Today, President Trump held his first Cabinet meeting of 2026, covering: 💊TrumpRx 💸Tax refunds 🏠Rising home sales ⚡️Booming energy production 💰Tariffs And more! 🇺🇸

Democrats and White House have struck a deal to avert a partial government shutdown and temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security as they negotiate new restrictions for President Donald Trump ’s surge of immigration enforcement.

As the country reels from the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis, the two sides have agreed to separate homeland security funding from the rest of the legislation and fund DHS for two weeks while they debate Democratic demands for curbs on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The potential deal comes after Democrats voted to block legislation to fund DHS on Thursday.

Trump said in a social media post that “Republicans and Democrats have come together to get the vast majority of the government funded until September,” while extending current funding for Homeland Security. He encouraged members of both parties to cast a “much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ vote.”

Trump threatens tariffs on any country selling oil to Cuba

The move puts pressure on Mexico, which Trump has been squeezing to distance itself from the Cuban government.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week that her government had at least temporarily stopped oil shipments to Cuba but that it was a “sovereign decision” not made under pressure from the United States.

Trump threatens Canada with 50% tariff on aircraft sold in US

Trump says he is retaliating against Canada for refusing to certify jets from Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream Aerospace.

He said the U.S., in return, would decertify all Canadian aircraft, including its Bombardier.

US issues license for Venezuela oil deals

U.S. Treasury has issued a new license allowing U.S. entities to expand their operations into Venezuela’s oil industry following the ousting of Nicolas Maduro.

It follows Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Wednesday statements during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, which provided new insight into how the U.S. is planning to handle the sale of tens of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela.

The license authorization strictly prohibits entities from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea or Cuba from the transactions.

Democrats and White House strike deal that would avert government shutdown

The two sides have agreed to separate homeland security funding from the rest of the legislation and fund the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks while they debate Democratic demands for curbs on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The potential deal comes after Democrats voted to block legislation to fund DHS on Thursday.

Trump said in a social media post that “Republicans and Democrats have come together to get the vast majority of the government funded until September,” while extending current funding for Homeland Security.

He encouraged members of both parties to cast a “much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ vote.”

For RFK Jr. and others, Trump’s addiction initiative is personal

Addiction affects many Americans — including those in the Trump administration. That made for some touching moments during the president’s Thursday announcement of an initiative to address the problem.

The new effort is co-chaired by two people who have struggled with addiction: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathryn Burgum, who is married to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Kennedy, who has been open about his past struggle with heroin addiction, emphasized that it’s “not a moral failure, it’s a disease.”

Kathryn Burgum talked about being reliant on alcohol for 20 years and celebrated being in recovery for more than 23.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has shared that he lost his son, Andrew, to an opioid overdose, also spoke.

Trump again appears before reporters but doesn’t take any questions

The president, who almost always takes questions when he appears before reporters, declined to take any Thursday evening and didn’t answer a few that were shouted at him.

Earlier Thursday, Trump notably also didn’t take questions during his Cabinet meeting.

Speaker Johnson comments on Minneapolis shooting

“It was deeply concerning,” the Republican speaker told reporters at the Capitol.

It was Johnson’s first known public remarks since last weekend’s shooting death of Alex Pretti at the hands of federal officers during protests over immigration raids and deportations.

Johnson said the investigation into the situation needs to play out, but he also blamed state and local officials for encouraging protests against the federal immigration enforcement actions.

“We need them to cooperate with federal officials,” he said.

Republicans’ confidence in Trump drops: Pew poll

Republicans’ confidence in Trump has declined over the last year, and they are now less likely to support his agenda, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.

While most Republicans, 56%, still say they support “all” or “most” of Trump’s plans and policies, that’s down from about two-thirds shortly after he took office.

The survey also shows sharp declines in Republicans’ confidence that Trump has the mental fitness to serve as president, respects the country’s democratic values or acts ethically in office.

Only about 4 in 10 Republicans are now highly confident in Trump acting ethically, down from 55% early last year.

Top Democrats on Intelligence committees question Gabbard’s presence at election office raid

Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrats on committees overseeing national intelligence, are calling on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to brief them on why she was present at an FBI search of an election office in Georgia this week that has been central to conspiracy theories over President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.

In a letter, Warner and Himes say that it is “deeply concerning” that Gabbard participated in the domestic law enforcement action.

“The Intelligence Community should be focused on foreign threats and, as you yourself have testified, when those intelligence authorities are turned inwards the results can be devastating for Americans privacy and civil liberties,” the lawmakers added.

The search for records related to the 2020 election in Fulton County on Wednesday has raised concerns that the Trump administration is pursuing the president’s claims of a stolen election, claims that have been repeatedly refuted by courts and federal officials.

Massachusetts governor files legislation to keep ICE out of schools, courthouses, churches

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday announced that she plans to file legislation that would bar federal immigration officers from courthouses, hospitals and churches and make it illegal for another state to deploy its National Guard in the state.