Trump says he ‘wouldn’t mind’ cutting ODNI jobs<\/p>\n
Donald Trump said that he \u201cwouldn\u2019t mind\u201d cutting the number of people working at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind. [The size of the office has been] way too high for way too long,\u201d the president said, reiterating what he told the Wall Street Journal<\/a> earlier today. \u201cYeah, I wouldn\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n The WSJ reported that Trump said he wants Bill Pulte, his new acting director of national intelligence with no national intelligence experience, to cut the size of the office, which has already been significantly scaled back during his second term.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.14 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Donald Trump also told reporters that his team is looking into the idea of AI companies giving the American public a stake in their firms.<\/p>\n Senior US officials held preliminary decisions with AI companies about the potential for the government to buy some shares in their firms, digital news outlet Notus reported. Trump made the comment in response to a question from a journalist about the topic.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something very interesting about it, where it almost becomes a partnership with the American public,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cWe\u2019ll look into that.\u201c<\/p>\n Trump also told reporters that he will meet with AI executives at the White House \u201cprobably next week\u201d.<\/p>\n Asked which companies, he said \u201call the big ones\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.39 EDT<\/p>\n Trump also claimed that \u201ca lot of people\u201d have asked him to stay involved with the Kennedy Center and \u201cget it fixed\u201d (we just don\u2019t know who they are).<\/p>\n The president said last week that he has \u201cno interest\u201d in the Kennedy Center after a judge ordered his name to be removed<\/a> from its facade and website.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Asked about the new \u201cpromenade\u201d he announced yesterday<\/a> to be added to the back of the Lincoln Memorial and where the money will come from, Donald Trump replied first that, \u201cIt\u2019s not a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n He then added that they have \u201ca lot of sources of funding\u201d and claimed \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t have to go back to Congress or anything\u201d (which is probably for the best<\/a>).<\/p>\n Yesterday the president announced his latest construction project in his campaign to remake the nation\u2019s capital. \u201cWe\u2019re going to call it the promenade,\u201d he told reporters in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to call it the Trump Promenade,\u201d he said, and it remains unclear who \u201cthey\u201d are. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know if I want to do that. But it\u2019s going to be beautiful. It\u2019s a beautiful project, and it\u2019s going to take the Lincoln Memorial right down to the Potomac.\u201d<\/p>\n Work is already under way on a major renovation of the Lincoln Memorial, scheduled to be completed in July, as well as a repainting of the reflecting pool (just don\u2019t call it a \u201cpaint job\u201d<\/a>!).<\/p>\n Repair work continues as the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is partially filled with water on Friday. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.40 EDT<\/p>\n Trump says he ‘wouldn’t mind’ cutting ODNI jobs<\/p>\n Donald Trump said that he \u201cwouldn\u2019t mind\u201d cutting the number of people working at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind. [The size of the office has been] way too high for way too long,\u201d the president said, reiterating what he told the Wall Street Journal<\/a> earlier today. \u201cYeah, I wouldn\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n The WSJ reported that Trump said he wants Bill Pulte, his new acting director of national intelligence with no national intelligence experience, to cut the size of the office, which has already been significantly scaled back during his second term.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.14 EDT<\/p>\n Asked how long Bill Pulte will be in the role of acting director of national intelligence, Trump said: \u201cIt depends how long it takes to get somebody through.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019ll do a very good job,\u201d Trump added. \u201cHe\u2019s very good, he\u2019s very talented.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Asked who was under consideration for the (permanent) role of director of national intelligence, Trump was vague and said he\u2019ll have five interviews.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll have a very good person watching things \u2013 Bill Pulte \u2013 but I have five interviews,\u201d the president said, before abruptly switching back to talking about interest rates.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump says he wants lower interest rates but will leave decision to Warsh<\/p>\n Donald Trump has been gaggling with reporters onboard Air Force One as he travels to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, for a round-table discussion on American agriculture \u2013 and to throw his support<\/a> behind another Republican seeking re-election.<\/p>\n The president touted the \u201cfantastic\u201d job numbers that came out today, before adding that he would like to see lower interest rates. \u201cBut I\u2019ll leave that up to Kevin\u201d, he said, referring to Kevin Warsh, whom he hand-picked to be the new Federal Reserve chair.<\/p>\n Warsh was sworn in last month<\/a>, succeeding Jerome Powell, who repeatedly warned over the inflationary risks of Trump\u2019s agenda, and whom the president vehemently attacked for his refusal to cut rates. (Powell was once hand-picked by Trump<\/a>, too.)<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.08 EDT<\/p>\n Harry Taylor<\/p>\n Donald Trump\u2019s legal team has rejected a request by the BBC to hand over financial information as part of his $10bn defamation case against the broadcaster.<\/p>\n The president\u2019s lawyers accused the BBC<\/a> of a \u201cfishing expedition\u201d, according to court filings, after the broadcaster\u2019s representatives asked for details to get evidence on Trump\u2019s claims he suffered reputational and financial damage because of a Panorama documentary centred on the US Capitol riots.<\/p>\n Trump accused the BBC of \u201cintentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring\u201d a speech he gave on 6 January 2021 before the unrest in Washington in which thousands marched on, and broke into, the US Congress.<\/p>\n Donald Trump speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. Photograph: Samuel Corum\/Pool\/Samuel Corum – Pool\/CNP\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n The BBC had spliced together two parts of a speech made by Trump as part of its documentary broadcast in October 2024.<\/p>\n Four people died on the day, and five police officers died afterwards, including from suicide.<\/p>\n According to the court documents lodged in Miami, Florida, in May<\/a>, the BBC had asked for financial papers on the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which holds the president\u2019s business interests and assets.<\/p>\n Lawyers had asked for records that would show its income, assets and properties held. It also listed hundreds of companies that fall under the trust\u2019s remit.<\/p>\n In response, Trump\u2019s Florida-based lawyers Brito PLLC said the request was \u201cdisproportionate\u201d and \u201cencompasses individuals and entities that have no connection to the issues in dispute\u201d.<\/p>\n They added it amounted to \u201ctens of thousands of documents\u201d within 30 days, adding the timeframe was \u201cunreasonable \u2026 and improper\u201d.<\/p>\n It accused the BBC of a \u201ctextbook fishing expedition\u201d.<\/p>\n Filings in May showed Trump\u2019s legal team had made 503 requests for documents, and the BBC had turned over 45,000 pages in return. Trump had produced none.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s Harry\u2019s full report:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Donald Trump also said in that Wall Street Journal interview<\/a> that he wants Bill Pulte to approach his job as acting national intelligence director similarly to the way Linda McMahon has approached hers as education secretary.<\/p>\n McMahon has moved to drastically shrink and actively dismantle the Department of Education, which the president has previously said he wants to eliminate, through mass firings<\/a> and reassigning<\/a> many of its powers to other federal agencies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve made the Department of Education much smaller, and likewise, this should be much smaller,\u201d Trump said, referring to Office of the Director of National Intelligence. \u201cAnd this should maybe even be terminated, and we\u2019ll make that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump urges Pulte to fire intelligence community employees, WSJ reports<\/p>\n Donald Trump has told the Wall Street Journal<\/a> that he wants his new acting director of national intelligence Bill Pulte to begin the process of firing a large number of employees as part of a shake-up of the US intelligence community.<\/p>\n Trump told the Journal today that he has privately told Pulte that he believes the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 federal intelligence agencies and units, is \u201cunnecessary and\/or too big\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn\u2019t be there,\u201d Trump told the WSJ, referring to holdovers from the Biden and Obama administrations. Asked if he was calling on Pulte to fire people, Trump said he wanted him to \u201cstart the process\u201d, adding that his eventual nominee to serve in the role permanently should continue that work.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s controversial selection of Pulte<\/a>, who has no national intelligence experience, has been met with bipartisan alarm, with Democrats and some Republicans concerned that he will use his position to go after the president\u2019s perceived enemies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need a weaponized\u201d national intelligence director, Senate majority leader John Thune told reporters<\/a> on Tuesday, warning that Pulte would face \u201ca lengthy road ahead of him\u201d if nominated permanently.<\/p>\n Speaking to the WSJ, Trump said he thought that Pulte\u2019s acting status was an asset. \u201cYou\u2019re less shackled. It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time,\u201d he said, adding that he hopes Pulte can begin making changes across the intelligence community before a permanent intelligence director is confirmed.<\/p>\n \u201cFrankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come,\u201d the president said. \u201cBecause, if he reduced the size, in conjunction with me \u2026 and in conjunction with possibly the person coming in \u2026 he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn\u2019t have to saddle somebody that goes in.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.41 EDT<\/p>\n NPR reports<\/a> that CBS News correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim have pledged to stay on the most watched show in news, declaring: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see 60 Minutes die.\u201d<\/p>\n It caps off a tumultuous week at the network after the dramatic firings of Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega left serious questions up in the air<\/a> over who would be left to appear on the show\u2019s next season (Anderson Cooper is also leaving<\/a>) and how the show would endure. CBS News also fired the show\u2019s executive producer, Tanya Simon, Draggan Mihailovich, the executive editor, and other key staffers.<\/p>\n Pelley, who was fired<\/a> on Tuesday after clashing with the network\u2019s new management, issued a public statement accusing the network\u2019s new executives of silencing employees and claiming they instructed him \u201cto inject falsehoods and bias\u201d into his reporting.<\/p>\n He had taken direct aim at Bari Weiss<\/a>, the network\u2019s controversial editor-in-chief, over his colleagues\u2019 terminations, reportedly telling a meeting of the show\u2019s staff and Nick Bilton, its newly appointed executive producer, along with the CBS News managing editor Charles Forelle: \u201cShe\u2019s murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n In a joint memo<\/a>, Stahl, Whitaker and Wertheim decried the treatment of their colleagues, stating: \u201cAs far as we can tell \u2026 they were expelled because they fought for our 60 Minutes values and stood up to protect our independence and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNewsrooms are not supposed to be run like dictatorships,\u201d they added. \u201cWe want to express how sorry we are that these principled, fair and honest journalists have been treated so shabbily, with such indecency.\u201d<\/p>\n The correspondents go on to say that their staying on should not be read as \u201can endorsement of the existing power structure\u201d, but because, \u201cWe want to stay and fight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can continue doing the work that made this show what it is \u2013 committing acts of independent, fierce journalism and storytelling, we\u2019re here for it. If not, we leave,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n