The US Department of the Interior said it would further reduce its staff with a deferred resignation program and offers of voluntary early retirement.

Secretary Doug Burgum announced the move as part of a “strategic initiative to improve resource management” and “[streamline] outdated bureaucracy”.

“Effective stewardship requires disciplined management of the resources entrusted to us,” Burgum said in a press release. “By modernizing our operations we’re strengthening our ability to carry out Interior’s mission and deliver world-class service for the American people.”

The Trump administration has made significant job cuts across federal agencies over the last year, including in the interior department, which is down 11,000 employees.

Pete Hegseth is reportedly moving ahead with multiple firings within the Pentagon. The defense department confirmed earlier on Thursday that Randy George, a general and the US army chief of staff, had stepped down from his role after being asked to take early retirement.

The Washington Post is now reporting that others have also been ousted including David Hodne, the commanding general of the US army transformation and training command, and Maj Gen William Green Jr, the army’s chief of chaplains.

Donald Trump lavished praise on the National Capital Planning Commission on Thursday afternoon, describing the body as “hardworking” after authorities approved his $400m ballroom project.

“For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for Grand Parties, State Visits, and even, in the Modern Day, Inaugurations,” the president wrote. “I am honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project, which is on time and under budget, underway.”

The decision came after a judge ruled construction on the project must stop, and that work could not continue without approval from Congress, drawing ire from Trump.

Epstein accusations and pressure from the boss: Bondi’s time as Trump’s chief enforcer

Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, removing the nation’s chief law enforcement officer after months of mounting frustration over her handling of the Epstein files and her faltering attempts to prosecute the president’s political enemies.

“We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Thursday. He said she would be replaced by her deputy, Todd Blanche, on an interim basis.

Here’s a look at her tenure as attorney general:

The Pentagon has confirmed that Randy George, a general and the US army chief of staff, has been asked to take early retirement, the Associated Press reported.

George, the army’s top uniformed officer, has held his post since August 2023 and was expected to remain in the role until 2027. He previously served in the Gulf War and both Iraq and Afghanistan and worked as defense secretary Lloyd Austin’s top aide.

His ouster comes as Pete Hegseth has sought to remake the department of defense with the firings of military leaders – the secretary has fired more than a dozen top generals since last year.

Pam Bondi’s swift dismissal on Thursday underscores a reality that has met Trump loyalists from Jeff Sessions to Kristi Noem – no amount of loyalty is enough to save oneself from being dumped by Donald Trump.

Since the president assumed office last year, there have been few people more important to his effort to remake government than Bondi, his longtime friend.

It wasn’t enough.

Read the full analysis here:

Pete ‌Hegseth has reportedly asked ​Randy ​George, the US army chief ⁠of ​staff, to step down ​from his position.

CBS News reported on Tuesday that the defense secretary asked the general to retire rather than serve in the role until next year. The outlet, citing anonymous sources, said that Hegseth wanted to see George replaced with someone who will execute his and the president’s “vision” for the army.

The change was reportedly unrelated to a recent incident involving army training helicopters hovering over Kid Rock’s home. Hegseth had reversed the army’s suspension of the crews involved and said there would be no investigation of the matter.

Democrats continue to celebrate Bondi’s firing, while warning that the effects of her tenure at the justice department will “reverberate for years to come”.

California senator Alex Padilla said that Bondi’s DoJ pursued investigations into Trump’s political enemies, sought to “coerce” states into turning over voter rolls and “dodged accountability” over the Epstein files and that Americans “always deserved better”.

He added: “Trump has raised the price of our food, healthcare and gas, initiated an unauthorized war with Iran, and militarized federal agents against Americans. This firing does not change the facts of Trump’s disaster of an administration.”

Vice-President JD Vance will travel to Hungary next month to meet with prime minister Viktor Orbán.

Vance will be joined by second lady Usha Vance for the trip between 7 and 8 April – just days before Hungary’s general election. The vice-president will also deliver remarks on the “rich partnership between the United States and Hungary”, according to the White House.

Orbán, the far-right leader who has led the country for the past 16 years, is facing a tough re-election challenge. Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind the incumbent, who he considers a staunch ally.

“I hope he wins, and I hope he wins big,” Trump said of Orbán in February.

Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project received the approval of Washington’s planning authorities on Thursday, two days after a judge ruled work cannot proceed without Congress’s go-ahead.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which ​is chaired by one of Trump’s former lawyers, gave the green light to the “East Wing Modernization Project” on Thursday, describing the ballroom as just the latest stage over two centuries of continuous changes.

“While some might wish for history in the world to stand still, the fact of the matter is that the White House complex has constantly evolved to meet the programmatic needs of the federal government and the office of the president,” said commission chair William Scharf. “I believe that in time, this ballroom will be considered every bit as much of a national treasure as the other key components of the White House.”⁠

The justice department appealed against Tuesday’s ruling that the president cannot construct ​his planned ballroom on the site of the White ​House’s demolished ⁠East Wing without approval from Congress.

The federal judge in the case granted a request for a preliminary injunction by the National Trust for Historic ⁠Preservation, a ​non-profit organization that brought a lawsuit alleging Trump ​exceeded his authority when he razed the historic East Wing and launched construction on the ​new building.

The top Democrat on the House judiciary commitee, Jamie Raskin, said that Bondi’s tenure as attorney general “will be remembered as a profound betrayal not only of the Department of Justice but of the American people the Department exists to serve”.

He noted that Bondi’s work purging the department of prosecutors who were part of criminal investigations into Donald Trump, as well as her “grotesque mishandling of the Epstein files” will be part of her “shameful legacy”.

Raskin added that Bondi “used the machinery of federal law enforcement not to pursue justice, but to carry out political vendettas” at Trump’s direction. “Her firing today is long overdue, but it does not erase the damage done and it does not absolve her of accountability,” he said.

Annie Farmer, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, said in a statement on Thursday in response to Pam Bondi’s firing that “this is not about a single person” but rather “it is about a government and judicial system that has repeatedly failed Epstein survivors.”

“Regardless of who holds power, survivors deserve accountability, transparency, protection from retaliation, and assurance that those who enabled Epstein, Maxwell, and others will be investigated and, if appropriate, prosecuted,” added Farmer, who has said that she was 16 when she was abused by Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, heralded Pam Bondi’s firing.

“Good riddance,” he said, while noting “the rot at the Department of Justice begins and ends with Donald Trump.”

While leading the justice department, Bondi was a loyal foot soldier for the president’s campaign to target his perceived political enemies. Schumer added that the problems at the heart of the DoJ will continue, as long as Trump uses it “as a tool for revenge and not law enforcement”.

Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries, Schumer’s counterpart in the House, noted that “Pete Hegseth is next”.

Meanwhile, Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican and one of the most vocal GOP critics of the Jeffrey Epstein files, said she would welcome Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as the next attorney general, amid reports that he would take over the justice department permanently.

Writing on X, Mace said Bondi “handled the Epstein Files in a terrible manner and made this situation far worse than it had to be for President Trump”.

Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democratic representative from Florida, released a statement noting that Bondi is still expected to testify before the House oversight committee, noting that her ouster “does not get her out of that bipartisan, lawful subpoena. We will see her soon.”

Reactions are starting to come in to the news that Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi as attorney general.

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, welcomed Bondi’s ouster and said that she led “a White House cover-up of the Epstein files”.

A reminder that the oversight committee was leading an investigation into the government’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, and voted to subpoena Bondi in March. The committee chair, Republican James Comer, scheduled a hearing for 14 April.

Today, Garcia said that he still expects the ousted attorney general to testify.

“She will not escape accountability,” he said. “She must answer for her mishandling of the Epstein files and the special treatment she has given Ghislaine Maxwell.”

Bondi is the second cabinet member fired by the president during his second term in office. Kristi Noem was replaced by Markwayne Mullin as homeland security secretary last month.

“If they think we are moving on because they were fired, they are gravely mistaken,” Garcia said of the Democrats’ ongoing investigations into the former officials.

Mahmoud Khalil has asked Emil Bove, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and a current US circuit judge to step aside from an appellate panel weighing his deportation appeal.

According to Khalil’s lawyers, Bove, who was also previously the justice department’s principal associate deputy attorney general, “directed immigration enforcement investigations and decisions against student protestors on college campuses”.

They added that Bove’s work, including at Columbia University where Khalil graduated from, “demonstrated the existence, or at least the appearance of, a conflict of interest”.

The decision on whether to recuse himself from the third circuit court of appeals panel rests with Bove, the Associated Press reports.

Following the House session on Thursday morning over the Senate’s deal to fund the homeland security department, Virginia’s Democratic representative Don Beyer told reporters that he was pleased to see more Republicans gather behind the plan.

In response to whether House Republicans “caved”, Beyer said: “I’d rather say that they saw the wisdom of what was sent to them,” Politico reports.

Meanwhile, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called on House Republicans to “get to work and end the longest Republican shutdown in history,” adding that the “deep division and dysfunction among House Republicans is needlessly extending the DHS shutdown.”

Donald Trump has said the US will shortly achieve its objectives in its war against Iran, but it is not clear what exactly those objectives are.

The Guardian’s defense editor Dan Sabbagh has this analysis:

Eliminate Iran’s missile and drone threat:

In an eight-minute video released on 28 February, Trump promised that the US would “destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground”. Before the war Iran was estimated to have about 2,500 high-speed ballistic missiles and destroying the programme was a key goal for Israel too.

Iran’s missile launch rates have been reduced by about 90% and its long-term manufacturing capacity has been significantly degraded. However, Tehran has retained a continued, if modest, capacity to strike Israel and the Gulf, causing fear, damage and small numbers of casualties.

There have been seven to 19 waves of attacks a day on Israel by Iran since the fourth day of the war, according to the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies. The most heavily targeted Gulf state, the United Arab Emirates, said on Thursday its air defences had engaged 26 drones and 19 missiles from Iran.

However, sources told Reuters last week that the US could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about a third of Iran’s missile arsenal. On Wednesday Trump said the US was “hurting their … missile programme at levels never seen before” and that Iran’s missiles and drone launches had been “dramatically curtailed” – a notable softening of his opening position.

For the full analysis, click here:

A second Republican senator spoke out in defense of Nato on Thursday, joining Mitch McConnell and the Democrats, after Donald Trump said that he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing from the alliance after it refused to take part in the joint assault with Israel against Iran.

“Nato stood by America when we were under attack and came to our aid after the September 11th attacks. Their soldiers fought and died alongside our troops in Afghanistan,” said Thom Tillis, a Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, who co-chair the Senate Nato observer group.

“Any president that contemplates attempting to withdraw from NATO is not only fulfilling Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping’s greatest dreams but would be undermining America’s own national security interests.”

On Wednesday, McConnell, former Senate Republican leader, along with Chris Coons, a Democrat, said in a joint statement: “Nato troops fought and died in Afghanistan and Iraq alongside American forces. The United States must not take this sacrifice – nor our allies’ commitment to make it again – lightly.

“Alliance disputes are as old as the alliance itself. Americans are safer when Nato is strong and united. It is in our interest for all allies to tend this unity with care.” McConnell and Coons are the top Republican and Democrat, respectively, on the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee.

Read the full report here:

The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, criticized the House Republicans today for not taking up a bill to fund key subagencies at the DHS, despite announcing an agreement yesterday to move forward with the Senate-passed legislation.

The minority leader said GOP lawmakers need “to get to work”, while laying blame for the historic shutdown at Republicans’ feet.

A reminder that my colleagues are covering the latest developments out of the Middle East at our dedicated live blog. This includes reaction to Donald Trump’s address to the nation on Wednesday about the ongoing war on Iran.

During his televised speech, the president repeated that the military campaign against Iran take another “two to three weeks”.

He also reiterated that allies ought to help the US secure and reopen the strait of Hormuz, as the price of oil continues to whipsaw.

Donald Trump is in Washington today. According to the White House, the president doesn’t have any events or meetings open to the press.

At 2pm ET he’s set to sign executive orders. We’ll let you know if that opens up and bring you the latest.

French president Emmanuel Macron has said that US president Donald Trump was undermining Nato by creating “daily doubt about his commitment” to the North Atlantic alliance.

“If you create daily doubt about your commitment, you hollow it out,” Macron said during a state visit to Seoul, adding that there is “too much talk... going off in all directions”.

The US has lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, in the latest step towards normalising relations between the two countries after US forces abducted her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife.

The couple have since been taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges where both have pleaded not guilty.

The move to lift sanctions on Rodríguez, which was announced by the US Treasury Department on Wednesday, allows her to work more freely with US companies and investors. Without explicitly mentioning the sanctions targeting her, Rodríguez, in a statement, expressed hope for US-Venezuelan relations.

“We value President Donald Trump’s decision as a step toward normalising and strengthening relations between our countries,” she said on her Telegram channel after the Treasury’s announcement. “We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of current sanctions against our country, enabling us to build and guarantee an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our people.”

Rodríguez and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, were hit with sanctions during Trump’s first term over their role in allegedly undermining Venezuelan democracy.

Before Donald Trump declared “liberation day” on 2 April 2025 and shocked the world by raising import tariffs on nearly every country the US did business with, he had spent almost three months causing chaos in Washington.

The wholesale slashing of government jobs under Doge (the “department of government efficiency”) and the defunding of US aid agencies had shown White House watchers that the US president was in a hurry to upset institutions he considered profligate or useless.

Investors quickly understood that chaos was an essential tool in Trump’s armoury. Almost as soon as he was inaugurated, there was a steady decline in the value of the dollar against other currencies. Investors sold assets denominated in dollars and bought assets elsewhere: Europe, Asia, South America.

“If you think that discouraging investors from buying assets in the US is a victory, then you don’t believe in a growing economy,” said Dario Perkins, the head of global research at the consultancy TS Lombard. “If it was possible for Trump to have spent the last 14 months on the golf course, we would be in a better place.”

Russ Mould, the investment director of the British stockbroker AJ Bell, said:

America is still home to the world’s largest economy and its reserve currency, as well as the globe’s largest equity and bond markets, but investors continue to reassess their exposure one year on from liberation day.

The economy has either gone sideways or declined, depending on the preferred measure. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that US companies, which were supposed to be the victors in Trump’s new tariff war, stopped hiring almost as soon as liberation day was announced.

Significant revisions in February to data covering 2025 pushed payroll employment down by 403,000 jobs, resulting in the addition of 181,000 jobs last year. This small boost is set against the 163 million people who are employed in the US.