president, newly returned to office, decided the political moment was right to overhaul Social Security, making it more like private retirement plans in a bid to prevent it from going bankrupt in the future. Two years and a bruising political fight later, Democrats took back the House and Senate from Republicans.<\/p>\n

Democrats now believe history may be about to repeat itself.<\/p>\n

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Elon Musk, the multibillionaire overseeing the Trump administration effort to drastically shrink government, has derided the nation\u2019s most popular federal program as a sketchy pyramid scheme while pushing to close offices and eliminate thousands of jobs of those who administer the program. In doing so, he has touched a topic that has traditionally been known as the third rail of American politics. And Democrats, who increasingly regard Mr. Musk as a more opportune political target than even President Trump himself, have rushed to highlight what they consider to be a major political blunder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t learn,\u201d Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said of Republicans as his party pounced on the issue. \u201cTheir biggest mistake was going after Social Security when George Bush was president. And now they are doing it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Illustrating the emphasis Democrats intend to put on the subject, Senator Elissa Slotkin, the Michigan Democrat who delivered her party\u2019s rebuttal to Mr. Trump\u2019s congressional address on Tuesday night, hit on Social Security as well, using it to cast doubt on the president\u2019s vows not to touch the federal retirement program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president claims he won\u2019t, but Elon Musk just called Social Security the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,\u201d she said in her remarks, quoting a social media post by Mr. Musk.<\/p>\n

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Senator Elissa Slotkin rehearsing the Democratic rebuttal to President Trump\u2019s congressional address on Tuesday. In her speech, she quoted Mr. Musk as calling Social Security \u201cthe biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.\u201d<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Pool photo by Paul Sancya<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Democrats were already pressing Republicans on potential cuts to Medicaid, the government health coverage program for lower-income Americans, but they view threats to Social Security as having broader resonance.<\/p>\n

Congressional Republicans respond that Democrats are distorting the Trump administration\u2019s \u2014 and their \u2014 position on Social Security and that they are simply trying to bolster the finances of the program to guarantee that it won\u2019t run out of money, allowing future generations, like past ones, to get the money they paid in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that Social Security is strengthened and saved for the future so that everyone who\u2019s paid in can get it,\u201d said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Senate Republican.<\/p>\n

Social Security has long been the political backbone of the Democratic Party. For years, Democrats have capitalized on the slightest hint of any attempt to dismantle or privatize it, as they did when President George W. Bush pushed the idea in 2005, much to the detriment of his party\u2019s midterm election fortunes.<\/p>\n

The issue is so volatile that when Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, put forward a policy agenda during the 2022 midterm elections that would have theoretically required the program to expire and be re-evaluated, he was immediately repudiated by Republican leaders and eventually had to disavow his own plan.<\/p>\n

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Senator Rick Scott with Mr. Musk on Wednesday. Mr. Scott was repudiated by Republican leaders after putting forward a policy agenda during the 2022 midterms that would have theoretically required Social Security to expire and be re-evaluated.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Mr. Trump has repeatedly emphasized that he has no plans to tinker with Social Security or Medicare. But Democrats see something afoot with Mr. Musk\u2019s derogatory comments and Mr. Trump\u2019s claims that the program is riddled with fraud.<\/p>\n

Despite multiple reviews that have found Social Security to be one of the better-run federal programs with a record of never missing payments, Mr. Musk has characterized the program as riddled with fraud and waste.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump emphasized that theme in Tuesday night\u2019s address, saying that millions of obviously long-dead beneficiaries remain on the Social Security rolls. But the claim he and Mr. Musk make that benefits still flow to those people has been widely debunked. The agency says that it is a data recording problem, and has reported that just under 90,000 people 99 years or older received Social Security benefits in December<\/a> \u2014 slightly more than the 85,000 Americans over the age of 100 recorded by the Census Bureau.<\/p>\n

Still, Democrats see the focus by Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump on erroneous claims of fraud as laying the groundwork for a benefit review that could affect those lawfully receiving monthly benefits as Republicans search for ways to offset the cost of hugely expensive tax cuts.<\/p>\n

Democrats say an equal threat to the program are plans to reduce the work force that had already shrunk, including an effort to pare down as many as 7,000 employees while consolidating regional offices and ending the leases on dozens of field offices around the country. They say the loss of personnel and the shuttering of offices would be tantamount to denying benefits to applicants who would face long waits to talk to advisers or to receive their assistance.<\/p>\n

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said such delays would break the inherent promise of Social Security that Americans can collect what they contributed.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of that promise means being able to get on the phone with an actual human being without having to wait on hold for an hour or more, visit an in-office person to help you get your benefits without having to jump through hoops or drive hundreds of miles,\u201d Ms. Murray said. \u201cBut Trump and Elon are decimating the Social Security Administration and without adequate staff at the agency, there will be people who cannot get their benefits period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Republicans also expressed concern about how cuts could affect the level of service their constituents receive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know that it is a whole lot easier to work your way through Social Security benefits if you\u2019re doing it in person with somebody who is well trained in how the system works,\u201d said Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota. \u201cTrying to do any of that stuff online is much more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr. Rounds also credited Mr. Musk with bringing attention to the fiscal condition of Social Security, which is in such dire financial trouble that benefit cuts could come within a decade if nothing changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s at least ringing the alarm that the rest of us have tried to do,\u201d said Mr. Rounds, who added that obvious fixes were available.<\/p>\n

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Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, credited Mr. Musk with bringing attention to the fiscal condition of Social Security while expressing concern about the level of service that could result from the cuts.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Eric Lee\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Multiple ideas are circulating to stabilize the program, such as lifting the current $176,100 cap on the amount of pay that is taxed for Social Security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Congress eliminated the payroll tax cap for individuals with annual income in the millions of dollars \u2014 an amount Elon Musk makes every two hours \u2014 and collected the money they are illegally evading in taxes, Social Security would be fully funded for decades,\u201d said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee.<\/p>\n

But no one on Capitol Hill is talking seriously about raising that cap any time soon. For now, the push by Mr. Musk to shrink the agency and the beneficiary rolls will guarantee that Social Security remains at the center of the clash over federal spending in the coming months and next year\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Devlin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Todd Blanche, a Trump lawyer, is confirmed as the No. 2 Justice Dept. official.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Image<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Todd Blanche at a Senate confirmation hearing in the Capitol last month.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Pete Kiehart for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Trump\u2019s criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche to take the No. 2 position at the Justice Department, where he has vowed to end the kind of investigations and prosecutions that led to indictments against his client.<\/p>\n

Mr. Blanche\u2019s nomination to be the deputy attorney general, with oversight of the F.B.I.; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and other federal law enforcement agencies, passed 52 to 46 in a mostly party-line vote.<\/p>\n

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A former federal prosecutor in New York, Mr. Blanche was in private practice as a defense lawyer when he agreed to take on Mr. Trump as a client, assembling and managing a legal team to defend him against four separate indictments.<\/p>\n

He was Mr. Trump\u2019s attorney in his New York State trial last year on charges of falsifying business records. Mr. Trump was convicted of all 34 counts<\/a>, but he and his lawyers, including Mr. Blanche, have denounced the case as a misuse of prosecutorial power.<\/p>\n

Mr. Blanche carried that argument, and his anger, into his confirmation hearing<\/a> last month. He told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was still \u201cfrustrated\u201d by what he called the unfair treatment of his client by judges and prosecutors. \u201cThat\u2019s power, and that\u2019s power that\u2019s corrupted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Blanche is the most prominent of several lawyers who have represented Mr. Trump in private practice who are now poised to take senior positions within the Justice Department. Democrats have raised concerns that their elevation to those roles will create inherent ethical conflicts, but Mr. Blanche and the other Trump lawyers have downplayed such concerns.<\/p>\n

At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Blanche confirmed that his \u201cattorney-client relationship with President Trump remains,\u201d but added that he \u201cwill not violate my ethical obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also discounted any suggestion that he might be put in a difficult position by the president, who had a contentious relationship with Justice Department leaders during his first term.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think President Trump is going to ask me to do anything illegal or immoral,\u201d Mr. Blanche said. \u201cI say that with experience and firsthand knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Republican senators question Musk on DOGE cuts, gently insisting on input.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Elon Musk leaving a Capitol Hill meeting with Republican senators on Wednesday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Elon Musk arrived on Wednesday at Senate Republicans\u2019 weekly luncheon on Capitol Hill ready to field questions about the work he is doing for President Trump at the Department of Government Efficiency, the office he formed that has taken a hatchet to the federal bureaucracy with no input from Congress.<\/p>\n

They had plenty.<\/p>\n

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Republican senators have raised few public complaints about Mr. Musk as he has undertaken mass firings across the government without consulting or informing them. But during the nearly two-hour closed-door meeting, the senators gently questioned him about how they might share feedback, minimize blowback from their constituents and, perhaps, eventually get to vote on the cuts he is making.<\/p>\n

At one point during the largely friendly exchange, Mr. Musk, who made no presentation of his own, shared his personal phone number with senators and encouraged them to reach out directly with any concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting feedback, and we want to respond to our constituents \u2014 how do we work most effectively to do that?\u201d Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota said after the meeting, in characterizing the tenor of his colleagues\u2019 questions.<\/p>\n

Other Republicans said they were simply trying to figure out how they could help Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was just a general discussion about how we can make his cuts permanent,\u201d said Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. \u201cThere was general discussion about how we, as senators, can do a better job of explaining clearly what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gathering highlighted the conundrum that DOGE\u2019s slash-and-burn approach has created for a number of Republican lawmakers. Many of them genuinely believe the federal government and work force should be scaled back, and most are exceedingly reluctant to criticize Mr. Trump or Mr. Musk, who has a penchant for using his social media platform X to unleash a barrage of abuse against his critics, including Republican lawmakers.<\/p>\n

But they are also facing intense pushback from constituents at home<\/a> affected by sprawling cuts and layoffs.<\/p>\n

In some cases, that has fueled an awkward two-step for Republicans<\/a>, who have simultaneously praised the work DOGE is doing while also quietly seeking exemptions and special consideration for funding that helps their own constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were eager to have more feedback opportunities,\u201d said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who praised Mr. Musk\u2019s efforts on the Senate floor ahead of the meeting.<\/p>\n

Mr. Musk took a largely deferential tone toward senators, according to lawmakers who attended. When one senator stood and asked whom to contact with questions about the group\u2019s efforts, one of Mr. Musk\u2019s senior advisers volunteered her contact information. Mr. Musk interjected and said senators could contact him directly, a person who witnessed the exchange said.<\/p>\n

While he told senators a major target was waste at the Pentagon \u2014 typically a place where Senate Republicans have refused to entertain spending cuts \u2014 he made a point of relaying an anecdote that Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, had shared with him. In recounting that story, which he has previously discussed, he said Ms. Collins gave the Navy money for more submarines, but no new submarines were produced.<\/p>\n

Senators said they were interested in trying to codify the cuts Mr. Musk\u2019s group has already targeted \u2014 a move that would endorse DOGE\u2019s actions while also reclaiming Congress\u2019s power of the purse.<\/p>\n

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky suggested that lawmakers ultimately should vote on the cuts DOGE has ordered using the recission process, which allows the president to ask Congress to cancel certain funds lawmakers have appropriated.<\/p>\n

Mr. Paul suggested that the Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday in which a majority of justices rejected Mr. Trump\u2019s emergency request<\/a> to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid indicated that using the recission process would be more fruitful than unilateral attempts by the executive branch to halt funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a bigger argument than just one person,\u201d Mr. Paul said in an interview.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cEither the cuts and all the great things I think Elon is finding evaporate \u2014 they\u2019re ephemeral \u2014 or we put them into a rescission package, they send them back to us, and we vote up or down on getting rid of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Musk appeared supportive of the idea, according to several senators who attended.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said at one point, \u2018You guys are going to have to act here to make any of this permanent,\u2019\u201d Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Musk also briefed House Republicans at the Capitol later on Wednesday night, in another closed-door meeting that lasted roughly two hours. The message lawmakers sent him, according to Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina: \u201cSpeed up, don\u2019t slow down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the last three decades, since the North American free trade zone was created in 1994, automakers have built supply chains that cross borders. Cars assembled in the United States by American companies often have components that come from all over the world, and parts regularly cross the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. Read more<\/a> about how global car production has become, making it hard to say what\u2019s American-made.<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s an Import?<\/h3>\n

National borders blur in vehicle production, with parts often sourced from around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Karoun<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling is a victory for foreign aid groups, but its scale is unclear.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Food provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development being distributed in South Sudan in 2023.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s Wednesday ruling<\/a> that the Trump administration must heed a lower court\u2019s order to release frozen foreign aid was a welcome but confusing development for humanitarian and development organizations around the world, as they waited to see if thousands of canceled contracts would be restarted.<\/p>\n

For weeks, the Trump administration has worked to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, the federal agency chiefly responsible for disbursing foreign aid.<\/p>\n

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Thousands of nongovernmental groups and companies that once partnered with it have been in limbo since the administration canceled over 90 percent of contracts, neutered the agency\u2019s payments system and reneged on promises to pay for work already completed.<\/p>\n

The organizations that brought the lawsuit have insisted that the court\u2019s ruling ought to force the Trump administration to restore all foreign aid funding. But the administration has been adamant that it was within its rights to decimate the agency.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where things stand, and how this court order is expected to play out.<\/p>\n