Live
US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office on the day Howard Lutnick is sworn in on February 21 [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
By Alice Speri and Brian Osgood
Published On 21 Feb 2025
  • In a radio interview with Fox News, US President Donald Trump has said his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy has “no cards” to play to end the war in Ukraine.
  • US envoy Keith Kellogg nevertheless has praised Zelenskyy as a “embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war”, offering a stark departure from Trump’s harsh rhetoric.
21 Feb 2025 - 23:55
 (23:55 GMT)

That’s a wrap from us

Thank you for joining our live page covering news and events out of the United States.

For more information about President Donald Trump’s latest remarks about Russia’s war in Ukraine, check out our story here.

You can also discover how Vice President JD Vance has emboldened a right-wing push against alleged censorship in Ireland with this article.

We have coverage as well of the Irish party Sinn Fein’s protest against Trump’s Gaza plans here.

And find out here how the world is responding to former Trump aide Steve Bannon giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute at the 2025 CPAC gathering.

We hope to see you again soon!

President Donald Trump speaks alongside Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on February 21 [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
21 Feb 2025 - 23:50
 (23:50 GMT)

Here’s a recap of recent events

If you’re just joining us, here’s a quick summary of what’s been happening:

  • President Donald Trump continues to lash out against Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying that the Ukrainian leader has “no cards” to play at peace talks with Russia.
  • Trump added that Russian President Vladimir Putin could take “the whole country” of Ukraine if he wanted to.
  • The US president also stepped back from US plans to “take over” Gaza and forcibly expel the Strip’s residents, saying he would only “recommend” it to regional allies.
  • Kash Patel was sworn in for a 10-year term as director of the FBI, marking the occasion with harsh words for the media and “rigorous constitutional oversight”.
  • Consumer sentiment dipped in the month of February amid concerns over Trump’s aggressive approach to trade with countries like Mexico, Canada and China.
  • The Associated Press news agency has sued three Trump administration officials, arguing its free speech has been curtailed by government efforts to enforce the use of the term “Gulf of America”.
President Donald Trump signs the commission certificate of Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on February 21 [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
21 Feb 2025 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Trump to host Poland’s President Duda in Washington

The Polish state news agency PAP has reported that President Andrzej Duda will travel to Washington, DC, on Saturday to meet with Trump.

The visit comes amid a flare-up of tensions between Ukraine and the US after Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being a “dictator”.

On social media, Duda tried to defuse tensions while giving Trump the benefit of the doubt.

“I suggested to President Zelenskyy to remain committed to the course of calm and constructive cooperation with Donald Trump,” Duda wrote.

“I have no doubt that President Trump is guided by a deep sense of responsibility for global stability and peace.”

Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in January [Oded Balilty/AP Photo]
21 Feb 2025 - 23:35
 (23:35 GMT)
Houthi

Supreme Court refuses to lift order preventing ouster of Hampton Dellinger

The US Supreme Court has opted not to weigh in — for now — on a lower court’s ruling suspending the dismissal of Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of the Special Counsel.

In its ruling, the court noted that a district court will resume the case on February 26, when the temporary restraining order against Dellinger’s removal expires.

The Justice Department had sought an emergency ruling from the top court to fire Dellinger, who was among the independent government watchdogs pushed out of office under Trump.

Dellinger’s office is concerned with the protection of government whistleblowers. Under US law, he may only be removed due to “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office”.

Dellinger therefore has sued to remain in his post, arguing that Trump did not follow the proper protocol.

21 Feb 2025 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

ADL indirectly condemns Bannon’s Nazi salute, after giving Musk’s a pass

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has criticised the conservative firebrand Steve Bannon after he made what appeared to be a Nazi salute during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday.

While it did not explicitly address the gesture – which prompted France’s far-right leader Jordan Bardella to cancel a planned speech at the conference – the ADL issued a statement on X pointing to Bannon’s “long and disturbing history of stoking antisemitism and hate”.

The self-described anti-Semitism watchdog faced backlash last month when it dismissed a nearly identical gesture made by Elon Musk during Trump’s inauguration. In that instance, the ADL wrote in a statement that Musk’s had been “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute”.

You can read more about that controversy here.

21 Feb 2025 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

Photos: A conservative pep rally unfolds at CPAC

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area has brought together some of the biggest players in today’s Republican Party, including billionaire Elon Musk, as well as Argentinian President Javier Milei.

Check out some of the images emerging from the four-day conference below.

Attendees cheer as Elon Musk appears onstage during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
Paintings depicting US President Donald Trump and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell are on display at CPAC [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
A man wearing a headdress smiles as he stands in front of a picture of US President Donald Trump [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
A shirt displaying the words ‘Gulf of America’ was on sale during CPAC [Nathan Howard/Reuters]

21 Feb 2025 - 23:05
 (23:05 GMT)

Ukrainian foreign minister says he discussed ‘just’ peace with Rubio

In a social media post, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha says he spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about a “results-oriented” dialogue between the two countries.

“I spoke with Secretary Rubio to continue the results-oriented Ukraine-US dialogue,” Sybiha wrote on social media platform X.

“Ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale aggression, I underscored Ukraine’s strong will to achieve a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace – one that will strengthen Ukraine and the US.”

21 Feb 2025 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Judge clears path for placing 2,000 USAID workers on leave

A federal judge has declined to halt a decision to place workers from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on leave, delivering a win to Trump and his allies as they push ahead with efforts to dismantle the agency.

US District Judge Carl Nichols lifted his temporary restraining order that had previously prevented the Trump administration from removing thousands of USAID workers.

In his decision, Nichols argued that the plaintiffs – several workers unions – had not proven the necessary imminent harm to keep the restraining order in place.

He also decided that the unions had to challenge Trump’s actions through an administrative dispute process for federal employment laws, rather than in a US district court.

21 Feb 2025 - 22:55
 (22:55 GMT)

Trump teases natural resources deal with Ukraine

Responding to questions in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that he was optimistic a deal with Ukraine over rare earth minerals was on the horizon.

“We’re signing an agreement, hopefully in the next fairly short period of time,” Trump said.

Media reports emerged earlier this month that Trump’s team sought 50-percent ownership over Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, in exchange for assistance against Russia’s invasion.

While that proposal was shot down, Trump officials have continued to maintain pressure on the Ukrainian government to make a deal premised on access to the country’s mineral resources.

President Donald Trump stands in the Oval Office on February 21 [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
21 Feb 2025 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Trump on migrants: ‘They’re people that their country didn’t want’

Trump has made incendiary rhetoric on immigration a hallmark of his campaigns for the presidency, and he continued to lean into negative and harmful stereotypes during a speech at a bipartisan meeting of governors on Friday.

While Trump focused his remarks on conflating immigration status with criminality, he briefly acknowledged that not all undocumented people are criminals — only to paint them as rejects from their countries of origin.

“ In many cases, they might not be criminals, but they’re people that their country didn’t want. They didn’t work. They needed help all the time, or they needed assistance, or whatever,” Trump said.

The US president also drew an analogy between the real estate empire he inherited from his father and the work of criminal gangs like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.

“They’re like me. They’re in the real estate business. They take over real estate. And they literally take it over. They just claim it. And they tell tenants to get the hell out,” Trump said.

Directing his attention to the state governors in the audience, he warned them against defying his orders on immigration.

“There’s no excuse for any state attempting to aid and abet dangerous criminals, killers, drug dealers, really bad people who are violating federal law and violating the law by being in our country,” Trump said.

Studies have repeatedly shown that undocumented people commit far fewer crimes than US-born citizens.

President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session on February 21 [Pool via AP Photo]
21 Feb 2025 - 22:40
 (22:40 GMT)

Trump expected to sign order against digital service taxes abroad

Trump is expected to sign an executive memorandum imposing tariffs on countries that put taxes on digital services from US-based technology companies.

Countries including Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Turkiye, India, Austria and Canada place taxes on tech companies that sell services within their borders, including Facebook owner Meta and Google parent company Alphabet.

Trump has denounced such taxes as discriminatory. An administration official told Reuters, “President Trump will not allow foreign governments to appropriate America’s tax base for their own benefit.”

21 Feb 2025 - 22:35
 (22:35 GMT)

FBI employees to be reassigned outside of Washington: Reuters

As the Trump administration slashes the federal workforce, anonymous sources have told the Reuters news agency that 1,500 FBI employees have been reassigned from Washington, DC, to other parts of the country.

Newly sworn-in FBI director Kash Patel had mentioned redistributing the bureau’s resources as a priority during his confirmation hearings.

“A third of the workforce for the FBI works in Washington, DC,” Patel said on January 30 before the Senate. “I am fully committed to having that workforce go out into the interior of the country.”

Patel delivered fiery remarks to mark his swearing-in ceremony on Friday, threatening harsh justice for the country’s criminals.

“ Anyone that wishes to do harm to our way of life and our citizens here or abroad will face the full wrath of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Patel said.

“And if you seek to hide in any corner of this country or any corner of this planet, we will put on the world’s largest manhunt, and we will find you, and we will decide your end state, not you.”

Kash Patel is sworn in as FBI director by Attorney General Pam Bondi in Washington, DC [Leah Millis/Reuters]
21 Feb 2025 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

Energy official says AI ‘arms race’ will require greater output from power plants

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum – whom Trump has made co-chair of a new White House energy council – has said US power plants will have to increase their output by 10 to 15 percent in order to create the resources necessary for the energy-intensive development of artificial intelligence (AI).

“Winning the AI arms race doesn’t just take software developers. It takes more electricity,” Burgum told a meeting of US governors in Washington.

“We’ve got to get every electrical plant in the country that’s producing energy to produce more – if they can expand by 10 percent or 15 percent, we want to do that.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum waves as President Donald Trump speaks on February 7 [Evan Vucci/AP Photo]
21 Feb 2025 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

DC mayor demurs when asked about Trump takeover plan

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to weigh in on comments from Trump earlier this week saying the federal government should take over control of the nation’s capital.

“The president is very focused on making our nation’s capital the most beautiful capital in the world,” she told reporters. “It turns out that’s our focus as well.”

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks on January 30 [Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]
21 Feb 2025 - 22:11
 (22:11 GMT)
Houthi

Kash Patel is sworn in as the new FBI director

Kash Patel has just taken the oath to become the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the leading federal law enforcement agency.

In a fiery speech, Patel pledged imminent changes to the bureau and an end to the “two-tier system of justice”.

“ There will be accountability within the FBI and outside of the FBI. And we will do it through rigorous constitutional oversight starting this weekend,” Patel said to applause.

Patel’s confirmation has prompted fears of mass layoffs at the bureau. During his speech on Friday, Patel sought at once to defend FBI workers while hinting at possible grounds for termination.

“ I have your back because you have the backs of the American people. You will be held to the same high standard. Any deviation from that standard will not be tolerated at this Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Patel said.

He also reserved some barbed remarks specifically for the journalists in the room, lashing out against scrutiny of his past remarks and loyalty to Trump.

“ I know the media’s in here. And if you have a target, that target’s right here. It’s not the men and women at the FBI,” Patel said. “You’ve written everything you possibly can about me that’s fake, malicious, slanderous and defamatory. Keep it coming. Bring it on.”

Kash Patel testifies during his confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee in January [Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images]
21 Feb 2025 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

Top ICE official reassigned as deportations fall short of expectations: Report

The news agency Reuters has reported that the top official at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been moved to a new post, following lower-than-expected enforcement numbers.

Citing unnamed government sources, Reuters said that Caleb Vitello, formerly the acting director of ICE, was reassigned after immigration arrests and deportations dipped, compared to 2024 statistics.

Trump has made the promise of mass deportations a key element of his campaign. But the number of people deported in his first month in office has fallen behind the average number of monthly deportations under Biden.

21 Feb 2025 - 21:55
 (21:55 GMT)

The Associated Press sues Trump officials over free speech

The Associated Press (AP) news agency has filed a lawsuit in a US district court in Washington, DC, claiming three Trump administration officials have curtailed its free-speech rights.

The complaint argues that, by barring AP reporters from accessing White House events or flying on Air Force One, the officials had used government powers to pressure the news agency to adopt the term “Gulf of America”, impinging upon its freedom of speech.

The complaint names White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as defendants.

“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” the AP argues in its lawsuits.

“This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment,” the news agency said. “This court should remedy it immediately.”

On the first day of his second term, Trump issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” instead.

However, the AP has not adopted the term, citing its international readership. The White House has said it has the right to bar journalists whom it accuses of spreading “lies”.

21 Feb 2025 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

IRS blocks Musk aide from accessing taxpayer data

The news agency Reuters has reported that a document has been signed between a representative from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax agency, to prevent DOGE from viewing sensitive taxpayer data.

The Washington Post had previously reported on such a deal on Thursday.

DOGE had assigned Gavin Kliger to review the IRS’s databases as part of its overall push to streamline the federal government.

But critics feared Kliger, a close associate of Elon Musk, could access or manipulate sensitive data including bank account information, personal IDs and tax payments.

This week’s deal would reportedly limit Kliger to seeing anonymous data, without personal identification information visible. It would also be presented in a read-only format.

News that Musk’s DOGE was seeking access to troves of taxpayer information had prompted fears of privacy violations and retribution against political rivals.

Still, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields has argued that direct access to the IRS database was necessary to root out “deeply entrenched” waste, fraud and abuse.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters in Washington, DC [J David Ake/AP Photo]
21 Feb 2025 - 21:37
 (21:37 GMT)

Byron Donalds thanks Trump for Florida governor endorsement

Ron DeSantis is reaching the end of his second and final term as Florida governor – and already rumours are swirling about who might replace him as the Republican candidate in the 2026 elections.

Earlier this week, Donald Trump threw his endorsement behind Representative Byron Donalds, calling him a “TOTAL WINNER” on his social media platform Truth Social.

Donalds acknowledged that support onstage today at CPAC.

“ I get a phone call,” Donalds explained. “And it’s from the president. And he talks to me about what he just put out on Truth Social. And I just want to say, Mr President, thank you and I will never let you down.”

Like DeSantis, Donalds has framed Florida as a conservative blueprint for the rest of the US, a position he revisited onstage at CPAC.

“ The phrase down in Florida is: Make America Florida,” Donalds said, offering yet another twist on Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”.

“ Florida is not going to stop leading,” Donalds continued. “We’re going to build off of what we’ve done, and we are going to continue to be bigger, better, faster, greater, safer, freer, because the American dream is for everybody, and we’re going to show the other 49 states how to get it done.”

Representative Byron Donalds [Alex Brandon/AP Photo]
21 Feb 2025 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Trump teases trip to Fort Knox to inspect gold reserves

At the White House, Trump has repeated his intention to inspect the US gold reserves at the heavily fortified military base Fort Knox in Kentucky.

“We’re actually going to Fort Knox because I want to see: Do we have the gold? Do we still have whatever it is, tonnes of gold? I hope we do,” Trump told a meeting of governors at the White House. “Wouldn’t that be disappointing?”

He also offered his audience an invitation. “If any governor would like to go with us, well,” Trump said, before switching to another topic.

Gold bars are stored at Fort Knox Knox, Kentucky, on September 24, 1974 [Barry Thumma/AP Photo]