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

In a new post on his social media platform, President Donald Trump criticized Ukraine because the nation has not signed the rare earth deal with the U.S.

"It is at least three weeks late. Hopefully, it will be signed IMMEDIATELY," Trump said in the post.

During a meeting with the Italian prime minister last week, Trump announced that the deal would be signed by the U.S. and Ukraine on Thursday of this week. When ABC News' Rachel Scott pressed him for details, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration is still working out details, but hoped to sign the agreement on April 26.

Trump added that "Work on the overall Peace Deal between Russia and Ukraine is going smoothly."

--ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that he is making a surprise trip to the southern border Friday.

A video he shared on his official account shows him boarding a plane. On his personal account, he wrote that he is going down "to see our troops ON MISSION" and a "brand-new 'NATIONAL DEFENSE AREA.'"

The trip comes as Hegseth faces scrutiny in Washington. Hegseth has used the Signal app on a personal computer in his Pentagon office connected to the internet on an unsecured "dirty line," ABC News has reported. He also shouted a threat to polygraph top-ranking military officers as he accused them of leaking to the media.

A Pentagon spokesman posted online that the report was "complete & total fake news."

Trump signed an executive order that seeks to develop domestic capability for the "exploration, characterization, collection and processing of critical deep seabed minerals."

The order itself contains a lengthy list of mandates for various Cabinet secretaries and departments to help deliver on the aim of the order.

Specifically, it calls on the secretary of the Department of Commerce to expedite the review and issuance of exploration and commercial recovery permits under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act.

The order will also require the secretaries of the departments of Commerce and the Interior to create a report detailing private-sector interest and opportunities for "exploration, mining and monitoring" of seabed mineral on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and private-sector processing capability within the U.S. and on U.S.-flagged vessels.

The secretary of state and secretary of the interior will also be tasked with creating a map of priority areas of the seabed.

The order also requires the secretary of the interior to come up with a process for reviewing and approving permits and granting licenses within the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Officials say these licenses will be administered under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

-ABC News' Hannah Demissie

Judge William K. Sessions III denied on Thursday the government’s request to pause the transfer of Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk from a detention facility in Louisiana to another in Vermont.

The government had asked the judge to pause the move while it appeals the decision in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

But the judge rejected their request, saying her transfer to Vermont "will have no impact on the government’s separate removal proceedings against her in immigration court."

"Ms. Öztürk is in detention in Louisiana, where she reports that she is enduring overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, a worsening medical condition, insufficient medical care, and difficulties practicing her religion," he added.

-ABC News' Armando Garcia