Democrat calls firing of FBI officials ‘deeply alarming’ as some federal websites appear to go dark – as it happened | Trump administration

That’s it from us after a really busy Friday. Right here’s what occurred:

• Karoline Leavitt, the White Home press secretary, has stated stories of tariffs beginning 1 March are false earlier than asserting new tariffs Donald Trump plans to impose on international locations beginning tomorrow, together with: “25% tariffs on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada, and a ten% tariff on China for the unlawful fentanyl that they’ve despatched to our nation, which has killed tens of thousands and thousands of Individuals.”

• Trump stated he anticipated tariffs on oil and fuel to be introduced on 18 February after which stated he would lower the tariffs on Canadian oil to 10%. He additionally stated he deliberate “substantial” tariffs on the European Union.

• A authorities memo despatched on Wednesday directed companies to strip “gender ideology” from web sites, contracts and e-mail signatures by Friday at 5pm ET. Some federal web sites have been taken down as authorities staff scrambled to satisfy the deadline. FAA.gov remained darkish by Friday night. The CDC took down quite a lot of well being assets together with a truth sheet about HIV and trans individuals; classes on find out how to create a supportive surroundings in faculties for trans and non-binary college students; and details about Nationwide Transgender HIV Testing Day in addition to contraception.

• Mexico is awaiting any potential US tariffs with a “cool head”, its president, Claudia Sheinbaum, stated on Friday. “We are going to all the time defend the dignity of our individuals, respect for our sovereignty and a dialogue as equals with out subordination,” she stated.

• Trump orders USDA to take down web sites referencing local weather disaster. The touchdown pages on the USA Forest Service web site for key assets, analysis and adaptation instruments – together with those who present very important context and vulnerability assessments for wildfires – had gone darkish, forsaking an error message or only a single line: “You aren’t licensed to entry this web page.”

• Senator Mark Warner, who’s the vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, referred to as the Trump administration’s determination to fireplace high FBI officers “deeply alarming”.

• CBS Information is anticipated to adjust to the Federal Communications Fee’s request for the unedited transcript from the 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, the previous vice-president, in accordance with a number of stories. The interview happened in October of 2024 and was the topic of Trump’s $10bn lawsuit towards CBS that accused the community of modifying the interview in a manner that benefitted Harris’s marketing campaign.

• The FBI has been directed by the DOJ to compile and hand over an inventory of present and former staff who labored on circumstances associated to the 6 January riots, a number of publications are reporting. The DOJ stated it must obtain the listing by midday ET on Tuesday to start a assessment to find out whether or not they should make another personnel strikes.

• The US hopes to start out transferring immigrants to Guantánamo Bay in 30 days.

• Numerous federal staff have taken the Trump administration’s supply of a monetary buyout to resign. Deputy chief of employees Stephen Miller stated he didn’t have a precise variety of federal staff who had taken the monetary payout to resign from their posts, however that preliminary briefings point out it’s a big variety of employees, in accordance with Reuters.

• The Senate confirmed the previous North Dakota governor Doug Burgum as inside secretary late on Thursday. The vote was 79-18, with the vast majority of Senate Democrats becoming a member of each Republican in voting for Burgum.

• Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro will meet with Richard Grenell, Donald Trump’s envoy for particular missions, the nation’s communications ministry has confirmed. As we reported earlier, Grenell is anticipated to debate deportation flights amongst different issues throughout his journey to Venezuela.

• Canada will reply instantly with a sequence of forceful countermeasures if Donald Trump goes forward with a risk to impose tariffs, Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau stated. On Thursday, Trump repeated his risk to impose tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico that will start at 25% and “might or might not rise with time”.

• Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, has urged undocumented Colombians within the US to stop their jobs “instantly” and return to Colombia as quickly as doable. “Wealth is just produced by the working individuals,” Petro said on X. “Let’s construct social wealth in Colombia.”

• David Lebryk, the top-ranking profession official within the treasury division, is departing after a conflict with allies of Elon Musk over entry to delicate fee programs, the Washington Publish reports. The report, citing sources, stated Lebryk and Musk’s surrogates clashed over entry to a delicate system used to pay out greater than $6tn a yr in social safety and Medicare advantages in addition to federal salaries, authorities contract funds and tax refunds.

Communities in central California rushed to arrange for potential flooding on Friday, because of the layers of chaos Trump has inflicted on the state’s water distributions.

Responding to an order from Trump to “maximize” water provides, the Military Corps of Engineers abruptly started releasing flows out of Sierra Nevada reservoirs at ranges native officers stated would inundate areas downriver, Politico reported. Native water managers got simply an hour to alert close by farms and neighborhoods.

“I’ve been right here 25 years, and I’ve by no means been given discover that fast,” Victor Hernandez, who oversees water administration on one of many rivers, advised Politico, including that it had been “alarming and scary”.

The difficulty is the most recent instance of how Trump’s inflammatory remarks – which incorrectly tied the devastating Los Angeles wildfires to California’s water coverage – have created more headaches in the state.

Hernandez and different native officers have been reportedly in a position to persuade the corps to gradual their releases to a 3rd of what had been deliberate, stopping what might have been an extremely harmful state of affairs, however there are nonetheless considerations that the releases will do extra hurt than good.

The water received’t be diverted to Los Angeles to help wildfire efforts, particularly as a result of the flames are already largely extinguished. In the meantime, releases will imply there’s much less water out there for irrigating throughout drier instances.

Trump didn’t appear to get the message. Posting on X on Friday, he stated: “All people needs to be joyful about this lengthy fought Victory![sic]” sharing a photograph of dashing water that he claimed he “simply opened in California”. He added a bit extra misinformation for good measure: “I solely want they listened to me six years in the past – There would have been no hearth!”

The FBI has been directed by the DOJ to compile and hand over an inventory of present and former staff who labored on circumstances associated to the 6 January riots, a number of publications are reporting. The DOJ stated it must obtain the listing by midday ET on Tuesday after which will start a assessment to find out whether or not they should make another personnel strikes.

CBS Information is anticipated to adjust to the Federal Communications Fee’s request for the unedited transcript from the 60 minutes interview with Kamala Harris, the former vice-president, in accordance with a number of stories. The interview happened in October of 2024 and was the topic of Trump’s $10bn lawsuit towards CBS that accused the community of modifying the interview in a manner that benefitted Harris’s marketing campaign.

“We’re working to adjust to that inquiry as we’re legally compelled to do,” a CBS Information spokesperson advised the New York Instances on Friday.

Anna Gomez, a Democratic FCC commissioner, stated this was a “retaliatory transfer” that was a part of a “regarding sample of implementing the desire of the Administration”.

“This newest motion to weaponize our broadcast licensing authority isn’t any totally different,” Gomez wrote. “It revives a criticism that had been beforehand dismissed by FCC specialists as a consequence of lack of proof and since it fell far in need of the excessive commonplace wanted for company motion. Let’s be clear. This can be a retaliatory transfer by the federal government towards broadcasters whose content material or protection is perceived to be unfavorable. It’s designed to instill worry in broadcast stations and affect a community’s editorial choices.”

Home border czar Tom Homan advised the Washington Publish that they are going to “hopefully” begin transferring migrants to Guantánamo in 30 days.

“Hopefully inside 30 days we’ll begin transferring individuals there,” Homan stated.

Trump initially stated Guantánamo would maintain 30,000 migrants however Homan stated they’d begin with a small quantity at first.

Senator Mark Warner, who’s the vice-chair of the Senate intel committee, referred to as the Trump administration’s determination to fireplace high FBI officers “deeply alarming”.

“At a time when we face a large number of threats to the homeland – from terrorism and espionage to drug trafficking and Salt Storm – it’s deeply alarming that the Trump administration seems to be purging dozens of essentially the most skilled brokers who’re our nation’s first line of protection,” Warren stated in an announcement.

No less than six senior FBI officers have been advised to to retire, resign or be fired by Monday. Brokers who labored on the investigation of the 6 January Capitol riot may be fired as quickly as at this time, CBS reported citing sources.

As of 5.27pm ET, the FAA web site was not accessible. The hyperlink, FAA.gov, directed to a clean web page that stated: “This web site can’t be reached.” The positioning went darkish after the Trump administration stated they’d put a pause on most authorities web sites by 5pm at this time.