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

He hosts the popular right-wing and pro-Trump podcast "The Dan Bongino Show."

Last Updated: February 23, 2025, 5:03 PM EST

President Donald Trump's administration is continuing its radical effort to cut much of the federal government and crackdown on immigration -- and is being met with dozens of legal challenges.

On the foreign policy front, Trump's press secretary said the White House believes it can reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine this week even as Trump attacks Ukraine's president and blames it for starting the war, which even some in his own party are calling him out over.

Meanwhile, heads of federal government agencies were telling employees not to reply to an email from Elon Musk, Trump's ally who he picked to cut government waste, which asked for them to list their accomplishments for the week or face termination.

Feb 21, 2025, 3:16 PM EST

Layoffs hit FAA, including employees tasked with producing air traffic navigation maps

The Trump administration's layoffs across agencies have hit the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has laid off over a hundred probationary employees, including some of those who work on the team responsible for producing air traffic navigation maps, multiple sources tell ABC News.

"132 probationary employees represented by PASS" were terminated," a union said. "We believe all of these employees are critical not only to the frontline safety workers, but to the entire aviation ecosystem," Professional Aviation Safety Specialists National President Dave Spero told ABC News in a statement.

A Federal Aviation Administration sign hangs in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Mar. 16, 2017.
Seth Wenig/AP

Some of the employees affected were part of the FAA's Air Traffic Organization en route charting group, which is responsible for maintaining and updating enroute navigation charts used in the National Airspace System and by air traffic controllers around the country, sources tell ABC News.

"If we're no longer there to create the maps that air traffic air traffic controls are using, mistakes will eventually happen," one of the FAA employees who was laid off told ABC News.

The FAA and the Department of Transportation have insisted no critical employees were let go.

-ABC News' Will Steakin, Sam Sweeney and Ayesha Ali

Feb 21, 2025, 3:09 PM EST

'See you in court': Trump spars with Democratic governor at WH event

At the White House governors event, there was a tense exchange between President Trump and Maine's Democratic Gov. Janet Mills. The back-and-forth came as Trump discussed his executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports.

"Are you not going to comply with that?" Trump asked Mills directly. She responded that she was "complying with state and federal laws."

Gov. Janet Mills reacts after challenging U.S. President Donald Trump over federal law on the issue of trans women in sports as Trump addressed a meeting of governors at the White House, Feb. 21, 2025 in Washington.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

"Well I'm -- we are the federal law," Trump said. "You better do it, you better do it because you're not going to get any federal funding at all if you don't," he said.

"See you in court," Mills said.

"Good. I'll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be an easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don't think you'll be in elected politics," Trump said.

Feb 21, 2025, 2:38 PM EST

Trump again repeats debunked claims about Social Security, condoms to Hamas

Trump spoke for more than an hour as he hosted governors at the White House, and in the process repeated several debunked claims about the alleged findings of the Department of Government Efficiency.

He again repeated that millions of people over the age of 100 are "on our Social Security rolls."

Policy experts and economists told ABC News that Elon Musk and Trump are getting it wrong on Social Security, likely misreading the database as they falsely imply millions of dead Americans are receiving benefits.

President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session at the White House in Washington, Feb. 21, 2025.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Trump also repeated the false claim that the federal government was sending upward of $100 million on condoms to Hamas. In fact, the condoms were sent to a province in Mozambique named Gaza as part of an HIV prevention measure. and not at that cost.

Musk backtracked on that claim in the Oval Office last week, where he admitted to reporters that he would make mistakes and should be corrected. "Nobody's going to bat a thousand," Musk had said.

Feb 21, 2025, 1:24 PM EST

Trump says he's had 'good talks' with Putin, not with Ukraine

As he welcomed Republican and Democratic governors to the White House, Trump continued to speak on Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

"I've had very good talks with Putin," Trump said. "And I've had not such good talks with Ukraine."

"They don't have any cards, but they play it tough," he continued. "But we're not we're not going to let this continue. This war is terrible. It wouldn’t never happened if I were president. But it did happen."

President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session at the White House in Washington, Feb. 21, 2025.
Leah Millis/Reuters

The comments come as Trump escalates criticism of Ukraine, calling Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator" and falsely blaming Ukraine for starting the war. The U.S. and Russia held talks earlier this week on ending the conflict, with Zelenskyy not invited.

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