January 24, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause action on four pending appeals — including one involving California’s strict vehicle emissions rules — in the first sign that the Justice Department is rethinking its portfolio of cases at the nation’s highest court.

Sarah Harris, the Trump administration’s acting solicitor general, urged the Supreme Court in a series of filings to pause briefing in three cases dealing with the environment and one that deals with student loan forgiveness when borrowers believe they were defrauded by a university.

The most significant is an appeal from fuel companies challenging California’s ability to, in practice, set vehicle admissions standards for the rest of the nation. Trump withdrew the state’s power to set those standards and former President Joe Biden’s administration reinstated it. The filing Friday is the latest indication the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump would withdraw the tougher emissions standards again, likely rendering the underlying legal dispute at the Supreme Court moot.

The Supreme Court’s docket is, as usual, full of cases involving federal government decisions and regulations. Court observers have been closely watching for indications that the Trump administration may shift position from Biden in high-profile cases dealing with transgender rights, for instance, or the Food and Drug Administration’s crackdown on flavored vaping products. It is not yet clear if the new administration will take any action in those cases.

Trump has moved quickly to roll back Biden’s policy positions and executive actions, but he may move more cautiously at the Supreme Court — where the justices generally frown on sudden shifts from administration to administration.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands before a meeting in Helsinki on July 16, 2018.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting to manipulate US President Donald Trump to achieve his goals.

Speaking to the nation during his daily televised address, Zelensky appeared to respond to comments Putin made earlier on Friday. The Russian leader claimed that “the crisis in Ukraine” might have been prevented if Trump was in power in 2022.

Putin also said he was ready to talk with the new US president about the conflict, calling Trump “a smart person.”

Zelensky said the issue of Putin’s attempts to sway Trump was discussed during Ukraine’s Supreme Commander in Chief Staff meeting on Friday. He said the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service presented a report on “Russia’s military potential and Putin’s readiness to continue the war and manipulate the leaders of the world.”

Trump has long claimed that the war in Ukraine would not have happened under his watch, but Friday marked the first time Putin suggested the same thing.

The main building of the National Institutes of Health is seen in Bethesda, Maryland on August 17, 2009.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have been told the communications pause announced by the Trump administration earlier this week includes a pause on all purchasing, including supplies for their ongoing studies, according to four sources inside the agency with knowledge of the purchasing hold.

The supply crunch follows a directive first issued on Tuesday by the acting director of the Department of Health and Human Services, which placed a moratorium on the release of any public communication until it had been reviewed by officials appointed or designated by the Trump Administration, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN.

Part of this pause on public communication has been widely interpreted to include purchasing orders to outside suppliers. One source noted they had been told that essential requests can proceed and will be reviewed daily.

Researchers who have clinical trial participants staying at the NIH’s on-campus hospital, the Clinical Trial Center, said they weren’t able to order test tubes to draw blood as well as other key study components. If something doesn’t change, one researcher who was affected said his study will run out of key supplies by next week. If that happens, the research results would be compromised, and he would have to recruit new patients, he said.

CNN is not naming the scientists because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

The clinical center only has a few weeks of medication on hand, according to a source who had knowledge of the pharmaceutical supply but was not authorized to speak with reporters.

Other studies are in danger of running out of supplies like animal feed or liquid nitrogen to cool samples, researchers said.

US Army soldiers patrol the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, on January 24, 2025.

The Trump administration is requesting the help of state and local governments to enforce federal immigration law, citing a “mass influx” of migrants at the US-Mexico border, according to a Homeland Security memo.

The memo allows state and local law enforcement officers to carry out immigration enforcement, by invoking a sweeping legal authority that allows the Homeland Security secretary to request aid under certain circumstances.

It’s unclear how this would be implemented and whether it will require agreements and training.

Huffman also conceded that encounters at the border have dropped, including last month, but argues: “While that number is a major reduction from the peak over the last four years, it is still too high.”

Over the course of the week, administration officials have focused on building out a law enforcement apparatus to execute on the President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. That included sending additional troops to the US southern border, despite fewer crossings.

Some context: State and local law enforcement have previously worked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement under what’s known as the 287G program, which serves as a tool to bolster immigration enforcement in a given area. Thursday’s memo goes beyond that by requesting the help of law enforcement nationwide. The order lasts for 60 days but can be extended.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke for the first time on Friday with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

According to a State Department readout of the call, Rubio “emphasized that the Trump Administration will pursue a U.S.-PRC relationship that advances U.S. interests and puts the American people first.”

The two also “discussed other issues of bilateral, regional, and global importance,” it said.

The call between Rubio and Wang comes a week after then-President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and as the US president continues to threaten sanctions on China.

China’s English language readout of the Wang-Rubio call, as posted on X by Ambassdor Xie Feng, is much lengthier than the State Department version.

“FM Wang said that the CPC’s leadership is the choice of the Chinese people, and China’s development is driven by clear historical logic and strong internal momentum,” he continued. “Our goal is to improve the lives of our people and make greater contributions to the world. We have no intention of surpassing or replacing anyone, but we must defend our legitimate right to development.’”

This still from video from an affidavit released by the US District Court for the District of Columbia shows Guy Reffitt.

High-profile January 6 rioter Guy Reffitt showed up in Washington, DC, on Wednesday to celebrate with his wife and supporters who’d been hoping for his release from federal detention for months.

But he should not have been walking free — even after President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned him and more than 1,200 others for January 6-related crimes.

That’s because Reffitt was indicted on a charge of possessing an illegal gun silencer three years ago. A federal judge in Texas ordered him to remain in jail until he is tried in that case, where he has pleaded not guilty.

After Trump’s pardon, his lawyer filed court papers to convince the judge to release him as he awaits trial. The judge hadn’t yet decided whether to release Reffitt. Contacted late this week by CNN, even his own attorney and some federal authorities believed Reffitt was and should still be in custody.

Davilyn Walston, a spokesperson for the Justice Department in the Eastern District of Texas, said Friday that Reffitt should still be in detention because of the alleged firearms violation. Walston noted the indictment against Reffitt was still pending and that prosecutors were still pursuing the gun case.

Yet he was released soon after Trump’s pardon.

The situation highlights how the Capitol riot investigation turned up a handful of additional criminal proceedings for some defendants, like the gun charge against Reffitt, that now may be complicated by the sweeping Trump clemency for January 6 defendants.

It is not clear where Reffitt is as of Friday. His wife, Nicole Reffitt, didn’t respond to inquiries from CNN on Friday morning.

CNN’s Kim Berryman contributed reporting to this post.

Dozens of migrants have arrived to Guatemala after being deported on a flight from the United States.

According to the Guatemalan Institute of Migration (IGM), a US military aircraft contained 31 women and 48 men.

The 79 migrants are currently being housed in shelters managed by the Guatemalan government. IGM director Alfredo Danilo Rivera said that the government is providing support and helping the deportees return to their hometowns.

Guatemala’s National Council for Assistance to Migrants of Guatemala (CONAMIGUA) said it provided personal hygiene products and food as well as legal, psychological and transportation assistance to the returnees.

Images released by CONAMIGUA show the returned migrants speaking to workers and collecting aid before boarding a bus.

The deportations are part of US President Donald Trump’s federal immigration crackdown, including an inaugural promise to “return millions and millions” of people to their countries of origins.

On Thursday, Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Carlos Martínez told Congress that the government is still waiting for information from the US on how many deportation flights and people will be arriving.

Rivera, the IGM director, will soon be heading to the Guatemala-Mexico border to coordinate with Mexico’s government on managing migration, the Guatemalan presidential office reported.

CNN has reached out to the Mexican foreign ministry for more information on this meeting.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attempted entry into a Chicago elementary school Friday morning but were not allowed inside or permitted to speak to anyone inside, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials said.

Around 11:15 a.m. local time, ICE agents attempted to enter Hamline Elementary School.

ICE, however, denies that it attempted to enter the school.

“This was not an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement encounter,” an ICE spokesperson shared in a statement to CNN.

CNN has reached out to other local and deferral law enforcement offices for comment.

Chkoumbova emphasized protocols were followed, ensuring student and staff safety, and reiterated CPS’ commitment to protecting students and families in accordance with the Illinois Trust Act and Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance.

Earlier this week, acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman announced the end of two directives, which had not permitted federal immigration authorities to arrest people and carry out enforcement actions in and near places such as churches and schools, marking a departure from longstanding policy to avoid so-called sensitive areas.

This post has been updated with a statement from ICE.

President Donald Trump’s suggestion to eliminate or curtail the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could severely impact emergency response even at state levels, former FEMA chief Deanne Criswell told CNN.

Criswell, who was President Joe Biden’s FEMA chief, said there is a lot of misunderstanding about the agency’s roles. It assigns certain tasks like cleaning up debris to other federal agencies, such as the US Army Corps of Engineers, which cleaned up debris in recent disasters including Hurricane Helene and the Maui wildfires. States can’t activate those resources on their own.

“This coordination piece that FEMA leads is one of the most critical (roles) that we play in the stabilization of these incidents,” Criswell said. In addition to helping pay for recovery and rebuilding after a disaster, FEMA also reimburses states and municipalities for search and rescue in the immediate response to a disaster.

“FEMA pays the bill for these very capable teams,” Criswell said, noting the agency helped fund local first responders doing search and rescue in Helene, and teams with cadaver dogs after the deadly Maui fires.

If states lost this funding from FEMA, they’d have to come up with the money elsewhere, she said.

FEMA is still housing people who lost homes in Helene.

President Donald Trump’s contention Friday that he wants to tie a voter ID requirement to federal aid to help California recover from devastating wildfires is the latest salvo in a feud over a law signed last year by the state’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

What the law says: The new state law bars local jurisdictions from requiring voter ID to cast a ballot and comes in response to the city of Huntington Beach instituting a requirement to present identification to vote in municipal elections, starting in 2026. Local residents had approved amending the city’s charter to add the voter ID requirement. A legal fight over the city’s approach is ongoing after California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the city.

Those for it: Proponents of the state law argue that requiring identification at the polls is unnecessary because California residents must provide a driver’s license number, a California identification number or the last four digits of their Social Security number to register to vote in the first place.

Those against it: Critics, including Trump ally Elon Musk, argue that the new state law is aimed at encouraging voter fraud. “The reason is to cheat, obviously,” Musk said recently on Joe Rogan’s podcast about the state prohibition.

Trump has repeatedly pressed for broad changes to the nation’s voting procedures — including requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, a measure that Republicans on Capitol Hill recently reintroduced in the new Congress.

In this November 2022 photo, Marlboro Menthol and Newport cigarettes are seen for sale at a 7-Eleven in Tarrytown, New York.

The Trump administration has withdrawn a proposed rule that would ban menthol in cigarettes and flavored cigars, according to the regulatory docket.

A menthol ban is something that the US Food and Drug Administration under the Biden administration had said was a “top priority.” It sent the final version of its rule banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars to the White House for its approval in October 2023. A ban had been expected that year, but after intense lobbying from various stakeholder groups, the Biden White House never gave the ban the greenlight.

In April of last year, a coalition of civil rights groups and medical organizations sued the FDA for missing its own deadline to ban menthol. The groups said the lawsuit is still ongoing, although it is unclear how it will be impacted by the withdrawal of the rule.

While the rule has been withdrawn, it is not completely dead, experts said. An administration in the future could resurrect the rule and avoid some of the procedural hurdles.

All flavors in cigarettes except menthol were banned in 2009. The FDA has been considering a ban on menthol for more than a decade.

Some background: Studies suggest that a ban would save lives and money. Over a 20-year period, it could lower health care costs among all adult smokers by about $1.62 billion, a recent study found. It could also save up to 654,000 lives in the US within 40 years, including the lives of 255,000 members of the Black community, according to a 2022 study.

President Donald Trump speaks while visiting a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, North Carolina, on January 24.

In his first trip since inauguration, President Donald Trump on Friday visited North Carolina, a state trying to rebuild from the devastation wrought last year by Hurricane Helene.

He’s now on his way to Los Angeles to view the damage caused by the wildfires. Here’s a recap of what he has said so far:

On FEMA: Trump said he may get rid of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and called it a disaster. “I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA is not good,” the president said.

Trump said governors may want to use their state to fix problems instead of calling the agency. “FEMA just hasn’t done the job. And we’re looking at the whole concept of FEMA.”

On helping North Carolina: Trump said he wants to take care of the people of North Carolina. “Everybody is talking about California, and that’s a mess. But I said, I’m not going to California until I stop in North Carolina. So here we are,” Trump said after arriving in Asheville. In another political move, the president said the Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley and lawmakers will be “working” with North Carolina elected officials on disaster relief.

Removing red tape: Trump said that he would get rid of permits and other red tape to help communities rebuild in North Carolina. The president was speaking in Swannanoa after touring areas damaged by the storm. Hurricane Helene made landfall September 26, 2024.

On aid to California: Ahead of his flight to Los Angeles, Trump said he will be conditioning aid to California, demanding the “water to be released.” He also said he wants voter ID in the state. It is an unusual political demand for the president to make, and one that politicizes disaster relief in a state that is reeling from the wildfires.

On politics: Trump also said he didn’t invite Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff to travel with him to California to survey wildfire damage. Earlier Friday, CNN reported the White House extended an invitation to Schiff —a longtime Trump foe — to accompany him, but that a spokesperson for the California lawmaker said he wouldn’t be able to make it “due to scheduled nomination votes.” However, Trump said, “I really don’t know. You know, because if he’s going to be there, it would be cheaper, but I didn’t invite him, somebody did.”

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump board Air Force One at Asheville Regional Airport in Fletcher, North Carolina, on Friday, after visiting the region devastated by Hurricane Helene. Trump is headed to California to tour damage caused by the Los Angeles fires.

President Donald Trump is on his way to California where he is expected to view the damage from several wildfires that ravaged through Los Angeles in recent weeks.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will meet the president on the tarmac, a spokesperson for the governor said in a statement to CNN.

“The Governor is committed to advocating for the needs of Californians in partnership with the federal administration,” said spokesperson Brandon Richards.

This morning, Trump was in western North Carolina where he visited communities in the process of rebuilding from Hurricane Helene. While he was there, he said he will be conditioning aid to California, demanding the “water to be released.”

President Donald Trump said that he would get rid of permits and other red tape to help communities in North Carolina rebuild roads after Hurricane Helene.

Cutting federal regulations may provide some cost savings to certain rebuilding, but many regulations are enforced by state and local governments — outside the federal government’s purview.

The president was speaking in Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Friday after touring areas damaged by the storm. Hurricane Helene made landfall September 26, 2024.

Its path of destruction brought catastrophic flooding, damaging winds and power outages. In some places, especially in western North Carolina, residents reported entire communities being wiped out, including houses and businesses.

The storm killed more than 100 people across North Carolina, according to the state’s department of health and human services.

“We’re going to go through a permitting process that’s called no permitting. Just get it done. That’s the way they built them many years ago,” Trump said.

The president slammed Biden administration’s response to the storm, adding that his new administration would also be “surging housing solutions” to the state.

This post was updated with context on who enforces regulations.

When President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the public release of thousands of classified documents related to the decades-old assassination of John F. Kennedy, he asked the Sharpie pen he used be delivered to Kennedy’s nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as a memento.

The instruction doesn’t appear to have been merely because of the familial connection. In fact, RFK Jr. has repeatedly raised the issue of releasing in full the documents related to his uncle’s killing, along with his own father’s assassination, to people in Trump’s inner circle over the last several months, according to a person familiar with the conversations.

Kennedy, who is Trump’s nominee to become health and human services secretary, has for years publicly questioned official accounts of his relatives’ assassinations. He suggested in a 2023 radio interview that JFK’s assassination in Dallas has been subject to a “60-year cover-up” by the government.

He has also cast doubt that the man convicted of shooting his father, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, at a Los Angeles hotel in 1968 was the true culprit.

“I was disturbed that the wrong person might have been convicted of killing my father. My father was the chief law enforcement officer in this country. I think it would have disturbed him if somebody was put in jail for a crime they didn’t commit,” he told the Washington Post after visiting the man accused in his father’s killing, Sirhan B. Sirhan, in a California prison.

In conversations with Trump advisers, Kennedy has voiced similar views and encouraged the president to use his executive authority to release the remaining records in full — a step the president took on his third full day in office.

President Donald Trump delivered a pre-recorded video message at the March for Life in Washington, DC, Friday, touting 2022’s Dobbs decision after Supreme Court justices he appointed to the bench overturned Roe v. Wade and repeating a widely debunked claim Democrats have sought to allow abortion “after birth.”

Trump slammed Democrats for what he called “a radical Democrat push for a federal right to unlimited abortion — on demand up to the moment of birth, and even after birth.”

Fact check: Contrary to Trump’s claims, no state has passed or is passing a law that allows the execution of a baby after it is born. Killing a person after birth is illegal in every state.

In his prerecorded remarks, Trump also pledged he’d “end the weaponization of law enforcement against Americans of faith,” pointing to executive action he signed Thursday pardoning anti-abortion activists.

Pete Hegseth, center, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense secretary, arrives to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025.

The Senate is set to vote around 9 p.m. ET tonight to confirm Pete Hegseth as President Donald Trump’s defense secretary, potentially putting an end to a process marked by controversy over a slew of allegations of sexual assault, workplace drinking and financial mismanagement by the nominee.

Here’s the latest from Capitol Hill:

President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he will be conditioning aid to California following the devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area, demanding the “water to be released.” He also said he wants voter ID in the state.

It is an unusual political demand for the president to make, and one that politicizes disaster relief in a state that is reeling from the wildfires.

In another political move, the president told reporters Friday that the Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley and lawmakers will be “working” with North Carolina elected officials on disaster relief as some areas of the state are still rebuilding from Hurricane Helene’s flooding last year.

More context on water claims: Hydrants ran dry in the hilly neighborhood of Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles earlier this month, fueling speculation that there were larger problems with water availability.

Trump claimed in a social media post that Gov. Gavin Newsom had “refused to sign the water restoration declaration” — in effect preventing millions of gallons of water to flow from Northern to Southern California. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order directing his agencies to “to route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state for use by the people there who desperately need a reliable water supply.”

But experts previously told CNN there is no connection between water battles in Northern California and hydrants running dry during the LA fires.

Read more about how California manages water and wilderness.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra arrives to testify before a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on December 11, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Many of President Donald Trump’s straight-out-of-the-gate regulatory moves were right on script: Less red tape for fossil fuels, pausing wind turbine leases and more help for crypto.

One plot twist: Trump has not (yet) pushed out Rohit Chopra, a protégé of Elizabeth Warren and the consumer watchdog the banking industry loves to hate for his crackdowns on overdraft fees, Zelle fraud and countless other issues.

Five days into Trump’s second term, Chopra remains at the helm of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – much to the dismay of The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which warns he poses a threat to the Trump agenda.

No one is more surprised than Chopra, who had already packed up his office, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

In a note to clients, TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg said the fact Chopra is still in power is “our biggest surprise” of Trump’s first week, adding that he still expects Trump to remove him soon.

For his part, Chopra is making clear there are areas of overlap between the CFPB’s agenda and that of Trump.

Chopra noted to CNN that Trump has expressed interest in capping credit card rates, adding that CFPB would be well positioned to inform that debate by providing data and research.

Publicly available data suggests the cost of the US military flying migrants out of the country is significantly more than using flights chartered by the Department of Homeland Security, but a US defense official told CNN that the military has not yet begun to calculate the cost of the flights. That is because the situation at the border has been declared a national emergency, so they are moving as quickly as possible without regard for the cost, the official said.

The Department of Homeland Security sometimes reimburses the US military for use of its assets, but will not be reimbursing the Pentagon for these military flights, the official said — so the department is “taking it out of hide.”

Estimated cost: The department said on Wednesday that the Department of Defense is providing two C-17s and two C-130E planes to help with migrant repatriation flights. As of fall 2022, the average hourly cost of operating a C-17 was about $21,000 and the average hourly cost of operating a C-130E was between $68,000 and $71,000, according to the Defense Department comptroller.

For the C-17 flight that took off on Thursday from El Paso to Guatemala City holding approximately 80 migrants, the cost would be roughly $252,000. For the same 12-hour flight on a C-130, it would be between $816,000 and $852,000.

A flight chartered by DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement is less costly, according to estimates posted by the agency. The average cost of a daily scheduled charter flight is $8,577 per flight hour, according to ICE.

For the new deployments to the border and the costs associated with the mission, the Pentagon is likely looking to move funds within its budget authorized by Congress to use for unforeseen, high-priority missions, retired Gen. Glen VanHerck, the former commander of US Northern Command, told CNN.

Donald Trump’s new administration is swiftly implementing parts of its new immigration policies.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that deportation flights had begun, sharing photos of migrants boarding a military aircraft.

Additionally, the US Northern Command announced the military units being sent to the southern border are part of the first tranche of active duty forces going to bolster the security mission there.

Here are some key things to know:

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins spoke with President Donald Trump just before he left the White House this morning.

An aerial view of a couple meeting with a FEMA representative while searching through the remains of their home which burned in the Eaton Fire on January 19 in Altadena, California.

President Donald Trump said he may get rid of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and called it a disaster as he was visiting the areas of North Carolina devastated in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

The president said governors may want to use their state to fix problems instead of calling FEMA.

“Whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA. And then FEMA gets here and they don’t know the area. They’ve never been to the area, and they want to give you rules that you’ve never heard about.”

Trump told reporters traveling with him that he is looking at the “whole concept of FEMA.”

“FEMA just hasn’t done the job. And we’re looking at the whole concept of FEMA. I like, frankly, the concept when North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. When Florida gets hit, the governor takes care of it, meaning the state takes care of it. To have a group of people come in from an area that don’t even know where they’re going in order to solve immediately a problem is something that never worked for me – but this is probably one of the best examples of it not working,” Trump told reporters.

“The aid will go through us. So rather than going through FEMA, it will go through us,” Trump added.

This post was updated with more of Trump’s remarks about FEMA.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, former White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in December 2022.

President Donald Trump has terminated Dr. Anthony Fauci’s security detail that was being provided and paid for by the National Institutes of Health, a source familiar with the situation tells CNN. It was pulled on Thursday night.

Given he continues to face ongoing threats due to his public-facing role during the pandemic, Fauci has now hired his own private security that he’ll pay for himself, the source told CNN.

This comes as Trump continues his retribution tour against the officials who previously served under him. He has now yanked security details from former national security adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Fauci.

Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, elected officials, and immigrant-serving organizations held a press conference today to address the federal raids within the city.

A New Jersey mayor says his city has been “unlawfully terrorized” after federal agents detained multiple people Thursday during what Immigration and Customs Enforcement called “a targeted enforcement operation.”

The agents “raided” a local business and detained “undocumented residents as well as citizens, without producing a warrant,” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement.

Baraka vowed further action to defend the rights of the city’s residents.

CNN has not been able to independently verify details of the mayor’s statements. A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Thursday that a US citizen was involved but declined to comment further on the active investigation.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark, New Jersey,” the spokespersonn said in a statement.

The arrests come as the new Trump administration moves to clamp down on immigration and undo Biden-era policies.

A law enforcement source briefed on the investigation in Newark told CNN the enforcement action on Thursday was in response to a tip reporting unauthorized workers at a place of business.

The action was carried out by Homeland Security Investigations, the federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security, and was not initiated by ICE, the source said.

During worksite enforcement actions, HSI officials typically request to see people’s identification to confirm they are authorized to work. CNN has reached out HSI for comment on the action in Newark.

The owner of the Ocean Seafood Depot fish market where the enforcement action occurred says he fears it will hurt his business, according to CNN affiliate WCBS.

“A couple of the guys couldn’t show their identification,” the owner said. “Twenty-six years in business, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

CNN’s Karina Tsui contributed reporting to this post.

US President Donald Trump greets supporters upon arrival today at Asheville Regional Airport in Fletcher, North Carolina, to visit the region devastated by Hurricane Helene.

President Donald Trump said he wants to take care of the people of North Carolina as he spoke ahead of touring areas badly hit by massive flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

He also continued to make claims about California’s water.

“And in California, just to revert to it for a second, millions of gallons of water are waiting to be poured down through already, the half pipes that are already built. I mean, they’ve been up for 40 years, and about 20 years ago, they turned off the water,” Trump said. “And in the meantime, you don’t have water in the hydrants.”

The claim that there is “no water for fire hydrants” is an overstatement. Hydrants in other parts of Los Angeles County did have water even as the Pacific Palisades hydrants went dry.

Air Force One landed in North Carolina at 10:52 a.m. ET and the president stepped off Air Force One at 11:03 a.m. ET. When he and the first lady got off the plane, they both waved and the president raised his fist. They then deplaned together and shook hands with their greeters, including Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.

CNN’s Samantha Wallenberg, Betsy Klein and Daniel Dale contributed reporting to this post.

Sen. John Thune introduces South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for her confirmation hearing in Washington, DC on January 17.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that the Senate will work “as quickly as possible to get President Donald Trump’s team in place,” as he advocated for Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem’s confirmations.

The Senate will vote on confirming Hegseth as defense secretary by 9 p.m. ET Friday at the latest, before moving to break a filibuster on Noem’s nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

Hegseth’s confirmation process has been mired in allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement, all of which he has denied. His approval by the Senate would be a victory for the Trump administration, which has stood behind him since the allegations came to light.

GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins both voted against advancing Hegseth’s nomination on Thursday. Republicans can only lose three senators on the final confirmation vote, assuming all Democrats oppose him, and still confirm him.

Thune also praised Gov. Kristi Noem in his floor remarks, saying Noem has “everything it takes” to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security, and spoke about his support for the March for Life demonstrators in Washington, DC, today. The top Republican noted that he will address the attendees in person later today.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

President Donald Trump defended his embattled defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth at the White House on Friday, telling reporters he was “very surprised” that Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against a procedural hurdle to bring his nomination to the Senate floor.

Murkowski and Collins joined Democratic opposition Thursday night to his nomination, amid allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement of a veterans’ charity. Hegseth has denied these allegations.

Most recently, Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he paid $50,000 as part of a confidentiality agreement to a woman who alleged he sexually assaulted her, according to documents obtained by CNN.

In a written correspondence with the committee, Hegseth responded to a question from Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren about the sexual assault allegation, which he has publicly denied and contended was a “nuisance claim.”

The Senate confirmation vote on Hegseth is expected tonight.

A GOP congressman wants to amend the US Constitution to permit President Donald Trump to run for a third term.

‘‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three times, nor be elected to any additional term after being elected to two consecutive terms, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,’’ reads the proposed amendment suggested on Thursday by Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee.

Keep in mind: It’s difficult to amend the US Constitution, which hasn’t been changed since the 27th Amendment was ratified in 1992. Proposing an amendment requires either a two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives and Senate — Republicans do not hold enough seats to pass it — or via a constitutional convention, which hasn’t been held since the 18th century. Then, to ratify, three-fourths of state legislatures (38 states) would need to approve.

Still, Ogles’ announcement serves to illustrate how the Republican base is ingratiating itself with Trump as he begins his second term.

Sen. Adam Schiff speaks to reporters on January 6 in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins he didn’t invite Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff to travel with him to California on today’s trip to survey wildfire damage.

Earlier Friday, CNN’s Alayna Treene reported the White House extended an invitation to Schiff —a longtime Trump foe — to accompany him on the tour of wildfire devastation, but that a spokesperson for the California lawmaker said he wouldn’t be able to make it “due to scheduled nomination votes.”

The Senate is scheduled to vote later today on Pete Hegseth’s nomination to run the department of defense.

Pressed by Collins before he departed the White House on why he invited Schiff, whom he called “scum” during remarks from the Oval Office on Monday — to travel with him, Trump said, “I really don’t know. You know, because if he’s going to be there, it would be cheaper, but I didn’t invite him, somebody did.”

Trump is heading on a multi-day trip that will see him make stops today in North Carolina, California and Nevada.

Lower oil prices will not help end the conflict in Ukraine, as there is no connection between the two, a Kremlin spokesperson said Friday, rejecting an assertion by US President Donald Trump.

Responding to Trump’s comments made Thursday in a virtual address at Davos, Switzerland, Dmitry Peskov stated: “No. This conflict does not depend on oil prices.”

Peskov also dismissed Trump’s statement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to negotiate, stating that Zelensky “cannot be ready for a settlement” claiming he has effectively barred himself from talks with Putin by decree.

“To reach a settlement, negotiations are essential, and Zelensky has prohibited them,” Peskov said.

Key context: In October 2022, following Russia’s illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Zelensky signed a decree declaring “the impossibility of holding negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.”

Speaking to global government and business leaders gathered in Davos, Trump called on foreign oil producers to help reduce energy prices, arguing that cheaper oil would help end the war in Ukraine, which Russia has partly financed through its oil revenues.

The price of oil is set by global markets, though it is influenced by the amount of oil pumped by Saudi Arabia and other major producers. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been propping up prices by restraining production. OPEC competes directly with the US oil industry whose support helped elect Trump.

“If the (oil) price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” Trump said. “Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue.”

Soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and 10th Mountain Division are planning for a possible deployment to the southern border in a second wave of active-duty forces, two US officials told CNN.

The officials emphasized that official orders have not yet been given. One of them added that soldiers from a brigade in the 82nd could deploy as early as next week.

One of the officials said the soldiers from the 82nd Airborne, out of Fort Liberty in North Carolina, are with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, which is currently the brigade in the division tapped with being the primary immediate response force. It’s unclear how many soldiers from that unit — which consists of roughly 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers — or from the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum in New York, will ultimately be sent to the border.

The news of a second deployment comes just a day after 1,500 soldiers and Marines began moving toward the border following a national emergency declaration by President Donald Trump. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that deportation flights had begun, sharing photos of migrants boarding a military aircraft.

About the 82nd Airborne: The bulk of the 1,000 soldiers being sent in the first wave are largely military police coming from a number of bases around the country, a Pentagon official told CNN this week. Sending the 82nd Airborne stands in stark contrast to the initial deployment in messaging alone; the division is one of the Army’s most storied units, which trains to respond within hours of being ordered to do so and whose immediate response force has been used in significant operations around the globe.

The brigade deemed IRF 1 — a title that rotates between brigades every six months — is meant to be able to deploy anywhere in the world in under a day. The IRF was activated on New Year’s Eve in 2019 amid heightened tensions with Iran and also responded to the swift fall of Kabul as the Taliban consolidated control in Afghanistan in 2021.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde addresses a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on December 12, 2024.

The president of the European Central Bank has suggested that the continent may be able to attract “disenchanted” American workers to move across the pond — though she did not explicitly mention Donald Trump’s re-election.

Lagarde spoke alongside Larry Fink, the chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, about Europe’s economic weak growth outlook relative to the United States.

While Fink acknowledged a “profound” pessimism over Europe’s economic prospects, he encouraged investors to start putting money back into the region.

President Donald Trump on Friday is set to visit North Carolina — a state he said “has been abandoned by the Democrats” as it rebuilds from Hurricane Helene’s flooding — with questions about disaster relief taking center stage in his first days back in office.

Trump will then travel to California, where wildfires have ravaged the Los Angeles area, as Republicans on Capitol Hill begin to navigate between conservatives’ desire for spending cuts and Trump’s pledges to help both places rebuild.

The trip will be Trump’s first outside Washington since his inauguration on Monday.

By visiting North Carolina, a swing state he’s won three times, the president is seeking to draw clear contrasts with former President Joe Biden, whose administration’s management of the flooding he called “so bad,” and Democratic leaders in California, whose handling of the wildfires he has repeatedly lambasted.

In a Wednesday interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is “getting in the way of everything” in North Carolina, and — without explaining how — claimed that Democrats used the agency “not to help.”

FEMA says about 13,000 western North Carolina households have used its transitional shelter assistance program — and an agency official said in a letter to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on Sunday it is extending the program until May 26. However, some displaced residents who spoke to CNN said they are uncertain about their futures and frustrated by struggles to get timely answers about what kinds of assistance they are eligible for and when that assistance ends.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to engage in dialogue with US President Donald Trump but the Kremlin is awaiting signals from the American side, the Kremlin has said.

“As soon as it happens, if something happens, we will inform you,” Peskov added.

Trump told reporters Thursday that he wanted to meet with Putin “immediately,” and repeated his assertion that Russia “should want to make a deal” with Ukraine to end the conflict.

“So, I think Russia should want to make a deal. Maybe they want to make a deal. I think from what I hear, Putin would like to see me. We’ll meet as soon as we can. I’d meet immediately. Every day we don’t meet soldiers are being killed in a battlefield,” Trump said during an Oval Office signing ceremony.

The Kremlin spokesperson also said Russia is ready to engage in negotiations with the United States on nuclear disarmament but insists on considering the arsenals of US allies, the UK and France.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared images Friday of migrants lined up, handcuffed and boarding a military aircraft, stating: “Deportation flights have begun.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared images Friday of migrants lined up, handcuffed and boarding a military aircraft.

Migrants are generally handcuffed before boarding deportation flights. The use of military aircrafts to send them to their origin country, however, is notable. It’s unclear where the migrants were from, but they are believed to be recent border crossers who were in Border Patrol custody.

The first flights left from Biggs Army Airfield on Thursday evening, according to an official with the Department of Homeland Security.

Approximately 75-80 Guatemalans were repatriated, the source said. The migrants recently crossed the border and were in Border Patrol custody.

CNN reported earlier this week that four total aircraft — two C-17s and two C-130s — were being sent to San Diego and El Paso to support repatriation flights, a senior military official told reporters on Wednesday.

The post was updated with more details on the repatriation from Biggs Army Airfield.

Pete Hegseth testifies before a Senate Committee on Armed Services confirmation hearing in Washington, DC on January 14.

The Senate set a 9 p.m. ET vote on Friday to confirm Pete Hegseth as the defense secretary, and he’s expected to be narrowly confirmed after breaking a Democratic-led filibuster on a 51-49 vote.

The Friday vote timing could move up to earlier in the day if the two sides reach an agreement.

After the Senate votes to confirm Hegseth, the chamber will vote to break a filibuster for the nomination of Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary. Noem is easily expected to clear the simple-majority threshold.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has threatened weekend work to process the nominations of Noem and Scott Bessent to lead the Treasury Department. But it’s very possible a deal is reached to salvage the senators’ weekend.

United States penny coin.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has a new target to cut down costs: the US penny.

The US Mint in 2023 reported it circulated around 4.1 billion pennies. In fiscal year 2024, the US Mint said in its annual report that the US penny costs about 3.7 cents to produce and distribute, up more than 20% from the previous year. The rising cost of metals, including zinc and copper, is part of the reason it’s getting more expensive to make the coin.

Musk isn’t introducing a novel idea. For years, people have advocated eliminating the penny, as pennies are rarely spent as change. And since the Covid-19 pandemic, more consumers are shopping online or avoiding physical currency altogether.

More than 20 years ago, in a 2001 episode of the political drama “The West Wing,” fictional character Sam Seaborn goes into a rant about the penny.

“Majority of pennies don’t circulate. They go in jars, sock drawers,” Seaborn said.

More recently, last year, a New York Times Magazine story argued for abolishing the coin. “The necessity of abolishing the penny has been obvious to those in power for so long that the inability to accomplish it has transformed the coin into a symbol of deeper rot,” the piece noted.

Read more here about the fate of the penny

CNN’s Michael Williams and Clare Duffy contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump invited his longtime foe, California Sen. Adam Schiff, to accompany him on Friday as he tours the wildfire devastation in Los Angeles, Schiff’s office told CNN.

The extension of an invitation to Schiff, while surprising, could signal Trump and his team’s efforts to make Trump’s visits to North Carolina, which was ravaged by Hurricane Helene last year, and Los Angeles more presidential — despite Trump’s repeated criticism and condemnation over Democratic leaders’ handling of the recovery efforts.

One Trump official told CNN the goal is to have the president stay focused on the communities affected and not personal attacks, “though they are justified,” the official asserted.

Earlier this week, Trump described Schiff — who led Trump’s first impeachment – as scum while behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. He also threatened to withhold federal aid from California while criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local officials for what he falsely claimed was their refusal to allow water to flow from the northern part of California to the south of the state.

President Donald Trump speaks virtually to the World Economic Forum on Thursday.

On the fourth day, President Donald Trump set out to impose his will on the globe.

Rapt European elites watched Trump beam virtually into the Swiss alpine village of Davos Thursday, in a metaphor for a world that is taking in his testosterone-fueled return to power with fearful fascination.

The set-up was perfect for the president. On a giant screen, the ultimate outsider literally towered over his scolded audience of bankers, financiers, business titans, NGO leaders, political bigwigs and diplomats.

The appearance at the World Economic Forum was Trump’s latest hyper-confident move to reshape America’s destiny after a frenetic week of executive actions and stunning, freewheeling news conferences.

He issued his most explicit threat yet to tariff European exports, issued an all-but-unreachable target for countries’ NATO defense spending, again tried to goad Russian President Vladimir Putin into talks to end the Ukraine war and pressed home his carrot-and-stick approach to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

But the reason Thursday’s speech may go down in history is that Trump gave the Davos crowd his rawest vision yet for America’s new role in the world.

“He was elected as a disruptor,” David Miliband, a former British foreign secretary, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour from Davos.

“He promised that he would disrupt the existing way of doing things, both within the United States and internationally,” said Miliband, now the CEO of the International Rescue Committee. “He has been consistent in that all the way through the campaign, during the transition period and now in the first three days.”

Read Collision’s full analysis here.

President Donald Trump, with the stroke of a pen, could plunge America’s closest neighbors into recession.

Trump, on his first day in office, suggested he may do just that. Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico on February 1 in response to what he views as inadequate border security failing to stop drugs and migrants from coming into the United States.

Spiking tariffs on Canada and Mexico would risk starting a full-blown trade war inside the deeply interconnected North American economy, where delicate supply chains have built close ties over the past several decades.

It would be a risky gamble for Trump, one with massive implications for the entire continent – and a test for the three neighboring nations, all of of which have new or transitioning leadership.

Economists say that the tariffs, should they materialize, would swiftly send the Canadian and Mexican economies into recession and likely lift consumer prices for Americans on cars, gasoline and other imported items.

That’s why some on Wall Street believe Trump is bluffing. Investors are not dumping stocks. CEOs are not panicking. Economists have not dimmed their growth forecasts.

After all, starting a North American trade war would undermine Trump’s promises to turbocharge the US economy and attack the cost of living.

Read more here on Trump’s tariff threat.

On the outskirts of Altadena, where one of the most destructive firestorms in Los Angeles history had just receded, a group of volunteers worked last week to gather fallen tree branches and leaves — removing fuel for potential future fires, bagging them up and taking them away.

One of those people, Cesar, a Mexican immigrant in his early 60s, works as a day laborer in construction, picking up jobs helping to build and remodel homes around LA.

Though Cesar, who asked only to be identified by his first name, told CNN he has worked in California for more than 30 years, he is undocumented.

But now, the prospect of mass deportations under President Donald Trump’s second term could lead to the loss of construction workers like Cesar — and stands to seriously hinder efforts to rebuild the more than 12,000 structures estimated to be destroyed by the fires.

Homebuilders across LA told CNN they anticipate that rebuilding the city after the destruction caused by the Palisades and Eaton fires will be a slow and challenging process.

Key to that endeavor are the mostly undocumented day laborers who often do the physically taxing and dangerous work of clearing the rubble after a natural disaster recedes.

Cesar and the rest of his cleanup crew are “second responders,” said Victor Narro, the project director for the UCLA Labor Center. In the shadows, these workers have helped build America’s second-largest city and, after the destruction is cleared, they will help to restore burned homes and businesses, Narro said.

“If there are deportations, who is going to do the work of this large immigrant workforce?” Narro said.

Read more here on immigrant workers.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom intends to be at the airport to greet President Donald Trump when he arrives in Los Angeles Friday to assess damage from wildfires that have scorched the region, Newsom said, despite not having received any communication from the White House about the visit.

“I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the president, welcome him and we’re making sure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are provided to him. There’s no limit to the resources we’ll provide for that briefing,” Newsom said following a news briefing Thursday, during which he signed a pair of bills allocating $2.5 billion in state recovery.

When asked about any correspondence with the White House, Newsom said, “I haven’t. I’m grateful, though, that he took our invitation to heart and that he will be here tomorrow, it’s my understanding.”

A spokesperson for Newsom told CNN late Thursday they are “glad” Trump accepted the governor’s invite.

“Will let you know if we have anything to add to the Governor’s comments earlier today,” the spokesperson said.

CNN’s Chimaine Pouteau, Christina Asencio and Josh Campbell contributed to this report.

The second part of President Trump's taped interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity aired on Fox News on Thursday.

The second iteration of President Donald Trump’s interview of Fox New’s Sean Hannity aired Thursday, during which Trump discussed foreign policy.

Here are highlights from Thursday’s interview:

Russia’s war in Ukraine: Trump once again called for an “immediate” end to the ongoing war in Ukraine and claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to settle an agreement now.

North Korea: Trump expressed his willingness to reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again, noting the positive relationship they shared during his previous presidency.

“I got along with him. He’s not a religious zealot. He happens to be a smart guy, Kim Jong Un is a smart guy,” Trump said, adding that he’d contact Kim again. “He likes me and I got along with him.”

Trade with China: Trump said he “would rather not have to use tariffs on China,” but described them as a “tremendous power over China.” During his interview with Hannity, Trump also reflected on his recent conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling it friendly and saying he thought he could reach a trade deal.

“I thought it was a very good conversation. We’ve had other communication before that. They are a very ambitious country. He’s a very ambitious man. He’s a man that was, you know, I don’t want to be naive and say my friend, but he was like my friend,” Trump said.

In this aerial view, Mexican immigration officials and police escort deportees after they were sent back into Mexico on Wednesday, as seen from Nogales, Arizona.

President Donald Trump is moving quickly to implement his immigration agenda during his first week in office.

Within hours of becoming president, Trump signed a spate of executive actions that have already had wide-ranging impacts for people both inside and outside the US. By Wednesday, incoming refugee flights were canceled, troops were moving to the border, federal authorities were given permission to arrest people in or near schools and churches and the pool of undocumented immigrants eligible for quick deportation without a judicial hearing was expanded.

Here are some of the latest developments following Trump’s executive actions:

Increase in US-bound migrants: Approximately 300 migrants have arrived into the northeast Mexican border state of Tamaulipas since Trump was sworn in, with many thinking they would be able to cross into the US legally only to find their appointments canceled, according to a state official.

The region is seeing a steady increase in migrants arriving from southern Mexico, Haiti, Venezuela and Central America, according to Juan José Rodríguez, director of the Institute for Migrants of Tamaulipas, a state agency tasked with receiving and supporting migrants after they’re ordered returned to Mexico.

Rodríguez explains that a majority of the new arrivals came expecting to cross the Rio Grande into Texas for appointments on the now deactivated CBP One app.

Additionally, he told CNN that during the first few days of the second Trump administration, deportations have remained steady and similar to rates under Biden — about 150 people a day.

New directive: Benjamine Huffman, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting secretary, issued a directive Thursday to give the Justice Department’s law enforcement agencies authority to investigate and arrest unlawful immigrants in the US. The agencies include the FBI, US Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; US Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

A call for reimbursement: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent letters to US Congressional Leadership and the entire Texas Congressional Delegation Thursday requesting the federal government reimburse Texas for the more than $11.1 billion in Texas taxpayer money spent to secure the border due to what he says is the Biden Administration’s refusal to do its job for the last four years.

Trump speaks with El Salvadoran president: Donald Trump spoke Thursday with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and discussed immigration and transnational gangs, the White House said. On the call, the two leaders focused on enhancing bilateral cooperation to address illegal immigration and combat the growing influence of transnational gangs, specifically the notorious Tren de Aragua, according to a White House readout. Trump also praised President Bukele for his strong leadership in El Salvador and the region, the readout said.

Pete Hegseth testifies during his Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 14.

Pete Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Department of Defense narrowly overcame a Democratic-led filibuster, 51-49, advancing toward a final confirmation vote on Friday.

GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins joined Democratic opposition to his nomination, amid allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement of a veterans’ charity. Hegseth has denied these allegations.

This vote marks a significant victory for the Trump administration, which has gone to the mat backing Hegseth, despite his lack of experience and the allegations against him. Hegseth has sworn to overhaul the Pentagon, particularly policies that he considers “woke,” and streamline the department’s bureaucracy.

“These behaviors starkly contrast the values and discipline expected of servicemembers. Men and women in uniform are held accountable for such actions, and they deserve leaders who uphold these same standards,” the Alaska senator wrote.

Republicans can lose three of their members on the final vote and still confirm Hegseth to the job, assuming every Democrat votes no.

President Donald Trump speaks via video conference at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.

President Donald Trump, in a conversation with global business leaders Thursday, provided the clearest picture yet about how he plans to deliver on the economic promises he campaigned on: He proposed a carrot-and-stick approach to world economics that he believes will help solve the inflation crisis for good and fund his massive tax cut proposals.

Trump spoke from Washington in live-via-satellite remarks and a question-and-answer session held by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, laying out a vision for American economic prosperity:

Although Trump has articulated various aspects of his plan throughout his campaign for president, he never tied all these themes together into a singular vision to solve all that ails America’s economy, defeating high prices, high taxes, manufacturing stagnation, a slowing job market and high interest rates all at the same time.

The trouble, of course, is that Trump’s plan is not so simple to achieve — and, in fact, may be counterproductive.

Read more about how Trump said his plan will work.