Donald Trump sparked fresh concern over the Ukraine war during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday by declaring the country “should never have started” the conflict, even though its territory was invaded by Russian troops acting on Vladimir Putin’s orders three years ago, not vice versa.
The president further dismissed Ukrainian anger over its being denied a place at talks between U.S. and Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia.
“I hear they’re upset about not having a seat. Well, they’ve had a seat for three years," Trump said, also deriding his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky’s poll ratings and suggesting he “may” meet Putin before the end of February.
Later, the president and “first buddy” Elon Musk took part in a primetime Fox News interview in which host Sean Hannity mused it was like “interviewing two brothers”.
Musk discussed “Trump Derangement Syndrome” among their detractors and claimed his friends behaved like he had “rabies” when the president’s name was mentioned.
Trump conceded that Congress should have to codify “a lot of” his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) executive orders, adding: “The beauty is, we have four years – that's why I like doing it right at the beginning.”
Key Points
- Donald Trump blames Ukraine for ‘starting’ Russian invasion of their country
- Trump and Elon Musk awkwardly likened to ‘two brothers’ as they seek to justify DOGE cuts in joint Fox interview
- Key moments from Trump and Musk’s interview
- Analysis: Trump and Musk get Sean Hannity’s primetime propaganda for their constitutional wrecking ball
Trump and Elon Musk awkwardly likened to ‘two brothers’ as they seek to justify DOGE cuts in joint Fox interview
09:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
Later, an uncharacteristically subdued Trump was at times silent as he seemed to reluctantly share the limelight with wealthy Republican donor turned unpaid White House aide Elon Musk in an interview with Fox News personality Sean Hannity on Tuesday evening.
The SpaceX founder used the primetime slot to try to justify the sweeping cuts his so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” has attempted to make over Trump’s first month in office as a needed corrective to a recalcitrant civil service that is resisting the president’s demands.
Musk, who appeared alongside the 47th president during a joint interview taped last week for Hannity’s eponymous program, described his role in the Trump administration as “tech support” and as a sort of enforcer for Trump’s will against non-compliant government workers.
Trump in turn effusively described Musk as “a leader” who “gets it done” during the softball sit-down with Hannity, leading the partisan personality to describe the unlikely pair as remarkably fraternal.
There was plenty more about their relationship:
Musk: I’m getting sort of a daily proctology exam
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Hannity: Welcome to DC, if you want a friend, get a dog
Musk: I have a dog but I also have friends
Trump: He’s a very good person pic.twitter.com/pm0mH5YdbB
Elon Musk says he will recuse himself if there is a conflict of interest pic.twitter.com/2nXNAd5Tjz
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Musk: If the will of the president is not implemented and the president is representative of the people that means the will of the people is not being implemented and that means we don't live in a democracy, we live in a bureaucracy. Does that make sense? pic.twitter.com/cRAjd8VauJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Musk: They’re saying things are unconstitutional. But what they are doing is unconstitutional. They are guilty of the crime of which they accuse us.
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Trump: It's always the first thing they do. pic.twitter.com/DVi8dgdMbZ
Trump: I wanted to find somebody smarter than him. I searched all over, I just couldn't do it. pic.twitter.com/RHqccD8GSR
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Hannity: He is your tech support.
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Musk: I am tech support—
Trump: He gets it done. You've got a lot of tech people and you got people who are good with tech. He gets it done. pic.twitter.com/BmghJ2dwbO
Here’s a full report from Andrew Feinberg.
Trump blames Ukraine for ‘starting’ Russian invasion of their country
09:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
Good morning!
Donald Trump sparked fresh concern over the Ukraine war during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida yesterday by declaring the country “should never have started” the conflict, even though it was the one invaded by Russian troops acting on Vladimir Putin’s orders.
"You should have never started it" -- Trump to Ukraine, which very much did not start the war pic.twitter.com/xDLQKQ6mev
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 19, 2025
The president further dismissed Ukrainian anger over its being denied a seat at the table at talks between U.S. and Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia.
“I hear they’re upset about not having a seat. Well, they’ve had a seat for three years," Trump said, also deriding his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky’s poll ratings and suggesting he “may” meet Putin before the end of February.
Trump's message to Ukrainians who feel betrayed by his administration: "I hear they're upset about not having a seat. Well, they've had a seat for three years." pic.twitter.com/MvQUdzSYIt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 18, 2025
Trump: The leader in Ukraine, I hate to say that he is down 4% approval rating… I would say that when they want a seat at the table, wouldn’t the people of Ukraine would have to say it’s been a long time since we've had an election. That’s not Russia thing. That’s something… pic.twitter.com/MuCybVDgGU
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 18, 2025
Former Social Security commissioner flames Musk’s 19-year-old DOGE ‘nitwits’
08:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
The former commissioner of the Social Security Administration on Tuesday ripped into “co-presidents” Donald Trump and Elon Musk, along with DOGE’s band of “19-year-old nitwits,” and called them the “biggest threat” to the continued existence of the 90-year-old program so critical to millions of Americans.
Read on...
Coming in April... Trump threatens 25% tax on cars, microchips and drugs
08:00
,
Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would unilaterally impose 25 percent import taxes on American purchases of automobiles, pharmaceuticals and microchips as early as April 1 despite fears that doing so would supercharge inflation rates he promised to tame during his campaign for the presidency last year.
Speaking during an impromptu press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump was asked about the rates of tariffs he plans to impose in pursuit of what he has called “reciprocity” in trade and in an effort to force manufacturers to bring their facilities back to the U.S.
Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Video: Ex-Trump ambassador claims more people jailed in UK for free speech than Russia
07:55
,
Namita Singh
Trump calls for ‘radical transparency’ from government
07:45
,
Namita Singh
Donald Trump has issued a presidential memorandum calling for "radical transparency requirements" from the government, which he suggested could reduce wasteful spending.
The order outlined the oversight functions of the Office of Management and Budget, while the memo requires the government to detail the "waste, fraud and abuse" that's found as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), overseen by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, looks to cut government spending.
DOGE has often fallen short of the administration's promises of transparency. Musk has taken questions from journalists only once since becoming Trump's most powerful adviser, and he's claimed it's illegal to name people who are working for him.
Sometimes DOGE staff members have demanded access to sensitive government databases with little explanation.
As he lays out plans for agency, RFK Jr appears to threaten HHS staff who won’t ‘embrace’ his ideas
07:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned agency staff to either “embrace” the Trump administration’s changes or plan to retire.
In his first address since being sworn in, Kennedy outlined his vision for the department he now leads at HHS headquarters on Tuesday, days after hundreds of probationary employees were terminated. Those layoffs, part of a Department of Government Efficiency-led effort to reduce spending in part by shrinking the federal workforce, include an estimated 1,300 purged from the Center for Disease Control — 10 percent of its workforce.
Kelly Rissman reports.
How politicians and industry leaders responded to Trump’s IVF order
07:14
,
Namita Singh
President Donald Trump made a major decision for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments as he signed executive order to expand access and reduce the costs of IVF.
Welcoming the decision, Barbara Collura, president of Resolve, the National Infertility Association, said that what the White House put out "looks extremely promising".
"The biggest barriers for people to building their families are the out-of-pocket costs, the lack of insurance coverage for this care," she said.
Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, said: "Donald Trump's executive order does nothing to expand access to IVF. In fact, he's the reason IVF is at risk in the first place."
Duckworth said if Trump is going to follow through on his campaign promise to provide free IVF, he can start by supporting her legislation that would require insurance plans to cover IVF.
Trump signs order to study how to expand IVF
06:55
,
Namita Singh
President Donald Trump signed an executive order meant to expand access to and reduce costs of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
On the campaign trail, Trump called for universal coverage of IVF treatment after his Supreme Court nominees helped to overturn Roe v Wade, leading to a wave of restrictions in Republican-led states, including some that have threatened access to IVF by trying to define life as beginning at conception.
Trump said he thinks "women and families, husbands, are very appreciative" of his executive order on IVF, which offers a possible solution when a woman has trouble getting pregnant.
The procedure involves retrieving her eggs and combining them in a lab dish with a man's sperm to create a fertilised embryo, which is then transferred into the woman's uterus in an attempt to create a pregnancy. IVF is done in cycles, and more than one may be required.
If it's not JD Vance, who is Trump eyeing to carry on the GOP crown?
06:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
John Bowden writes:
Does Donald Trump view JD Vance as his inevitable successor in 2028?
“No,” he told Fox News’s Bret Baier in his Super Bowl weekend interview. Ouch!
Plucked from an odd position of micro-celebrity into politics in 2022, then thrust into the national spotlight after winning Trump’s endorsement during the Ohio Senate race, Vance is practically the perfect MAGA convert, tainted only by a slight veneer of uncertainty thanks to his past descriptions of his boss as “America’s Hitler.”
Continue reading...
Watch: House Judiciary Democrats call out Trump's claim he decides what the law is
05:10
,
Oliver O'Connell
Trump says he decides what the law is. Here’s Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison (1803): “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.”
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) February 19, 2025
Somebody in the Musk-Trump administration should read that decision. pic.twitter.com/w4SD7NCXXd
Report: U.S. pauses applications by migrants permitted entry under Biden parole programs
04:55
,
Oliver O'Connell
CBS News reported late Tuesday that the Trump administration has paused all immigration applications submitted by migrants from Ukraine and Latin America who were permitted entry into the United States under certain Biden-era programs.
The report added that concerns about fraud and security were cited as reasons for the halt, citing two U.S. officials and an internal memo.
The move, which had not been previously reported, threatens to cast a cloud of uncertainty over many migrants who were applying for various immigration benefits that would allow them to stay in the U.S. legally — sometimes permanently.
While the exact number of affected migrants remains unclear, the hold on applications pertains to several Biden administration programs that permitted hundreds of thousands of foreigners to enter the U.S. legally through an immigration law known as parole. This law enables the U.S. government to swiftly welcome foreigners for humanitarian reasons or public benefit grounds.
The Biden administration used parole on an unprecedented scale, partially to encourage migrants to apply for legal migration channels instead of crossing the southern border unlawfully. The Trump administration swiftly moved to suspend those efforts, arguing that they were an abuse of the parole authority.
The pause is believed to have impacted programs that brought in 240,000 Ukrainians with U.S. sponsors, 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans sponsored by American citizens, and a third program that permitted some Colombians, Ecuadorians, Central Americans, Haitians, and Cubans with American relatives to come to the U.S. and wait for a family-based green card to become available.
Key points from Trump and Musk’s interview with Fox News
04:45
,
Mike Bedigan
Donald Trump and Elon Musk covered all manner of interesting topics as they sat down with Sean Hannity for an interview broadcast on Fox News on Tuesday.
During the pre-recorded (and relatively softball) interview the world’s two most powerful men touched on subjects including lawsuits, “abandoned” astronauts, and insults thrown at them online.
Here are some of the weirder and more awkward moments:
ANALYSIS: Trump and Elon Musk get Sean Hannity’s primetime propaganda for their constitutional wrecking ball
04:34
,
Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward writes:
Aired hours before Trump’s 30th day in office in his second administration, and recorded one week ago, Hannity’s sycophantic Fox News interview with the president and the man to whom Trump is delegating unprecedented authority slapped on a thick coat of flattery before giving Musk the floor to tell viewers he has no idea what he’s talking about.
Continue reading...
Catholic bishops sue Trump administration
04:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
Catholic leadership in the United States is suing Donald Trump’s administration to reverse the president’s abrupt suspension of tens of millions of dollars in funding for refugee resettlement, which has stranded thousands of vulnerable people in war-torn countries despite their clearance for entry.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has partnered with federal agencies for decades to help resettle refugees, received only a “cursory, two page” notice from the administration four days after Trump took office and froze foreign aid, along with “a vague suggestion that the awards may not be consistent with the State Department’s priorities.”
Alex Woodward reports.
Watch: Trump claims Medicare, Medicaid won't be touched in DOGE cuts
04:14
,
Oliver O'Connell
“Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched.”
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) February 19, 2025
No Medicaid spending cuts? This will come as news to House Republicans.pic.twitter.com/lkweTjxQ75
Trump to nominate experienced intelligence official as Gabbard's deputy, report says
04:00
,
Oliver O'Connell
Reuters reports, citing a source familiar with the plan, that President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Aaron Lukas, a career government official, as deputy to the newly confirmed Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard, the former Democratic U.S. representative for Hawaii, with little intelligence experience, was confirmed as the top U.S. spy last week in a 52-to-48 vote, mostly along party lines.
Lukas, who served as an intelligence aide to then-acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell in 2020 during Trump's first term, would bring years of national security experience to the position of principal deputy director of national intelligence, a role that requires Senate conf
Full story: Trump and Musk awkwardly called ‘two brothers’ as they seek to justify DOGE cuts in joint Fox News interview
03:50
,
Oliver O'Connell
Andrew Feinberg writes:
An uncharacteristically subdued Donald Trump was at times silent as he seemed to reluctantly share the limelight with wealthy Republican donor turned unpaid White House aide Elon Musk in an interview with Fox News personality Sean Hannity on Tuesday evening.
The SpaceX founder used the primetime slot to try to justify the sweeping cuts his so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” has attempted to make over Trump’s first month in office as a needed corrective to a recalcitrant civil service that is resisting the president’s demands.
Musk, who appeared alongside the 47th president during a joint interview taped last week for Hannity’s eponymous program, described his role in the Trump administration as “tech support” and as a sort of enforcer for Trump’s will against non-compliant government workers.
Continue reading...
Watch: Trump mocked as inflation comments come back to haunt him
03:45
,
Oliver O'Connell
Trump during campaign: Starting the day I take the Oath of Office I will rapidly drive prices down
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 19, 2025
Trump today: Inflation is back...I had nothing to do with it pic.twitter.com/N3jjVhwnMf
Kamala Harris signs with CAA, two weeks after Biden returns to agency
03:35
,
Oliver O'Connell
Former Vice President Kamala Harris has signed with CAA for representation, with a focus on speaking engagements and publishing, Variety reports.
CAA will collaborate closely with Harris on her post-White House initiatives, creating strategic opportunities to expand her platform in support of the issues she has championed throughout her long career in public service.
This marks Harris's return to the agency. She was previously represented by them before she was sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States — the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American elected to the position. She made history again as the first Black woman and the first South Asian woman nominated for president by a major political party.
Harris’ CAA signing comes just two weeks after former President Joe Biden also signed with the agency, which previously represented him from 2017 to 2020.
Missouri Republican proposes ‘e-Harmony for babies’ database to track pregnant women ‘at risk’ of seeking abortion
03:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
A Republican state lawmaker in Missouri has introduced legislation that would create a “central registry” of pregnant people who are “at risk for seeking an abortion,” what the bill’s author called the makings of an “e-Harmony for babies” to match with adoptive families.
The legislation would also allow the state to share information from that database with law enforcement agencies, “including those outside of this state,” the bill states.
Alex Woodward reports.
Musk says he will recuse himself from conflicts of interest
03:06
,
Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump told Sean Hannity that he has empowered Elon Musk to police his own conflicts of interest.
Musk says he has never asked Trump for anything and he will recuse himself where necessary.
Elon Musk says he will recuse himself if there is a conflict of interest pic.twitter.com/2nXNAd5Tjz
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Border arrests plunged 39% in January
03:00
,
AP
Arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico plummeted 39% in January from a month earlier, authorities said Tuesday, an early gauge of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
The Border Patrol made 21,593 arrests during the month, down from 47,316 in December and the lowest mark since May 2020 near the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“Call it the Trump Effect,” the White House said in a statement.
Read on...
Watch: Trump says 'inflation is back' but he had nothing to do with it
02:52
,
Oliver O'Connell
Trump: Inflation is back.. I had nothing to do with it pic.twitter.com/fBPQzthU4G
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Meanwhile, over on CNN, Bernie Sanders rails against authoritarianism
02:45
,
Oliver O'Connell
“The struggle against Trump, the struggle against oligarchy, which is led by Elon Musk ... that's not gonna be won here in Capitol Hill,” Senator Bernie Sanders tells Kaitlan Collins on CNN.
“It's gonna be won by millions of people all over this country standing up and saying, 'We fought and died for democracy, we're not gonna move toward authoritarianism.’”
Bernie Sanders: "The struggle against Trump, the struggle against oligarchy, which is led by Elon Musk ... that's not gonna be won here in Capitol Hill. It's gonna be won by millions of people all over this country standing up and saying, 'we fought and died for democracy, we're… pic.twitter.com/h3FlQefOsm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 19, 2025
Musk attacks accusations of 'unconstitutional' acts
02:42
,
Oliver O'Connell
“It's always the first thing they do,” says Donald Trump as Elon Musk tries to flip accusations of unconstitutional behavior on those that make them.
Musk: They’re saying things are unconstitutional. But what they are doing is unconstitutional. They are guilty of the crime of which they accuse us.
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Trump: It's always the first thing they do. pic.twitter.com/DVi8dgdMbZ
Watch: Musk says U.S. is not a democracy but a bureaucracy
02:34
,
Oliver O'Connell
Musk: If the will of the president is not implemented and the president is representative of the people that means the will of the people is not being implemented and that means we don't live in a democracy, we live in a bureaucracy. Does that make sense? pic.twitter.com/cRAjd8VauJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Musk claims stranded astronauts left in space 'for political reasons'
02:28
,
Oliver O'Connell
Elon Musk, speaking about an upcoming SpaceX mission to bring home stranded astronauts, claims they were left in space “for political reasons.”
U.S. Astronaut Butch Wilmore recently told CNN: “We don't feel abandoned, we don't feel stuck, we don't feel stranded.”
Hannity: You’re going to help rescue two astronauts
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2025
Musk: They were left up there for political reasons pic.twitter.com/jc07ooW018
Watch: Trump and Musk address 'President Musk' taunts and 'divorce'
02:22
,
Oliver O'Connell
"They said, we have breaking news: Donald Trump has ceded control of the presidency to Elon Musk."
— The Recount (@therecount) February 19, 2025
— President Trump acknowledges the hope of some, dread of others that he and Elon Musk will head for "divorce" pic.twitter.com/8JsNdtnRwV
02:19
,
Oliver O'Connell
With Elon Musk at his side, Trump says that Congress should codify “a lot of” of his DOGE executive orders.
He adds that “the beauty is, we have four years — that's why I like doing it right at the beginning.”
Watch: Elon Musk believes Trump's executive orders take precedent over Congress — they do not
02:12
,
Oliver O'Connell
"This is in violation of a presidential executive order. It needs to stop" -- Elon Musk, on Hannity's show, makes clear he has no idea how the American government works by asserting that Trump can use executive orders to unilaterally impound funds appropriated by Congress pic.twitter.com/SniRLsxSck
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 19, 2025
Elon Musk blasts the Left’s ‘completely irrational’ ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’
02:10
,
Oliver O'Connell
Sitting alongside President Donald Trump, Elon Musk slammed what he called the left’s “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” comparing it to rabies.
Musk and Trump appeared on Fox News with host Sean Hannity, where the latter mused: “I would think liberals would love the fact that you have the biggest electric vehicle company in the world.”
“I used to be adored by the left, less so these days,” said Musk. “They call it Trump derangement syndrome, and you don't realize how real this is until...it’s like you can't reason with people.”
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Hannity interview underway on Fox News
02:08
,
Oliver O'Connell
Sean Hannity introduced his interview tonight with President Donald Trump and “the left’s newest boogeyman, the leader of DOGE, Elon Musk.”
Musk is doing most of the talking so far, speaking of his great admiration of the president.
“I've spent, at this point, spent a lot of time with President, and not once have I seen him do something that was mean or cruel or wrong.”
Musk also says he was going to throw his support behind Trump in the 2024 election but the assassination attempt “sped it up.”
Trump has signed an executive order to expand access to IVF — but what does it actually say?
01:50
,
Oliver O'Connell
Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday aimed at expanding access to in vitro fertilization, but it was not clear what concrete steps may be taken to make that a reality.
Gustaf Kilander <