Trump rages against ‘highly political’ judges hell-bent on stopping DOGE: Live updates

Trump given power to rename Greenland ‘Red, White and Blueland’
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By KATELYN CARALLE, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER and NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT

Published: 07:44 EST, 11 February 2025 | Updated: 18:42 EST, 11 February 2025

President Donald Trump said that his plan to take over the Gaza strip is ‘going to work out’ alongside King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House.

However, Abdullah demurred when he was put on the spot about Trump’s Middle Eastern Riviera plan, saying ‘let’s wait until the Egyptians’ have a chance to respond when asked about the president’s ideas.

Abdullah did commit to accepting 2,000 sick Palestinian children into Jordan.

Last night, Trump threatened to cut off aid to Jordan and Egypt if the countries don’t accept Palestinians from Gaza.

Follow the latest with the DailyMail.com live blog

Trump says the U.S. will ‘cherish’ Gaza, as King Abdullah commits to taking in 2,000 Palestinian children

President Donald Trump speaks with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent at the White House

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. will ‘cherish’ Gaza, during a meeting alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II, brushing off reporters asking for details on how the U.S. would take ownership over the wartorn Palestinian territory.

‘We’re not going to have to buy. We’re going to have Gaza. We don’t have to buy, there’s nothing to buy. We will have Gaza. There’s no reason to buy. There is nothing to buy – it’s Gaza, it’s a wartorn area,’ Trump said. ‘We’re going to take it, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it.’

Abdullah said that Jordan planned to accept 2,000 Palestinian children – while Trump’s larger plans for the region would mean moving 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and into neighboring countries.

‘I didn’t know that. What you just said – 2,000 children with cancer or other problems,’ Trump told the king. ‘And that’s really a beautiful gesture, that’s really good and we appreciate it.’

Abdullah demurred when asked about Trump’s larger plan – for the U.S. to take over Gaza and turn it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’

‘I think that we have to keep in mind that there is a plan from Egypt and the Arab countries,’ the king said.

At another point, Abdullah addded, ‘As I said we will be in Saudi Arabia to discuss how we can work with the president and with the United States. So I think let’s wait until the Egyptians can come and present it to the president and let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’

During the 20-minute back-and-forth, Trump also walked back the threat that he could cut Jordan and Egypt’s foreign aid if they didn’t endorse his Gaza plan.

‘No, I think we’ll do something. I don’t have to threaten with money,’ Trump said. ‘We do – we contribute a lot of money to Jordan and to Egypt, by the way, a lot, to both, but I don’t have to threaten that. I think we’re above that. I do believe we’re above that.’

Trump to greet Marc Fogel on his return from Russia after being freed from prison

Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher detained in Russia since August 2021, gestures on an airplane flying him back to the United States after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff secured his release February 11, 2025. Adam Boehler/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY

The White House said President Donald Trump will welcome formerly detained American Marc Fogel at 10 pm tonight when he returns from Russia.

‘If you want to come over, you can say hello,’ Trump told reporters.

Asked if the U.S. side gave anything in return him, Trump replied: ‘Not much.’

He added: ‘No, they were very nice. We were treated very nicely by Russia. Actually, I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war, and millions of people can stop being killed.’

Elon Musk vows to root out the highest-paid corrupt DC bureaucrats

Elon Musk joked in the Oval Office Tuesday that the scrutiny the Department of Government Efficiency is receiving is like receiving a ‘daily proctology exam’ but vowed to root out the highest-paid D.C. bureaucrats.

Musk and his son X took over the Oval Tuesday afternoon to mark President Donald Trump signing a DOGE-centric executive order.

Trump bars AP from Oval Office after news outlet won’t use ‘Gulf of America’

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Donald Trump and his staff kept an Associated Press reporter out of an Oval Office event on Tuesday because the news organization didn’t use ‘Gulf of America’ in its coverage.

‘Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing,’ AP’s executive editor Julie Pace said in a statement.

News organizations around the world subscribe to the AP’s wire coverage of global events, including the White House.

Pace called the White House decision ‘alarming,’ a violation of the First Amendment and impeding the public’s access to independent news.

Trump signed an executive order on Sunday renaming the Gulf of Mexico ‘The Gulf of America.’ The AP was banned from covering his Oval Office event with Elon Musk.

In its AP Stylebook, which is used by many news organizations in America, the AP outlines its use of the name: ‘The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.’

It points out ‘the body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.’

Trump names new DEA Administrator

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he is picking Terry Cole to serve as the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

This agency is already helping conduct the Homeland Security raids rouding up illegal immigrants and drug traffickers.

Cole has worked for the DEA for 21 years and is currently Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security.

‘Together, we will save lives, and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN. Congratulations Terry!’ Trump posted to Truth Social

MAGA head of JFK files task force claims there were TWO shooters and pledges to uncover more secrets

Trump ally Anna Paulina Luna made a stunning claim about former President JFK’s assassination as she takes over as chair of a new task force that will expose some of the most scintillating government secrets.

Luna says her team will declassify some of the most sought after secrets like documents about John F. Kennedy’s murder and files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

She will also push to expose what the U.S. government knows about UFOs, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and other areas of national interest.

What could be in newly discovered secret JFK assassination files

Social media goes wild after Chuck Schumer launches new whistleblower ‘tip line’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer launched a corruption tip website for whistleblowers but the effort backfired spectacularly as conservatives swarmed it to report Democrats.

The New York lawmaker announced the portal in a post on X where he called for public servants to fill out a form if they have a complaint to report.

It comes as the Trump administration has been working to shutter federal agencies, shrink the workforce and freeze federal funding in a series of moves that have caused chaos and confusion for workers across the government.

‘I’m launching a new portal for anyone who wants to expose corruption, abuses of power, and threats to public safety with the legal protections of being a whistleblower,’ Schumer wrote.

More than 30,000 people responded to his post with many users blasting Democrats with their own accusations.

Democrat says Kash Patel may have committed perjury at his confirmation hearing

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter on Capitol Hill:

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin says President Trump’s pick to lead the FBI Kash Patel may have perjured himself during his confirmation hearing.

The Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member said credible whistleblowers have disclosed to his staff information indicating that Patel has been personally directing the purge of senior law enforcement officials at the FBI.

‘According to my sources, Mr. Patel is receiving information from within the FBI from the Director’s Advisory Team,’ Durbin said.

‘Mr. Patel then provides direction to Stephen Miller, who relays it to Acting Deputy Attorney General Bove,’ he continued.

Durbin said it is unacceptable for a nominee without a current government role to personally direct the firing of nonpartisan FBI professionals.

‘If these allegations are true, then Mr. Patel may have committed perjury before the Senate Judiciary Committee,’ Durbin said on the floor of the Senate.

Durbin pointed to questioning by Senator Booker during the hearing who asked if Patel was aware of plans or discussions to punish FBI agents associated with Trump investigations, wo which Patel said he was not.

‘Yet, if these whistleblower allegations are true, just two days prior, Stephen Miller, at Mr. Patel’s direction, had ordered DOJ leadership not just to terminate a specific list of officials, but to speed up those terminations,’ Durbin said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley dismissed the accusations callling them nothing more than hearsay.

Trump to sign executive order drastically cutting the size of the federal workforce

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent at the White House

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday afternoon that will ‘significantly’ trim the federal workforce.

Semafor first reported details on the order, in which agencies are being directed to work with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency and only hire for ‘essential positions.’

The directive will tell the agencies to hire ‘no more than one employee for every four employees’ who have left.

Trump surprised at Jordan King’s response to Gaza take over plan

Trump meets with Jordan’s King after saying he would cut aid to country if it didn’t accept Palestinians

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump, Jordan's King Abdullah and Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein meet at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent at the White House

‘He’s a great man,’ Trump said of Abdullah as they stood outside the West Wing.

Trump also answered in the affirmative when asked if the deadline for Hamas to turn over hostages to Israel was still on Saturday.

‘I do,’ Trump also expressed when asked if Hamas’ leaders would listen to him.

Their Oval Office meeting was initially closed to press but then reporters were called to capture a portion of the meeting after all.

Trump’s pitch to turn wartorn Gaza into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ – by moving Palestinians to neighboring countries – has not been well received by the leaders of Jordan and Egypt.

DOGE starts purge of FEMA by firing top agents who put up illegal migrants in 5-star hotels

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security just fired FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans.

It comes after it was revealed by Elon Musk’s DOGE that FEMA paid $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal immigrants.

Three others involved in the disbursement of the funds also lost their jobs, a DHS official disclosed to DailyMail.com.

‘Effective immediately, FEMA is terminating the employment of four individuals for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,’ Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

‘Firings include FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist,’ she noted.

Breaking:Trump ally Steve Bannon learns if he’ll go back to prison after pleading guilty to ‘build the wall’ fundraising scheme

The prosecutor on the case said that the parties had ‘worked out a plea agreement’ and Bannon won’t be serving any prison time.

‘The parties have worked out a plea agreement. Mr. Bannon will plead guilty to count 5 of the indictment, which is scheme to defraud in the indictment. He will receive a conditional discharge,’ attorney Jeffrey Levinson said.

Bannon already served time behind bars after being convicted of contempt of Congress.

Steve Bannon, former advisor of U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks to the press, after pleading guilty, on the day of a pre-trial conference hearing in his fraud case stemming from a fundraising effort to build a border wall, at the New York Criminal Court, in New York City, U.S., February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

11th Circuit drops case against Trump valet and property manager at Mar-a-Lago

The 11th Circuit finally dropped the case against President Donald Trump’s valet and property manager at Mar-a-Lago after they were charged with obstructing the FBI’s search at his club for classified documents in his possession.

The Justice Department ended the criminal case two weeks ago, even after it was dismissed in July by U.S. district Judge Aileen Cannon.

Cannon tossed out the case, finding that the special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed.

Trump given power to rename Greenland ‘Red, White and Blueland’

President Donald Trump would have the power to rename Greenland the ‘Red, White and Blueland,’ under a new bill introduced in Congress.

The legislation gives Trump the power to enter into negotiations with Denmark to acquire Greenland and give the island the new moniker.

Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia introduced the bill on Monday. It still needs to pass the House and Senate.

Trump claims America needs the island for security reasons. He’s also been on a renaming kick: on Sunday he signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

Jared Kushner takes on role in Trump’s Gaza takeover

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C. last week for meetings with President Donald Trump, he also privately huddled with Jared Kushner, according to Axios.

Bibi and Kushner discussed the U.S. president’s recently proposed plans to rebuild Gaza. They also discussed other matters related to Israeli and Middle East relations.

It comes after Trump divulged in an interview that aired Monday evening that he doesn’t see a situation where Palestinians could return to the only land they’ve ever known as home if he were to go in and help develop the war-torn Gaza Strip.

In Trump’s first term, Kushner helped negotiate the Abraham Accords in a historic move to forge relationships with Israel and its neighboring countries in the hostile region.

And reports emerged earlier this year that Kushner, who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka, would take on an unofficial advisement role from afar regarding Middle East affairs after previously saying he would not be involved in his father-in-law’s second term.

Chelsea Clinton breaks silence on claims she received $84million from USAID

Chelsea Clinton claims that ‘misinformation’ has been weaponized against her after claims she was gifted $84million from the under fire United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have attempted to shut down the embattled government agency tasked with humanitarian relief overseas after they agreed the organization was ‘beyond repair’ and wasting billions.

The billionaire ‘first buddy’ led a civilian review of the federal government with Trump’s go-ahead and decided this week to shut down the agency.

The US is by far the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid, with USAID administering billions of dollars in humanitarian, development and security assistance in more than 100 countries.

Trump closing government early, allowing telework for impending snowstorm

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Donald Trump is allowing federal workers to leave early on Tuesday or to telework due to an impending snowstorm in Washington D.C.

Federal offices are closing at 2 p.m. ET.

Snow is expected to star falling in Capitol region in the afternoon and turn into rain overnight. Tuesday’s weather is the second in a trio of storms dropping bad weather across the country.

‘Federal offices in the DC area are OPEN but have a staggered early departure with the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. Employees must depart by 2:00PM ET at which time Federal offices are closed,’ the Office of Personnel Management wrote on social media.

Trump rails against ‘highly political’ judges stopping DOGE from ripping apart fraud and abuse

Billions of Dollars of FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE, has already been found in the investigation of our incompetently run Government. Now certain activists and highly political judges want us to slow down, or stop. Losing this momentum will be very detrimental to finding the TRUTH, which is turning out to be a disaster for those involved in running our Government. Much left to find. No Excuses!!!

Trump’s post comes after his Vice President JD Vance questioned the authority of judges stopping the executive branch.

In a post to X, Vance wrote that if a judge ‘tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal.’

‘If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.’

Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed he agrees with Vance’s analysis when asked during a press conference Tuesday.

Trump threatens to cut off aid to Jordan and Egypt if countries don’t take Palestinians from Gaza

President Donald Trump said Monday night that he would be open to cutting off aid to Jordan and Egypt if the countries don’t accept Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office where he issued a final ultimatum to Hamas saying ‘all hell will break loose’ if every remaining hostage is not returned to Israel by noon on Saturday.

He was also asked more about his plan to have Palestinians move into nearby countries, including Jordan and Egypt, while the U.S. turns their homeland of Gaza into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East,’ a pitch he made alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week.

Pete Hegseth changes Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg after Army’s attempt to erase Confederate names

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Monday night that Fort Liberty would be again named Fort Bragg – but with a twist.

In 2023, Fort Bragg – located outside of Fayetteville, North Carolina – was renamed Fort Liberty, so that it would no longer be named after a Confederate general.

The base was originally named Fort Bragg in 1918 after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.

Trump threatens to cancel ceasefire deal and ‘let all hell break loose’ if all hostages are not released by noon on Saturday

President Donald Trump threatened Hamas that he would cancel Israel‘s ceasefire on Gaza and ‘let all hell break loose’ if all of the 76 remaining hostages are not released by noon on Saturday.

But he noted that the decision to end the ceasefire – which went into effect on January 20 – ultimately lies with the Israeli government.