Vance argues for US ownership of Greenland during visit

In a rare Friday night hearing, Judge John Bates blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the president's executive order targeting Jenner & Block, the former law firm of MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann who was once a prosecutor in Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

In granting the temporary restraining order, the judge said the executive order violates the First, Fifth and Sixth amendments of the Constitution.

Trump has targeted other law firms with executive orders, with mixed results.

A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that was targeted for mass firings before the court’s intervention.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed to issue a preliminary injunction that maintains the agency’s existence until she rules on the merits of a lawsuit seeking to preserve the agency. The judge said the court "can and must act” to save the agency from being shuttered.

Jackson ruled that, without a court order, President Donald Trump's administration would move quickly to shut down the agency that Congress created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“If the defendants are not enjoined, they will eliminate the agency before the Court has the opportunity to decide whether the law permits them to do it, and as the defendants’ own witness warned, the harm will be irreparable,” Berman Jackson said in her order.

Columbia University said Friday its interim president, Katrina A. Armstrong, is stepping aside, a week after the university struck a deal with the Trump administration to negotiate its federal funding, NBC News reported.

Armstrong assumed the role when President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik resigned in August after a tumultuous spring semester that saw hordes of protests on campus over the war in Gaza.

Claire Shipman, the co-chair of the board of trustees, will assume the role of acting president, effective immediately, the university announced Friday.

Read the full story here.

A federal judge on Friday halted the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the eight-decade-old U.S. government-funded international news service, calling the move a “classic case of arbitrary and capricious decision making.”

Judge James Paul Oetken blocked the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which runs Voice of America, from firing more than 1,200 journalists, engineers and other staff that it sidelined two weeks ago in the wake of President Donald Trump ordered its funding slashed.

Oetken issued a temporary restraining order barring the agency from “any further attempt to terminate, reduce-in-force, place on leave, or furlough” employees or contractors, and from closing any offices or requiring overseas employees to return to the U.S.

The order also bars the Agency for Global Media from terminating grant funding for its other broadcast outlets, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Afghanistan. The agency said Thursday it was restoring Radio Free Europe’s funding after a judge in Washington, D.C. ordered it to do so.

“This is a decisive victory for press freedom and the First Amendment, and a sharp rebuke” to the Trump administration’s “utter disregard for the principles that define our democracy,” said the plaintiffs’ lawyer Andrew G. Celli Jr.

The U.S. Naval Academy will no longer consider race, ethnicity or sex as a factor for admission to the service institution, a response to an executive order by President Donald Trump, according to federal court documents made public Friday.

The change in policy was made in February by Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, the academy's superintendent, in response to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January, according to a court filing by the U.S. Justice Department in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The president's order on Jan. 27 said that “every element of the Armed Forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex.” It also directed the secretary of defense to conduct an internal review with respect to all “activities designed to promote a race- or sex-based preferences system,” including reviews at the service academies.

“Under revised internal guidance issued by the Superintendent on Feb. 14, 2025, neither race, ethnicity, nor sex can be considered as a factor for admission at any point during the admissions process, including qualification and acceptance,” according to the court filing made public Friday.

President Donald Trump commuted the criminal fraud sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson on Friday, just as Watson was due to begin serving a 116-month prison term in California for his multi-million-dollar scheme.

Trump also commuted the sentence of probation imposed on Ozy Media for its related conviction in the case, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Watson was convicted at trial in Brooklyn federal court in last July of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The 55-year-old was sentenced in December.

Utah became the first state to prohibit flying LGBTQ+ pride flags at schools and all government buildings after the Republican governor announced he was allowing a ban on unsanctioned flag displays to become law without his signature.

Gov. Spencer Cox, who made the announcement late Thursday night, said he continues to have serious concerns with the policy but chose not to reject it because his veto would likely be overridden by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Starting May 7, state or local government buildings will be fined $500 a day for flying any flag other than the United States flag, the Utah state flag, military flags or a short list of others approved by lawmakers. Political flags supporting a certain candidate or party, such as President Donald Trump's signature “Make America Great Again” flags, are not allowed.

The new law could stoke conflict between the state and its largest city. City buildings in liberal Salt Lake City typically honor Pride Month each June by displaying flags that celebrate its large LGBTQ+ population. Local leaders have illuminated the Salt Lake City and County Building in rainbow lights to protest the flag ban each night since the Legislature sent it to Cox's desk.

The Justice Department has submitted multiple filings with the Supreme Court that accuse federal judges of abusing their constitutional powers, while lower courts criticized the Trump administration’s expansive view of presidential power.

The administration asked the high court to intervene in three cases it argues are hampering President Donald Trump’s agenda, including one where it’s been ordered to rehire thousands of dismissed federal workers.

The latest filing, on Friday, focuses on the administration's complaints about a judge who temporarily halted deportations under Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used 18th-century wartime law. Attorneys argued that the judge overstepped his authority, and complained about the overall number of temporary restraining orders imposed by federal judges as a result of legal challenges to Trump’s sweeping agenda.

The third case where the administration sought Supreme Court intervention involves millions of dollars in education grants that were abruptly canceled by Trump officials. After a federal judge in Massachusetts ordered the Education Department to temporarily make the payments while the plaintiffs’ lawsuit proceeds, the administration petitioned the Supreme Court in a filing that argued the justices should “put a swift end to federal district courts’ unconstitutional reign as self-appointed managers of Executive Branch funding and grant-disbursement decisions.”

National Security Advisor Michael Walz referenced sensitive intelligence provided by Israel in the leaked Signal group chat used by senior Trump administration officials to discuss plans to launch airstrikes against Houthi militants in Yemen, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.

Israel provided the U.S. officials sensitive intelligence on a Houthi militant that was targeted in the U.S. airstrike, the sources said.

In the group chat, after the initial U.S. air raids were launched on March 15, Waltz texted that a “top missile guy” had been successfully targeted as he had been spotted entering a building with his girlfriend.

“The first target—their top missile guy—we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it is now collapsed,” Waltz wrote in the text.

The Federal Communications Commission has alerted the Walt Disney Company and its ABC unit that it will begin an investigation into the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the media giant.

The FCC, the agency that regulates the media and telecommunications industry, said in a letter dated Friday that it wants to “ensure that Disney and ABC have not been violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations by promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”

“We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions,” a Disney spokesperson told CNBC.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who was recently appointed by President Donald Trump, began a similar investigation into Comcast and NBCUniversal in early February. The inquiry comes after Trump signed an executive order looking to end DEI practices at U.S. corporations in January. The order calls for each federal agency to “identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations” among publicly traded companies, as well as nonprofits and other institutions.

Jim Watson/Pool via AP

Vice President JD Vance sharply criticized Denmark and other European allies during his visit to Greenland on Friday, as the Trump administration continues to push U.S. ownership of the semi-autonomous territory.

Speaking to servicemembers at Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. Space Force base on the northwestern coast of Greenland, Vance argued that Greenlanders would be better off being under the protection of the U.S. than under Denmark.

“Our message to Denmark is very simple — you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance said. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass.”

Vice President JD Vance, from right, and second lady Usha Vance, leave headquarters at Pituffik Space Base today. The base, the Department of Defense’s northernmost installation, supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

President Donald Trump has granted pardons to three co-founders of the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange, CNBC has learned.

The co-founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, previously pleaded guilty to a range of federal criminal charges related to money laundering and failure to police the exchange.

Reed pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act in 2022 and agreed to pay a $10 million fine.

Prosecutors accused the men of effectively operating BitMEX as a “money laundering platform” and that its purported withdrawal from the U.S. market was “a sham.”

Judge James Boasberg has extended his Temporary Restraining Order, blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan members of the Tren de Aragua gang from the U.S. through April 12. Boasberg will hear arguments on a preliminary injunction in this case on April 8.

Just this morning, the government asked the Supreme Court to vacate Boasberg’s order. They’re also asking for an immediate administrative stay of Boasberg’s order, while this plays out in court.

Tech billionaire and White House adviser Elon Musk will head to Wisconsin days before the pivotal state Supreme Court election there, into which he's sunk millions of dollars on behalf of the conservative candidate and become a central figure in the race.

Musk made the announcement early Friday on his social media platform X. Initially, he posted that he would "personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote.” But he deleted that post midday, replacing it with a similar message that replaced that line with one declaring the $1 million winners would instead be "spokesmen" for his petition to oppose "activist judges."

Musk also clarified that entrance to his Sunday event would be limited to those who signed the petition, rather than people who had voted in the Supreme Court race as he originally stated.

Read the full story here on NBCNews.com.

In the Oval Office, Trump addressed his decision yesterday to ask Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to remain in Congress after he had nominated her to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"She's very popular in her district, and I didn't want to take a chance," the president told reporters.

He added, “We cannot take a chance. We have a slim margin. We don’t want to take any chances. We don’t want to experiment.”

If Stefanik had left the House, Republicans' already razor-thin majority would have been at risk if a Democrat won a special election to serve the rest of Stefanik's term.

Trump said the elite law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP has reached an agreement with his administration to commit at least $100 million in pro bono legal services to jointly supported causes such as support for veterans and other public servants, including members of the military. 

Skadden has agreed to provide pro bono legal services, “merit-based” hiring, promotion and retention, and to fund at least five legal fellows, Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. 

“This was essentially a settlement,” Trump said of the agreement. “We appreciate Skadden coming to the table.” He added that his administration will soon issue more details. 

The announcement follows a decision by another law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Garrison & Wharton, to commit $40 million in free legal work for causes the president supports, prompting Trump to rescind an executive order that targeted the firm (one of several that Trump has signed targeting private law firms and lawyers.)

Shortly after the Paul Weiss development, a Skadden associate, Rachel Cohen, sent an email to her firm saying that she would resign unless the company agreed to take several steps to challenge the Trump administration. She told NBC News that she believes “a coup” is happening in America.

Trevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle start-up Nikola who was sentenced to prison last year, was pardoned by President Donald Trump, the White House confirmed Friday.

The pardon of Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating the potential of his technology, could wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors.

Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November election, according to the Federal Election Commission.

At Milton's trial, prosecutors say a company video of a prototype truck appearing to be driven down a desert highway was actually a video of a nonfunctioning Nikola that had been rolled down a hill.

After being assigned all three cases where "Big Law" firms are suing the Trump administration over his executive orders, Judge Beryl Howell this afternoon has released a paperless order explaining why she believes the three cases are in fact not closely enough related, and therefore she will not be hearing all three.

“The legal issues involved in all three cases appear to be substantially similar, making the instinct to keep and decide the cases together understandable and even tempting for preservation of judicial resources by allowing a single judge to become familiar with applicable legal principles in these cases,” Howell wrote. But, she wrote, “The cases involve different issues of fact and arise from different events.”

“Strict adherence to the process of random case assignment is crucial to ensure “fair and equal distribution of cases to all judges, avoid public perception or appearance of favoritism in assignments, and reduce opportunities for judge-shopping,” she wrote.

Judge Beryl Howell will continue with the Perkins Coie case, while Judge John Bates will now be hearing the Jenner & Block case and Judge Richard Leon will now be hearing the WilmerHale case. 

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance have arrived in Greenland at Pituffik Space Base where they were greeted by military personnel.

Trump had his first phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney this morning, calling it "productive" in a post on Truth Social.

"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada," the president wrote.

Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau atop Canada’s liberal party, has been in his post for just two weeks and has been an outspoken critic of the president’s tariff posture toward Canada.

Yesterday, Carney blasted Trump's decision to impose 25% tariffs on automobile imports into the United States.

"The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over," Carney said.

Military search and recovery teams continue to look for four American soldiers who went missing in a Lithuanian peat bog.

The White House on Thursday dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that peace talks in Ukraine should depend on the country being governed by the United Nations while new elections are held. 

Speaking to reporters during a visit to a Russian nuclear submarine in Murmansk, the largest city north of the Arctic Circle, Putin reiterated his claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s mandate is illegitimate.

Read the full NBC News story here.

Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted the policies imposed so far by the Trump administration in a New York Times opinion piece published in the wake of a report in The Atlantic this week that senior officials discussed attack plans in a Signal group chat.

Clinton denounced the administration's efforts to fire federal workers and dismantle key agencies dedicated to international humanitarian aid and diplomacy, writing, "If there’s a grand strategy at work here, I don’t know what it is."

“Today they are not reinventing government; they’re wrecking it. All of this is both dumb and dangerous,” Clinton wrote, calling them “dumb” multiple times.

Clinton's name has been invoked this week by Trump administration officials who have sought to compare the Signal scandal to the revelation in 2015 that she used a private email server to communicate sometimes classified information while serving as secretary of state.

Trump announced his administration has pulled his nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., for ambassador to the United Nations. NBC’s Garrett Haake reports for TODAY on what’s behind the decision.

Elon Musk said in a post on X overnight that he's going to hand out million-dollar checks at an event in Wisconsin on Sunday night and only people who voted in the state's Supreme Court election can attend.

"I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote," he wrote. "This is super important."

Musk has poured money into the Supreme Court race ahead of the election next week. His super PAC has given $100 to Wisconsin voters to sign a petition to oppose “activist judges” and announced it would also give away $1 million awards to a signatory.

The race is between two state judges, Susan Crawford, a liberal, and state judge Brad Schimel, a conservative who previously served as Wisconsin's attorney general.

Because it straddles the Arctic Circle among the United States, Russia and Europe, Greenland is a geopolitical prize that the U.S. and others have eyed for more than 150 years. It’s even more valuable as the Arctic opens up more to shipping and trade.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday the State Department has revoked 300 or more student visas, as the White House increasingly targets foreign-born students whose whose main transgression seems to be activism, NBC News reported.

Rubio warned that the administration was looking out for “these lunatics.” Around the country, scholars have been picked up, in some cases by masked immigration agents, and held in detention centers, sometimes a thousand miles from their homes with little warning and often with few details about why they were being detained.

“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said at a news conference in Guyana, where he was meeting with leaders. 

Read the full story here.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife are due to visit an American military base in Greenland on Friday in a trip that was scaled back after an uproar among Greenlanders and Danes who were irked that the original itinerary was planned without consulting them.

The couple's revised trip to the semi-autonomous Danish territory comes as relations between the U.S. and the Nordic country have soured after U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly suggested that the United States should in some form control the mineral-rich territory of Denmark — a traditional U.S. ally and NATO member.

Friday's one-day visit to the U.S. Space Force outpost at Pituffik, on the northwest coast of Greenland, has removed the risk of potentially violating diplomatic custom by sending a delegation to another country without an official invitation. It will also reduce the likelihood that Vance and his wife will cross paths with residents angered by Trump’s annexation announcements.

Ahead of the visit, four of the five parties elected to Greenland's parliament earlier this month agreed to form a new, broad-based coalition government, banding together to resist Trump's designs on the territory.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday that the visit, which was originally set for three days, created “unacceptable pressure." On Thursday she was cited by Danish public broadcaster DR as saying: “We really want to work with the Americans on defense and security in the kingdom. But Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”

Just 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle, in Nuuk, the world’s northernmost capital, locals were preparing to receive U.S. Vice President JD Vance with what they were calling the “Arctic cold shoulder,” a nod to the diplomatic fallout sparked by President Donald Trump’s repeated suggestions that the U.S. should take over Greenland. 

“We have always looked at America like the nice big brother to help you out and now it’s like the big brother in bullying you,” Anders Laursen, 41, the owner of a local water taxi company, told NBC News on Thursday.

"Growing up you see Hollywood movies, all the heroes and then you feel backstabbed and you feel like an ally that’s just gone the other way round and you’re like, ‘This can’t be happening, this is not the America we knew,’” added Laursen. 

Read the full story here on NBCNews.com.