Trump officials face tense congressional hearings; president hosts Israeli prime minister Netanyahu – US politics live | Trump administration
Trump hosting Netanyahu at the White House
Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, are meeting at the White House on Wednesday, with Iran and Gaza on the agenda. Netanyahu is expected to press Trump for limits on Tehran’s missile arsenal and other security threats, while Trump looking to push the ceasefire agreement he brokered last year.
This is the seventh meeting between the two since Trump’s re-election, according to Reuters.
The meeting is an opportunity for Netanyahu to influence the next round of US discussions with Iran after nuclear negotiations held in Oman last Friday. Trump has threatened strikes on Iran if no agreement is reached, while Tehran has vowed to retaliate, stoking fears of a wider war. Trump told Fox Business on Tuesday that a good deal with Iran would mean “no nuclear weapons, no missiles”, without elaborating. He also told Axios he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier strike group as part of a major US buildup near Iran.
“I will present to the president our perceptions of the principles in the negotiations,” Netanyahu told reporters before departing for the US. The two leaders could also discuss potential military action if diplomacy with Iran fails, one source said.
Key events
The brief closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, this morning can be attributed to a dispute between the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration officials over the testing of anti-drone lasers, the Associated Press reports.
The Department of Defense intended to test the new system on an incursion of drones from Mexican cartels, but FAA officials were concerned about threats to commercial air safety, unnamed sources told the AP.
Despite a meeting scheduled later this month to discuss the issue, the Pentagon wanted to go ahead and test it, prompting the FAA to shutter the airspace. It was not clear whether the laser was ultimately deployed.
The US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said earlier that a response to an incursion by Mexican cartel drones had led to the airspace closure and that the threat had been neutralized. Drone incursions are not uncommon along the southern border.
The FAA’s notice initially closed airspace above the city for 10 days, which would have crippled transportation and logistics for the border city. The nearest major alternative airport for El Paso is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a four-hour drive west of El Paso.
Dharna Noor
On Wednesday, the president reportedly plans to sign an executive order directing the defense department to procure more power from coal, the most planet-warming fossil fuel.
“Clean, beautiful coal is not only keeping the lights on in our country but also driving down the cost of electricity across the country as well,” the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters yesterday.
On the same day, the president is set to be awarded the inaugural “Undisputed Champion of Coal” title from the Washington Coal Club – a DC-based pro-coal industry organization – for his efforts to roll back federal climate regulations.
The coal industry poured $3.5m into efforts to elect Trump in 2024. Reports show the president’s efforts to keep ageing coal plants offer could push up already-soaring energy bills nationwide.
“Trump gets showered with millions in campaign donations and absurd awards, billionaire coal barons get the EPA gutted and a license to pollute, and working people get stuck with skyrocketing utility bills,” said Jesse Lee, senior adviser to the green non-profit Climate Power.
Minneapolis mayor says city won’t change immigration policies despite ‘positive’ meeting with Trump ‘border czar’
Rachel Leingang
Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, said he has met with Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, who took over the Minnesota immigration surge, and that the meetings have been “positive”. But, he said, the city would not be changing its policies to meet the administration’s demands.
“We’re not changing those things locally,” he told the Guardian. “We’ve got a separation ordinance. We’re a welcoming city. We’re gonna stay that way.”
Frey said he’s hopeful that there will be a drawdown in agents on the ground, mirroring comments made by the state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, this week. Homan said last week that about 700 agents would depart the state, but that leaves about 2,000 still on the ground, compared with about 100 agents normally working in Minnesota.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said.
He called Minnesotans’ response to the ICE surge “inspirational”, noting the people protesting peacefully, dropping off food for families staying home out of fear or standing watch outside schools and daycare centers. But he acknowledged there will be long-term needs after ICE leaves, including emergency assistance and business recovery assistance from the state.
The first step toward this, though, is for agents to leave completely, he said.
“If you’re looking for a rejuvenated economy, if you’re looking for things to come back, there’s a very clear antidote, which is for ICE to leave,” Frey said. “And once they do, yeah, we’re going to fling open the doors, we’re going to turn on the lights. People are going to come back into work, and we’re going to make sure that this economy gets rocking again … Minneapolis is going to bounce back strong.”
José Olivares
Delia Ramirez, the Democratic representative from Illinois, grilled the Veterans Affairs secretary, Doug Collins, about the VA’s changes in the past year under the Trump administration.
“We know that VA workers have been stripped of nearly all their labor rights. The department is struggling to staff and deliver services to veterans. Proven programs have been gutted while promising new, more effective solutions. And the Department of Homeland Security is kidnapping and deporting veterans and executing VA employees in broad daylight,” Ramirez said.
“You care about pleasing this president and advancing his ‘privatization to profit’ agenda,” she added.
Collins refused to answer any questions from Ramirez related to the shooting of Alex Pretti. Pretti was a VA nurse, who was shot and killed by federal immigration enforcement officials.
“Would you call for [Department of Homeland Security] Secretary Noem to resign, given her execution of a VA employee?” Ramirez asked.
“I have said all on this issue that I’m going to say,” Collins replied.
Ramirez also questioned Collins on cuts to the VA workforce and whether non-citizen veterans deported from the US are receiving their benefits. Collins did not have an answer to the latter question.
Democratic senators say failed attempt to charge them over military video was ‘authoritarian’
Democratic senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the failed attempt of federal prosecutors to charge them criminally for releasing a video last year calling for troops to refuse to obey unlawful orders.
“They tried to have us charged and thrown into jail because we said something that they didn’t like,” Kelly said. “Because we repeated what the law actually is. This happened here. This is straight from the authoritarian playbook. This did not happen in Russia or China. In Russia and China, we see these things. This didn’t happen decades ago. It happened less than a mile from this building in the United States of America, yesterday.”
A Washington DC grand jury declined to indict the two, along with four other Democratic lawmakers who participated in the video, including Slotkin, Kelly, Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, who all have military and intelligence backgrounds.
Trump, in outrage, called for the group to be “hanged”.
“If things had gone a different way, we’d be preparing for arrest,” Slotkin said. The speakers on the video were “simply restating the law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice that military members had a duty to refuse illegal orders. We said nothing more than everyone from Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi have said themselves out of their own mouth. For that, President Trump said that we should be investigated, arrested and ultimately hanged.”
Slotkin said she refused a voluntary interview with prosecutors last week.
“The president is using our justice system to weaponize it against his perceived enemies,” Slotkin said.
Kelly is fighting a post-retirement censure from the defense department in court. But he said that the administration’s response has had a chilling effect on other veterans.
“Retired service members have told me that they have changed what they do and say publicly in their retirement, because of what has happened to us,” Kelly said. “That’s already happening. I hope in time that that corrects itself when they see Senator Slotkin and I standing up to these bullies.”
The two thanked the anonymous citizens on the grand jury for refusing to indict.
“If fear is contagious, so is courage,” Slotkin said. “The common citizen is showing the country and the world how to stand up for their values.”
Trump hosting Netanyahu at the White House
Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, are meeting at the White House on Wednesday, with Iran and Gaza on the agenda. Netanyahu is expected to press Trump for limits on Tehran’s missile arsenal and other security threats, while Trump looking to push the ceasefire agreement he brokered last year.
This is the seventh meeting between the two since Trump’s re-election, according to Reuters.
The meeting is an opportunity for Netanyahu to influence the next round of US discussions with Iran after nuclear negotiations held in Oman last Friday. Trump has threatened strikes on Iran if no agreement is reached, while Tehran has vowed to retaliate, stoking fears of a wider war. Trump told Fox Business on Tuesday that a good deal with Iran would mean “no nuclear weapons, no missiles”, without elaborating. He also told Axios he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier strike group as part of a major US buildup near Iran.
“I will present to the president our perceptions of the principles in the negotiations,” Netanyahu told reporters before departing for the US. The two leaders could also discuss potential military action if diplomacy with Iran fails, one source said.
House hearing on veterans affairs turns tense amid questions over VA nurse Alex Pretti’s killing
José Olivares
The secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), Doug Collins, and Representative Mark Takano of California engaged in a heated exchange during a House oversight hearing.
Takano grilled the secretary on his attempts to restructure the VA. Takano said there is a lack of transparency about the details of Collins’ goals. At one point, Takano asked Collins whether he is offering signing bonuses to new nurses and doctors, as the VA continues to struggle with staffing nationwide. “Quit yelling at me!” Collins said, as Takano grilled him on the question of staffing.
Takano then lambasted Collins for his public response to Alex Pretti’s shooting. Pretti was a VA nurse, who was killed by immigration enforcement officials in Minneapolis.
“Alex Pretti worked for you – can you just tell me, was he a good employee?” Takano asked.
“As far as I know, everything about it – I’ve already said what I’m gonna say about Alex Pretti and I’m not gonna be brought into anything else about it,” Collins said.
In response, Takano criticized Collins for not speaking out about his employee who was killed. Other Trump administration officials, after the shooting, called Pretti a “terrorist”.
“When your employee was attacked publicly and falsely, by your own colleagues, you had a choice to defend him or stay silent,” Takano said. “And you chose silence. And that silence is deafening.”
The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, just began screaming at committee members after trying to avoid a question from Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York.
“I’m gonna answer the question,” Bondi screamed.
“No, answer my question,” Nadler said back.
“Your theatrics are ridiculous,” Bondi said. “Chairman Jordan, I’m not gonna get in the gutter with these people. But I’m gonna answer the question.”
Then Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the panel, interrupted to ask Nadler get more time to ask a question. “You can let her filibuster all day long, not on our watch, not on our time. No way,” he said.
When Raskin said he told Bondi she wouldn’t be allowed to take up time, Bondi screamed, “You don’t tell me anything,” and then proceeded to call Raskin “washed up” and “not even a lawyer”.
Bondi clashes with Democrat Jamie Raskin, calling him a ‘washed-up lawyer’
Democrats on the House judiciary committee are pointedly questioning the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, and shutting down her answers to questions if she doesn’t respond to the question asked.
After questions from Jerry Nadler, a Democratic representative, Bondi snapped back, and Nadler cut her off and attempted to reclaim his time to continue asking questions and commenting.
Ranking member Jamie Raskin jumped in: “You can let her filibuster all day long, but not on our watch, not on our time. I told you about that, attorney general, before you started.”
Bondi hit back: “You don’t tell me anything, you washed-up lawyer. You’re not even a lawyer.”
After Nadler’s time ended, Bondi went on an extended commentary about how successful president Donald Trump is, calling him the “most transparent” president in history and praising the stock market.
Sam Levine
Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, is tussling with attorney general Pam Bondi early on in the hearing.
Last year, when Bondi testified before the senate judiciary committee, she aggressively brushed off questions from Democrats – a performance that delighted Trump allies. Democrats have clearly learned from that hearing and are being more aggressive today.
José Olivares
The secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), Doug Collins, is not interested in discussing Alex Pretti’s killing during an ongoing Congressional hearing. Pretti, a VA nurse, was shot and killed in Minneapolis by immigration enforcement officials in late January.
Collins expressed his “deepest sympathies” to Pretti’s family, but said he was not interested in discussing it during the hearing, saying he wants to focus instead on the VA’s restructuring.
“As you know, his death is currently being investigated,” Collins said. “VA is not involved in that investigation. And neither I nor my fellow panelists are able to provide any additional details at this time.”
Bondi declines to apologize again to Epstein survivors
Representative Pramila Jayapal asked the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse who are in the hearing room to raise their hands if they had not been able to meet with the department of justice. All of them raised their hands.
Attorney general Pam Bondi said in her opening statement that she apologized to the survivors. Jayapal recalled the apology and said, “Will you turn to them now and apologize for what your Department of Justice has put them through with the absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their information?”
Bondi tried to answer by placing blame on the prior attorney general under Biden and called Jayapal’s question “theatrics”.
Representative Takano grills Department of Veterans’ Affairs secretary for attempting to restructure the VA
José Olivares
Rep. Takano grilled the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) secretary Doug Collins and the Trump administration, for attempting to restructure the VA.
Takano said Collins’ attempts to reorganize the VA are the “third attempt to shrink” the agency. The first involved cuts by DOGE, leading to 2,000 employees being fired. And the second was a failed attempt by Collins to lay off 83,000 VA employees.
This is all happening as the department struggles with staffing and retention.
Takano says the actions were “performative.”
“They provided absolutely no benefit to veterans,” Takano said.
Bondi attacks judges in opening statement
Sam Levine
Attorney general Pam Bondi attacks judges in her opening statement to the House judiciary committee.
“America has never seen this level of coordinated judicial opposition towards a presidential administration,” she said.
José Olivares
The House Committee of Veterans’ Affairs began what is expected to be a tense hearing, with the Secretary of the VA on Wednesday morning. To begin, ranking committee member Rep. Mark Takano from California began by having a moment of silence for Alex Pretti, the VA nurse who was shot and killed in Minneapolis by immigration enforcement officials.
“It was clear that Alex was exactly the type of employee that VA needs and exemplified the values of a true public servant,” Rep. Takano said. “I am outraged that Alex was taken from us by the hands of the lawless Trump regime.”
Other members of congress are expected to grill the VA Secretary, Doug Collins, on Pretti’s killing, the restructuring of the VA, and more. In recent months, the Guardian has been reporting on efforts by VA leadership to build a massive report of the agency’s non-citizen workforce that would then be shared with immigration authorities.
Pam Bondi testifies to House judiciary committee
Attorney general Pam Bondi is appearing before the House judiciary committee this morning for an oversight hearing.
During introductory remarks, Republican representative Jim Jordan, who chairs the committee, commended Bondi for righting the ship at the department, claiming she had worked to depoliticize the department after excesses during the Biden administration.
Jordan’s remarks were immediately negated by Democratic ranking member Jamie Raskin, who listed a litany of department of justice problems – the Epstein files, investigations into the killings of two US citizens by immigration agents, hiring of political allies over experienced career officials.
Bondi’s testimony is expected to include pointed questioning from Democrats on the committee.
‘As far as I am aware, there was nothing different or extraordinary about a drone from Mexico last night,’ says Veronica Escobar
Veronica Escobar said the explanation from the federal government about a cartel drone incursion didn’t line up with what explanations she and other members of Congress have been given for the abrupt closure of the El Paso airport.
“The information coming from the administration does not add up, and it’s not the information that I was able to gather overnight and this morning,” she said.
She said she’s communicated with the ranking member on the House armed services committee, and her understanding is that a potential drone incursion would not have caused the closure.
“As far as I am aware, and the committees in DC are aware, there was nothing different or extraordinary about a drone from Mexico last night,” she said.
Veronica Escobar, the US representative, cast doubt on the federal government’s explanation for the airport closure.
A potential drone incursion from Mexico, as transportation secretary Sean Duffy suggested as the reason, would not be unusual because “there have been drone incursions from Mexico going back to as long as drones existed,” Escobar said. Escobar said that, to her knowledge, nothing happening at Fort Bliss, a nearby military base, would have impacted the El Paso airport and its operations.
“I believe the FAA owes the community and the country an explanation as to why this happened so suddenly and abruptly, and was lifted so suddenly and abruptly,” she said.
After the closure was announced, rumors spread widely about why such an unusual move would be needed. She said she fielded lots of concerns from locals about their safety, but assured people there was no safety threat to the airport.
“I was getting outreach from people asking, do we need to leave the vicinity, what is happening, what is going on,” she said. “And that has led to a number of conspiracy theories.”
