Trump 2nd term live updates: Dan Bongino named as deputy FBI director

A federal judge said Thursday that the Trump administration had not "fully complied" with its order temporarily lifting the 90-day foreign aid freeze, but stopped short of finding administration officials in contempt.

In a 7-page order posted to the case docket, Judge Amir Ali granted a motion filed earlier in the week by a coalition of aid groups to force the government to abide by the court's temporary restraining order against the aid freeze. But he wrote that a contempt finding "is not warranted on the current record."

"Nothing in the [temporary restraining order] limits the agencies from conducting an individualized review of agreements and taking action as to a particular agreement where the agency determines that it has lawful authority to do so," the judge wrote.

"In the meantime, however, to the extent Defendants have continued the blanket suspension, they are ordered to immediately cease it and to take all necessary steps to honor the terms of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, loans, and other federal foreign assistance awards that were in existence as of January 19, 2025, including but not limited to disbursing all funds payable under those terms," he concluded.

-ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman

The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia sent a letter to Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California asking him to clarify his comments made during a TV appearance.

During the interview, Garcia said, “What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy.”

At a committee hearing on the same day, Garcia showed a photo of Elon Musk and called it a “d--- pic,” an apparent reference to a photo GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene showed of Hunter Biden during a committee hearing.

“This sounds to some like a threat to Mr. Musk -- an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you called a ‘d‑‑‑’ — and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry,” U.S. Attorney Edward Martin wrote in the letter dated Feb. 17.

“At this time, I respectfully ask that you clarify your comments from February 12, 2025,” Martin wrote.

Garcia posted the letter on X and said that if “you criticize Elon Musk, Trump’s DOJ will send you this letter.”

“I will not be silenced.”

-ABC News’ Luke Barr

Attorney General Pam Bondi sat for an interview with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Thursday afternoon at CPAC, where she said the Justice Department is "worse" than she had expected.

"DOJ, what's your assessment? Is it as bad as you thought it would be? Is it better? Is it worse?" Cruz asked Bondi.

"Worse," Bondi answered. "Meaning, yeah, that that department had completely lost its mission of fighting violent crime. Look what they did to President Trump. Look at the weaponization, and weaponization ended."

Bondi also declined to answer directly whether she is considering prosecuting Biden, instead turning her attention toward attacking the prosecution of President Donald Trump for his mishandling of classified documents and former special counsel Robert Hur's decision to decline prosecution of Biden.

However, she emphasized she has not had any discussions with Trump about moving to prosecute Biden.

"Listen, Donald Trump and I have not talked about that at all," Bondi said. "This is not about targeting. This is what they do to us. This is not about targeting. This is not about weaponization. This is about keeping America safe and going forward and prosecuting violent criminals."

-ABC News' Alexander Mallin

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., went further than any Republican was willing to go, directly invoking President Donald Trump's name in a Senate floor speech that bashed Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for a full defense of Ukraine.

"I'm a Republican. I support President Trump, and I believe that most of his policies on national security are right," Tillis said. "I believe his instincts are pretty good, but what I am telling you -- whoever believes that there is any space for Vladimir Putin in the future of a stable globe better go to Ukraine, they better go to Europe, they better invest the time to understand that this man is a cancer and the greatest threat to democracy in my life time."

Tillis also seemed to challenge Trump's comments about a "big, beautiful ocean" separating the United States from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

"If you believe that Ukraine is a country an ocean away and not relevant to our national security, think again," Tillis said. "The world is small. The world is watching. The strength of our alliances are on the line, and the future of democracy in the world is on the line if we do anything less than defeat Vladimir Putin."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin