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In today’s issue:
- Trump’s agenda tangled in legal battles
- Can the Fed stay independent?
- ‘We’re all afraid’: Murkowski says of Trump
- More Iran talks on Saturday
President Trump is clashing with the courts on multiple fronts as his second-term agenda takes shape, setting up high-stakes legal battles that will test the administration’s power as it stretches against the bounds of the law.
The Trump White House is no stranger to court pushback: As of this writing, at least 86 rulings have at least temporarily paused some of the administration’s actions, ranging from slashing the federal workforce to freezing budgets. But the continued actions from the administration reveal a White House intent on pursuing a “stress test” of the judiciary branch, pushing the limits of executive power and seeking to score wins with voters who approve of his immigration policies while looking unfavorably at his handling of tariffs.
▪ The New York Times analysis: Dual orders from a judge edge courts closer to confrontation with the White House.
▪ The Associated Press: The Trump administration is eager to test new ways to flex executive power, and dare the courts and Congress to intervene. And there’s more expected to come.
Dominating airwaves nationwide is the case of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to an El Salvador prison due to what the administration has admitted was an “administrative error.” The case has become a flashpoint as the White House works to implement its “mass deportation” policy. But the administration contends the courts are powerless to intervene because the man is no longer in U.S. custody.
The case has garnered significant national attention as the White House insists the man is a member of the MS-13 gang, an assertion largely based on details provided by an informant in 2019. Abrego Garcia’s family denies he has any gang ties.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday declined to lift a judge’s order that the Trump administration “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, admonishing the Justice Department in the ruling. The government’s unwillingness to bring Abrego Garcia back “should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear,” the judges wrote.
“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all,” wrote the three-judge panel. “The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order.”
The order condemns the administration’s position in Abrego Garcia’s case and issues a warning about the consequences of an escalating conflict between the judiciary and executive branches. The panel said the judiciary will be hurt by the “constant intimations of its illegitimacy” while the executive branch “will lose much from a public perception of its lawlessness.”
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) met Thursday in El Salvador with Abrego Garcia. The senator posted a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Abrego Garcia’s wife “to pass along his message of love.” The lawmaker did not provide an update on Abrego Garcia’s status, saying he would have more details today. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also posted images of the meeting saying, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”
The meeting took place hours after Van Hollen said he was denied entry at the high-security prison where Abrego Garcia is behind bars. The Trump administration is paying El Salvador $6 million to incarcerate deportees it says are criminals without legal status to be in the U.S.
▪ The Hill: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called on “Americans of conscience” to speak up against the deportation of Abrego Garcia.
▪ NOTUS: Back home over recess, GOP lawmakers are being confronted by constituents angry about the White House’s actions around the man wrongly deported to El Salvador’s mega prison.
Thursday’s ruling marks the second time the 4th Circuit has rejected the Trump administration in the case. The administration could now attempt to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court, which previously ruled that the administration must work to bring back Abrego Garcia. The unsigned unanimous order cited U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s directive that “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: The Supreme Court announced on Thursday it will weigh in on the Trump administration’s arguments to end the Constitution’s birthright citizenship protection, which says that persons born in the United States are citizens.
Signed on his first day in office, Trump’s order would curb birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to parents without permanent legal status, a sweeping restriction that multiple judges have found is inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s long-standing interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
ANTITRUST: A federal judge ruled Thursday that Google illegally acquired and maintained a monopoly over advertising technology, the second time in less than a year that the tech giant has been found in violation of antitrust laws. The ruling is another major blow for Google, after a separate federal judge ruled in August that the company had a monopoly over online search.
Blake Burman’s Smart Take is off this week and will return next week.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
▪ Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have begun receiving layoff notices in the latest attempt by the White House to shrink the bureau.
▪ A young colossal squid about a foot long was recently seen on camera for the first time in the deep sea and declared to be “beautiful.” Scientists usually get to examine truck-sized adult specimens when they turn up in the bellies of whales.
▪ A planet far, far beyond our galaxy has “the strongest sign to date” of potential life outside our solar system, scientists at the University of Cambridge announced Thursday. How will we know? More research.
LEADING THE DAY
© The Associated Press | Erin Hooley
As the administration negotiates tariffs with trading partners, Trump and his top lieutenants suggest revenues from U.S. levies could reduce the federal government’s $36 trillion-plus debt.
The administration has broached multiple arguments for Trump’s determination to isolate China in a tariff-armed economic battle. Experts say they’re skeptical that tariffs — which were announced, paused and are under negotiation — are a reliable path to significantly shrink accumulated U.S. debt.
“You see a lot of different explanations for the purpose of the tariffs, and one of the central problems is that those different explanations are in conflict with each other, if not flatly contradictory,” Ben Page, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told The Hill.
Revenue from Trump’s tariffs since April 5 totaled $500 million as of Monday, according to Customs and Border Protection. The president has asserted a much larger revenue haul of $2 billion per day (NBC News).
The Wall Street Journal: Out of the tariff turmoil, a few winners emerge: “Customers want to get ahead of the tariffs.”
CAN THE FED STAY INDEPENDENT? The president, alert to public pressure tied to his tariff policy and the resulting economic uncertainty, bashed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the central bank on Thursday for not lowering interest rates.
Referring to the European Central Bank’s rate cuts, Trump turned to Truth Social to criticize the chair, whom he first nominated in 2017, as “always TOO LATE AND WRONG.” He wrote that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
Powell, whose term ends next year, cannot by law be fired other than for cause — which the target of Trump’s ire restated on Wednesday during remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago. That statutory firewall has not been tested in court, and Trump has already used his executive muscle to assert control of banking regulation at the Fed.
NPR: Can the Federal Reserve stay independent?
An unnamed senior White House official told CNBC on Thursday that the president’s social media broadside aimed at Powell was an effort to vent. Trump later told reporters, “If I ask him to, he’ll be out of there. … I’m not happy with him. I let him know it.”
The Fed chief said Wednesday the central bank can be patient while assessing data on inflation and employment, which are its dual mandates, while anxious consumers and businesses eye potentially prolonged economic instability. The Fed has held interest rates steady since December.
The Hill: Trump and Powell may be headed for a showdown over tariffs and interest rates.
WHERE AND WHEN
- The House and Senate are out this week.
- The president will participate in a noon swearing-in ceremony for Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and a former surgeon and TV personality.
- Vice President Vance and his family arrived in Rome. The vice president met with U.S. Embassy staff and planned to meet with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who just returned to Italy from Washington. Vance will attend Good Friday mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.
ZOOM IN
© The Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite
THINKING TWICE ABOUT TRUMP’S WRATH: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told a group of nonprofit leaders in her home state earlier this week that she is among many people she knows who are “afraid” about the upheaval Trump has created in the federal government since taking office in January, and she worries about potential retaliation for criticizing the president.
“We are all afraid,” Murkowski told the group who attended an annual leadership summit in Anchorage. “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before.”
INFLUENCER: The Department of Homeland Security has a “shadow” adviser with “special government employee” status working as a “volunteer.” Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager, helped engineer Secretary Kristi Noem’s national rise (The Wall Street Journal).
POLITICS: In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat, announced his state Senate candidacy on Thursday, joining state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D) in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) in 2026. El-Sayed ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018 and oversaw the health departments for the city of Detroit and Wayne County.
Texas: Looking ahead to 2028, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has diverged with Trump and his MAGA allies in several key respects, notably by calling out tariffs as a tax on American consumers and maintaining a hawkish stance toward Russia. Cruz is expected to run for president in the next cycle, and his points of difference with Trump could match up well against Vice President Vance, who is said to be in the “pole position” leading into the next Republican presidential primary.
ELSEWHERE
© The Associated Press | Alex Brandon
“WE HOPE TO MAKE THE WEST GREAT AGAIN”: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, referred to as “the Trump whisperer,” met with the president at the White House on Thursday. During the meeting, Trump predicted his administration would make a deal on trade with China and with the European Union amid tariff disputes.
As Meloni arrived, Trump told reporters he was “very confident” he could reach a trade deal with the EU and China, which has been hit with 145 percent tariffs on its goods.
“We’re going to make a deal. I think we’re going to make a very good deal with China,” Trump said. “I think you will see we’ll make a very good deal with China.”
Trump also told reporters he thought the U.S. would have “very little problem making a deal with Europe or anybody else.”
Following Meloni’s stateside visit, a group of U.S. officials — including Vance — will visit Rome beginning today. The U.S. is slated to hold a second set of nuclear talks with Iran in the Italian capital on Saturday.
CNN: Saudi Arabia’s defense minister visited Iran in the highest-level trip in decades as nuclear talks with the U.S. proceed.
Ahead of those talks, Vance, a Catholic convert who has clashed with Pope Francis over immigration policy, will pay a visit to the Vatican, where he’ll meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state and Francis’s No. 2. It’s unclear whether he will meet with the pope himself.
UKRAINE: If there is no clear progress toward peace between Russia and Ukraine in the coming days, the U.S. may be ready to “move on” from its efforts to broker a ceasefire, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday. His comments come after France hosted high-level talks Thursday to discuss Ukraine and its security, the first time since Trump’s inauguration that top American, Ukrainian and European officials are known to have met together to discuss an end to the war. Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff joined other top Ukrainian and European officials for hours of meetings.
“We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term, because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio said, adding that Trump “feels very strongly about that.”
Trump, meanwhile, said Thursday he expects to sign a minerals agreement with Ukraine in the coming days, a few weeks after an expected deal signing was called off following a contentious Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We have a minerals deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday … next Thursday? Soon.”
▪ BBC: Vance to visit India as Trump intensifies tariff war with China.
▪ NBC News: Aid groups describe dire conditions in Gaza as Israel says there is no shortage of aid.
OPINION
■ Time for a civic uprising, by David Brooks, columnist, The New York Times.
■ Florida, again, is the scene of a campus shooting and it’s devastating, by the Miami Herald editorial board. “Multiple people were injured, and two people have died. … The suspected shooter is believed to be a current [Florida State University] student and the son of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy who had access to guns.”
■ Six months after Hurricane Helene, Washington’s promises of aid remain empty, by Lynne Russo, opinion contributor, The Hill.
THE CLOSER
© The Associated Press | AP Pool
And finally … 👏👏👏 Kudos to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! Puzzling over the president’s affinity for gold seemed to be a snap for readers!
Here’s who went 4/4: Stan Wasser, Don Swanson, Susan LaPorte Coyle, Lynn Gardner, Chuck Schoenenberger, Gary Kalian, Bill Kuckuck, Rick Schmidtke, Susan Barley, Tammy Hofmeister, Harry Strulovici, David Tapley, Amanda Fisher, Richard E. Baznik, Pam Manges, Karen Mitchoff, Sharon Banitt, Stewart Baker, Neil Bergsman, Dave Conover, Wiley H. Pearson, Jenessa Wagner, Greig L. Best, William D. Moore, Joe Atchue, Ned Sauthoff, Mark R. Williamson, Lori Benso, Laura Rettaliata, Larry Mason, Dennis Barnette, James Morris, Tom Chabot, Frank Docktor, John Trombetti, Savannah Petracca, Carmine Petracca, John Levasseur, Linda L. Field, Sari Wisch and Luther Berg.
Trump’s likeness appears on gold cards the U.S. now sells for $5 million each to wealthy foreign citizens in exchange for permanent U.S. residency.
When Trump in 2015 launched his bid for the White House in New York City, he famously used the escalator at Trump Tower as a golden backdrop.
The president and billionaire adviser Elon Musk recently noted their shared intrigue with Fort Knox gold reserves.
According to recent reports (Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal), Trump’s Oval Office shows off an assortment of gold-hued decor, including portraits of former presidents, coasters marked “Trump” and antique gilt pieces from a service acquired by James Monroe from France in 1817. The best answer was “all of the above.”
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