The Latest: Trump holds Cabinet meeting after weak GDP report

President Donald Trump and his Cabinet spent the better part of their meeting touting the administration’s record on everything from immigration to the economy.

But the Wednesday: The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace from January through March, the first drop in three years. It was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the United States tried to bring in foreign goods before Trump .

Here's the latest:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with top leaders of India and Pakistan

The conversations came as as the Trump administration moved to try to prevent another major international crisis while it seeks to navigate ends to both the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war.

In separate statements Wednesday, the State Department said Rubio encouraged both countries not to escalate the situation after last week’s , which India has blamed on Pakistan or Pakistani-supported militants. Pakistan has denied the allegations.

In his call with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Rubio ”expressed his sorrow for the lives lost in the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam, and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to cooperation with India against terrorism,” the State Department said.

Speaking with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Rubio called for Islamabad “to condemn the terror attack” and urged authorities to cooperate in investigation of the attack.

Rubio also encouraged both countries to de-escalate tensions and work with each other to maintain peace and security in the region, the State Department said.

Vance says Trump’s first 100 days were about bringing change ‘very quickly’

The vice president says the administration’s first 100 days were about hustling to bring major change but that, going forward, the pace of change may slow down.

“The next 100 days are going to be a lot of things that don’t change as quickly,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

He said, “The first 100 days, you can get a lot done with just the president’s signature on a piece of paper.”

The vice president also noted that, by contrast, “the next 100 days are going to be a lot of things where we need Congress, and, in some cases, some of our international partners, to step up to the plate.”

He singled out proposed tax cuts working their way through Congress and said the finished product could “juice the economy a little bit.”

Trump administration plans to remove a memorial wall to USAID’s fallen staffers

The administration has hired a contractor to remove the memorial wall from the now-closed headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, with no immediate word on where it will wind up.

Engraved tiles on the wall honor 99 USAID staffers killed in the line of duty since the agency’s creation in the early 1960s. Trump and Musk closed the headquarters and terminated most staff and projects within weeks of Trump’s inauguration.

The federal government posted notice Tuesday of a $41,142.16 contract to remove and relocate the memorial wall by June 6. Neither the State Department nor the contractor immediately responded to a question on where it would go.

Families of the dead, lawmakers and staffers have worried about whether the memorial would be treated respectfully amid the breakup of USAID. Supporters proposed moving it to the Smithsonian ��ɫֱ�� Museum of American History or the ��ɫֱ�� Cathedral, while a counterproposal suggested moving it to a rented office, a former USAID official familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

— Ellen Knickmeyer

Head Start providers sue to prevent further federal funding cuts

A group of Head Start parents and providers is suing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Health and Human Services Department, seeking a court order blocking any further cuts to the federally funded early education program.

Head Start was founded serves hundreds of thousands of the neediest preschoolers and their families across the country.

It typically has enjoyed bipartisan support, but President Donald Trump has slashed its staffing and shuttered half of its regional offices, leading to funding delays and some temporary closures. A Trump budget proposal seeks to .

The plaintiffs say the administration is exceeding its authority with the cuts. The administration’s actions, they say, violate laws that call for the funding of Head Start, among others.

An spokesperson at HHS said the agency “does not comment on ongoing litigation.”

Schumer calls Trump’s first 100 days a ‘failure’

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Trump’s first 100 days can be defined by “one big F word — failure.”

Democrats gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol denouncing the president’s agenda so far and blamed Republicans in Congress. Schumer said the GOP lawmakers are “complicit” and “co-conspirators” as Trump threatens democracy and drives the American economy “into the ground.”

Maine lawmaker goes to SCOTUS over censure for transgender sports post

Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby of Maine is after she was censured by the state House for a social media post about a transgender athlete.

The move comes as the state controlled by Democrats and the Trump administration spar over the issue.

Libby says her censure by the Democratic-majority House has blocked her from speaking and voting on the floor. She’s asking the Supreme Court for an order requiring her legislative votes be counted.

Her censure stemmed from a viral post in which she named a girls track winner and said the student had previously competed in boys track.

Vance calls presidents with portraits in the Oval Office ‘placeholders’

As Vance was praising the president during the Cabinet meeting, he referred to the Oval Office, which under Trump’s redecorations now includes portraits of Ronald Reagan, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln.

“You sit the Oval Office and you see these portraits of presidents past. And let’s be honest, most of them have been placeholders. They’ve been people who’ve allowed their staff to sign executive orders with an autopen instead of men of action,” Vance said.

He said the media “attacks” the Trump administration as “chaotic” because the president is “solving problems.”

Rubio says he would never tell a judge about talks on Abrego Garcia

Rubio had a quick response when asked whether he has had any conversations with El Salvador about returning Abrego Garcia to the United States.

“Well, I’ll never tell you that. And you know who else I’ll never tell? A judge,” Rubio said during Wednesday’s marathon Cabinet meeting. “Because the conduct of all foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge.”

He continued: “So we will conduct foreign policy appropriately.”

▶ Read more about , the man mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison.

Trump says children may go with ‘fewer dolls’ because of trade war with China

Trump, when asked if he if he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping, didn’t answer the question but instead seemed to acknowledge that there might be fewer, costlier products for Americans as a result of his trade war.

The president said that “somebody said” shelves in the U.S. would be empty and then seemed to acknowledge there would be fewer products, saying, “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. So maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally.”

He said China is facing tremendous difficulty” because of his tariffs.

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White House says Ukraine has made ‘last minute’ changes to minerals deal

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during the Cabinet meeting that the Trump administration stands ready to sign off on a long-anticipated critical deal that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources but there’s still work to do.

“Our side is ready to sign,” Bessent said when asked about reports that Ukraine is ready to sign off on the delayed deal. “The Ukrainians decided last night to make some last minute changes,” Bessent said “We’re sure that they will reconsider that. And we are ready to sign this afternoon if they are.”

Bessent’s comments came amid reports that the U.S. and Ukraine were getting closer to finalizing the deal.

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Canada’s Carney to visit White House soon

Mark Carney, the newly elected prime minister of Canada, will come to the White House “within the next week or less,” the U.S. president says.

Trump called Carney a “very nice gentleman” who, on their phone call Tuesday, “couldn’t have been nicer.”

The president mused that both candidates in the race — Carney and Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre — “hated Trump” and that the conservative figure “hated me more.”

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Trump distances himself from stock prices

Trump says he is not “taking a credit or discredit for the stock market,” as financial markets have tumbled over his tariffs.

Speaking to reporters during a Cabinet meeting, Trump tried to distance himself from the stock prices — despite taking credit when markets rose after his election in November.

“I’m not taking a credit or discredit for the stock market,” Trump said. “I’m just saying we inherited a mess.”

Belarus releases US citizen after several years in custody

The State Department says Youras Ziankovich was released Wednesday and will return to the U.S. soon.

Ziankovich was convicted and sentenced to prison on what his supporters and the U.S. government say were bogus charges that he was part of a coup against the Belarusian government.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that he acknowledged Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s humanitarian gesture in releasing Ziankovich.

Democrats express ‘grave concerns’ about plans to label Haitian gangs as foreign terror organizations

In a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who co-chairs the Haiti caucus, told Secretary of State Marco Rubio that while they support efforts to target the financial support of Haitian gangs, they are concerned can cause a chilling effect on the delivery of humanitarian services as aid groups fear prosecutors could accuse them of directly or indirectly supporting the targeted groups.

Meeks and Cherfilus-McCormick urged the administration to consider sanctions against the gangs first.

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Trump says Musk can stay as long as he wants

Trump said during his Cabinet meeting that Musk is invited to stay in his administration indefinitely as the billionaire is said to be preparing to return to focusing on his companies Tesla and SpaceX.

“You’re invited to stay as long as you want,” Trump said.

Trump said Musk had been “treated unfairly” for his role in helping Trump slash the size and scope of the federal government. “You really have sacrificed a lot.”

Musk’s net worth has dropped significantly, and sales of Tesla have fallen amid a public backlash to the Musk-led cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency.

Vance scolds the media

Vice President JD Vance used his few minutes during the Cabinet meeting to take a swing at the media, which he accused of being fixated on the wrong priorities during Trump’s first 100 days.

Vance pointed to military recruitment numbers that he said the press should focus on, rather than other stories such as the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador last month.

“Why is it that the press is so focused on the fake B.S., rather than what’s really going on in the country?” Vance said.

Judge directs administration to detail efforts to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland directed the Trump administration Wednesday to once again provide information on its efforts, if any, to comply with her order to retrieve Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison.

Xinis temporarily halted the directive for information last week at the administration’s request. But with the pause expiring at 5 p.m. Wednesday, she scheduled deadlines in May for administration officials to provide sworn testimony about efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

The Trump administration arrested Abrego Garcia, 29, in Maryland and expelled him to his native El Salvador on March 15. The deportation violated an immigration judge’s 2019 order barring his deportation to El Salvador because he likely faced persecution by local gangs there.

Quack, quack: Calling for RFK Jr.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s duck-themed ring tone has been making waves at his recent public appearances.

The loud quacks of Kennedy’s cellphone briefly interrupted Trump during the Cabinet meeting Wednesday, shortly before the formal convening began.

Eagle-eyed watchers of Kennedy may be familiar with the quacking. It also interrupted Kennedy’s live town hall event with talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw on Monday evening.

Elon Musk present at Cabinet meeting

The billionaire outside adviser attended Trump’s meeting of Cabinet officials Wednesday.

Musk, who leads the administration’s government-slashing efforts, was seated to the president’s right.

Throughout the Cabinet meeting, Musk has appeared distracted by his hats. He initially donned a hat promoting DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency — then swapped it out with a Gulf of America hat, then later returned to the DOGE hat. He later adjusted the Gulf of America hat to make it wide enough to fit over the DOGE one and wore the two hats at once.

In an earlier interview, Wiles, the White House chief of staff, had said Musk was no longer physically working from the White House grounds.

Transportation chief calls for new air traffic control system

Sean Duffy, the Transportation secretary, says the administration wants to install a new air traffic control system soon.

“You and I have talked about this,” Duffy told Trump during his Cabinet meeting Wednesday. “It’s a state-of-the-art system” that would be the “envy of the world.”

Duffy stressed that the administration will need help from Congress to get this done.

The secretary also said the department was working to hire more air traffic controllers, noting that they are about 3,000 people short.

Trump on Hegseth: ‘My least controversial person’

Trump continues to jab at his embattled defense secretary, calling Pete Hegseth ‘my least controversial person’ as he introduced him during his Cabinet meeting.

As the rest of the Cabinet chuckled, Hegseth quipped that he was being called controversial because “we’re over the target” when it comes to military recruitment.

Hegseth came under scrutiny again earlier this month after revelations of his involvement in another Signal messaging chat with sensitive military information that included his wife and brother.

President Trump is convening a meeting of his Cabinet

And he began by touting his record on immigration and the economy in his first 100 days.

“We’ve just completed what many consider to be the most successful 100 days of any administration in the history of our country,” he said.

Jeffries promises to ‘stop bad things’ from Trump with a new Democratic agenda

Over the next 100 days, Jeffries says House Democrats will be laying out their own blueprint for what they’d do if they were in charge — and it won’t be about Trump but “all about you.”

Firing up campaign mode, he wrapped up a nearly hour long address with the fighting words Democrats have been demanding of their leaders.

“We will not rest until we end this national nightmare,” he said.

Trump’s first 100 ‘years,’ er ‘days’

Jeffries stumbled slightly in his opening remarks about Trump’s first 100 “years” — before quickly correcting himself to “days” — saying the quiet part out loud.

Many Democrats in Congress are exhausted by what Jeffries called the chaos at the White House as the president bulldozes across the government.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says the first 100 days of Trump’s term a ‘debacle’

The Democratic leader said the Trump team “thought they could ‘shock and awe’ us into submission.”

They thought wrong, he said. He’s vowing Democrats are ready to fight back.

“We’re just getting started,” he said.

Wall Street sinks following signals that the US economy is sputtering

A discouraging report suggesting the at the start of the year, before most of could take effect, is knocking U.S. stocks lower Wednesday.

The S&P 500 was down 1.5% in morning trading and on track to break . The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 479 points, or 1.2%, as of 10:40 a.m. Eastern time, and sharp drops for AI superstars like Super Micro Computer had the Nasdaq composite down 2%.

The weaker-than-expected report on the U.S. economy was a surprise because economists were expecting to see modest growth, particularly after the economy . But importers rushed to bring products into the country before tariffs could raise their prices, which helped drag on the country’s overall gross domestic product.

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Protest outside breakfast House Speaker Mike Johnson is attending

About 30 Washington, D.C., residents and organizers angry over the continuing delay to pass the city’s budget protested outside a private breakfast House Speaker Mike Johnson was attending.

Organizer Alex Dodd, of Free DC, said the goal was to disrupt the speaker “while you hold $1.1 billion of our local funding hostage.”

In a statement the organization put out, it said it was trying to send a clear message to Johnson: “We are here to disrupt business as usual. We demand the immediate passage of the DC Local Funds Act, with no riders and no excuses.”

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Council are scrambling to address the crisis created by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. When Congress recessed April 10, it adjourned without addressing a $1.1 billion hole in the city’s 2025 budget that was created when the House eliminated a little-known provision in a budget resolution.

Vermont judge orders release of a Palestinian man arrested at his US citizenship interview

A judge on Wednesday ordered the release of the Palestinian man who led in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was arrested by immigration officials during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship.

U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford in Burlington, Vermont, issued his ruling following a hearing on Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident for 10 years, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents April 14. He’s been held at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.

A judge later issued an order barring the government from removing him from the state or country.

Mahdawi’s lawyers say he was detained in retaliation for his speech advocating for Palestinian human rights.

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Elon Musk now working remotely, not in person

The billionaire outside adviser is no longer physically working from the White House, although “it really doesn’t matter much.”

That’s according to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who tells the New York Post that speaking to him on the phone about his efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency is having the “same net effect” as Musk being there in person.

“His folks aren’t going anywhere,” Wiles added in the interview.

Musk is designated as a “special government employee,” which means he can only work 130 days in a 365-day time period. May 30 marks 130 days since Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20.

US inflation cools, consumer step up spending, as Americans brace for tariff impact

The closely watched inflation gauge cooled last month in a sign that prices were steadily easing before most of Trump’s .

At the same time, consumers accelerated their spending, potentially in an effort to .

Wednesday’s report from the Commerce Department showed consumer prices rose just 2.3% in March from a year earlier, down from 2.5% in February. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% compared with a year ago, below February’s 2.8%. Economists track core prices because they typically provide a better read on where inflation is headed.

The slowdown in inflation could be a temporary respite until the widespread duties imposed by Trump begin to push up prices in many categories. Economists forecast that inflation could reverse its recent decline and reach 3% or higher by the end of this year.

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Trump blames his predecessor, Joe Biden, for sharp stock market selloff Wednesday morning

The news behind the drop was a government report showing the U.S. economy shrank during the first three months of this year, as imports increased because businesses are attempting to frontrun the high import taxes being imposed by Trump.

Trump refused in a social media post to accept any responsibility for the economy’s direction.

“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS.”

Trump’s plan to pave over the Rose Garden lawn will begin soon

The renovation will get underway in a “couple of weeks,” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told the New York Post in an interview.

Trump also wants to add a ballroom to the mansion, she said.

Wiles said in the interview published online late Tuesday that the ballroom is “still in the design phase.” But Trump is a “builder” and she would expect the ballroom “to go up pretty quickly” once the preliminary work is done.

It was unclear where the ballroom would be added.

The East Room is the largest room in the White House and is traditionally used for large gatherings, such as receptions, bill-signing ceremonies and news conferences.

Trump has added since returning to power.

US economy shrinks 0.3% in first quarter as Trump trade wars disrupt business

The economy shrank 0.3% from January through March, the first drop in three years. It was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the United States tried to bring in foreign goods before Trump .

The January-March expansion was the slowest in almost three years and was down from 2.4% in the last three months of 2024. Imports shaved 5 percentage points off first-quarter growth. Consumer spending also slowed sharply.

Trump inherited a solid economy that had grown steadily despite high interest rates imposed by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation. His erratic trade policies — including 145% tariffs on China — have paralyzed businesses and threatened to raise prices and hurt consumers.

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris plans a speech sharply criticizing Trump’s policies

The speech planned for Wednesday comes amid speculation about whether she’ll mount another presidential campaign or opt to run for California governor.

Harris will address the 20th anniversary gala for Emerge America, an organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office that grew in part from Harris’ run for San Francisco district attorney in the early 2000s.

Her speech also comes the day after Trump reached in office. It’s expected to be her most extensive public remarks since leaving office in January to Trump, with planned critiques of the Republican president’s handling of the economy, U.S. institutions and foreign policy.

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