Trump unveils budget proposal; appoints Rubio as acting national security adviser, Mike Waltz as UN Ambassador

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he’s naming Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting national security adviser to replace Mike Waltz, whom he is nominating for United Nations ambassador.

Trump announced the switch-up shortly after news broke that Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong were departing the administration, just weeks after it was revealed he added a journalist to a Signal chat being used to discuss military plans.

Also Read: ‘Mike Waltz has left the chat,’ Tim Walz says as NSA head set to resign after Signal leak

White House to present Trump’s 2026 budget

The Office of Management and Budget expects to roll out the federal budget Friday, according to an agency spokesperson.

It’s expected to be the initial version of the coming year’s requested spending plan, a so-called skinny budget, of top-line figures with details still to come.

Capitol Hill is bracing for proposed steep cuts that are likely to reflect Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency zeroing out various programs.

But it’s just a proposal. Federal budgets are often referred to as a statement of a president’s values, as Congress, under its constitutional power, compiles the annual spending bills.

It comes as Congress is already deep into drafting Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and other spending cuts.

Diplomatic Shifts between Ukraine, Syria, and U.N. Representation

Trump appoints a career diplomat to run the US Embassy in Ukraine until a new envoy is nominated and confirmed

The State Department announced Thursday that Julie Davis, a 30-year veteran of the foreign service, would be the charge d’affaires at the Kyiv embassy “during this critical moment as we move toward a peace agreement to stop the bloodshed.”

Davis is currently serving as U.S. ambassador to Cyprus.

The appointment came just a day after the U.S. and Ukraine signed an agreement on critical minerals and other resources which could pave the way for additional U.S. military support for Ukraine.

Davis, who has also previously served as ambassador to Belarus and deputy ambassador to NATO, replaces Bridget Brink at the helm of the Kyiv embassy. Brink announced she was leaving the post last month as the Trump administration pushed ahead with plans for Russia-Ukraine peace talks that many believed favoured Moscow.

Trump names Secretary of State Rubio as acting national security adviser, taps Waltz for UN envoy

Trump announced the moves on Thursday after news broke that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong were departing the administration.

The announcement camejust weeks after it was revealed that Waltz added a journalist to a Signal chat being used to discuss military plans. Rubio will also continue to serve as secretary of state.

Trump’s bold stances stir legal and political tensions

Trump threatens sanctions against anyone who purchases Iranian oil

The president’s threat comes after planned talks over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program were postponed.

Trump wrote on social media Thursday that “All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW!”

He said any country or person who buys those products from Iran will not be able to do business with the U.S.

The threat came after Oman announced that talks scheduled for this coming weekend have been postponed.

Justice Department sues Hawaii and Michigan over planned lawsuits against fossil fuel companies

The department argues in filings Wednesday that the states’ lawsuits alleging harms that play a role in climate change would infringe on the federal government’s authority.

The federal lawsuits raise questions over states’ abilities to take climate action without federal opposition.

In court filings, the DOJ said the federal Clean Air Act “creates a comprehensive program for regulating air pollution in the United States and “displaces” the ability of States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions beyond their borders.”

When burned, fossil fuels release emissions such as carbon dioxide that warm the planet.

Trump creates a religious liberty commission on the National Day of Prayer

The president signed an executive order creating the panel during a White House Rose Garden ceremony to recognise the National Day of Prayer.

Its members include Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, former U.S. housing secretary Ben Carson and TV talk-show host Phil McGraw. The commission was Patrick’s idea, Trump said.

Patrick told Trump, “There has never been a president who has invoked the name of Jesus more than you.”

McGraw said Trump is a “man of deep faith … who wants this country to have a heart and have religion.”

State Department says US officials met with Syria’s interim authorities in Washington

The meeting Tuesday was the first known Trump administration contact with Syrian officials since the fall of President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December.

The new Syrian authorities arrived in the U.S. last week to attend a series of meetings in Washington and New York as part of an effort to urge relief from harsh sanctions that were imposed by America and its allies after Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 that spiraled into a civil war.

In a statement released Wednesday, the State Department said while they do not discuss “private diplomatic conversations,” they continue to urge the interim authorities to “choose policies that will reinforce stability” for Syrians, “assure peace with Syria’s neighbours,” while developing the war-torn country’s economy.

“Any future normalization of relations or lifting of sanctions will depend on the interim authorities’ actions and positive response to the specific confidence building measures we have communicated,” the State Department said.

Trump says taxes increasing may make people give up their religion

Addressing a National Day of Prayer Event in the White House Rose Garden, Trump vowed: “We’re bringing back religion in our country” and doing so “quickly and strongly.”

The president used the occasion to again promise that tax-cut legislation would work its way through Congress.

Trump noted that he was addressing “a religious ceremony” but added that, to him, “That’s part of the religion because, if your taxes go up” then some people “might give up your religion.”

“You might have no choice. You’ll be working too hard to try and make it,” he said.

Sexual assault reports in the US military fell nearly 4% last year, fueled by a big drop in the Army

A Pentagon report released Thursday says there were 8,195 reported sexual assaults in 2024 involving members of the military, compared with 8,515 in 2023.

It was the second year in a row with a decrease, reversing a troubling trend that has plagued the Defense Department for more than a decade.

Defense officials say that while the decline is a good sign, the numbers of reported assaults are still too high and the military needs to do more to get victims to report the often undisclosed crime.

Judge bars deportations of Venezuelans from South Texas under 18th-century wartime law

U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. is the first judge to rule that the Alien Enemies Act cannot be used against people whom the Republican administration claims are gang members invading the United States.

“Neither the Court nor the parties question that the Executive Branch can direct the detention and removal of aliens who engage in criminal activity in the United States,” Rodriguez wrote Thursday. But, he said, “the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.”

In March, Trump issued a proclamation claiming the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was invading the U.S. He said he had special powers to deport immigrants, identified by his administration as gang members, without the usual court proceedings.

The Alien Enemies Act has only been used three times before in U.S. history, most recently during World War II, when it was cited to intern Japanese-Americans.

The proclamation triggered a flurry of litigation as the administration tried to ship migrants it claimed were gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Rodriguez’s ruling is significant because it is the first formal permanent injunction against the administration using the AEA and contends the president is misusing the law.

FDA to rehire fired staffers who booked inspection trips, but other workers remain in limbo

For the second time in recent months, the Food and Drug Administration is bringing back some recently fired employees, including staffers who handle travel bookings for safety inspectors.

More than 20 of the agency’s roughly 60 travel staff will be reinstated, according to two FDA staffers notified of the plan this week, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters.

Food scientists who test samples for bacteria and study potentially harmful chemicals also have been told they will get their jobs back, but have yet to receive any official confirmation.

The reversals are the latest example of the haphazard approach to cuts at the agency, which have shrunk FDA’s staff by an estimated 20%. In February, the FDA laid off about 700 provisional employees, including food and medical device reviewers, only to rehire many of them within days.

— Matthew Perrone

Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz is out in first major shakeup of Trump’s second term

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz is set to depart the Trump administration.

That’s according to two people familiar with the matter, which marks the first major staff shakeup of President Trump’s second term.

Waltz came under searing scrutiny in March after revelations that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on the encrypted messaging app Signal, which was used to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.

A far-right ally of the president, Laura Loomer, has also targeted Waltz, telling Trump in a recent Oval Office conversation that he needs to purge aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the “Make America Great Again” agenda.

Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, is also expected to depart, according to the people. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel move not yet made public. The National Security Council did not respond do a request for comment.