Senate advances RFK Jr’s nomination after confirming Tulsi Gabbard as Trump’s intelligence director – live
Senate advances Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead health and human services department
The Senate has voted to limit debate on Roberty F Kennedy Jr’s nomination as secretary of health and human services, a key step that paves the way for his confirmation in the days to come.
The vote fell along party lines, with all 53 Republicans in support and all 47 Democrats opposed.
Key events
White House says no ‘constitutional crisis’, condemns ‘judicial activists’ who rule against administration
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at legal scholars concerned that Donald Trump’s government-transforming executive orders have sparked a constitutional crisis, saying that the administration is acting lawfully.
“The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges and liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block president Trump’s basic executive authority,” Leavitt said at her press briefing earlier today. She then attacked federal judges who have disrupted the administration’s policies:
We believe these judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law, and they have issued at least 12 injunctions against this administration in the past 14 days, often without citing any evidence or grounds for their lawsuits. This is part of a larger concerted effort by Democrat activists and nothing more than the continuation of the weaponization of justice by president Trump.
Meanwhile, the Democratic state attorneys general who have led much of the legal pushback to Trump believe they are fighting a “dictatorship”. Here’s more on that:
The chaotic effects of Donald Trump’s drive to dismantle USAid continue to be uncovered, with Reuters reporting that 17 labs in 13 states have had to halt farm research as the agency unraveled.
That could set back efforts to stay on top of emerging threats to agriculture in the United States, researchers who spoke to Reuters said. Here’s more:
The lab closures are another hit to U.S. agriculture from President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the federal government, by blocking research work designed to advance seed and equipment technology and develop markets abroad for U.S. commodities. Farmers have already seen disruptions to government food purchases for aid, and to agricultural grant and loan programs.
Land-grant universities were founded on land given to states by the federal government.
“For U.S. farmers, this is not good,” said Peter Goldsmith, who leads the University of Illinois’ Soybean Innovation Lab, one of the affected labs.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The network of 17 laboratories was funded by USAID through a program called Feed the Future Innovation Labs, and pursued research in partnership with countries such as Malawi, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and Rwanda, the lab directors said.
Their research helps U.S. farmers because programs conducted overseas can develop production practices that may be useful in the U.S. or provide advance warning of pests, directors said.
“It really reduces our capacity to help farmers fight pests and diseases and help American farmers prevent incursions,” said David Hughes, director of the USAID Innovation Lab on Current and Emerging Threats to Crops at Penn State University.
One study that has been halted was working to control a viral disease spread by an aphid that was hurting banana crops in Tanzania, Hughes said.
David Tschirley, who runs an agency-funded lab at Michigan State University and is chair of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab Council, which represents the lab network, said about 300 people are employed by the labs, and they have as many as 4,000 collaborators abroad.
“It presents an American face to the world that is a very appreciated face,” he said, adding that such work benefits national security.
Hegseth rules out Nato membership for Ukraine
Speaking at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine, which the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been pushing for.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” Hegseth said, adding that the expectation Ukraine’s borders could revert to their 2014 status before the annexation of Crimea is “unrealistic.”
White House says an American being released from Belarus
Three people, including one American, are being released from Belarus, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday. The US envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, told reporters at the White House that the individual wishes to remain private.
The news comes shortly after American schoolteacher Marc Fogel was released by Russia after being imprisoned since 2021. Fogel was arrested in Moscow after Russian authorities found less than an ounce of marijuana in his luggage.
The White House said on Wednesday that it was not aware of any preconditions for US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit each other’s countries.
“Not that I’m aware of. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, when asked at a press briefing if there were conditions for Trump’s and Putin’s visits.
“I was just talking with the president and our national security team, I wasn’t made aware of any conditions,” she added.
Gloria Oladipo
The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was heckled during a visit to a US military installation in Germany as military families protested against the Trump administration’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
About two dozen adults who live at the military base chanted “DEI” and booed at Hegseth as he arrived to the US European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, NBC News reported.
Separately, a group of students attending the Patch middle school, also in Stuttgart, held a walkout, according to a letter from the school obtained by the Washington Post.
Trump says he spoke to Zelenskyy after Putin call
As promised, Donald Trump said he has spoken to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy after earlier in the day calling his adversary, Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s readout of the call was lighter on details than his recounting of the conversation with Putin, but he did say to expect a big meeting on Friday. Here’s more, from Truth Social:
I just spoke to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The conversation went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE. We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the War, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation. I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!
The day so far
The Senate voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, and put Robert F Kennedy Jr on the path to soon being confirmed as health and human services secretary. Democrats had decried both candidates for their fringe views on the issues they’d be dealing with, but the Republican Senate majority was unmoved, with neither candidate facing much resistance. Meanwhile, Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin and said the two countries would open negotiations over Ukraine. In the courts, a group of inspectors general sued over their firing at the hands of Trump, as did a Democratic member of a board that deals with disciplining federal workers. We’ll hear more from Trump this afternoon, when he signs unspecified executive orders at 2.30pm.
Here’s what else has been going on:
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US inflation came in higher than expected in January, in a sign that the economic force that bedeviled Joe Biden’s presidency is far from quelled.
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Trump said he’d be imposing more tariffs, and also called for interest rates to come down – which is something he does not have control over.
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Pete Hegseth, addressing Ukraine’s western allies, downplayed the possibility of the country regaining control of all of its territory, and said Europe needed to step up its defense assistance.
Republicans have generally shrugged off concerns about Tulsi Gabbard’s statements supporting Russia and other US adversaries, and said they are comfortable with her serving in the role tasked with overseeing the US intelligence community.
Here’s Brian Mast, the chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, with a typical sentiment:
Tulsi Gabbard is a patriot who believes in putting AMERICA FIRST. She believes in President Trump’s agenda, and we trust her to be a great director of national intelligence. Today is a WIN for America.
After her confirmation, Democratic national committee chair Ken Martin warned that Gabbard was “unfit and untrustworthy”:
Donald Trump is putting our national security at risk, and Senate Republicans are enabling him. Tulsi Gabbard is an ally to Vladimir Putin and Russian-backed disinformation propagandists but she’s no ally to the American people or to our actual allies around the world. Tulsi Gabbard is unfit and untrustworthy, and Americans deserve better.
The only Republican senator to vote against Gabbard’s confirmation was Mitch McConnell, the party’s former leader in the chamber. In a statement, he said:
The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the President receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment.
Edward Snowden’s treasonous betrayal of the United States and its most sensitive lawful intelligence activities endangered sources, methods, and lives. Japan is among America’s closest treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific, and the risk of conflict in the region is the product of Chinese aggression, not western ‘threat inflation’. Russia’s escalation of its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine threatens American interests and is solely the responsibility of Vladimir Putin.
Entrusting the coordination of the intelligence community to someone who struggles to acknowledge these facts is an unnecessary risk. So is empowering a DNI who only acknowledged the value of critical intelligence collection authorities when her nomination appeared to be in jeopardy.
Senate advances Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead health and human services department
The Senate has voted to limit debate on Roberty F Kennedy Jr’s nomination as secretary of health and human services, a key step that paves the way for his confirmation in the days to come.
The vote fell along party lines, with all 53 Republicans in support and all 47 Democrats opposed.
Back in the Senate, lawmakers are voting to limit debate on Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination as secretary of health and human services.
That will set a up a final vote on his confirmation in the coming days which is expected to succeed, despite concerns from the Democrats over Kennedy’s embrace of various conspiracy theories, particularly when it comes to vaccines.
The prospect of Kennedy becoming one of the most powerful health officials in the country has delighted skeptics of modern medicine and terrified doctors, the Guardian’s Jessica Glenza reports:
That Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have agreed to negotiate over Ukraine, and will even visit each other’s countries, is sure to ring alarm bells in Kyiv.
We have a live blog covering the latest out of Europe, including the conflict in Ukraine. You can follow it here:
Trump says he spoke with Putin, will open negotiations over Ukraine
Donald Trump said he spoke today with Vladimir Putin, and the two leaders agreed to open negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the conversation as “lengthy and highly productive” and added he and Putin both agreed to visit each other’s countries. Here’s the post, in full:
I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many! We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.” We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now. I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful. Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost! I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon!
No US president has visited Russia since Barack Obama in 2013, while Putin has not been to the United States since 2015, during a UN general assembly meeting.
Senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence
The Senate has confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence.
The vote was 52 in favor and 48 against, with all Democrats and Republican senator Mitch McConnell opposing her nomination.
Mitch McConnell, formerly the top Republican in the Senate, broke with his party to vote against confirming Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.
She is still expected to be confirmed, though voting is ongoing. Since stepping down as Republican leader last year, McConnell – who played a major role in enabling Trump during his first term and setting the stage for him to return to the White House – has repeatedly said he does not support the sorts of foreign policies that Gabbard has appeared sympathetic to.
Senate voting on Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination as intelligence director
The Senate has started voting on confirming Tulsi Gabbard as Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.
The former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii is expected to win the assent of the Republican-controlled chamber, despite concerns from Democrats regarding Gabbard’s views on Ukraine, Russia and Syria. Hillary Clinton once alluded to Gabbard as someone who is “the favourite of the Russians”, and the then-congresswoman’s decision to visit Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad and question his well-documented use of chemical weapons was roundly criticized.
But at her confirmation hearing, it wasn’t those statements that raised the most eyebrows among the Republicans whose votes she needed. Instead, it was her refusal to describe US government whistleblower Edward Snowden as a “traitor”. Nonetheless, she overcame that skepticism and saw her nomination advanced by the Senate intelligence committee. Here’s a look back at that:
