Trump says he will sign executive order to ‘fundamentally overhaul’ or ‘get rid’ of Fema
Donald Trump said he will sign an executive order to begin the process of “fundamentally reforming and overhauling” or “maybe getting rid of” the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
“I think, frankly, that Fema is not good,” Trump told reporters in Asheville, North Carolina.
I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling Fema … I think we’re going to recommend that Fema go away.
He went on describe Fema as a “big disappointment”. “They cost a tremendous amount of money. It’s very bureaucratic, and it’s very slow,” he said.
Key events
Jakub Krupa
Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen agreed with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, to discuss the question of Greenland at a later time, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The two spoke for 20 minutes on Friday, discussing Ukraine, European security, and the Middle East.
The statement in Danish said that while “Arctic security was not on the agenda,” the two agreed it would be discussed on another occasion, and Greenland would also be involved in talks.
Denmark has been on high alert about the US administration’s intentions towards Greenland since Donald Trump’s comments suggesting he would want to take control over the territory.
Earlier this week, he again said it was “a wonderful place,” that the US “needs for international security”.
Members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front have gathered in Washington DC for the annual anti-abortion March for Life rally.
A white supremacist and neo-fascist hate group, Patriot Front emerged as a rebrand of the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America in the aftermath of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
According to the SPLC, the Patriot Front “represents one of the most prominent white supremacist groups in the country”.
Carter Sherman
A slew of big-name conservative men are addressing March for Life, the largest anti-abortion rally in the US.
Senate majority leader John Thune, House speaker Mike Johnson and Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, are all amping up the thousands of marchers who gathered on the National Mall on Friday.
But the name to get the biggest cheers so far belongs to a man who isn’t there: Donald Trump.
“It is a new golden age in America, now we have President Donald J Trump back in the White House —“ Johnson started to say, only to be interrupted by rapturous cheers from the crowd.
Johnson praised Trump for pardoning and freeing anti-abortion activists who were convicted of illegally blockading clinics. He also flagged one of Trump’s new executive orders, which declares that there are only two genders and incorporates the language of fetal personhood, a legal doctrine that holds that embryos and fetuses deserve full legal rights and protections.
“I don’t know if you saw his executive order — it defines life as beginning at conception rather than birth,” Johnson said, to immense cheers.
Friday marks the first time that both the US Senate majority leader and the House speaker have spoken to the March, which has gathered annually for more than 50 years. Vice-president JD Vance is expected to address the crowd in person, while Trump is set to deliver a video message.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, on Friday in the first publicly disclosed contact between an official in the second Trump administration and a Chinese counterpart.
Wang told Rubio that Beijing and Washington should implement the “important consensus” reached between the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and Donald Trump, according to a readout of the call by the Chinese foreign ministry.
“I hope you would conduct yourself well and play a constructive role in the future of the Chinese and American people and in world peace and stability,” Wang reportedly told Rubio.
Wang also said that China has “no intention of surpassing or replacing anyone, but we must defend our legitimate right to development,” the Chinese ministry said.
The two also discussed Taiwan, it said. Wang reiterated that Beijing will never allow Taiwan to be separated from mainland China, and warned the US to handle related matters carefully, the ministry said.
Joseph Gedeon
The Trump administration is issuing a new round of heavy-handed measures that could rapidly deport immigrants who entered the US through recently established legal pathways, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security memo obtained the New York Times.
The directive, signed by the acting homeland security secretary Benjamine Huffman, grants Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials unprecedented authority to expedite deportations for immigrants who entered the country with government authorization through two key Biden-era programs.
The newly reported memo instructs Ice officials to identify and potentially deport immigrants who have been in the country for over a year and have not yet applied for asylum, in effect sidestepping traditional immigration court proceedings.
In no waste of time, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, posted on X on Friday that “Deportation flights have begun” with official pictures of people boarding a military-style aircraft.
Dr Anthony Fauci did not have Secret Service protection, but his security detail – which Donald Trump ended last night – was being provided and paid for by the National Institutes of Health, CNN reports.
Fauci, who served as the nation’s top infectious disease official, has continued to face ongoing threats due to his role during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He has previously spoken about the need for round-the-clock security protection after receiving “credible death threats” that included his wife and daughters.
In 2022, a West Virgina man was sentenced to prison for sending emails threatening Fauci and his family would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire”.
The Republican senator Rand Paul had publicly called for Fauci’s security detail to be terminated. In a post on X on Thursday, Paul wrote:
Today I sent supporting information to end the 24 hr a day limo and security detail for Fauci. I wish him nothing but peace but he needs to pay for his own limos.
Trump, taking questions from reporters in Asheville, was asked about reports that he terminated Dr Anthony Fauci’s security detail last night.
“When you work for government, at some point your security detail comes off. You can’t have it forever,” Trump replied.
Asked if he would feel responsible if something was to happen to Fauci or John Bolton, his former national security adviser whose security detail he also ended earlier this week, Trump said:
No. They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security too … I can give them some good numbers of very good security people.
“Certainly I would not take responsibility,” he added.
Trump says he will sign executive order to ‘fundamentally overhaul’ or ‘get rid’ of Fema
Donald Trump said he will sign an executive order to begin the process of “fundamentally reforming and overhauling” or “maybe getting rid of” the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
“I think, frankly, that Fema is not good,” Trump told reporters in Asheville, North Carolina.
I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling Fema … I think we’re going to recommend that Fema go away.
He went on describe Fema as a “big disappointment”. “They cost a tremendous amount of money. It’s very bureaucratic, and it’s very slow,” he said.
Trump terminates security detail for Dr Anthony Fauci
Donald Trump has terminated security detail for Dr Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, CNN reports.
Fauci had his security protections revoked on Thursday night, the outlet writes, citing a source.
He has since hired his own private security that he will have to pay for himself, it says.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has ended security details for several of his former administration officials, including his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, former top aide Brian Hook, and John Bolton, his former national security adviser.
Donald Trump reiterated his call for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to cut oil prices, claiming that it would help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in Asheville, North Carolina, Trump said:
We want to see Opec cut the price of oil, and that will automatically stop the tragedy that’s taking place in Ukraine. It’s a butchering tragedy for both sides.
Trump made similar comments during an online address to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, where he called on Opec to cut the cost of oil, in order to choke off revenues to Russia and halt the conflict in Ukraine.
Asked about LA fires, Trump says he wants voter ID and changed water policies from California
Trump, speaking to reporters in Asheville, North Carolina, also said he wanted to secure two things from California in exchange for wildfire aid: voter identification laws and changes to water policy in the wake of the wildfires.
I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state.
“After that, I will be the greatest president that California has ever seen,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly claimed falsely that the California governor, Gavin Newsom, and other officials have refused to provide water from the northern part of the state to fight the fires.
