Trump administration cuts tens of millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood – as it happened (2025)

• Trump said Wednesday will be “Liberation Day” when he announces reciprocal tariffs on nearly all US trading partners. Global stock markets were a sea of red on Monday and investors fled to gold amid recession fears.

• The Trump administration has announced a review of federal contracts and grants at Harvard University over allegations of antisemitism.

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• Senate majority leader John Thune said he believes Donald Trump is “probably messing with you” with his remarks on Sunday that there are “methods” by which he could run for a third term.

• A coalition of civil rights groups filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block portions of Donald Trump’s executive order that would require voters to prove their citizenship in order to vote.

• Trump took aim at ticket scalping in a new executive order signed today, which directs the Department of Justice and the FTC to crack down on ticket resellers who price-gouge.

• Tens of millions of dollars is being withheld for Planned Parenthood chapters across the US in an attempt by the Trump administration to force the clinics to change their operations.

• A federal judge has put the Trump administration plans to deport hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants on pause, ruling Monday that protections struck down by officials should be reinstated while lawsuits continue.

Some GOP senators are speaking out against Trump’s tariffs on Canada and are considering signing on their support for a resolution blocking them, CNN reports.

Senator Rand Paul has signed on as a cosponsor of the resolution, expected to come to a vote tomorrow. Senator Susan Collins, meanwhile, highlighted how the brewing trade war could impact Maine.

“Imposing tariffs on Canada, which is our closest neighbor, a friendly ally, is a huge mistake and will cause disruption in the economies of both countries,” Collins told reporters on Monday, who noted that she wore a Canadian flag pin alongside a US flag pin on her lapel.

At least four Republicans must join the 47 Democrats who have pledged support for the resolution for it to pass. But, according to Politico, it’s unlikely to get a vote in the House.

GOP leadership worked language into the stopgap funding bill to bar any member of Congress from calling for a vote on Trump’s policies connected to declared national emergencies, including the fentanyl emergency cited as the justification for the tariffs.

Former congressman Anthony D’Esposito has been nominated by Trump as inspector general for the labor department. D’Esposito, a former NYPD detective who lost his bid for re-election in 2024 after just two years in office, came under fire last year after a NYT investigation revealed he had put a woman he was having an affair with and his fiancee’s daughter on his payroll. He paid them a combined total of $29,000 and the actions could have violated congressional code of conduct rules.

D’Esposito denied any wrongdoing at the time, and called the investigation a “partisan ‘hit piece’”.

The independent watchdogs are tasked with rooting out fraud, waste and abuse in federal agencies. The position has been vacant since Trump fired former labor department IG, Larry Turner, along with 16 other IGs during his first week in office.

Trump said at the time he would “put good people in there that will be very good”.

A federal judge has put the Trump administration plans to deport hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants on pause, ruling Monday that protections struck down by officials should be reinstated while lawsuits continue.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) enables migrants escaping armed conflicts, natural disasters or other destabilizing issues to live and work in the US. Trump administration officials sought to end the humanitarian protections – which are codified by law – for Venezuelans who were granted 18-month extensions by the Biden administration.

Ending the initiative could enable officials to deport close to 350,000 people, the New York Times reports, with hundreds of thousands more facing uncertainty later this year.

Judge Edward M Chen, a federal judge in San Francisco, found that the actions, undertaken by homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, would inflict severe harm, both on migrants and their families, and on communities across the US.

From the NYT:

In his ruling on Monday, Judge Chen said the government had failed “to identify any real countervailing harm” in continuing the program for Venezuelan TPS holders. He said the plaintiffs had also demonstrated they were likely to succeed in showing that the actions taken by the Ms. Noem were “unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus.”

The secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has issued an order to eliminate gender-specific physical fitness standards for combat roles in the military, a move that could mean fewer women will qualify for those positions.

“All combat roles are open to men and women but they must all meet the same, high standard,” Hegseth said in a post on social media. “No standards will be lowered and all combat roles will only have sex-neutral standards.”

Tens of millions of dollars is being withheld for Planned Parenthood chapters across the US in an attempt by the Trump administration to force the clinics to change their operations, Politico reports.

The clinics, which provide important healthcare services for low-income Americans have been cited for “possible violations” of the president’s executive orders, according to letters issued to nine chapters on Monday.

The Department of Health and Human Services has given the organization 10 days to provide evidence they will comply with the executive orders including those that ban diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The administration referenced Planned Parenthood’s mission statements and other public-facing messaging that highlight their “commitment to black communities” and also stated the funding was being frozen due to the organization’s willingness to serve undocumented immigrants.

More from Politico:

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement that the withheld funds would cause ‘devastation.’

‘We know what happens when health care providers cannot use Title X funding: people across the country suffer, cancers go undetected, access to birth control is severely reduced, and the nation’s STI crisis worsens,’ she said.

Trump took aim at ticket scalping in a new executive order signed today, which directs the Department of Justice and the FTC to crack down on ticket resellers who price-gouge.

“I didn’t know too much about it but I checked it out and it is a big problem,” Trump said before he signed the order, adding that his friend, Kid Rock – or Bob, as the president referred to him – had been trying to do something about it for 20 years.

Robert Ritchie, better known by his moniker “Kid Rock”, was clad in a head-to-toe bright red ensemble, complete with an American flag decal emblazoned across his middle, and stood to Trump’s right with his hands folded until he was asked to speak.

“It doesn’t matter your politics,” Kid Rock said, outlining how the issue has impacted his ability to offer lower-priced entry to his concerts for fans. “The artists don’t see any of that money and ultimately I think this is a great first step.”

The order directs officials at the FTC and the justice department to ensure scalpers comply with tax rules and pushes for more price transparency through the ticket-selling process. But Kid Rock is hoping for more.

“I would love down the road if there would be legislation and we can put a cap on the resale of tickets,” he said. “I am a capitalist and a deregulation guy,” he added with a laugh. “But they have tried this in some places in Europe and it seems to be the only thing for us as artists to be able to get the tickets into the hands of the fans at the prices we set.”

House majority leader Steve Scalise has dismissed the idea of Donald Trump seeking a third term, suggesting that the president’s remarks yesterday were designed to “get people talking”.

“I don’t know what he was referring to. I never saw it,” Scalise told NBC News, adding:

You know, you see it like with Greenland, like with Panama canal. There’s a lot of things the president talks about. Ultimately, it gets people talking and addresses some other issues too.

Asked if he would support changing the US Constitution to allow Trump to run for a third term, he said:

There’s no proposal to change the constitution right now.

Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order today aimed at protecting fans from “exploitative ticket scalping”, a White House official said.

The order directs the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and attorney general, Pam Bondi, to ensure that ticket scalpers are in full compliance with the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service and others applicable law, according to a fact sheet seen by Reuters.

The order directs the Federal Trade Commission to ensure that competition laws are appropriately enforced in the concert and entertainment industry, it said.

Florida congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican, has left the hard-right House Freedom caucus, according to multiple reports.

“With a heavy heart, I am resigning from the Freedom Caucus,” Luna wrote in a letter obtained by Axios. Luna, a strong Trump ally, is the fourth member that the Freedom caucus has lost or ejected in the last two years, it says.

According to reports, her withdrawal comes amid a break with her colleagues on whether the House should allow proxy voting for new parents.