Donald Trump will attend a conference hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in Miami on Wednesday, mingling with global financiers and tech executives in the hope of securing further U.S. investment.
The president has also lashed out angrily at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after he accused him of living in a Russian “disinformation space”, with the American calling Zelensky a “dictator” and “modestly successful comedian” who has done a “terrible job” in leading his country through the fight while receiving billions of dollars in aid.
That row erupted after Trump sparked alarm by saying at a Mar-a-Lago press conference on Tuesday that Ukraine “should never have started” the conflict, even though its territory was invaded by Russian troops acting on Vladimir Putin’s orders, not vice versa.
Also on Tuesday, the president and “first buddy” Elon Musk took part in a primetime sitdown with Fox News on Tuesday in which host Sean Hannity mused it was like “interviewing two brothers”.
The duo insisted the media was “trying to drive us apart” and offered a show of unity as they defended the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s cost-cutting actions and mass firings.
Key Points
- Donald Trump attending Saudi-backed conference in Miami
- Trump fires back at ‘modestly successful comedian’ Zelensky in explosive rant against ‘war that couldn’t be won’
- President and Elon Musk awkwardly likened to ‘two brothers’ 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 unleashes unhinged tirade against ‘dictator’ Zelensky, claiming Ukraine only went to war to get US aid
16:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s report on the president’s wild attack on the Ukrainian leader a short while ago.
Trump Media sues Brazilian Supreme Court judge who sparred with Musk
16:25
,
Joe Sommerlad
The president’s Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) has joined the video sharing platform Rumble in suing Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in a U.S. federal court in Tampa, Florida, accusing the judge of illegally attempting to censor a “well-known politically outspoken user” of Rumble with orders to suspend that user’s U.S.-based accounts.
Moraes happens to have clashed with Elon Musk last year in a battle that led to the temporary shutdown of X in his country.
TMTG is weighing into the matter, according to the lawsuit, because Truth Social “relies on Rumble’s cloud-based hosting and video streaming infrastructure to deliver multimedia content to its user base.”
“If Rumble were to be shut down, that shut down would necessarily interfere with Truth Social’s operations, as well,” it adds.
The suit also comes a day after Brazil’s prosecutor-general charged the country’s former president, Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro, with orchestrating an attempted coup as he tried to remain in office following his 2022 election loss.
DOGE claimed they had saved $8 billion by slashing one contract. The actual number was $8 million
16:10
,
Joe Sommerlad
The Department of Government Efficiency claimed they had saved $8 billion by cutting a single contract – but the actual value was $8 million.
Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team, tasked with gutting the federal government, claims it has saved a total of $55 billion, but a recently published list of contracts it has canceled so far only accounts for $16.6 billion, Bloomberg reports.
DOGE, upon further inspection, appears to have overstated the value of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency contract, which has since been corrected.
Rhian Lubin has more.
Trump fires back at ‘modestly successful comedian’ Zelensky in explosive rant against ‘war that couldn’t be won’
15:56
,
Joe Sommerlad
Here’s the president’s angry Truth Social response to his Ukrainian counterpart after he accused him of being taken in by Russian “disinformation” earlier, in which he even goes so far as to refer to him as a “dictator” and accuse him of presiding over a corrupt regime embezzling defense donations:
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle. The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation. On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is “MISSING.” He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.” A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only “TRUMP,” and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the “gravy train” going. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…..”
That rocket comes as special envoy Keith Kellogg meets with Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, in Kyiv.
Watch: Ex-Trump ambassador claims more people jailed in UK for free speech than Russia
15:45
,
Joe Sommerlad
Trump attending Saudi-backed conference in Miami
15:32
,
Joe Sommerlad
The president will attend a meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in Miami, Florida, today before making a belated return to Washington, D.C.
Trump will join global financiers and tech executives for a conference that will reportedly focus on U.S. investments and business, according to a White House official.
The president is expected to deliver an address at the gathering following his call in January for Riyadh to invest $1 trillion in the United States but also follows the country objecting to his proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza as part of an American-led rebuilding plan.
This was Trump a short while ago en route to the event:
Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from firing 11 CIA agents over DEI
15:15
,
Joe Sommerlad
Federal Judge Anthony J Trenga has temporarily blocked the president’s move to force the dismissal of 11 CIA agents briefly assigned to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the agency.
The ruling comes after a group of anonymous intelligence officers, who had been temporarily reassigned to roles implementing DEI initiatives, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the CIA – now occupied by Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe – to oppose their ousting.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, names ODNI, the CIA, and their respective heads as defendants.
The plaintiffs, identified only as “John Does 1-6” and “Jane Does 1-5,” argue they are being unfairly targeted, with Judge Trenga agreeing and granting an administrative stay, meaning those concerned will remain on leave with full pay and benefits until the court rules further on the matter.
Trump urges House and Senate Republicans to snub Lindsey Graham on 'America First' bill
15:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
Here’s the president using his bully pulpit to hustle Congress into passing his preferred version of an upcoming reconciliation bill combining all of his “America First” initiatives, issuing a very public smackdown to the South Carolina senator in the process for daring to defy him.
The House and Senate are doing a SPECTACULAR job of working together as one unified, and unbeatable, TEAM, however, unlike the Lindsey Graham version of the very important Legislation currently being discussed, the House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda,…
— Trump Posts on (@trump_repost) February 19, 2025
Musk claims he was almost hospitalized after Covid-19 vaccine ‘hit him like a truck’
14:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
Over on X, Elon, as is his way, has meandered into a fairly random conversation about vaccines, commenting on an old clip of Joe Rogan interviewing JD Vance in which the vice president describes being hard hit by the coronavirus jab.
Fortunately, Musk concludes his anecdote about a similar experience by offering his non-expert opinion that “research should continue”.
I had a similar experience.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 19, 2025
Covid itself was nothing. I got the OG Wuhan strain before vaccines were out.
J&J vaccine hurt my arm, but otherwise nothing.
But the mRNA booster hit extremely hard. Massive chest pain. Felt like I got hit by a truck. Almost went to hospital.… https://t.co/MUfj5H03on
On the same subject, new public health czar Robert F Kennedy Jr has performed a major U-turn on childhood vaccine schedules, saying he will have them “examined” after previously promising the Senate he would not makes any changes.
Watch: Musk claims Nasa astronauts are stuck in space because of Biden
14:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
Former Social Security commissioner blasts DOGE’s ‘19-year-old nitwits’
14:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
Martin O’Malley, the former commissioner of the Social Security Administration, ripped into “co-presidents” Trump and Musk on Tuesday, along with DOGE’s band of “19-year-old nitwits,” calling them the “biggest threat” to the continued existence of the 90-year-old program so critical to millions of Americans.
O’Malley, a former governor of Maryland who ran the agency during the last year of the Biden administration, mocked Musk’s claims that millions of “zombies” from the age of 100 to 159 are collecting Social Security benefits.
“He has no idea what he’s talking about,” he told CNN anchor Boris Sanchez.
“There is not like a zombie apocalypse of people, cadavers running around with Social Security checks coming out of their pockets.”
DOGE accidentally fired federal staff who were working to contain bird flu outbreak, report says
13:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has forced the U.S. Department of Agriculture into an embarrassing walkback after it was revealed that staffers who were working on combatting the current bird flu epidemic were mistakenly fired.
Madeline Sherratt has this report.
Musk weighs public $5k ‘dividends’ with DOGE savings he hasn’t proven
13:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
The tech billionaire is considering paying $5,000 in “dividends” in the form of tax refunds to American households, using Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) savings he has yet to prove exist.
The plan, which Musk responded to in a post on X on Tuesday, was quickly mocked by critics on social media as way “premature.”
One called the shaky offer an attempt to make the public “complicit in destroying our own government and country.”
It’s unclear if Musk’s DOGE will ever have any “dividends” or if it will ultimately make any real inroads in the federal government’s costs, given its crippling $36 trillion debt, and the massive $4.5 trillion tax cut Republicans are now considering.
The entire annual budget for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which Musk shuttered through DOGE, was a fraction of the possible future annual tax cut alone.
Mary Papenfuss reports.
Trump’s full remarks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Ukraine
13:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
Here’s James Liddell with a look back at the president’s shocking comments about the war yesterday, which will have been met with delight in the Kremlin, if not Kyiv.
Team from Musk’s SpaceX will help overhaul U.S. air traffic control
12:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
The move to bring in more experts from within Musk’s circle follows the Trump administration’s decision to fire hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration personnel.
SpaceX already holds billions in government contracts.
Its staff visited Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Virginia onMonday, according to Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, who said that Trump has “ordered” him to “deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world.”
Here’s the latest from Rhian Lubin.
Judge torches Trump lawyers over ban on trans service members and pronouns: ‘Frankly ridiculous’
12:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
A federal judge eviscerated language in Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order targeting transgender service members in the U.S. military and “radical gender ideology” and the use of pronouns.
During Tuesday’s hearing in Washington, D.C., where lawyers for trans service members are challenging Trump’s order that has triggered Department of Defense policy blocking gender-affirming healthcare and new trans recruits, a furious District Judge Ana Reyes interrogated Trump’s “demeaning,” “biologically inaccurate” and “frankly ridiculous” language.
Alex Woodward has the story.
Watch: Outrage as White House flaunts ‘cuffs and shackles’ deportation of illegal migrants in viral video
12:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
Trump threatens 25% tax on cars, microchips and drugs starting in April
11:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
Also at Mar-a-Lago yesterday, the president said 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.
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Zelensky hits back at Trump ‘disinformation space’ after blaming Kyiv for Russian invasion
11:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
The U.S. president is living in a “disinformation space” with discord sowed by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said this morning.
Responding to Trump’s claim that his approval rating is at 4 per cent, Zelensky said the American is surrounded by a “misinformation circle”, adding that he will send the real figures to the president.
As we’ve seen, Zelensky is due to meet later today with the Trump administration’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg.
You can follow all the very latest on the war below with Alex Croft.
Trump has signed an executive order to expand access to IVF
11:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
The president signed an executive order at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday aimed at expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) but it was not clear what concrete steps may be taken to make that a reality.
“The Order directs policy recommendations to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted on X.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf, who appeared alongside Trump yesterday afternoon, outlined the executive orders signed there by the president.
The IVF order relates to “the affordability and availability of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments,” said Scharf.
These are “treatments that have become unaffordable for many Americans,” he added.
“The executive order is a directive to the Domestic Policy Council to examine ways to make IVF and other fertility treatments more affordable for more Americans.”
Trump followed Scharf, saying: “I’ve been saying that we’re going to do what we have to do, and I think the women and families – husbands – are very appreciative of it.”
But the order states that it “shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.”
Gustaf Kilander has more.
Truth Social: Trump reports sacking of all Biden-era U.S. attorneys and rages over Cheney and Thompson medals
10:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
The president’s latest social media posts find him promoting clips of the Hannity interview and once more stewing over old grievances, rather than, say, addressing the price of eggs or stopping any major wars.
Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before. Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining “Biden Era” U.S. Attorneys. We must “clean house” IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence. America’s Golden Age must have a fair…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 18, 2025
Biden gave Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney a Medal for the job they did on the Unselect Committee, but the only thing that I see they did is get information, and then destroy and delete ALL of it, because the whole thing turned out to be a HOAX!
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 18, 2025
Donald Trump Truth Social Post…
Trump special envoy jets into Kyiv to ‘listen’ to concerns
10:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, arrived in Kyiv this morning, according to local media reports, for a three-day visit as part of the administration’s efforts to end Russia’s war – and will no doubt find himself with some explaining to do in light of his boss’s comments in Florida yesterday.
Upon arriving, Kellog said his mission was mainly to “listen” to Ukraine’s concerns and report back to the White House.
“We understand the need for security guarantees. We understand... the importance of the sovereignty of this nation,” the U.S. diplomat said.
“A part of my mission is to sit and listen and see what your concerns are.”
The Kyiv Independent reports that President Volodymyr Zelensky offered Kellogg the chance to inspect the war’s front lines, which he appears not to have taken up.
Kellogg and Zelensky met at last week’s Munich Security Conference and discussed the war and the U.S.-proposed memorandum on Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
Analysis: World’s richest man's constitutional wrecking ball goes primetime
10:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
Elon Musk spun his government siege as the will of the people but has no idea how government actually works, says Alex Woodward.
Flattery, abandoned astronauts and a ‘male body part’: Key points from Trump and Musk’s interview with Fox News
09:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
During last night’s 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 with Mike Bedigan.
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 Budg
