Live

Trump admin live updates: Judge releases Venezuelan couple accused of being gang members, rips government evidence

He headed to the new military immigration enforcement area without reporters.

Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 7:52 PM EDT

A federal judge ordered a Venezuelan couple, accused by the Trump administration of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, to be released, delivering a stinging rebuke of the government's evidence in the case.

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday was making an announced trip to the southern border -- without reporters -- as he faces new scrutiny in Washington.

ABC News has confirmed that, in at least two separate meetings, Hegseth accused top-ranking military officers of leaking to the news media and threatened to polygraph them.

Hegseth also used the Signal app on a personal computer in his office that was connected to the internet on an unsecured commercial line, what's known as a "dirty line," two sources confirmed to ABC News Thursday. A Pentagon spokesman called that report "fake news."

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Apr 23, 2025, 5:47 PM EDT

RFK Jr says HHS will withhold funding from medical schools that lack nutrition courses

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a health roundtable in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday that his department will at some point begin withholding HHS funding for medical schools that do not have nutrition programs.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends the swearing in of Mehmet Oz as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, April 18, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

"One of the things we're doing now with medical schools is there's almost no medical schools that have nutrition courses, and so they're taught how to treat illnesses with drugs but not how to treat them with food or to keep people healthy so they don't need the drugs. There's other gaps in their training that we're going to address," said Kennedy, who does not have a medical degree or formal training. br/>
"But one the things that we'll do over the next year is to announce that medical schools that don't have those programs are not going to be eligible for our funding and that we will withhold funds from those who don't implement those kinds of courses," he added.

HHS has not responded to ABC News' request for comment about the proposal.

-ABC News' Michael Pappano and Will McDuffie

Apr 23, 2025, 5:30 PM EDT

Trump signs order enforcing laws on foreign payments to American universities

President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders related to education Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office, including one that charges departments with enforcing laws that require that American colleges and universities disclose when they receive foreign gifts.

President Donald Trump looks on before signing executive orders in the Oval Office, April 23, 2025.
Leah Millis/Reuters

"There are currently laws on the books requiring certain disclosures of universities when they accept large foreign gifts," White House staff secretary Will Scharf said while presenting the president with the executive order. "We believe that certain universities, including, for example, Harvard, have routinely violated this law and this law has not been effectively enforced."

Apr 23, 2025, 5:32 PM EDT

Trump signs executive order on school accreditation process

Among the group of educational executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday was one that charged the Department of Education with reviewing school accreditation processes

"I think that gets to your policy, sir, of meritocracy -- that we should be looking at those who have real merit to get in," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said before Trump signed the order.

Apr 23, 2025, 3:37 PM EDT

Trump’s patience ‘running very thin’ with Ukraine-Russia negotiations, press secretary says

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's patience with Ukraine-Russia negotiations is "running very thin."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to members of the news media outside of the White House, after doing a live TV appearance, in Washington, April 23, 2025.
Leah Millis/Reuters

"And unfortunately, President Zelenskyy has been trying to litigate this peace … negotiation in the press, and that's unacceptable to the president. These should be closed door negotiations," Leavitt continued.

Responding to Trump's earlier criticism over Ukraine refusing to legally recognize the occupation of Crimea, Zelenskyy said in a statement that "Ukraine will always act in accordance with its Constitution and we are absolutely sure that our partners in particular the USA will act in line with its strong decisions."

– ABC News' Kelsey Walsh, Hannah Demissie, and Selina Wang

Related Topics

Sponsored Content by Taboola