The Latest: California Republicans uneasy over Trump’s threat to condition wildfire aid

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

President Donald Trump is remaking the traditional boundaries of Washington, asserting unprecedented executive power and daring anyone to stop him

The Latest: California Republicans uneasy over Trump’s threat to condition wildfire aidBy The Associated PressThe Associated Press

President Donald Trump is remaking the traditional boundaries of Washington, asserting unprecedented executive power and daring anyone to stop him.

Here’s the latest:

Trump is scheduled to speak Thursday afternoon with the El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele

The call is Trump’s second call with a foreign leader since taking office, according to the White House, after Trump late Wednesday spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

Bukele has declared a war on gangs in his county and attended a conservative political gathering in Washington last year. The Biden administration had been critical of his strong-arm governing style.

Three more Trump nominees advance to a full vote in the Senate

Trump’s three nominees to lead energy and environmental agencies — and carry out Trump’s strategy for “energy dominance” — cleared Senate committees Thursday.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee advanced former New York congressman Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency, while the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel backed formed North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to lead the Interior Department and business executive Chris Wright to be Energy secretary.

Zeldin’s nomination was endorsed, 11-8, while the votes for Burgum and Wright were 18-2 and 15-5, respectively.

The nominations now head to the full Senate, where all three men are expected to be confirmed.

NSA diversity official out as US spy agencies comply with Trump’s rules

An official tasked with diversifying the ranks of the National Security Agency has been laid off as America’s intelligence community implements President Donald Trump’s order to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Elijah Manley announced his firing Wednesday with a post on X. Manley had served as the senior manager of LGBTQ+ diversity programs at the NSA for less than a year, after working on DEI programs at the CIA previously.

Trump has ordered federal agencies to discontinue their diversity programs, a policy which affects dozens of intelligence agencies including the CIA, NSA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence. ODNI released a statement Wednesday evening saying the agency, which oversees and coordinates the nation’s various spy agencies, is taking steps to comply with Trump’s executive orders.

Trump has a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman

It was Trump’s first call with a foreign leader since taking office. But it’s not clear if he plans to make his first foreign trip to the oil rich kingdom, as Trump had hinted at earlier this week.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday she wasn’t aware of any plans for the president to travel to Saudi Arabia.

Leavitt also said Trump was expected to have another call with a foreign leader Thursday but didn’t have additional details about which leader he would call.

Trump’s nominee to lead the Agriculture Department will have a confirmation hearing Thursday

Brooke Rollins is scheduled to appear before the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee at 10 a.m. The agriculture chief oversees a sprawling agency that controls policies, regulations and aid programs related to farming, forestry, ranching, food quality and nutrition.

Rollins served as President Donald Trump’s domestic policy chief during his first administration, a portfolio that included agricultural policy. She later was president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group that helped lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration.

The Kremlin is closely monitoring Trump’s ‘statements and rhetoric’

The response from the Kremlin came Thursday after the US president threatened Moscow with further sanctions if an agreement isn’t reached to end the fighting in Ukraine.

In a post to his Truth Social site on Wednesday, Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war.”

“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump added in the post.

During his regular call with journalists on Thursday morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said these threats were nothing new. “Trump, in his first iteration of his presidency, was the American president who most often resorted to sanctions methods. He likes these methods,” Peskov said.

Peskov added that Moscow “remains ready for an equal dialogue, for a mutually respectful dialogue.”

Trump uses a false premise to justify conditioning California wildfire relief

In an interview aired Wednesday night, Trump said he may withhold aid to California until the state adjusts how it manages its scarce water resources. He falsely claimed that California’s fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas.

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Local officials have said the conservation efforts for the delta smelt had nothing to do with the hydrants running dry as firefighters tried to contain flames around Los Angeles. They cited limited municipal systems, which are not designed to battle such massive blazes.

“Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it. All they have to do is turn the valve,” the president said.

Cracks emerge in House GOP after speaker’s threat to saddle California wildfire aid with conditions

California Republicans are pushing back against suggestions by President Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans that federal disaster aid for victims of wildfires that ravaged Southern California should come with strings attached, possibly jeopardizing the president’s policy agenda in a deeply divided Congress at the outset of his second term.

Several Republicans who narrowly won California House seats in November have expressed dismay that the state relief could be hitched to demands in exchange for helping the thousands of Californians in their districts still reeling from this month’s disaster.

“Playing politics with people’s livelihoods is unacceptable and a slap in the face to the Southern California wildfire victims and to our brave first responders,” Republican Rep. Young Kim, whose closely divided district is anchored in fire-prone Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, said in a statement.

▶ Read more about Trump’s threat to withhold wildfire aid

House passes immigrant detention bill that would be Trump’s first law to sign

The House on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that requires the detainment of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes, marking the first legislation that President Donald Trump can sign as Congress, with some bipartisan support, swiftly moved in line with his plans to crackdown on illegal immigration.

Passage of the Laken Riley Act, which was named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man, shows just how sharply the political debate over immigration has shifted to the right following Trump’s election victory. Immigration policy has often been one of the most entrenched issues in Congress, but a crucial faction of 46 politically vulnerable Democrats joined with Republicans to lift the strict proposal to passage on a 263-156 vote tally.

“For decades, it has been almost impossible for our government to agree on solutions for the problems at our border and within our country,” said Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican. She called the legislation “perhaps the most significant immigration enforcement bill” to be passed by Congress in nearly three decades.

Still, the bill would require a massive ramp-up in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s capabilities, but does not include any new funding.

▶ Read more about the Laken Riley Act

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