White House says some employees were fired by mistake

Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday alleged that Kash Patel has “been personally directing the ongoing purge of career civil servants” at the FBI ahead of his confirmation to be leader of the agency.

On the Senate floor and in a letter sent to Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Tuesday, the Illinois Democrat said he’d received information from “credible whistleblowers at the highest levels” that the firings of career officials came at the direction of Patel, who is still a “private citizen,” and in coordination with White House Deputy Chief of Staff to the President Stephen Miller, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, and a newly-established FBI Director’s Advisory Team.

If the allegations are true, Durbin also said that Trump’s pick to be FBI Director “may have perjured himself” before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month at his confirmation hearing.

-- ABC News' Isabella Murray

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.

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

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

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