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Siblings of researcher believed kidnapped in Iraq call for her release — 3:46 p.m.



Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli researcher, disappeared in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, in March 2023 while doing research for her doctorate at Princeton University.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. But Israel believes she is being held by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia that it says also has ties to the Iraqi government.

Relatives of Tsurkov, including her sister Emma and brother David, gathered with allies outside the Iraqi embassy on Monday to demand that their sister be released and brought home.

Emma Tsurkov said she hoped her small rally would not become a “routine event” and that any return visit to Washington would be a “thank you tour” for everyone who helped to bring her sister home.

She also called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate Iraq as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Acting CDC director Susan Monarez tapped as new nominee for agency, White House official says — 3:30 p.m.



Trump will nominate Dr. Susan Monarez, the CDC’s acting director, to the job, a White House official confirmed on Monday.

Trump abruptly withdrew the nomination of his first pick earlier this month.

Monarez has been serving as the CDC’s acting director since January. She came from an outside federal government agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

The White House withdrew the nomination of David Weldon, a former Florida congressman, to lead the CDC. Weldon told the media his nomination was withdrawn because “there were not enough votes to get me confirmed.”

Weldon was closely aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary who for years has been one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists.

Rubio heads to the Caribbean this week — 3:25 p.m.



Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel this week to three Caribbean nations for talks on ending illegal immigration, fighting crime and restoring stability to Haiti.

The State Department says Rubio will visit Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname beginning on Wednesday, in what will be his second overseas trip to Latin America and the Caribbean since taking office.

In Kingston, Rubio plans to meet Jamaican officials along with the leaders of Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti.

He will then visit Georgetown and Paramaribo for talks with Guyanese and Surinamese officials before returning home.

Top House and Senate lawmakers react to report in The Atlantic — 3:21 p.m.



Federal judge issues temporary ban on removal of 2 transgender men from US Air Force — 3:13 p.m.



US District Judge Christine O’Hearn after a hearing Monday says the pair have shown their separation would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations.

The ruling follows a similar one last week that blocked enforcement of Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from the military.

O’Hearn found Master Sgt. Logan Ireland and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bear Bade are likely to prevail on equal protection grounds by showing they have been singled out due to their sex and the administration cannot justify the differential treatment.

“The loss of military service under the stigma of a policy that targets gender identity is not merely a loss of employment; it is a profound disruption of personal dignity, medical continuity, and public service,” O’Hearn, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, wrote in an order granting a 14-day restraining order.

Both men have been put on administrative leave — Ireland from a training program at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, and Bade from a deployment in Kuwait, the order said.

Trump says US officials’ Greenland visit isn’t provocation, but ‘friendliness’ — 3:08 p.m.



During a meeting of his Cabinet on Monday, Trump repeated his assertions the US could come to control Greenland, saying, “I think Greenland’s going to be something that maybe is in our future.”

He called US control of the island that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark important for national security.

Trump also suggested that Secretary of State Marco Rubio could be going soon to Greenland, and that people there were asking US officials to go, including “some officials.”

Trump says he knows ‘nothing’ about story in The Atlantic — 3:07 p.m.



Trump was asked about The Atlantic story by reporters as he met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Louisiana’s Gov. Jeff Landry at the White House.

The president said he knew “nothing” about it.

“I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic. To me, it’s a magazine that’s going out of business. It’s not much of a magazine but I know nothing about it,” Trump said.

Trump then asked a reporter for more information about the general details of the story, and after being told the chat involved discussion of the strikes on the Houthis, he said, “Well, it couldn’t have been very effective because the attack was very effective. I can tell you that.”

Trump officials text war plans to media via Signal group chat app — 3:01 p.m.



Top national security officials for President Trump, including his defense secretary, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday.

The National Security Council said the text chain “appears to be authentic.”

The material in the text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.

Trump hails steel investment — 2:54 p.m.



President Trump is holding a White House event with elected leaders from Louisiana to promote a $5.8 billion steel production facility coming to the state.

Automaker Hyundai is pursuing the project.

The president says his threat of tariffs is leading companies to move production into the country.

“Cars are coming into this country at levels never seen before. Get ready,” he says.

Trump’s border czar says he came to Mass. to oversee ICE arrests — 1:54 p.m.



Federal immigration officials said Monday that they arrested 370 people living in the US illegally during recent operations in Massachusetts that focused on “transnational organized crime, gangs, and egregious illegal alien offenders.”

“ICE had to find and arrest these illegal alien rapists because Massachusetts and Boston are sanctuaries that refuse to cooperate with ICE,” Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s “border czar,” wrote on X. “They would rather release these animals back into the community rather than honor ICE detainers or notify ICE when they are scheduled to be released.”

Homan said those arrested between March 18 and Sunday included six “foreign fugitives, including four who were wanted for murder or to serve a criminal sentence for murder, along with drug traffickers, child sexual predators, and numerous other violent public safety threats.”

Trump says territorial lines and nuclear plant discussed in Russia-Ukraine limited cease-fire talks — 1:45 p.m.



Ukrainian and Russian officials are taking part in the indirect talks in Saudi Arabia, and Trump said he believes both sides ultimately want the conflict settled.

Trump last week floated the idea of the US taking control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. The six-reactor plant was seized by Russia early in the war. He spotlighted the idea once again on Monday during an exchange with reporters at the White House.

“Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant — work it that way because we have the expertise” to get the plant operating, Trump said. “Something like that would be fine with me.”

Iran condemns US threats to use force and vows it will defend its sovereignty — 1:39 p.m.



The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, in a letter to the U.N. Security Council, referred to “baseless accusations” and threats by senior US administration officials and Trump against Iran while trying to justify what he said were unlawful attacks against Yemen.

Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani warned that “any act of aggression will have severe consequences, for which the United States will bear full responsibility.”

He said Iran will “resolutely defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests under international law against any hostile action.”

The US has launched a series of airstrikes against strongholds of Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who have disrupted international maritime trade by targeting ships in the Red Sea.

Iravani said in the letter that Iran “supports maritime safety and freedom of navigation,” and emphasized that the Houthis “operate independently in their decision-making and actions.”

He urged the Security Council to speak out against the US “blatant provocations.”

But since the US has veto power in the council, there is no chance of that happening.

Homeland Security chief to visit El Salvador prison where deported Venezuelans are being held — 1:27 p.m.



Officials said Monday that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s prison visit is part of a three-day trip. It starts Wednesday with the visit to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, and Noem will also meet with President Nayib Bukele, according to a Homeland Security statement.

The Venezuelans were deported this month after Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The administration says they are gang members but hasn’t identified who was deported or given evidence of gang affiliation.

Some 250 immigrants from the U.S., who the Trump administration alleges are members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, are being held.

Noem will then visit Colombia and Mexico.

Cabinet meeting wraps up — 1:13 p.m.



Trump and Cabinet officials spent nearly an hour talking about their accomplishments and answering questions from journalists at the White House. Elon Musk was also there.

For the president, these have been opportunities to highlight his administration’s progress on his agenda, such as ramping up deportations and reducing the federal workforce.

They’re also a showcase for Musk’s influence. Near the end of Monday’s meeting, Trump praised the billionaire entrepreneur as “a patriot” who is selflessly serving his country.

“Elon has never asked me for a thing,” he said.

Trump presses Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates — 12:57 p.m.



“I’d like to see the Fed lower interest rates. That’s just my opinion,” he said during a Cabinet meeting.

Trump has routinely ignored the tradition of presidents declining to comment on decision-making by the Federal Reserve, which operates independently.

Dozens rally outside Education Department building to support dismissed workers — 12:45 p.m.



Cars honked as they passed and supporters stood in the rain clapping, cheering and holding signs saying, “Thank you for your service” and “Your work matters.”

Among the supporters was Josie Skinner, a lawyer who worked on programs to support homeless children and ensure equitable services for children in private schools before she was fired from the department herself. She rejected President Trump’s suggestion that the dismissed employees did not work hard.

“All of them could have made a lot of money in the private sector but chose to do this work because we cared about education, we cared about serving our country,” she said.

Trump plans to finish federal workforce overhaul in a few months — 12:35 p.m.



Trump said at a Cabinet meeting that he expects to finish his overhaul of the federal workforce in two to three months.

His administration has been working to downsize the number of employees through financial incentives and layoffs.

“We’re getting rid of the fat,” Trump said.

The Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management are in the process of reviewing agencies’ plans for large-scale reductions in force.

School district leads lawsuit over dismantling of Education Department — 12:00 p.m.



Massachusetts school districts are joining educator unions in suing the Trump administration over its efforts to dismantle the US Department of Education .

The lawsuit, filed Monday in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleges the administration’s actions are unlawful and will decimate crucial services for millions of students.

The lawsuit was filed by Democracy Forward , a left-leaning Washington, D.C.,-based legal organization. Easthampton and Somerville public school districts, as well as the American Federation of Teachers, its Massachusetts affiliate, and other unions, are listed as plaintiffs.

The legal challenge comes in the wake of mass layoffs at the department , which, along with some voluntary departures, resulted earlier this month in roughly 2,000 workers suddenly leaving the Cabinet-level agency. It also follows last week’s executive order in which Trump directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to pursue a speedy closure of the department.

Trump says countries that buy Venezuelan oil will face 25 percent tariff — 11:45 a.m.



In a Truth Social post, Trump said Venezuela has been “very hostile” to the US and countries purchasing oil from the South American country will be forced to pay the tariff on all their trade to the US starting April 2.

Venezuela will face a “Secondary” tariff because it is the home to the gang Tren de Aragua, he said. The Trump administration is deporting immigrants that it claims are members of the gang who illegally crossed into the United States.

Trump said his social media post would serve as notification of the policy to the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies.

Trump names his former defense lawyer to be interim US attorney for New Jersey — 11:05 a.m.



Former defense attorney and White House counselor Alina Habba is a New Jersey native who’ll succeed John Giordano as interim US attorney in the state where the president has several golf clubs.

Giordano is being nominated ambassador to Namibia, the president said.

Habba has been a rising star in Trump’s orbit after representing him in various legal matters over the past few years. A partner at a small New Jersey law firm near Trump’s Bedminster golf course, Habba served as a senior adviser for his political action committee, defended him in court in several lawsuits and acted as a spokesperson last year as he volleyed between courtrooms and the campaign trail.

Judge won’t toss order blocking Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan immigrants — 10:45 a.m.



US District Judge James Boasberg issued his latest ruling only hours before an appeals court is scheduled to hear the case.

Boasberg’s order says the immigrants facing deportation must get an opportunity to challenge their designations as alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang. He said there is “a strong public interest in preventing the mistaken deportation of people based on categories they have no right to challenge.”

“The public also has a significant stake in the Government’s compliance with the law,” the judge wrote.

Boasberg didn’t immediately decide what form a challenge should take.

On Monday afternoon, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is scheduled to hear attorneys’ arguments in the case. President Trump’s administration appealed after Boasberg agreed on March 15 to temporarily bar the deportations and ordered planes to return to the US.

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order to rehire probationary federal workers — 10:29 a.m.



In an emergency appeal filed Monday, the administration argued the ruling should be put on hold because the judge didn’t have the authority to order some 16,000 probationary employees to be hired back.

The order came from US District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, who found the firings didn’t follow federal law and required immediate offers of reinstatement be sent.

The agencies include the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury.

Judge blocks DOGE from accessing personal data at US agencies — 10:25 a.m.



US District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction Monday morning in a case filed in a Maryland federal court last month by a coalition of labor unions.

The lawsuit, led by the American Federation of Teachers, alleges the Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it gave Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access to systems with the personal information of tens of millions of Americans without their consent.

Boardman had previously issued a temporary restraining order. The preliminary injunction offers longer-term relief blocking DOGE access at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management as the case plays out.

The judge found the Trump administration likely violated privacy laws. She said the government failed to adequately explain why DOGE needed access to “millions of records” to perform their job duties.

She said the administration can still carry out the president’s agenda without receiving unfettered access to a trove of personal data on federal employees and people with student loans and government benefits.

That includes their income and asset information, Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses and marital and citizenship status.

Trump to hold Cabinet meeting with Musk — 10:24 a.m.



The president is convening a meeting with top administration officials on Monday morning, according to the White House.

Elon Musk, who is leading efforts to downsize and overhaul the federal government, will be there.

The last time Musk attended such a meeting, there were reports of clashes between him and Cabinet officials, particularly Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump moved swiftly afterward to tamp down questions about disharmony within his administration.

Trump’s national security adviser, energy secretary also to visit Greenland — 10:20 a.m.



The White House has confirmed White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are headed to Greenland in the coming days to visit with US troops at Pituffik Space Base and attend a dogsled race.

The visit comes as Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of the US taking control of the self-governing, mineral-rich territory of NATO ally Denmark.

“The US has a vested security interest in the Arctic region and it should not be a surprise the National Security Advisor and Secretary of Energy are visiting a US Space Base to get first-hand briefings from our service members on the ground,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement. “We also look forward to experiencing Greenland’s famous hospitality and are confident that this visit presents an opportunity to build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self determination and advances economic cooperation.”

Waltz and Wright will be joining second lady Usha Vance for the trip. The White House announced Vance’s travel to Greenland on Sunday.

Trump and Louisiana’s governor to celebrate new $5B steel plant, White House says — 9:51 a.m.



The plant is part of an overall $20 billion investment by Hyundai, the Korean automaker.

“More investments, more jobs, and more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans — all thanks to President Trump’s economic policies,” wrote White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on social media.

Trump questions impartiality of judge who blocked plans to deport Venezuelan immigrants — 9:50 a.m.



Just after midnight, the president posted a social media message calling for Chief Judge James Boasberg to be disbarred. Trump reposted an article about Boasberg’s attendance at a conference that purportedly featured “anti-Trump speakers.”

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador under an 18th-century wartime law that hadn’t been invoked since World War II. Flights already were in the air on March 15 when Boasberg agreed to temporarily bar the deportations and ordered planes to return to the US.

The administration appealed the order.

On Monday afternoon, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is scheduled to hear attorneys’ arguments.

GAO to review Trump administration’s workforce reductions — 9:33 a.m.



The Government Accountability Office confirmed the review in a letter sent to US Senator Elizabeth Warren.

The Massachusetts Democrat, whose office provided the letter to The Associated Press, had requested a review of how many workers were fired, how many were rehired under judicial orders this month and how each agency’s functions were impacted by the workforce cuts.

Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has fired thousands of workers across the federal government.

Federal judges this month ordered the Trump administration to rehire probationary workers for now. The White House had defended the president’s power to hire and fire employees.

Military veterans are becoming the face of Trump’s government cuts and Democrats’ resistance — 9:10 a.m.



As congressional lawmakers scramble to respond to President Trump’s slashing of the federal government, one group is already taking a front and center role: military veterans.

From layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs to a Pentagon purge of archives that documented diversity in the military, veterans have been acutely affected by Trump’s actions. And with the Republican president determined to continue slashing the federal government, the burden will only grow on veterans, who make up roughly 30 percent of the federal workforce and often tap government benefits they earned with their military service.

“At a moment of crisis for all of our veterans, the VA’s system of health care and benefits has been disastrously and disgracefully put on the chopping block by the Trump administration,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, at a news conference last week.

Trump’s schedule for Monday — 8:41 a.m.



The president and the Governor of Louisiana are planning to deliver remarks in the Roosevelt Room this afternoon, according to the White House. Later, Trump will participate in a Greek Independence Day Celebration.

2 months into Trump’s second administration, the news industry faces challenges from all directions — 8:01 a.m.



During the first Trump administration, the biggest concern for many journalists was labels. Would they, or their news outlet, be called “fake news” or an “enemy of the people” by a president and his supporters?

They now face a more assertive Trump. In two months, a blitz of action by the nation’s new administration — Trump, chapter two — has journalists on their heels.

Lawsuits. A newly aggressive Federal Communications Commission. An effort to control the press corps that covers the president, prompting legal action by The Associated Press. A gutted Voice of America. Public data stripped from websites. And attacks, amplified anew.

“It’s very clear what’s happening. The Trump administration is on a campaign to do everything it can to diminish and obstruct journalism in the United States,” said Bill Grueskin, a journalism professor at Columbia University.

“It’s really nothing like we saw in 2017,” he said. “Not that there weren’t efforts to discredit the press, and not that there weren’t things that the press did to discredit themselves.”

Security is enhanced in Greenland as US vice president’s wife plans visit to island coveted by Trump — 7:53 a.m.



Danish police have sent extra personnel and sniffer dogs to Greenland as the mineral-rich island steps up security measures ahead of a planned visit this week by US second lady Usha Vance, which has stirred new concerns about the Trump administration’s interest in the autonomous Danish territory.

Greenland’s prime minister lamented a “mess” caused by the visit from Vance, who reportedly will be accompanied by Trump’s national security adviser.

The visit — in which Vance plans to learn more about Greenland’s cultural heritage and see a national dogsled race — comes against the backdrop of US President Trump ‘s ambition for the United States to seize control of Greenland.

Concerns about espionage rise as Trump and Musk fire thousands of federal workers — 7:43 a.m.



As President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk work to overhaul the federal government, they’re forcing out thousands of workers with insider knowledge and connections who now need a job.

For Russia, China and other adversaries, the upheaval in Washington as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency guts government agencies presents an unprecedented opportunity to recruit informants, national security and intelligence experts say.

Every former federal worker with knowledge of or access to sensitive information or systems could be a target. When thousands of them leave their jobs at the same time, that creates a lot of targets, as well as a counterespionage challenge for the United States.

“This information is highly valuable, and it shouldn’t be surprising that Russia and China and other organizations — criminal syndicates for instance — would be aggressively recruiting government employees,” said Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer under President George W. Bush, who now runs her own cybersecurity firm.

Danish police fly extra forces to Greenland ahead of second lady Usha Vance’s visit — 5:15 a.m.



Danish police sent extra personnel and sniffer dogs to Greenland as the icy island steps up security measures ahead of a planned visit this week by Second Lady Usha Vance, the chief spokesman for Denmark’s national police said.

René Gyldensten said Monday the extra officers, deployed the day before, were part of regular steps taken during visits by dignitaries to Greenland, a self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark.

US and Russian negotiators launch cease-fire talks in Saudi Arabia — 4:21 a.m.



US and Russian negotiators on Monday sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia on a partial ceasefire in Ukraine, hours after a round of negotiations between US and Ukrainian negotiators, Russian news reports said.

The state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies said the negotiations began in Riyadh. The meeting is expected to be followed by another contact between US and Ukrainian teams.

The separate meetings are set to discuss details of a pause in long-range attacks against energy facilities and civilian infrastructure and a halt on attacks in the Black Sea to ensure safe commercial shipping.

Second lady Usha Vance will visit Greenland as Trump talks up US takeover — 12:25 a.m.



Second lady Usha Vance plans a trip to Greenland, at a time when President Trump has suggested the United States should take control over the self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark.

istoric sites” and “learn about Greenlandic heritage.”

Media outlets in Greenland and Denmark reported that Vance would be accompanied by Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz. The White House and the National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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