February 22, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news
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Jake Tapper reacts to Trump’s purge of inspectors general, military lawyers
03:22 – Source: CNN
• Musk’s ultimatum: A rift appeared to open Sunday between some of President Donald Trump’s agency heads and Elon Musk over a weekend demand all federal employees state their weekly accomplishments or risk termination. By Sunday evening, a number of agency leaders had instructed their staff not to reply to an email that federal workers received from the Office of Personnel Management on Saturday afternoon.
• Government overhaul: The OPM email came as part of President Donald Trump’s wider effort to radically overhaul government, shrinking the federal workforce and paralyzing key agencies. It includes the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, which is laying off about 2,000 workers and placing the majority of its remaining full-time employees on administrative leave.
• Ukraine war: Trump will meet this week with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who are grappling with the US president’s break with traditional American foreign policy on negotiations surrounding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski ramped up her criticism of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s purge of the federal workforce on Sunday, slamming the “absurd weekend email” employees received on Saturday.
“If Elon Musk truly wants to understand what federal workers accomplished over the past week, he should get to know each department and agency, and learn about the jobs he’s trying to cut,” the Alaska senator wrote on X.
“Our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the unheralded jobs they perform. The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn’t it,” she added.
Her comments echo what she told CNN on camera late last week, warning of “detrimental” impacts of the firings and calling on federal workers to be treated with “dignity.”
Employees from the National Transportation Safety Board — tasked with investigating an unprecedented string of air disasters over the last month — have also been asked justify what they did on the job last week.
All 435 workers at the NTSB received the OPM “What did you do last week?” message, according to a NTSB spokesperson.
The email blast came on the heels of a social media post by Musk threatening the jobs of workers who do not comply.
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted Saturday on X.
It’s not clear how the NTSB staff will be directed to respond. The deadline to respond is 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday.
The agency is investigating the midair collision of an American Eagle flight an Army Blackhawk helicopter over DC, the plunge of a medevac Learjet into a Philadelphia neighborhood, and the crash of a Bering Air flight in Alaska — as well as assisting in the probe into last week’s crash landing of a Delta Connection flight in Toronto.
Saturday, CNN reported that all the Federal Aviation Administration’s understaffed air traffic controllers also received the email. Their union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, called the move “an unnecessary distraction to a fragile system.”
President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent turned right-wing media personality, has been named the next deputy director of the FBI by the agency’s director, Kash Patel.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump touted Bongino as a patriot with “incredible love and passion for our Country” and highlighted his extensive background in law enforcement. He also noted that Bongino “is willing and prepared to give up” his popular daily radio show and podcast, “The Dan Bongino Show,” “in order to serve.”
“Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations Dan!,” Trump added.
On last Friday’s episode of his show, titled “The Golden Age Of Republican Politics,” Bongino celebrated the confirmation of his soon-to-be-boss, saying, “We got Kash through, so now you are going to see what real change is like.”
During Trump’s first term in office, Bongino became a high-profile personality on Fox and gained his own weekend show in 2021. He departed the network two years later, citing a disagreement about a contract extension. But he has remained close to Trump even without the Fox perch, interviewing Trump for his show shortly before the November election and again in January.
Leon Panetta, who has served as both OMB director and as secretary of defense, told CNN’s Jessica Dean on Sunday that the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul the federal government will not be successful, cautioning that it will hurt the US and that the chaos will make the country appear weak to both adversaries and allies.
“There is no order here. There is no strategy here. This is simply Elon Musk waving his chainsaw and assuming that somehow that’s going to work,” Panetta said on “CNN Newsroom.” “It’s not going to work, it’s going to hurt people terribly, and it’s going to hurt our country.
Recalling his time leading the OMB under then-President Bill Clinton, Panetta said the administration was able to achieve $500 billion in savings by doing it in an “orderly way” and passing a budget through Congress.
“The right way to get efficiency in government and the right way to reduce the size of government is to carefully analyze programs, to carefully analyze departments and agencies, to work with the leaders of those departments and agencies, and to then come up with a budget that reflects those steps,” Panetta said. “The wrong way is what they’re doing now: by issuing every other day some kind of order to some agency or other that they’re going to fire everybody.”
“That is not the way to run our government,” he continued. “They’ve got to get their act together and do this right.”
The top Democrat on the influential House Oversight Committee has demanded the Trump administration clarify that federal workers won’t face dismissal if they don’t respond to recent emails asking them to justify their jobs after Elon Musk suggested on social media that failure to comply with the instructions “will be taken as a resignation.”
“The capricious dismissal threatened in Mr. Musk’s post is illegal and cannot be tolerated,” wrote Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, the panel’s ranking member, in a letter to OPM’s acting director, Charles Ezell.
“I urge you to immediately inform federal workers that his missives do not constitute official orders from OPM,” Connolly’s letter continued. “You must also make clear his threat of dismissal due to nonresponse to OPM’s email is invalid.”
The Saturday email, sent from the Office of Personnel Management’s new HR email address, does not state that a nonresponse will be taken as a resignation. It does say the deadline for submission is Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Musk’s post, Connolly added, was “an insult to federal workers and shows that he lacks a basic understanding that many federal workers will not be receiving this email in time to respond by the deadline as they may be away from their secure workstation or on medical leave.”
Some federal agencies are advising workers to hold off on responding, and unions for the employees are vowing to bring legal challenges, but leaders in other parts of the government are telling employees to comply.
About 2,000 employees at the US Agency for International Development will be laid off Sunday and a majority of the remaining full-time staff will be put on administrative leave overnight, workers were informed in an email.
“All USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” the email, sent to employees at 2:42 p.m. ET said.
“Concurrently, USAID is beginning to implement a Reduction-in-Force that will affect approximately 2,000 USAID personnel with duty stations in the United States,” the email continued.
Those affected “will receive specific notifications” on Sunday, the email said, and those who are designated to be essential will be informed by 5 p.m. ET.
The move marks the latest in what has been a stunning decimation of the federal agency, which provides humanitarian assistance around the world.
After a federal judge on Friday dissolved a temporary restraining order blocking the government from putting thousands of the agency’s employees on leave, the Trump administration’s purge of the agency continued into the weekend.
Among those targeted earlier in the weekend were employees at USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance — some of whom are tasked with responding on short notice to disasters worldwide.
This post has been updated with additional details on the layoffs.
The Trump administration’s mass email asking federal employees what they worked on last week — and Elon Musk’s suggestion that anyone who does not respond will be dismissed — has prompted a cascade of questions and confusion for workers across government.
While some federal agencies are advising workers to hold off on responding, and unions for the employees are vowing to bring legal challenges, leaders in other parts of the government are telling employees to comply.
Here’s what officials are telling their workers at several departments and agencies:
Department of Defense: Pentagon leadership is officially advising employees not to respond at this time to the emails, which was sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
“The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,” acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Darin Selnick wrote. “When and if required, the department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled ‘What did you do last week.’”
Multiple senior Defense Department officials told CNN the email thrust their weekend into chaos as they tried to determine what to tell employees about how to respond.
Department of Homeland Security: DHS personnel received a message from the department’s deputy under secretary for management, R.D. Alles, telling them not to respond for now, according to an email obtained by CNN.
“DHS management will respond on behalf of the department and all of its component offices,” the email, dated Sunday, reads. “No reporting action from you is needed at this time. For now, please pause any responses outside of your DHS chain of command.”
Social Security Administration: Social Security workers are being told to comply with the email’s instructions.
In an email titled “Time Sensitive: ‘Accomplishments’ Assignment,” workers were told that the OPM email was legitimate and that they should comply with the request to list five bullet points on what they’ve done.
Staffers were encouraged to identify their most “impactful, mission-critical work accomplishments” in the email, which was reviewed by CNN. The email noted that employees should not include any sensitive or confidential information.
Department of Health and Human Services: HHS told employees Sunday morning that the OPM email was legitimate and that staffers should read and respond to it by the 11:59 p.m. ET Monday deadline. But the agency reversed its guidance Sunday afternoon, telling employees to “pause” activities in answering the email. The second email noted that HHS leadership is working with OPM officials on how best meet the office’s email intent “while being mindful of the sensitivity of the information and initiatives” at the agency. Employees will get additional guidance on Monday on how to meet the deadline.
Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, which are part of HHS, had already been told by individual agencies to wait until Monday for more guidance. On Sunday afternoon, staffers at these divisions received the email from HHS telling them to pause responding.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Employees at the bureau, which the Trump administration is hoping to dismantle, received an email from the agency’s chief operating officer on Sunday directing them to respond to the OPM email by the Monday night deadline.
However, many of the bureau’s employees were told to stop working by acting head Russell Vought earlier this month. So the email they received Sunday said: “CFPB Leadership understands that certain work tasks have stopped. If you were not able to perform tasks/work as a result, you may reply and simply reference that you were complying with the current work stoppage.”
This post has been updated with additional agencies.
CNN’s Meg Tirrell contributed to this report.
A Wisconsin Republican congressman faced heated town hall meetings on Friday, where voters passionately voiced their concerns about Trump administration officials, CNN affiliate TMJ4 reported.
In a video following the town hall in Oshkosh, a woman confronted GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman regarding Elon Musk and others in government, saying they had used derogatory labels for people with disabilities. Grothman, seen walking away from her, replied, “I don’t believe it.” Someone off-camera was heard saying, “Stand up for the people who elected you.”
Melissa Custer told CNN she arrived at the town hall 20 minutes early but was unable to enter because officials were turning people away due to fire code regulations. As she waited outside, she captured a video of constituents booing Grothman when he got out of his car.
In the video, you can hear a man yell at Grothman to “grow a spine.” Custer said people there were “upset, angry, and scared.”
The lawmaker faced concerns related to Medicare and Medicaid, diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and Social Security, receiving some boos during packed town halls across northeast Wisconsin last week, according to CNN affiliate WBAY.
CNN has reached out to Grothman’s office for comment.
Tough reception back home for some GOP lawmakers: Grothman is not the only Republican congressman to face pushback during constituent outreach in recent days.
Fellow Wisconsin Rep. Scott Fitzgerald was questioned by fired-up residents about Ukraine and Musk during a town hall Thursday. GOP Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia faced some tough criticism and occasional boos from constituents at an event Thursday, while GOP Rep. Cliff Bentz of Oregon faced a similar reaction during a town hall Wednesday.
CNN’s Shania Shelton contributed to this report.
Calling the Trump administration’s email demanding federal employees say what they are working on “illegal,” the National Federation of Federal Employees advised members to forward the email to their immediate supervisors and ask for guidance.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal union, gave similar guidance to its members, saying workers should ask their supervisors what information can be disclosed to the Office of Personnel Management, which sent the Saturday afternoon email blast. The union said it will provide further guidance Monday.
OPM’s mass email followed a post on X by Elon Musk on Saturday, in which he said failure to respond to the email would be considered a resignation.
Elsewhere, the National Treasury Employees Union is advising members not to respond yet, while the union confers on next steps, a spokesperson told CNN. It called the email “unAmerican” in a statement on Saturday.
NFFE told members it understands that many employees cannot say what they are working on because of security issues, and that others may be unable to comply by the deadline of 11:59 pm Monday because they are on leave or special assignment. The union said federal employees have privacy rights and the request from a general OPM email address may violate those rights.
AFGE said it will challenge any attempt to fire workers and has contacted OPM to reverse the instruction or clarify its authority to issue such a request. NFFE said it will do the same.
AFGE told members that Musk has “no known authority” to claim that nonresponses will be taken as terminations, and that OPM does not have the authority to give such an assignment to federal employees in this manner.
President Donald Trump mocked the controversy surrounding Elon Musk’s latest threat to cut federal employees, posting a “SpongeBob SquarePants” meme Sunday that ridiculed the situation.
“Got done last week,” the image reads, followed by a list of five bullet points: “Cried about Trump, cried about Elon, made it into the office for once, read some emails, cried about Trump and Elon some more.”
The post comes after employees began receiving emails Saturday afternoon asking them to write “approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week.” In a post on social media, Musk threatened the jobs of workers who do not comply, saying “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
As CNN previously reported, some agencies have advised workers not to respond to the email yet — notably at agencies where much or all of employees’ duties may be sensitive.
Mass layoffs across the federal government, the country’s largest employer, have led to widespread confusion and disrupted critical work on everything from federal cybersecurity to life-saving medical research.
Trump’s post comes on the same day Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah asked Musk to “put a dose of compassion” into the Department of Government Efficiency’s downsizing efforts.
President Donald Trump shared congratulations on social media to the “Conservative Party in Germany” on what he described as a major election victory on Sunday.
The conservative Christian Democratic Union party tops the vote in the German elections, exit polls project, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) almost doubled its vote share and surged into second place.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump framed the result as a rejection of progressive policies on energy and immigration, drawing parallels between Germany’s political climate and that of the United States. Trump linked the outcome to his own win, suggesting that the political momentum was shifting globally in favor of conservative movements.
Friedrich Merz is projected to become Germany’s next chancellor after exit polls indicate his center-right CDU party secured the most votes in the elections, with economic challenges and immigration as key issues for voters.
Remember: Two members of Trump’s inner circle, Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance, controversially waded into German politics ahead of the elections. Vance met with AfD leader Alice Weidel and Musk appeared virtually at a campaign event for the party, which has been iced out by the country’s mainstream parties over its staunch anti-immigrant stance and other far-right views.
CNN’s Ivana Kottasová and Sophie Tanno contributed reporting to this post.
US immigration officials launched a new round of enforcement operations in the Los Angeles area Sunday, according to two people familiar with the effort.
The operations in Southern California follow recent efforts ordered by the Trump administration to arrest people unlawfully residing in places like Chicago and New York.
Video posted on social media by community activists appeared to show federal agents gathered outside one home east of downtown Los Angeles.
It is unclear how many people have been detained as part of Sunday’s operations. CNN has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment.
Sources previously told CNN that US immigration officials were planning for a wave of enforcement actions to detain and deport people in the Los Angeles area.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were expected to be assisted by agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, FBI, and US Customs and Border Protection, sources said.
Los Angeles is one of a number of Democratic-led cities in California, Colorado and Illinois that have instituted sanctuary city policies restricting cooperation with federal immigration officials’ efforts to arrest, detain or gather information on migrants.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.
NASA leadership is working to issue guidance on how workers should respond to this weekend’s email blast from the Office of Personnel Management, which Elon Musk has said will lead to dismissals for federal employees who do not respond.
The emails, titled “What did you do last week?” instruct workers to respond in bulleted format summarizing their recent duties by Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Nicky Fox, the head of NASA’s science mission directorate (SMD), sent an email to employees on Saturday afternoon saying the email was an “opportunity to showcase the great work we do in SMD.”
“In just the next two weeks we have 4 launches and 2 lunar landings with missions that will expand our understanding of the first stages of the universe, the nature of space weather, and characterize the lunar surface in preparation for our return to the moon,” Fox’s email, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, reads.
But on Sunday morning, Fox sent a follow-up email reading, “Update. Please go ahead and prepare your bullets but do not submit to OPM until you receive further guidance from your supervisor.”
Three additional emails from NASA leaders that were obtained by CNN offer similar guidance, asking workers to wait until Monday before taking action.
One NASA employee noted that they did not receive any communication. But the source highlighted that they were given guidance a few weeks ago not to check or send work email when not on duty in response to the return-to-office executive order.
When reached for comment on Sunday, a NASA spokesperson said, “we are anticipating sending some additional guidance to our workforce tomorrow.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel could resume “intense warfare” in Gaza “at any moment,” at a precarious time for the ceasefire deal with Hamas.
His comments come a day after Israel delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinians prisoners and detainees who were set to be freed after Hamas returned six hostages. Israel has taken issue with the use of exchanges as propaganda opportunities for the militant group.
During his speech, Netanyahu repeatedly thanked US President Donald Trump for his support, saying it played a role in securing the release of Israeli hostages, and alluded to post-war plans for the Palestinian enclave.
“Trump sees eye to eye with us. We support his plan to allow freedom of movement from Gaza and create a different Gaza,” the prime minister said.
Earlier this month, Trump said that Palestinians should be permanently relocated from Gaza so the US could take control of the territory and turn it into a new “Riviera,” which prompted swift backlash across the Middle East and Europe.
Coming up this week: Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy for the Middle East, will return to the region in the coming days for talks on maintaining the fragile ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
Witkoff told CNN on Sunday that he still expects the agreement to enter a second phase, despite questions about its future. Talks to begin the second phase, which would see the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of all living hostages held by Hamas, were supposed to begin more than two weeks ago.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan on Sunday dismissed criticism over the Department of Government Efficiency’s mass layoffs of federal workers, arguing that while “some mistakes” were made, the pushback to the firings has been “ridiculous.”
Appearing on Fox News, Jordan referred to a Washington Post report on how the layoffs have impacted national parks, and that the only locksmith at Yosemite National Park who knew how to rescue visitors from locked restrooms was fired.
He also insisted House Republicans aren’t looking to make cuts to Medicaid, saying he doesn’t consider it a cut to implement “common sense” work requirements in order to receive the benefit.
Broader impact of firings: The layoffs at federal agencies have had severe impacts far beyond national parks.
The Trump administration recently scrambled amid a flood of criticism to claw back employees they fired without realizing they manage the country’s nuclear weapons, sources told CNN. Dozens have been fired at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency despite hacking threats, and officials warn that a purge of federal health agencies could have “deadly consequences.”
Republican senator strikes a different tone: GOP Sen. John Curtis of Utah asked Elon Musk to “put a dose of compassion” into DOGE’s downsizing efforts during an interview Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“These are real people. These are real lives,” Curtis said. “It’s a false narrative to say we have to cut, and you have to be cruel to do it, as well. We can do both.”
This post has been updated with Sen. John Curtis’ remarks.
CNN’s Keely Aouga, Zachary Cohen, Ella Nilsen, Rene Marsh, Meg Tirrell and Sunlen Serfaty contributed to this report.
Elon Musk sent his latest shockwave through the federal workforce on Saturday when he announced that all employees would be receiving emails asking them to explain what work they did last week — and that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
The email blast caused fear and confusion for workers across the country.
One federal worker told CNN they find the demand “insulting” and “absolutely mind-blowing,” especially considering their activity at work is already tracked.
Another federal staffer told CNN they feel compelled to reply.
“Personally, I’m afraid to not respond by the deadline based on Elon’s tweets that nonresponse would be considered a resignation,” said the worker, who noted that their friends at another agency “are on the fence on whether to respond with actual accomplishments or to respond with bullets of the oath we took to the Constitution.”
The head of a top union representing federal workers lambasted Musk’s ultimatum, saying the group would fight any “unlawful terminations.”
The head of the National Treasury Employees Union also swiftly criticized the move, calling it “completely unAmerican” in a statement vowing to defend civil servants.
If you’re just catching up on the email ultimatum, here’s what to know.
President Donald Trump will sit with two key European leaders at the White House in the coming days after a week that saw him reverse US policy on Russia’s war in Ukraine, falsely accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of starting the conflict and echoing other Moscow talking points.
Trump and his administration have been engaged with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the potential terms of a deal to end the fighting, while also negotiating with Kyiv on a pact that would grant US access to 50% of Ukraine’s mineral revenues as back-payment for American assistance.
Here’s what top Trump officials and US lawmakers are saying about the latest developments:
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: The defense secretary vowed Sunday to be tough with Moscow, saying, “you’ve got to stare down the Russians” to negotiate the end of the war — but he declined to expressly blame Russia for its invasion.
“The reality is, the president is focused on one thing and one thing only, and that’s stopping the killing and the destruction across Ukraine,” Hegseth said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
Hegseth vowed to have “earnest conversations about difficult things” with both Russia and Ukraine. But he demurred when pressed on who bears responsibility for starting the conflict.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: The treasury secretary said Trump’s Ukrainian mineral proposal is intended to demonstrate to Russia long-term economic ties between Washington and Kyiv.
Voicing optimism the deal would be signed this week, Bessent said Moscow had already expressed its displeasure at such an arrangement. “The Russians hate this deal,” he said, dubbing it an “economic security guarantee” that would ensure it’s in the US’ best interest to protect the Ukrainian economy.
GOP Rep. Don Bacon: The Republican, who represents a Nebraska swing district, told CNN he was angered by Trump blaming Ukraine for starting the war, calling it “victim blaming.”
Democratic Rep. Jim Himes: The Connecticut lawmaker and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee said he did not agree with the Trump administration’s approach surrounding the minerals deal, telling Fox News, “It just looks like an episode of ‘The Sopranos.’”
Himes said Trump “is standing with the bad guy” and demanding concessions from an imperiled Ukraine, like “some mafia thing.” He also suggested Chinese President Xi Jinping is looking at the latest developments as a signal for a potential future conflict with Taiwan.
GOP Rep. Mike Lawler: The New York congressman, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he “did not agree with the president’s rhetoric” about Zelensky and emphasized the need for unity between the US and Ukraine in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Vladimir Putin is a vile dictator and thug, and he is clearly responsible for the war in Ukraine,” Lawler said. “Russia, China and Iran have been working in a coordinated effort to undermine and destabilize the United States, Europe, Israel and the free world. They are not our allies or our friends, and we must be clear-eyed about that.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth defended President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown and other senior officers in a major shake-up of senior military leadership last week.
“The president deserves to pick his key national security and military advisory team. There are lots of presidents who’ve made changes,” Hegseth said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trump fired Brown on Friday night, replacing him with retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan “Razin” Caine. Shortly after, Hegseth dismissed the chief of the US Navy and the vice chief of the Air Force.
Hegseth, addressing Trump’s decision to overhaul top military positions, reiterated the administration’s commitment to aligning leadership with its national security vision.
“This is a reflection of the president wanting the right people around him to execute the national security approach we want to take,” Hegseth said.
“I have a lot of respect for C.Q. Brown; I got to know him over the course of a month. He’s an honorable man, not the right man for the moment,” he added.
GOP congressman objects to Brown’s firing: Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from a Nebraska swing district, objected to Trump’s firing of Brown.
“I was a colonel and a one-star with C.Q. Brown. He did not deserve to be fired,” Bacon, who served in combat in the Air Force, told CNN. “The military is resilient. I’m just worried about the lack of decency and class.”
CNN’s Manu Raju contributed reporting to this post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he was “ready” to resign as leader if it meant peace in his country, suggesting he could swap stepping down for NATO membership.
Some background: The Ukrainian president previously said his country’s army will need to double in size if NATO denies it membership to the alliance. Earlier this month, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Kyiv joining NATO — a long-held goal — was unrealistic.
Zelensky’s comments follow an escalating spat between the Ukrainian president and Donald Trump after the US president falsely accused Ukraine of starting the conflict and called Zelensky a “dictator.”