Month: March 2025

Two of the Trump administration’s top intelligence officials have denied that classified information was shared in an encrypted group chat, which were being discussed when editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic had been mistakenly added to the conversation.

During a previously-scheduled oversight hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee with FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe in attendance, Democrats grilled Gabbard and Ratcliffe about the security break, in which The Atlantic’s Goldberg was accidentally included in an 18-member group chat on the commercially available Signal app about U.S. military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. Gabbard and Ratcliffe were in the group chat, per Goldberg. Patel declined to say if the FBI had begun an investigation.

Gabbard and Ratcliffe asserted there was no classified information included in the message chain, with Ratcliffe also stating he believed national security adviser Waltz intended the chat to be “a mechanism for coordinating between senior level officials, but not a substitute for using high side or classified communications for anything that would be classified.”

The White House also continued to downplay the security breach, as Democrats called for the resignation of the national security adviser, Michael Waltz (who set up the group chat) and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who reportedly shared classified war plans in it. President Trump defended Waltz, saying in an interview with NBC News that the national security adviser had “learned a lesson, and is a good man” and suggested a staff member was to blame for including a journalist in the secret group chat.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday no classified material was sent to the group chat, and that that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed.”  Leavitt said: “The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.”

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the panel, slammed the incident as “sloppy” and said others would have been fired for the same conduct, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for an investigation, saying in a statement that the use of a non-classified text app “is completely outrageous and shocks the conscience. If House Republicans are truly serious about keeping America safe, and not simply being sycophants and enablers, they must join Democrats in a swift, serious and substantive investigation into this unacceptable and irresponsible national security breach.”

Editorial credit: Maxim Elramsisy / Shutterstock.com

The White House announced on Tuesday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a ceasefire in the Black Sea and to implement a ban on attacks on energy facilities by both countries.

Russia and Ukraine agreed to “ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea,” the Trump administration said in two separate statements, after U.S. officials held separate bilateral talks with Ukrainian and Russian delegations this week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Additionally, both statements said that Russia and Ukraine would stop striking each other’s energy facilities; The agreements, if implemented, could mark a major step toward a wider deal to end their three-year-long war.

One of the statements spoke about the talks with the Kremlin said the U.S. would help to “restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.” In the second statement, the White House said the U.S. and Ukraine had agreed that America “remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children.”

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview (per Reuters) that the Kremlin could not trust Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and it would only sign a Black Sea deal if Washington issued an “order” to him to respect it:  “We will need clear guarantees. And given the sad experience of agreements with just Kyiv, the guarantees can only be the result of an order from Washington to Zelenskyy and his team to do one thing and not the other.”

The Kremlin said in a statement published by the Russian state-run news agency TASS: “In accordance with the agreement between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States, the Russian and American sides agreed to ensure the implementation of the ‘Black Sea Initiative,’ which includes ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, the non-use of force and the prevention of the use of commercial vessels for military purposes while organizing appropriate control measures through the inspection of such vessels.”

Zelenskyy said it was his country’s understanding that the Black Sea agreement was in effect immediately, but said in news conference he had “questions about how all this will be implemented,” and that there was “no faith in the Russians here, but I believe that we will be constructive.” Zelenskyy also noted that the statements did not specify any actions to be taken if Russia violates the terms of the agreement, adding that Ukraine would appeal directly to the Trump administration for more weapons and more sanctions against Russia in such a case.

Editorial credit: Harmony Video Production / Shutterstock.com

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday for an emergency stay of a district court judge’s decision that 16,000 federal probationary employees terminated in February across six agencies and departments be immediately reinstated.

Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris filed an application Monday to “stay the injunction” issued by U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California that had ordered the Trump administration on March 13 to “”immediately offer reinstatement to any and all probationary employees terminated on or about February 13th and 14th 2025.” Alsup’s order earlier this month required six agencies — the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior and Treasury — to reinstate probationary workers fired last month. Alsup’s order covered federal workers who were still in probationary status, or those generally in a one- or two-year trial period.  The judge said the terminations were likely unlawful because the Office of Personnel Management did not have the authority to direct the firings.

Harris argued in the filing that the labor unions and nonprofit groups that challenged the mass firings lack standing, saying they have “hijacked the employment relationship between the federal government and its workforce,” claiming the judge’s order also violates separation of powers. Harris wrote: “This Court should not allow a single district court to erase Congress’s handiwork and seize control over reviewing federal personnel decisions — much less do so by vastly exceeding the limits on the scope of its equitable authority and ordering reinstatements en masse.”

Harris urged the high court to “end the interbranch power grab … Those orders have sown chaos as the Executive Branch scrambles to meet immediate compliance deadlines by sending huge sums of government money out the door, reinstating thousands of lawfully terminated workers, undoing steps to restructure Executive Branch agencies, and more. The lower courts should not be allowed to transform themselves into all-purpose overseers of Executive Branch hiring, firing, contracting, and policymaking.”

The firings of probationary workers is being undertaken by the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  More than 24,000 probationary workers were removed from their positions as part of the mass firings, involving 18 agencies.

Editorial credit: Aashish Kiphayet / Shutterstock.com

A federal judge on Monday kept his block on deportation flights of alleged members of Venezuela’s crime gang Tren de Araragua under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

In a 37-page ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., wrote that Venezuelans whom the Trump administration wants to deport under the act should get a hearing on whether they are gang members. Boasberg wrote in his ruling: “The Court need not resolve the thorny question of whether the judiciary has the authority to assess this claim in the first place. That is because Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on another equally fundamental theory: Before they may be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all.”

Boasberg said use of the Alien Enemies Act “implicates a host of complicated legal issues” adding: “Federal courts are equipped to adjudicate that question when individuals threatened with detention and removal challenge their designation as such. Because the named Plaintiffs dispute that they are members of Tren de Aragua, they may not be deported until a court has been able to decide the merits of their challenge.”

Judge Boasberg was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by President George W. Bush in 2002 and elevated to the District Court in 2001 by President Barack Obama.  Pres. Trump blasted the judge, writing on Truth Social: “This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

The Justice Administration believes it has authority under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act because they are a “hybrid criminal state” invading the United States though it has been only invoked in times of declared war against other countries. DOJ lawyers have argued in court filings that “The President’s action is lawful and based upon a long history of using war authorities against organizations connected to foreign states and national security judgments, which are not subject to judicial second guessing.”

An three-member appeals court heard oral arguments later on Monday on whether the lower court can hear and address the Trump administration’s deportation of migrants under an 18th-century wartime law, but did not issue a ruling.  The three-judge panel consists of Judges Karen Henderson, Patricia Millett and Justin Walker — two of whom were appointed by a Republican president. The panel declined a bid from the Trump administration to immediately remove Judge James Boasberg from the case and lift a temporary restraining order on the deportations.

Editorial credit: pixelschoen / Shutterstock.com