White House says some employees were fired by mistake

After taking the recent buyout offer, some employees were fired, a source said.

Last Updated: February 16, 2025, 11:07 PM EST

President Donald Trump's administration, including Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, is continuing its sweeping effort to cut much of the federal government -- but it's being met with legal challenges.

Trump is also making his second administration's first forays on the diplomatic front with calls to Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy on ending the 3-year-old war that began in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.

And a day after Hamas released more hostages taken when it attacked Israel in October 2023, Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the militant organization needs to be "eliminated."

Feb 11, 2025, 1:10 PM EST

Asked if he can get Jordanian king to back his Gaza plan, Trump says 'he's a good man'

Welcoming the Jordanian King to the White House Tuesday afternoon, Trump said "he's a good man" when asked by ABC News' senior White House correspondent Mary Bruce if he's confident he can get the King to back his plan for the Palestinian people.

When pressed on whether he will cut off aid to Jordan -- as he suggested he might last night, if the King doesn't get on board and agree to take in Palestinians -- Trump refused to comment.

President Donald Trump meets with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House in Washington, Feb. 11, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The Jordanians, along with the Egyptians, have fiercely rejected Trump's calls for Palestinians to relocate to their countries, despite Trump's insistence that the U.S. will "own Gaza" and build "much better housing" for Palestinians elsewhere.

Asked by a reporter if Saturday is still his deadline for Hamas to release all the hostages, the president said "yes."

Pressed on if he thinks they will listen to him, Trump appeared to say, "I do."

-- ABC News' Mary Bruce and Molly Nagle

Feb 11, 2025, 1:05 PM EST

Trump admin ordered to restore public health webpages and datasets

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., is blocking the Trump administration from removing public health data from multiple government websites.

U.S. District Judge John Bates issued a temporary restraining order that compels the federal government to restore the web pages and datasets that the Trump administration removed earlier this month.

According to the advocacy group that brought the lawsuit, those webpages and datasets covered topics ranging from environmental justice to the transmission of HIV.

“The removal of the webpages and datasets creates a dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, deprives physicians of resources that guide clinical practice, and takes away key resources for communicating and engaging with patients,” the lawsuit said.

-- ABC News' Peter Charalambous

Feb 11, 2025, 1:03 PM EST

DHS fires 4 employees who paid for ‘luxury hotels’ for migrants

The Department of Homeland Security has fired four employees who allegedly made payments to "luxury hotels" for migrants, according to a DHS spokesperson.

The firings include the chief financial officer and three others.

Earlier this week, Elon Musk was tweeting about how FEMA allegedly paid over $50 million to hotels for "migrant housing,” using money from the FEMA grant program.

These firings came after acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton posted on X on Sunday, saying payments to those luxury hotels had been suspended as of Saturday and that “personnel will be held accountable.”

– ABC News’ Luke Barr and Justin Gomez

Feb 11, 2025, 1:00 PM EST

Speaker Johnson and Rep. Greene met with Elon Musk at White House on DOGE

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene met with Elon Musk at the White House on Monday, sources familiar with the meeting tell ABC News.

This meeting comes just ahead of the first DOGE subcommittee hearing in the House that will be held on Wednesday. Greene is the chairwoman of the panel. The hearing will focus on improper payment fraud.

“We are looking at improper payments. We’re looking at potentially hundreds of billions of dollars that we can save just cutting out those improper payments – the payments to dead people, payments going overseas… cutting out complete fraud. I think it should be pretty bipartisan,” Greene said leaving the conference meeting.

Johnson applauded DOGE’s latest efforts and confirmed he met with Elon Musk to get an update, calling their work "very exciting."

-- ABC News' Lauren Peller

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