Trump 2nd term updates: Trump excludes low-value shipments from looming tariffs

Trump provided a vague update on the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and said "we've made a lot of progress."

"It will either be fairly soon or it won't be at all," he said.

The president repeated false claims about the money that was given to Ukraine by the Biden administration and praised the pending mineral deal with Ukraine.

"It's really very good for Ukraine and very good for us. The American taxpayers will now effectively be reimbursed for the money and hundreds of billions of dollars poured into helping Ukraine defend itself, which by and of itself is a very worthy thing to do," he said.

The White House released another statement Thursday clearing up Trump's statement on Wednesday where he claimed 65% of the EPA's staff would be cut.

A White House spokesperson elaborated more to ABC News, saying that the administration is "committed to eliminating 65% of the EPA’s wasteful spending."

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

Members of the Senate DOGE caucus gathered with Elon Musk at the White House Thursday during a meeting that seemed tooled toward facilitating greater cooperation between Senate Republicans and Musk's efforts.

Senators who attended the meeting said Musk offered them assurance that DOGE does not have the independent authority to implement layoffs or slash congressionally appropriated spending.

"They don't have any independent firing authority. They can't do any of that nor do they have the ability to cancel any payment," Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who attended the meeting, said.

Republican Sen. John Hoeven said he got assurances that there would be greater communication with DOGE, especially as constituents raise concerns about DOGE cuts.

Hoeven said there have been instances in which he's received calls from constituents who were "let go, or something like that, but they need to be there."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Trump repeated false claims about U.S. funding to Ukraine since the war began and that the British and EU were getting their money back as part of the deal to end the war.

Starmer immediately interjected and said this was not the case.

"We're not getting all of ours," the prime minister said. "Quite a bit of ours ... was gifted actually," he said.