Trump signs executive order to cut funding for public broadcasters
Good morning and welcome to the US live blog amid news that Donald Trump has pulled funding from news outlets NPR and PBS, accusing them of being biased.
NPR and PBS are only partly funded by the US taxpayer and rely heavily on private donations.
The US president has long had an antagonistic relationship with most mainstream news media, previously describing them as the “enemy of the people”.
A notable exception is the powerful conservative broadcaster Fox News, some of whose hosts have taken on leading roles in his administration.
“National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) receive taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB),” Trump said in his executive order. “I therefore instruct the CPB board of directors and all executive departments and agencies to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.”
You can read our story from Agence France-Presse here:
In other news:
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Mike Waltz was relieved of his duties after clinging on for more than a month after the news broke that he had accidentally invited a journalist Trump hates to join a Signal group chat to plan strikes on Yemen in March.
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After a morning of reporting on Waltz’s firing, the administration, put out a new line: Waltz had not been fired but promoted, since he had been nominated to be the new US ambassador to the UN. That framing was delivered on Fox News by Peter Doocy, a network correspondent, and then JD Vance, the vice-president.
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A Reuters photograph of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that was previously overlooked showed that Waltz was still using Signal on his phone as recently as yesterday, to communicate with senior officials including Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Tulsi Gabbard and JD Vance.
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Waltz appears to have installed third-party software on his phone that allows Signal to be archived, but also makes it less secure.
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US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson forcefully rejected what she called “relentless attacks” on the federal judiciary.
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The US Army has developed detailed plans for a potential military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June
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Senate Democrats responded to the firing of Waltz by calling for another participant in the chat, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, to be fired.
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Hegseth’s use of Signal to share confidential attack plans with his wife and brother is reportedly under investigation by the Pentagon’s acting inspector general.
Key events
Trump says he wants to rename Veterans Day as ‘Victory Day for World War I’ and 8 May as ‘Victory Day for World War II’
Speaking of the military, last night Trump said he wanted to rename 11 November – Veterans Day – as ‘Victory Day for World War I’ and rename 8 May as ‘Victory Day for World War II’.
The 8 May date – not currently a federal holiday and Trump wasn’t clear if he wanted it to become one – is an *interesting* choice for a US president to mark victory in the second world war. While 8 May is indeed marked as Victory Day in Europe as Trump points out (for Russia it’s 9 May), American soldiers famously continued fighting Japan in the Pacific theatre for another three months after the war was declared over on the western front against Nazi Germany. Japan did not formally surrender until 2 September 1945.
There’s also no doubt that Trump’s claim that the US “did more than any other country, by far, in producing a victorious result” won’t sit well with former allied powers who suffered heavy losses and casualties as well as considerable damage from German bombing.
Veterans Day, meanwhile, started out as a commemoration of the armistice on 11 Novemeber 1918, not as a celebration of American “victory” as Trump is framing it. The scope of the holiday was later widened to honor all US veterans, including of modern wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Trump’s post makes no mention of those conflicts.
Here’s the post from Truth Social:
Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II. I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I. We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything — That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!
Army plans for a potential parade coinciding with Trump’s birthday call for 6,600 soldiers – report
Detailed Army plans for a potential military parade on Donald Trump’s birthday in June call for more than 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and possibly a couple thousand civilians, The Associated Press reports.
The planning documents, obtained by the AP, are dated April 29 and 30 and have not been publicly released. They represent the Army’s most recent blueprint for its long-planned 250th anniversary festival on the National Mall and the newly added element — a large military parade that Trump has long wanted but is still being discussed.
The Army anniversary just happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday on 14 June.
While the slides do not include any price estimates, it would likely cost tens of millions of dollars to put on a parade of that size. Costs would include the movement of military vehicles, equipment, aircraft and troops from across the country to Washington and the need to feed and house thousands of service members.
High costs halted Trump’s push for a parade in his first term, and the tanks and other heavy vehicles that are part of the Army’s latest plans have raised concerns from city officials about damage to roads.
Asked about plans for a parade, Army spokesman Steve Warren said Thursday that no final decisions have been made.
Others familiar with the documents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been finalized, said they represent the Army’s plans as it prepares for any White House approval of the parade. The White House did not immediately respond to an AP request for comment.
The seeds were sown for the ousting of Mike Waltz as national security adviser long before “Signalgate”, notes Politco.
The outlet reports that his approach to the job was unpopular and Waltz was seen as too cocky. One person close to the White House said:
He’s a staff, but he was acting like a principal.
As has now been widely reported, a number of insiders – including Trump – wanted Waltz gone immediately after the Signal group chat leak fiasco, but didn’t want to give opponents the satisfaction. Ironically, Signalgate – in hindsight the tipping point – bought him time. One White House ally told Politico at the time:
Waltz has been on thin ice for a while. [Signalgate] made the ice thinner but at the same time … may actually save him for now because they don’t want to give [Jeffrey] Goldberg a scalp.
But by that point, Politico notes, Waltz had lost enough allies that his eventual departure was inevitable – the only question was when he would go. By contrast, defense secretary Pete Hegseth – also in hot water over the scandal – had more White House support and was harder to fire as his role requires Senate confirmation.
Whereas Waltz cut a lonely figure in the administration, with his relationship with chief of staff Susie Wiles eroded in particular, at least in part due to his “too big for his britches” attitude, one White House ally told Politico. And even if he did have some support among GOP lawmakers, those in Maga circles were more sceptical of him, viewing him as an outsider to the movement and too hawkish on foreign policy.
Trump to take away Harvard’s tax exempt status
President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration will strip Harvard University of its tax exempt status.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump said in a post on his social media platform.
Rachel Leingang
When Donald Trump chose a Project 2025 author to lead a key federal agency that would carry out the underpinnings of the conservative manifesto’s aims, he solidified the project’s role in his second term.
Shortly after he won re-election, the US president nominated Russ Vought to lead the office of management and budget. Vought wrote a chapter for Project 2025 about consolidating power in the executive branch and advances a theory that allows the president to withhold funds from agencies, even if Congress has allocated them. Consolidating power, in part through firing a supposed “deep state” and hiring loyalists, is a major plank of the project – and of Trump’s first 100 days.
Trump tried, repeatedly, to distance himself from the project, led by the conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation, on the campaign trail after the left used it as shorthand for the dismantling of government that would take place if he won. Since he’s taken office, the illusion that his ideas were drastically different from the project has fallen.
“The whole distancing themselves from Project 2025 may have pulled some voters,” said Manisha Sinha, a history professor at the University of Connecticut, but “my sense is that they’re going to try and push all the items within Project 2025 as much as they can”.
Many of Trump’s moves in his first 100 days come directly from Project 2025, which involved more than 100 conservative organizations and represented a sort of consensus among the Trumpist right about what he should do in a second term. In some instances, he has gone beyond the project’s suggestions. And in other cases, because the project was written in 2023, subsequent policy ideas from the Heritage Foundation have shaped his actions and goals.
Democrats target vulnerable House Republicans over plan to cut social safety net
Chris Stein
Democrats plan to put the squeeze on four of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress as the GOP gears up to pass a massive bill that may slash the social safety net to pay for tax cuts.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday announced the “Fight to Save Medicaid”, a pressure campaign that aims to derail the bill’s passage in the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold only a three-seat majority.
The plan targets Nebraska’s Don Bacon, New York’s Mike Lawler and Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick, all of whom represent districts that Kamala Harris carried in last November’s election. Also in the cross-hairs is Tom Barrett, a freshman lawmaker whose district in Michigan went for Trump by only a slim margin.
The DNC will organise “people’s town halls” in the four lawmakers’ districts this month, in partnership with its House campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
The party will also encourage voters to call and email the lawmakers to share their views on the bill, hold in-person gatherings and post on social media, all tactics to which Democrats nationwide have lately turned as they look to claw back power in Washington.
President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed his intent to rename both 8 May and 11 November “Victory Day” in his latest attempt to alter the country’s nomenclature, AFP reported.
“I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Victory Day, observed by the European Union on 8 May and in former Soviet countries on 9 May, marks the anniversary of the formal acceptance of Germany’s unconditional surrender.
The war continued in Asia until the surrender of Japan in early September 1945 after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Naqasaki.
Though some in the United States mark the occasion, 8 May is not a public holiday or celebrated as widely as in Europe.
“Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II,” Trump’s post said.
Meanwhile, 11 November was originally named “Armistice Day” by former US president Woodrow Wilson to mark the anniversary of 1918 armistice ending the armed conflict in the first world war.
It is now a public holiday celebrated in the United States as “Veterans Day” and meant to honor Americans who have served in the US armed forces.
“We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything – That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so!” Trump continued. “We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”
Trump threatens Nato summit no-show if allies don’t act on spending, Spiegel reports
Washington’s envoy has warned that US president Donald Trump could skip the upcoming Nato summit if other members of the defence alliance do not act on burden-sharing, the Spiegel news magazine reported on Friday, citing European diplomatic sources.
Germany in particular has come under pressure to boost its defence spending considerably, with US defence secretary Pete Hegseth having spoken with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius on the issue last week, the report added.
China ‘evaluating’ US offer to talk tariffs
Beijing is “evaluating” an offer from Washington to hold talks over US president Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs, China’s commerce ministry said on Friday, although it warned the United States not to engage in “extortion and coercion.”
Washington and Beijing have been locked in a cat-and-mouse game over tariffs, with both sides unwilling to be seen to back down in a trade war that has roiled global markets and upended supply chains, Reuters reported.
The commerce ministry said the United States has approached China to seek talks over Trump’s tariffs and Beijing’s door was open for discussions, signalling a potential de-escalation in the trade war.
The statement comes a day after a social media account linked to Chinese state media said Washington had been seeking to start talks, and a week after Trump claimed discussions were already under way, which Beijing denied.
“The US has recently taken the initiative on many occasions to convey information to China through relevant parties, saying it hopes to talk with China,” the statement said, adding that Beijing was “evaluating this”. “Attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work,” it said.
The US should be prepared to take action in “correcting erroneous practices” and cancel unilateral tariffs, the commerce ministry said, adding that Washington needed to show “sincerity” in negotiations.
Former national security adviser John Bolton has called on defense secretary Pete Hegseth to step down, citing concerns for his personal safety.
Speaking on CNN, Bolton – who also served as US ambassador to the United Nations under President George W Bush – was asked whether Hegseth should remain in his position.
“No, I think he should resign for his own safety’s sake, if nothing else,” Bolton replied.
He specifically pointed to recent reports that Hegseth had shared sensitive information about US strikes on Yemen via the messaging app Signal.
The messages were reportedly sent to group chats that included Hegseth’s wife, brother, personal attorney, and – mistakenly, in a separate chat intended for cabinet-level officials – Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
Bolton added that it “is a critical time for the American military. We understand the Trump administration will rightly propose enormous budget increases for defense. We need it. “
“We need a secretary who can get the job done, not somebody who spends his time on Signal chat groups,” he said.
Media rights group RSF warned Friday about “an alarming deterioration in press freedom” in the United States under Trump.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, which has been tracking press freedom for the last 23 years, highlighted how Trump had made difficult conditions worse by axing US financial support for state-backed broadcasters such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), as well as US foreign development aid that assisted media outlets overseas.
After a fall of 11 places in 2024, the United States declined another two to 57th place on the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, one behind formerly war-torn Sierra Leone in west Africa.
The index, calculated according to the number of violent incidents involving journalists and other data compiled by experts, was topped by oil-rich Norway for the ninth year in a row. Estonia and the Netherlands were second and third.
“In the United States, Donald Trump’s second term as president has led to an alarming deterioration in press freedom, indicative of an authoritarian shift in government,” RSF said.
“His administration has weaponised institutions, cut support for independent media, and sidelined reporters.”
Large parts of the United States were now “news deserts,” RSF said.
Trump announced Wednesday that he was considering legal action against The New York Times, in his latest attack on a media outlet.
He is also suing media group Paramount over a pre-election interview last year of his Democratic rival Kamala Harris on its CBS channel.
Trump alleges it was edited to remove an embarrassing response, although many legal analysts view the case as baseless and likely to be dismissed or fail due to constitutional protections for freedom of the press.
Trump signs executive order to cut funding for public broadcasters
Good morning and welcome to the US live blog amid news that Donald Trump has pulled funding from news outlets NPR and PBS, accusing them of being biased.
NPR and PBS are only partly funded by the US taxpayer and rely heavily on private donations.
The US president has long had an antagonistic relationship with most mainstream news media, previously describing them as the “enemy of the people”.
A notable exception is the powerful conservative broadcaster Fox News, some of whose hosts have taken on leading roles in his administration.
“National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) receive taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB),” Trump said in his executive order. “I therefore instruct the CPB board of directors and all executive departments and agencies to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.”
You can read our story from Agence France-Presse here:
In other news:
-
Mike Waltz was relieved of his duties after clinging on for more than a month after the news broke that he had accidentally invited a journalist Trump hates to join a Signal group chat to plan strikes on Yemen in March.
-
After a morning of reporting on Waltz’s firing, the administration, put out a new line: Waltz had not been fired but promoted, since he had been nominated to be the new US ambassador to the UN. That framing was delivered on Fox News by Peter Doocy, a network correspondent, and then JD Vance, the vice-president.
-
A Reuters photograph of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that was previously overlooked showed that Waltz was still using Signal on his phone as recently as yesterday, to communicate with senior officials including Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Tulsi Gabbard and JD Vance.
-
Waltz appears to have installed third-party software on his phone that allows Signal to be archived, but also makes it less secure.
-
US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson forcefully rejected what she called “relentless attacks” on the federal judiciary.
-
The US Army has developed detailed plans for a potential military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June
-
Senate Democrats responded to the firing of Waltz by calling for another participant in the chat, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, to be fired.
-
Hegseth’s use of Signal to share confidential attack plans with his wife and brother is reportedly under investigation by the Pentagon’s acting inspector general.
