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Trump administration orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping finances cuts – report
The US protection secretary, Pete Hegseth has ordered senior leaders on the Pentagon and all through the US navy to develop plans for slicing 8% from the protection finances in every of the subsequent 5 years, based on a memo obtained by the Washington Submit.
Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be drawn up by 24 February, based on the memo, which features a checklist of 17 classes that the Trump administration desires exempted. Amongst them: operations on the southern US border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile protection and acquisition of one-way assault drones and different munitions. If adopted in full, the proposed cuts would come with tens of billions of {dollars} in every of the subsequent 5 years.
In keeping with the Submit, the memo requires continued “assist company” funding for a number of main regional headquarters, together with Indo-Pacific command, northern command and house command. Notably absent from that checklist is European command, which has had a number one position in executing US technique throughout the struggle in Ukraine; central command, which oversees operations within the Center East; and Africa command, which manages the a number of thousand troops the Pentagon has unfold throughout that continent.
“President Trump’s cost to DoD is obvious: obtain peace via power,” Hegseth wrote within the memo, dated Tuesday.
The time for preparation is over – we should act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our navy, and re-establish deterrence. Our finances will useful resource the preventing drive we’d like, stop pointless protection spending, reject extreme forms, and drive actionable reform together with progress on the audit.
Key occasions
The Trump administration has ceased all funding to the Palestinian Authority safety forces as a part of its freeze on overseas assist, the Washington Submit experiences.
The authority governs the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, and is competing to control the post-war Gaza Strip. The US beforehand ended funding to the authority underneath Trump’s first presidency, however continued to fund the safety forces throughout that interval.
Persevering with to talk on the Future Funding Initiative’s PRIORITY Summit at the moment in Miami, Donald Trump praised tech billionaire Elon Musk, who he mentioned he had tasked to guide the so-called “division of presidency effectivity.”
“On my first day in workplace, I imposed a right away federal hiring freeze, a federal regulation freeze and a overseas assist freeze. I signed an order creating the Division of Authorities Effectivity and put a person named Elon Musk in cost. Thanks, Elon for doing it,” he mentioned.
Discussing investments from overseas international locations and companies in america, Donald Trump mentioned that Japan is planning to make investments $1tn within the US.
“On his current go to to the White Home, the Prime Minister of Japan introduced he anticipates Japanese funding to america of properly over a trillion {dollars}. And we’re engaged on an Alaska pipeline already, which is the closest level to Asia,” he mentioned.
Talking to international finance leaders in Miami, Donald Trump added that he’s “dedicated to creating America the crypto capital” of the world.
“We need to keep on the forefront of every little thing, and certainly one of them is crypto,” he mentioned.
Persevering with his speech in Miami at the moment, Donald Trump mentioned america “is again and open for enterprise.”
“I come at the moment with a easy message for enterprise leaders from all throughout the nation and all around the globe, if you wish to construct the longer term, push boundaries, unleash breakthroughs, remodel industries or make a fortune. If you wish to make a fortune, most of you’ve got already made a fortune. I need to say that there’s no higher place on Earth than the present and future United States of America underneath a sure president named Donald J Trump,” he mentioned.
“As of January 20, 2025 the darkish days of excessive taxes, crushing rules, rampant inflation, flagrant corruption, authorities weaponization, oh, I learn about weaponization, and whole incompetence shall be gone eternally as a result of america is again and open for enterprise, and the golden age of America has formally begun.”
Strolling on stage to his marketing campaign anthem “God Bless the USA”, Donald Trump opened the Future Funding Initiative’s PRIORITY Summit at the moment in Miami. The worldwide finance convention, hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, runs via Friday.
Trump kicked off his remarks by boasting about developments he oversaw in Miami and thanking Miami mayor Francis Suarez, who endorsed his run for the presidency.
He additionally thanked H.R.H. Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to america, who was seated subsequent to tech billionaire Elon Musk.
After asking Musk to face, Trump mentioned: “We did a bit present final night time. I heard they bought excellent scores too by the way in which”, referring to his and Musk’s joint look on Fox Information with host Sean Hannity final night time.

Hugo Lowell
In a blistering assertion after asking a federal decide to dismiss the corruption case in opposition to New York mayor Eric Adams, the appearing deputy lawyer basic Emil Bove invited justice division officers and prosecutors who disagreed with the choice to stop.
“I’m personally dedicated to our shared combat: ending weaponized authorities, stopping the invasion of legal unlawful aliens, and eliminating drug cartels and transnational gangs from our homeland,” Bove mentioned.
“For these on the Division who’re with me in these battles and perceive that there are not any separate sovereigns on this Govt Department, we’re going to do nice issues to make America secure once more.
“For individuals who don’t assist our crucial mission, I perceive there are templates for resignation letters accessible on the web sites of the New York Instances and CNN,” Bove added.
The assertion underscores how the brand new Trump management on the justice division prioritizes the administration’s political agenda in prosecutorial selections and both expects their orders to be carried out, or for individuals to resign or be fired.
On the listening to in federal courtroom on Wednesday, Bove hinted on the Division of Justice’s ongoing efforts to deliver rank-and-file prosecutors in line, and referred to as into query the motives behind the Adams prosecution.
“I’d say the precise objective of the prosecution is the topic of a number of ongoing investigations by the division,” Bove advised district decide Dale E Ho.
In current days, Bove has been transferring with ruthless effectivity to tick via prosecutors who’ve been unwilling to comply with his orders because the No 2 official on the division and chart a brand new course the place Trump’s political agenda guides prosecution selections.
Bove’s order directing the dismissal of the Adams case has develop into an inflexion level in that mission, after he weathered seven resignations in attempting to get it down and finally put his personal identify on he movement to dismiss the fees to underscore his confidence within the matter.
In ordering the case be dropped, Bove wrote that “persevering with these proceedings would intrude with the defendant’s potential to control in New York Metropolis, which poses unacceptable threats to public security, nationwide safety and associated federal immigration initiatives and insurance policies” to deport undocumented immigrants.
The memo made clear that aiding a mayor who wished to assist with the immigration crackdown, a nationwide precedence, outweighed persevering with to deliver bribery prices in opposition to an area mayor, and the justice division in future will steadiness coverage priorities in opposition to the deserves of a case.
Two extra teams have sued the Trump administration over govt orders the president has signed concerning the atmosphere and variety, fairness and inclusion (DEI).
A coalition of environmental teams, led by Earthjustice, filed swimsuit in Alaska at the moment arguing that Donald Trump exceeded his authority with an govt order that reversed the Biden administration’s ban on new offshore oil and gasoline leasing in coastal waters.
On his first day in workplace, Donald Trump signed an govt order aimed toward “unleashing American power”, whereas additionally overturning auto-emissions requirements and rolling again restrictions on oil and gasoline growth in Alaska.
The lawsuit, which argues that federal regulation doesn’t authorize a president to revoke offshore protections, names Trump, Inside Secretary Doug Burgum and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as defendants.
In the meantime, the NAACP Authorized Protection Fund and Lambda Authorized filed swimsuit on behalf of advocacy teams to problem three of Trump’s current orders concerning range, fairness and inclusion.
The Nationwide City League, AIDS Basis Chicago and the Nationwide Truthful Housing Alliance argue that Trump’s orders will restrict how they supply companies to individuals nationwide.
The chief orders the teams are difficult contains ones concentrating on transgender People (“Defending Ladies from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Organic Reality to the Federal Authorities”) and ending grants and different funding particular to this work (“Ending Radical and Wasteful DEI Applications and Preferencing” and “Ending Unlawful Discrimination and Restoring Advantage-Based mostly Alternative”).
“For these organizations, selecting between ending their range, fairness, inclusion and accessibility initiatives and shedding federal funds is de facto no selection in any respect,” mentioned Jin Hee Lee, director of strategic initiatives on the Authorized Protection Fund, throughout a media briefing. “That is in direct violation of our shoppers’ free speech rights.”
Donald Trump will converse shortly on the Future Investiment Initiative, a worldwide finance convention in Miami organized by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
The president is anticipated to deal with his intention to deliver main worldwide investments to the US.
Final month, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman – who authorized the 2018 homicide of the Washington Submit journalist Jamal Khashoggi – pledged $600bn in investments within the US.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who leads a non-public fairness agency that has obtained billions of {dollars} from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, will converse on the convention. Different attendees embody the chief executives of TikTok, Oracle, Uber, Sony Photos Leisure, BlackRock and Tishman Speyer.
White Home calls Trump ‘King’
The White Home has reshared a social media publish from Donald Trump, calling the president a king and picturing him in a crown.
This afternoon, Donald Trump wrote on the social media platform Reality Social: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
His publish referenced a letter his transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, despatched to New York governor Kathy Hochul at the moment, ending the Division of Transportation’s settlement with the state over a toll coverage for decrease Manhattan.
Shortly after, the White Home shared the quote from Trump on social media, alongside a computer-generated picture of a smiling Trump sporting a crown on a stylized model of a Time journal cowl, with the phrase “Time” changed with “Trump”.

Lauren Gambino
In his handle, Pritzker recalled in 1978 when a neo-Nazi group wished to march via Skokie, Illinois, a Chicago suburb that he mentioned was as soon as dwelling to the most important variety of Holocaust survivors on this planet. The following authorized battle and controversy finally led to a supreme courtroom resolution in favor of the group’s proper to march. The demonstration was finally canceled days earlier than and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Training Heart was fashioned in Skokie.
Pritzker credited the resistance and resilience of unusual Illinoians for defusing the Nazis menace.
“If we don’t need to repeat historical past then for god sake on this second we higher be sturdy sufficient to be taught from it,” he mentioned.
Pritzker concluded the 30-plus minute speech with a name to motion.
“Tyranny requires your concern and your silence and your compliance,” he mentioned. “Democracy requires your braveness. So collect your justice and humanity Illinois and don’t let the tragic spirit of despair overcome us when our nation wants us most.”

Lauren Gambino
Pritzker, who’s seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, has adopted a much more confrontational posture towards the Trump administration than different blue-state governors.
“We don’t have kings in America and I don’t intend to bend the knee to 1,” Pritzker vowed, because the official White Home social media account posted a photograph of Trump sporting a crown with the phrases “Lengthy Dwell the King”.
In his remarks, he defended the method, arguing: “Going alongside to get alongside doesn’t work.”
Responding to scattered boos within the viewers, the governor warned that Trump’s cuts to federal companies would have an effect on conservatives and liberals alike. “You possibly can boo all you need till your constituents lose these companies,” he mentioned.
“If you happen to assume I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too quickly, think about this,” he continued. “It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. And all I’m saying is when the five-alarm fireplace begins to burn, each good individual higher be able to man a publish with a bucket of water if you wish to cease it from raging uncontrolled.”

Lauren Gambino
The Illinois governor JB Pritzker on Wednesday delivered a searing state-of-the-state handle, likening Donald Trump’s gorgeous energy grabs to the rise of Nazism in Thirties Germany.
“I don’t invoke the specter of Nazis evenly,” Pritzker advised a joint session of the Illinois home and senate in Springfield, the state’s capital. Talking as “an American and a Jew” who helped construct the state’s Holocaust Museum, Pritzker mentioned he was “watching with a foreboding dread what is occurring in our nation proper now”.
Trump’s assaults on DEI, LGBTQ individuals and immigrants was a part of an “authoritarian playbook”, the Democratic governor mentioned.
“They level to a gaggle of people that don’t appear to be you and let you know guilty them to your issues. I simply have one query,” he mentioned. “What comes subsequent?”