Democrats call for Hegseth to resign as new details emerge on latest intelligence leak – live
Democrats call for Hegseth to resign as Republicans echo Trump’s support for secretary
Despite rumbles in the Pentagon over Pete Hegesth’s ability to do his job, Senate Republicans have followed Donald Trump’s lead and backed the controversy-mired defense secretary while Democrats are calling for his resignation.
A post on Senate Republican’s X account, blamed “disgruntled” former employees for the bad press: “Secretary Pete Hegseth is a veteran who is implementing President Trump’s America first agenda. Disgruntled former employees at the Pentagon are trying to undermine the agenda that Americans voted for.”
Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee blamed the left: “Of course the left, libs, and leakers are angry with Pete Hegseth. He is a strong @SecDef who is shaking up the status quo at the Pentagon to fight back against America’s greatest threats. Our military and nation are stronger because of his courage to serve.”
However, reacting to that NBC News report, Democratic representative Angie Craig said Hegseth should be fired for “gross negligence” which had put US service members at risk: “He never should’ve been hired in the first place, but his gross negligence in putting our service members at risk is more than enough to be fired for.”
And Debbie Wasserman Schulz also called for his resignation: “Pete Hegseth’s incompetence is a threat to our national security. He needs to resign immediately.”
Key events
Sensitive information Pete Hegseth shared with wife and brother came from top general’s secure messages – report
As Pete Hegseth continues to find himself in hot water over Signal-gate, despite Donald Trump’s vocal backing, NBC News reports that the sensitive information the defense secretary shared in a group chat with over dozen people including his wife and brother came from a top general’s secure messages.
Per NBC’s report, minutes before US fighter jets took off to begin strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen last month, army general Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads US Central Command, used a secure US government system to send detailed information about the operation to Hegseth.
The material Kurilla sent included details about when US fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets. He provided Hegseth – as he is supposed to – with information he needed to know and did so using a system specifically designed to safely transmit sensitive and classified information. Hegesth then used his personal phone to send some of that same information to at least two group text chats on the Signal messaging app, NBC reports citing three US officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges.
The sequence of events raises new questions about Hegseth’s handling of the information, which he and the government have denied was classified. In all, according to NBC’s sources, less than 10 minutes elapsed between Kurilla giving Hegseth the information and Hegseth sending it to the two group chats, one of which included other cabinet-level officials and their designees — and, inadvertently, the editor of The Atlantic magazine. The other one was composed of Hegseth’s wife, brother and attorney and some of his aides.
Hegseth shared the information on Signal despite, NBC News has reported, an aide warning him in the days beforehand to be careful not to share sensitive information on an non-secure communications system before the Yemen strikes.
Trump insisted there was no controversy on Monday at the White House Easter Egg roll:
Pete’s doing a great job; everybody’s happy with him. There’s no dysfunction.
IMF slashes global growth forecasts due to Trump trade tensions
Graeme Wearden
The International Monetary Fund has slashed its forecasts for global growth this year and in 2026, due to the disruption caused by Donald Trump’s trade war.
The IMF is now predicting that growth across the world economy will fall to 2.8% this year, down from 3.3% in 2024, followed by 3% growth this year. Back in January, the Fund had forecast 3.3% growth in both 2025 and 2026.
It blames the direct effects of the new trade measures and their indirect effects through trade linkage spillovers, plus heightened uncertainty, and deteriorating sentiment.
In its latest World Economic Outlook, the Fund says:
The swift escalation of trade tensions and extremely high levels of policy uncertainty are expected to have a significant impact on global economic activity.
Growth in advanced economies is now projected to be 1.4% in 2025, half a percentage point lower than it forecast in January.
The report also shows how Trump has pushed up the US effective tariff rate to the highest in over 100 years – above the levels which compounded the Great Depression.
The IMF warns, soberly, that the outlook is dominated by “intensifying downside risks”.
Its World Economic Outlook says:
Ratcheting up a trade war, along with even more elevated trade policy uncertainty, could further reduce near- and long-term growth, while eroded policy buffers weaken resilience to future shocks.
Divergent and rapidly shifting policy stances or deteriorating sentiment could trigger additional repricing of assets beyond what took place after the announcement of sweeping US tariffs on April 2 and sharp adjustments in foreign exchange rates and capital flows, especially for economies already facing debt distress.
Broader financial instability may ensue, including damage to the international monetary system.
US supreme court to weigh objections to elementary school LGBT storybooks
The supreme court will hear arguments today from parents in Maryland who want to keep their elementary school children out of certain classes when storybooks with LGBT characters are read in the latest case involving the intersection of religion and LGBT rights.
The justices are due to consider an appeal by parents with children in public schools in Montgomery County after lower courts declined to order the local school district to let children opt out when these books are read.
The parents contend that the school board’s policy of prohibiting opt-outs violates the constitution’s first amendment protections for free exercise of religion.
The supreme court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has steadily expanded the rights of religious people in recent years, sometimes at the expense of other values like LGBT rights. For instance, the court in 2023 ruled that certain businesses have a right under the first amendment’s free speech protections to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation secularism advocacy group in a filing to the supreme court supporting the school board said:
Parents should not have the constitutional right to micromanage their children’s education to ensure that all secular education materials conform with their personal religious beliefs.
Such a rule would be boundless because “almost any book or idea – however commonplace or innocent – likely contradicts some religious ideals”, the group said.
The supreme court is expected to rule by the end of June. For more on this story, see the New York Times (paywall).
Donald Trump said overnight that he was planning to travel to Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis, which is expected to take place on Saturday.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said:
Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!
As Politico notes, “the president’s confirmed attendance means a procession of world leaders will now seek to use the occasion to grab some precious face time with the man upending global economics and security”.
China urges Japan to help fight US tariffs together, as US ‘very optimistic’ about ongoing US-Japan trade talks
Chinese premier Li Qiang has sent a letter to Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba calling for a coordinated response to Donald Trump’s tariff measures, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.
The letter, sent via the Chinese embassy in Japan, stressed the need to “fight protectionism together”, Kyodo reported, citing multiple Japanese government officials. The foreign ministries of both countries did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Beijing warned countries on Monday against striking a broader economic deal with the United States at its expense, saying it will take “resolute and reciprocal” countermeasures against countries that do so, ratcheting up its rhetoric in a spiralling trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
Japan, one of Washington’s closest allies, was among dozens of countries targeted by Trump’s sweeping tariffs earlier this month and has begun negotiations with the US to try and resolve the issue.
The new US ambassador to Japan, George Glass, said on Tuesday he is “very optimistic” about ongoing tariff talks between Washington and Tokyo, ahead of the second round of the negotiations expected later in the month.
After meeting with Ishiba at the premier’s office, Glass told reporters that the two countries are in a “golden age” both “economically and friendship-wise”.
The Japanese government is considering expanding tariff-free imports of American-grown rice as part of negotiations over higher levies imposed by Washington, sources familiar with the matter told Kyodo on Tuesday.
Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been strained in recent years by a range of issues from territorial disputes to trade tensions.
Catherine Shoard
George Clooney has said he is unconcerned about the persistent verbal abuse levelled at him by Donald Trump, after the president labelled him a “fake movie actor” on Truth Social.
Speaking to Gayle King on CBS Mornings, Clooney said: “I don’t care. I’ve known Donald Trump for a long time. My job is not to please the president of the United States. My job is to try and tell the truth when I can and when I have the opportunity. I am well aware of the idea that people will not like that.”
He continued: “People will criticise that. Elon Musk has weighed in [about me]. That is their right. It’s my right to say the other side.”
Trump’s attacks on Clooney renewed last summer, after the latter’s op-ed piece in the New York Times urging Joe Biden to step down for re-election. The actor wrote that Biden could continue with his work furthering democracy by allowing an alternative, younger Democratic candidate to run, who might stand a greater chance of beating Donald Trump.
“So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act,” posted Trump. “He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are.”
Harvard sues Trump administration over efforts to ‘gain control of academic decision-making’
Johana Bhuiyan
Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging it is trying to “gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard”.
The university is fighting back against the administration’s threat to review about $9bn in federal funding after Harvard officials refused to comply with a list of demands that included appointing an outside overseer to ensure that the viewpoints being taught at the university were “diverse”. Harvard is specifically looking to halt a freeze on $2.2bn in grants.
The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration has sought to force changes at multiple Ivy League institutions after months of student activism centered around the war in Gaza. The administration has painted the campus protests as anti-American, and the institutions as liberal and antisemitic, which Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, refuted.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement that the “gravy train of federal assistance” to institutions like Harvard was coming to an end.
“Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege,” Fields said.
Political website the Hill is this morning reporting some misgivings among senior Republicans after Donald Trump increased his attacks on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell amid market turmoil sparked by Trump’s tariff decisions.
It quotes a Republican source saying: “Republicans on the banking committee and even the financial services committee have a lot of faith in Powell and think it would be ill-advised to undermine his economic agenda by dismissing Powell or prematurely cutting rates.”
A Republican strategist told the Hill that high profile criticism of the Fed “usually backfires”, and that among older-school Republicans “people are thinking, ‘This isn’t going to work’”.
Of talk of replacing Powell, the strategist said: “The market is all based on emotions and vibes, so getting rid of that stability amidst everything else would be very bad.”
It isn’t clear that Trump has the legal power to dismiss and replace Powell in any case.
JD Vance warns 21st century could be ‘a very dark time for all of humanity’
Speaking in India, JD Vance has warned that the 21st century could be “a very dark time for all of humanity” depending on the decisions made over global trade and global partnerships at this juncture.
The US vice-president said “We are now officially one quarter into the 21st century, 25 years in, 75 years to go. And I really believe that the future of the 21st century is going to be determined by the strength of the US-India partnership.
“I believe that if India and the United States work together successfully, we are going to see a 21st century that is prosperous and peaceful. But I also believe that if we fail to work together successfully, the 21st century could be a very dark time for all of humanity.
“So I want to say it’s clear to me, as it is to most observers, that president Trump, of course, intends to rebalance America’s economic relationship with the rest of the world.
“That’s going to cause, fundamentally, will cause profound changes within our borders, in the United States, but of course, within other countries as well.
“But I believe that this rebalancing is going to produce great benefits for American workers. It’s going to produce great benefits for the people of India.
“And because our partnership is so important to the future of the world, I believe president Trump’s efforts, joined, of course, by the whole country of India, and prime minister Modi, will make the 21st century the best century in human history. Let’s do it together.”
JD Vance has told an audience in India that the US is seeking to export more energy into the Indian market, criticising previous US administration polices, claiming they had been “motivated by a fear of the future”.
Vance drew applause by praising Indian prime minister Narendra Modi for being “a tough negotiator”, and said “He drives a hard bargain. It’s one of the reasons why we respect him.”
He continued by saying “We don’t blame prime minister Modi for fighting for India’s industry, but we do blame American leaders of the past for failing to do the same for our workers, and we believe that we can fix that to the mutual benefit of both the United States and India.”
During the speech, the vice-president said “As president Trump is fond of saying, America has once again begun to drill, baby, drill. And we think that will be to the benefit of Americans, but will also benefit India as well. Past administrations in the United States of America, I think, motivated by a fear of the future, have tied our hands and restricted American investments in oil and natural gas production.”
He then called for India to change its policies on non-tariff barriers to specific US product sectors, including ethanol and small modular nuclear reactors.
Vance is speaking at the Rajasthan International Center in Jaipur.
JD Vance says Trump seeks to ‘rebalance global trade’ while announcing progress on US-India trade talks
JD Vance, the US vice-president, has said in India that the Donald Trump administration is seeking “to rebalance global trade”, and announced that in talks with India’s prime minister Narendra Modi the pair had “officially finalised the terms of reference for the trade negotiation.”
Vance said “we want to partner with people and countries who recognize the historic nature of the moment we’re in, of the need to come together and build something truly new, a system of global trade that is balanced, one that is open, and one that is stable and fair”.
He continued: “America’s partners need not look exactly like America, nor must our governments do everything exactly the same way, but we should have some common goals.”
He said: “Critics have attacked my president, president Trump, for starting a trade war in an effort to bring back the jobs in the past, but nothing could be further from the truth. He seeks to rebalance global trade so that America, with friends like India, can build a future worth having for all of our people together.”
JD Vance is currently speaking in India. You can watch it here:
Democratic party Rep Haley Stevens has launched her US senate campaign in Michigan, claiming that Donald Trump’s economic policies are “putting tens of thousands of Michigan jobs at risk.”
Stevens is aiming to make the case that she will protect the state’s crucial auto industry, and said in a campaign video criticising what she described as the “chaos and reckless tariffs” coming out of the administration.
“We absolutely need to put an end to the chaos agenda,” she said in an interview with the Associated Press.
Stevens will face State Sen Mallory McMorrow and former gubernatorial candidate and public health official Abdul El-Sayed in the Democratic primary, while Republican Mike Rogers will also stand, having lost to Sen Elissa Slotkin by just 19,000 votes last time out.
The winner of the contest will replace Democratic senator Gary Peters, who is retiring at the end of his term.
A judge in New York has placed a temporary halt on a plan to allow federal immigration agents to operate within the Rikers Island jail complex.
New York mayor Eric Adams has insisted that the presence of ICE will assist investigations into gang-related activities, but a lawsuit against the plan has accused him of entering into a “quid pro quo” deal with the Trump administration over the plan.
Agents previously had access to the jail, but this was ended in 2014 under New York City’s sanctuary laws.
Political analyst at CNN, Stephen Collinson, has said that defense secretary Pete Hegseth looks “safe – for now.”
Writing for the news network, Collinson said:
President Donald Trump spent huge political capital getting Hegseth confirmed because the Pentagon chief mirrors Trump’s own riotous political identity and instincts. The point of his selection was to show the conventions and traits that normally define top national security officials don’t apply in the president’s tear-it-down second term.
This is why Hegseth seems safe for now. It’s not entirely surprising that the former Fox News anchor isn’t acting like the kind of national security official who guards sensitive information with their life.
But firing Hegseth three months into a tenure that started with national security experts warning he was dangerously unprepared to lead the Pentagon would force an embarrassed Trump to admit he’d made a mistake.
And, critically, Hegseth has not yet committed the unpardonable transgression that led to the departure of two Trump first-term defense secretaries – trying to thwart the president.
Dow Jones index on course for worst April since 1932 amid tariff trade war
The Dow Jones index closed down 971 points last night, dropping 2.4% while the Nasdaq declined 2.5% as investors continue to be spooked by the Trump administration’s tariff-driven trade policies.
On Monday, Donald Trump decried Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell as “Mr Too Late” for not dropping interest rates. Powell has angered Trump by saying that his administration’s tariff policy would most likely lead to higher inflation and slower growth.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Dow Jones index is on course for “its worst April performance since 1932”, and that the downward trend is because “few [investors] think the administration’s negotiations with trade partners will yield results soon enough to ease the strain.”
It quoted Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments, saying “It’s impossible to commit capital to an economy that is unstable and unknowable because of policy structure.”
Writing for the Journal, Hannah Erin Lang said “The mood on Wall Street is darkening … Bearishness levels – or expectations that stock prices will fall – among ordinary investors have hovered above 50% for eight consecutive weeks”. That, she reported, is the longest bear majority since records began in 1987.
Trump backs Hegseth as administration denies it is suffering ‘dysfunction’
US president Donald Trump has said he backs beleaguered defense secretary Pete Hegseth as the row over his use of the Signal messaging deepended, amid a series of chaotic missteps from the administration with grave consequences.
A legal battle with Harvard University appears to have been triggered by a letter sent to the university from the administration prematurely, people have been wrongfully deported, and the IRS has run through a succession of leaders in record time.
Trump said criticism of Hegseth was “fake news” and that pursuing the issue was a “waste of time”. Hegseth has been accused of sharing military details in two different Signal chat groups.
Harrison Fields, a spokesperson for the White House, denied the administration was dysfunctional, saying “You can’t have this many results with high levels of dysfunction”. He did not specify which results the administration was proud of.
A government professor at Georgetown University told the New York Times that it had been reasonable to expect that a Trump administration “more disciplined this time around”. A lack of senior officials and advisers in position around Trump, many of whom have been replaced by campaigning loyalists, compared to his first term, is being blamed in some quarters for the chaotic performance.
Welcome and opening summary …
Welcome to the Guardian’s rolling coverage of US politics and the second Trump administration. Here are the headlines …
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President Donald Trump has backed defense secretary Pete Hegseth over his discussions of military information on the Signal platform, saying concerns are a “waste of time”. The White House has denied media reports that it was already in the process of seeking a replacement for Hegseth
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More than 100 presidents of US colleges and universities have signed a statement denouncing the Trump administration’s “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” with higher education
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The Office of Special Counsel has told federal employees it will be droppings its inquiry into the firing of thousands of government staff by the Trump administration
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The Wall Street Journal reports that investors believe the Dow Jones index is heading for its worse April since 1932, over doubts with the Trump administration’s tariff-driven trade policy
