We'll be recapping what you need to know every Friday morning for the first 100 days of the Trump administration. Get more updates and analysis in the NPR Politics newsletter.
It's now been a month since President Trump was sworn in, and the firehose of information coming from the administration continued this week, including:
Trump reshaping the U.S. position toward Ukraine, more civil service firings, more resignations amid allegations of a quid pro quo between Trump's Justice Department and New York Mayor Eric Adams, confirmation of Kash Patel as FBI director, another handful of executive orders, the courts putting some speedbumps in the Trump administration's way and the White House posting on X a fake Time magazine cover of Trump adorning a crown with the words, "LONG LIVE THE KING."
Here is a closer look at three of the biggest themes of the week, followed by a day-by-day rundown of what happened:
1. Trump blames Ukraine for Russia's invasion: Ukraine President Zelenskyy expressed frustration about being left out of U.S. negotiations with Russia in Saudi Arabia about the war. He said Trump is living in a "disinformation bubble," and Trump then lashed out, calling Zelenskyy a "dictator" and blamed the country for "starting" the war with Russia (when it was Russia that invaded Ukraine three years ago). All of Trump's accusations echo Russian propaganda.
2. Who is the top DOGE? A court filing about Elon Musk's informal Department of Government Efficiency did not acknowledge him as its head. But DOGE was Musk's idea, and Trump said Musk is in charge of it: "I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and put a man named Elon Musk in charge," he said in Miami this week.
DOGE, now in its third week of finding drastic cuts to make to the federal government, continued to make abrupt firings, embedded itself at key agencies and signaled there's more to come. (The head of the Social Security Administration resigned after a dispute with DOGE over access to recipient information.)
Musk has claimed big savings and even floated the idea of $5,000 "dividend" checks to people, but the math on Musk's group's claimed savings doesn't add up, according to an NPR investigation. A lot of what DOGE is doing is provocative, and Trump is well aware of optics. Speaking of Trump's attention to optics, that was highlighted earlier in the week when Trump did laps in the presidential limo at the Daytona 500 and flew Air Force One around the stadium.
3. The Eric Adams saga: The Justice Department cited in court that the New York mayor's ability to curtail illegal immigration in the city would be hampered if he were to be prosecuted. Deputy Acting Attorney General Emil Bove said in a memo that letting Adams off the hook for now was not about the merits of the charges against him, but that the "pending prosecution unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior administration."
Prosecutors at the department resigned last week over this. This week, four deputy mayors in Adams' office also stepped down, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she will not use her powers to oust him from office, but will push for legislation to put more guardrails on the mayor's independence.
And here's a detailed day-by-day look at everything (that we know of) that happened this week:
Sunday:
- Trump takes laps at Daytona 500 in The Beast and on AF1.
Monday:
- Trump names Ed Martin his nominee to be U.S. attorney in Washington. Martin, a conservative lawyer who backed the "Stop the Steal" movement trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, had already been acting in that role.
- Roughly 400 people were fired at the Federal Aviation Administration, including some with roles supporting air safety.
- The New York Times reports Trump pushed for a merger between the PGA, the Professional Golf Association, and Saudi-backed LIV Golf, noting that Trump has a financial interest in LIV Golf.
Tuesday:
- Legal filings from the administration shows Musk is not officially running DOGE. Agency heads have to be congressionally confirmed.
- The head of the Social Security Administration resigns after a disagreement with DOGE wanting to access recipient information.
- Four deputies in New York Mayor Eric Adams' office resign. Hochul holds a meeting in Manhattan with key New York political leaders about what to do about Adams, including potentially using her powers to oust him from office.
- 168 people are fired at the National Science Foundation.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other American officials meet with Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia.
- White House forces out top leadership at the National Archives and Records Administration. The John F. Kennedy Library announces five employees were laid off and were temporarily unable to stay open as a result. It reopened, however, the next day.
- Federal judge reinstates head of Merit Systems Protections Board, saying Trump's firing exceeded his authority.
- A top prosecutor in the criminal division of the U.S. attorney's office in Washington resigns after being ordered to freeze funds and criminally investigate grants at the Environmental Protection Agency without probable cause.
- Louis DeJoy, who was originally appointed by Trump in 2020, announces plans to step down as postmaster general.
- Border czar Tom Homan goes after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., for hosting a "Know Your Rights with ICE" webinar, calling her the "dumbest congresswoman ever elected to Congress." He said he asked the Justice Department if she violated the law for "educating" people to "evade ICE."
- Federal judge declines to block DOGE from accessing federal data or instituting layoffs.
- Trump reacts to Ukraine's Zelenskyy saying his country should be involved in any negotiations with Russia to end the war. He accuses Ukraine of starting the war. "You should've never started it," Trump said. "You should've made a deal."
- Judge temporarily stops dismissal of intelligence officers fired for their work related to diversity initiatives.
- Musk floats the idea of DOGE dividend checks.
- FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, fires hundreds, starting over the weekend and continuing through Tuesday.
Wednesday:
- Trump surprises staff and endorses a House budget that would gut Medicaid despite his pledge that the program "would not be touched."
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement data shows it's not just criminals being deported.
- Trump signs executive order on IVF seeking to "aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments." But what the order can actually achieve is unclear. Democrats called on Trump to back legislation like the "Right to IVF" bill, which Republicans have previously blocked. Otherwise, they said it's just "lip service" and a "PR stunt."
- The New York Times reports DOGE misreported $8 million in savings as $8 billion.
- Veterans Affairs reinstates some of the 1,000 fired employees, including those let go from the agency's crisis hotline.
- Zelenskyy says Trump is "living in a disinformation space" and that he "would like to have more truth with the Trump team."
- Trump calls Zelenskyy a "dictator without elections" and accuses him of wanting to "keep the gravy train going." National Security Adviser Mike Waltz says the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy is going in the wrong direction and stems from Ukraine not giving access to their rare earth minerals, natural resources and oil and gas to the U.S.
- Trump special envoy Keith Kellogg, a retired three-star general, visits Kiev and notes the third year anniversary of "Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
- Trump signs executive order ending federal benefits for immigrants in the country without legal status. It aims to not "incentivize or support illegal immigration" or "sanctuary policies."
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tells the Pentagon to identify $50 billion in cuts. Climate and DEI initiatives are to be targets.
- Deputy Acting Attorney General Emil Bove says in court that dropping charges against Adams has nothing to do with the merits of the case. He wrote in a memo: "[T]he pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior administration."
- Trump signs executive order to reduce size of Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, the U.S. African Development Foundation and the U.S. Institute of Peace. The Presidio Trust oversees the park at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It was a former military installation. Congress established the trust in 1996.
- The Washington Post reports that national parks are starting to see longer lines and cancellations of things like bookings for accommodations at Gettysburg. "It's chaos everywhere," Kristin Jenn, a former seasonal park ranger at Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, told the Post. "I don't know what the next couple of months are going to bring."
- Trump tells investors and company executives in Miami, per Reuters: "I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and put a man named Elon Musk in charge."
- DOGE's claimed cuts are not adding up.
- Military doctors, including pediatricians and OB/GYNs, are preparing to go to Guantanamo Bay to treat immigrants housed at the facility.
- The White House posts on X a fake Time cover with a crown on Trump above the headline: "LONG LIVE THE KING."
- Trump and Musk on Fox contend that Musk won't be involved in anything where there's a potential conflict of interest.
- In one of his first moves as secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulls the plug on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ad encouraging people to get the flu vaccine. This comes during a bad flu season that has seen the most number of people hospitalized with it in 15 years.
- Trump signs an executive order that aims to take more control over independent regulatory agencies that were created by Congress to be shielded from White House influence. They include: the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates Wall Street, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures bank deposits.
Thursday:
- Layoffs begin at the IRS with cuts of more than 6,000 jobs in the middle of tax season. "Under an executive order, I.R.S. has been directed to terminate probationary employees who were not deemed critical to filing season," an email to staff reads. Some worry that even if employees aren't deemed "critical" to tax season, such a large number of layoffs could still affect things like the timing of rebate checks and ease of filing.
- Kash Patel confirmed as FBI director.
- Flanked by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, golfer Tiger Woods and others at an event commemorating Black History Month at the White House, Trump said, "We're going to be fighting long and hard for Black Americans and all Americans. We're going to be fighting for all Americans." Trump, however, has taken steps to decrease diversity efforts across all levels of the federal government. Trump also wondered aloud if he should run for a third term. "Should I run again? You tell me?" The crowd breaks into chants of "four more years."
- Hochul says at a press conference she will push for more guardrails on Adams' mayorship, but won't use extraordinary powers to remove him from office.
- CNN poll shows declining approval for Trump, especially with specific groups, like Black, Latino and young voters and most don't think Trump is doing enough to address prices.
- Elon Musk brandishes a chainsaw at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, to underscore how he's slashed the federal workforce.
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