4h ago 20.25 EST Here is the video of Trump saying Palestinians have “no alternative” but to “permanently” leave Gaza due to the devastation left by Israel. He described Gaza as a “pure demolition site” and added: ‘This has been happening for years. It’s all death”: 1:44 Trump suggests displaced Palestinians in Gaza be ‘permanently’ resettled somewhere else – video Share
4h ago 20.19 EST Outside the Treasury, protesters waved placards with slogans including: “Nobody Elected Musk” and “Bessent, you have 1 job!! Protect our money. You already failed.”
About three dozen Democratic members of the Senate and House of Representatives tried to enter the Treasury to confront Bessent on the issue but they said they were denied access.
“Elon Musk is seizing power from the American people. We are here to fight back,” said US Senator Elizabeth Warren. View image in fullscreen People protest during a rally against Elon Musk outside the Treasury Department in Washington, Tuesday, 4 February 2025. Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP Rebecca Weiss, who lives in suburban Maryland, told Reuters that she attended the protest because she is worried about what Musk will do with the payments data.
“He’s obviously a data guy, and now he has access, potentially, to everybody’s personal identifiable information, which he might take advantage of for his business purposes,” she said. “The bottom line is, we didn’t elect him. He’s muscled in illegally in a place that he’s not authorized.”
Democrats earlier on Tuesday vowed to push legislation to deny “special government employees” such as Musk access to sensitive government records. Share
4h ago 20.09 EST US treasury says Musk’s government efficiency team granted ‘read-only’ access to payment system codes The US Treasury said on Tuesday that Elon Musk’s government-efficiency team has been granted “read-only access” to its payment system codes but denied that this cut off any government payments including for Social Security or Medicare, Reuters reports.
The confirmation of a Musk associate’s access to the system codes came in a letter from a Treasury official to Democratic Senator Ron Wyden that said the review was being undertaken to “maximize payment integrity for agencies and the public”.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has not commented on reports in recent days that Musk’s informal Department of Government Efficiency had gained access to the system responsible for disbursing more than $6tn of annual government spending.
Several thousand people gathered outside the Treasury on Tuesday to protest DOGE’s Treasury access amid his sweeping incursion into government operations, which this week led to the shutdown of the US Agency for International Development, merging its aid mission into the state department.
The payment system review “is not resulting in the suspension or rejection of any payment instructions submitted to Treasury by other federal agencies across the government.” Jonathan Blum, principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Legislative Affairs wrote to Senator Ron Wyden, of Oregon.
“In particular, the review at the Fiscal Service has not caused payments for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare to be delayed or re-routed,” Blum’s letter said.
The DOGE team at Treasury conducting the review is led by technology firm chief executive Tom Krause, whom the letter described as a “Treasury employee.” Krause is CEO of Cloud Software Group, which owns former independent software firms Citrix and Tibco.
Wyden raised alarms over the weekend when reports first surfaced that a team under the direction of Musk, appointed by President Donald Trump to conduct a broad review of government operations.
“I’m sure the Treasury Secretary and the president want to save face and downplay the risks as Elon Musk seizes power, but nothing they’re saying is believable or trustworthy,” Wyden said in response to Blum’s letter. Share Updated at 20.10 EST
4h ago 20.02 EST Senate confirms Pam Bondi as US attorney general The Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as US attorney general Tuesday evening, putting a longtime ally of Trump’s at the helm of a Justice Department that has already been rattled by the firings of career employees seen as disloyal to the Republican president.
The vote fell almost entirely along party lines, with only Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, joining with all Republicans to pass her confirmation 54-46.
Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and corporate lobbyist, is expected to oversee a radical reshaping of the department that has been the target of Trump’s ire over the criminal cases it brought against him. She enters with the FBI, which she will oversee, in turmoil over the scrutiny of agents involved in investigations related to the president, who has made clear his desire to seek revenge on his perceived adversaries.
Republicans have praised Bondi as a highly qualified leader they contend will bring much-needed change to a department they believe unfairly pursued Trump through investigations resulting in two indictments. Share
4h ago 19.53 EST Amnesty International criticizes US for not arresting Netanyahu, despite warrant Amnesty International has described the US as, “showing contempt for international justice” by failing to arrest Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the international criminal court issuing a warrant for his arrest in November last year. He is wanted by the ICC to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In a series of posts on X, Amnesty wrote: By welcoming Israeli PM Netanyahu, wanted by the ICC to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the United States is showing contempt for international justice. The Biden administration flouted any efforts at international justice for Palestine. Now, by not arresting Netanyahu or subjecting him to US investigations, President Trump is doubling down welcoming him as the first foreign leader to visit the White House since the inauguration The US has a clear obligation under the Geneva conventions to search for & try or extradite persons accused of having committed or ordered the commission of war crimes. There must be no ‘safe haven’ for individuals alleged to have committed war crimes & crimes against humanity. The US has been consistently provided with evidence that US-origin weapons contributed to war crimes, and the US continues to violate the obligation to prevent genocide knowing that its weapons are used as part of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. Complying with ICC arrest warrants & pursuing accountability in domestic courts is crucial to bring to justice those responsible for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the continued dispossession and oppression of Palestinians under Israel’s unlawful occupation and system of apartheid Share
4h ago 19.47 EST Trump holds press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu In a press conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that ended a short while ago, US President Donald Trump called the Gaza Strip a “symbol of death and destruction” for many decades and an “unlucky” place. He said Gaza should not “go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that … lived a miserable existence there.” Instead, he says Palestinians should go to other countries, without naming any specific countries. “It could be sites or it could be one large site” where people would live “in comfort and peace”, he said. “They’re not going to be shot at and killed,” Trump says, claiming that the “only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is that they have no alternative”. He said that “The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too.” Asked whether US troops will be deployed to Gaza, Trump said We’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take over that place. Trump said he couldn’t say whether the Gaza ceasefire will hold, adding that “we weren’t helped very much by the Biden administration”. “We hope it holds,” he adds. Share
4h ago 19.42 EST World leaders and people should respect Palestinians’ desire to remain in Gaza, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump said he believed people from the territory should be resettled elsewhere “permanently.” “Our homeland is our homeland, if part of it is destroyed, the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian people selected the choice to return to it,” said Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour. “And I think that leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.” On Tuesday, Trump met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, with the US leader saying he believed Palestinians should leave Gaza after an Israeli offensive that has devastated the territory and left most of it reduced to rubble. Speaking ahead of the meeting, Trump said he wanted a solution that saw “a beautiful area to resettle people permanently in nice homes where they can be happy.” At the United Nations, Mansour did not name Trump but appeared to reject the US president’s proposal. “Our country and our home is” the Gaza Strip, “it’s part of Palestine,” he said. “We have no home. For those who want to send them to a happy, nice place, let them go back to their original homes inside Israel, there are nice places there, and they will be happy to return to these places.” Share
5h ago 19.24 EST Who is Pam Bondi? The Senate is heading towards a confirmation vote for Pam Bondi asUS attorney general this evening, potentially putting a longtime ally of Donald Trump at the helm of a Justice Department that has already been rattled by the firings of career employees seen as disloyal to the Republican president.
Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and corporate lobbyist, is expected to oversee a radical reshaping of the department that has been the target of Trump’s ire over the criminal cases it brought against him. She would enter with the FBI, which she would oversee, in turmoil over the scrutiny of agents involved in investigations related to the president, who has made clear his desire to seek revenge on his perceived adversaries. View image in fullscreen Pam Bondi, US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, 15 January 2025. Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters Bondi has faced intense scrutiny over her close relationship with the president, who during his term fired an FBI director who refused to pledge loyalty to him and forced out an attorney general who recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and his 2016 presidential campaign.
While Bondi has sought to reassure Democrats that politics would play no part in her decision-making, she also refused at her confirmation hearing last month to rule potential investigations into Trump’s adversaries. And she has repeated Trump’s claims that the prosecutions against him amounted to political persecution, saying the Justice Department “had been weaponized for years and years and years, and it’s got to stop.” Share
5h ago 19.11 EST Summary Here are the key developments from the last few hours: Donald Trump has called for the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza , casting it as a humanitarian move “to resettle people permanently”. Sitting alongside his longtime political ally, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the White House, Trump was asked how many people he believed should be resettled from Gaza. “All of them”, Trump replied.
Democratic congressional leaders assailed Elon Musk for operating a “shadow government” of billionaires and presented new legislation designed to curb his reach. Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, previewed a bill aimed at preventing “unlawful access” to the treasury department’s payment systems, after staff members at Doge – Elon’s “department of government efficiency” – were granted entry.
Democratic members of Congress attempted to enter the treasury building to perform oversight into the activities of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency”, which has been granted access to sensitive information, including federal payment systems. In video posted on Bluesky and X from outside the treasury, Representatives Maxwell Frost , of Florida, and Jasmine Crockett , of Texas, explain that they are there to demand answers.
Donald Trump said he would support sending US citizens to serve time in overseas jails, after El Salvador’s president told secretary of state Marco Rubio he’d be willing to house prisoners from the United States.
Donald Trump just signed executive orders preventing the United States from providing support to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, and ending its cooperation with the global body’s human rights council. He also signed an order to impose “maximum economic pressure” on Iran as his administration renews efforts to curb its nuclear program. The United States has had an on-again-off-again relationship with the UN human rights council, and is not currently a member. Trump’s executive order criticizes the body for anti-US bias. Under Joe Biden, the US also froze funding to Unrwa amid allegations some of its employees participated in the 7 October attack, and the order Trump signed prevents future funding to the agency.
Donald Trump reiterated that his administration would seek to dismantle the US Department of Education and leave standards at schools up to the individual states.
Taking questions in the Oval Office after he signed executive orders, Donald Trump confirmed that his administration will “wind down” USAid , and alleged fraud at the agency tasked with implementing the United States’s foreign aid agenda, Reuters reports. Politico reports that almost all USAid employees at its Washington DC headquarters will be put on leave on orders of the Trump administration.
CNN reports that the FBI has turned over to the justice department the names of thousands of FBI agents who worked on January 6-related cases , while officials connected to Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” have been seen at the agency’s headquarters. The demand for the names came from Emil Bove, who is now the acting deputy attorney general after previously representing Donald Trump as he faced state and federal prosecutions during Joe Biden’s presidency.
A group of anonymous FBI employees who were involved in cases related to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol or the criminal investigations of Donald Trump have filed a class action lawsuit against the justice department and the acting attorney general, James McHenry, over efforts to compile a list of employees who worked on these cases, which the agents fear could be used for termination or disciplinary action.
Donald Trump launched the opening salvo in his trade war by imposing tariffs on Chinese goods , prompting Beijing to immediately slap its own levies on US imports and announce an anti-trust investigation of Google. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro raised hopes of a deal by saying the US president would speak with Xi Jinping today, but a US official has reportedly said that call is off.
The Senate’s finance committee voted to advance Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination as health and human services secretary despite his peddling of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories , and Tulsi Gabbard won the support of two Republican holdouts ahead of the Senate intelligence committee’s vote on her nomination for director of national intelligence at about 2pm.
Approximately 20,000 federal workers have reportedly accepted the deferred resignation offer connected to Elon Musk, but that’s a far cry from his stated goal to trim the government workforce. Share Updated at 19.15 EST