Trump moves you might have missed this week
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Trump world 2.0 is moving at a pace that can be hard to follow — and that's intentional. If you missed some key White House or Capitol Hill events of the week, we've got you covered.
The big picture: Donald Trump's second week in office included a surprise federal funding freeze Tuesday that prompted nationwide confusion and a shifting timeline on tariffs across U.S. imports from Canada, Mexico and China set for a Feb. 1 rollout, creating whiplash in financial markets Friday.
- As Axios' Erin Davis reported, much of Trump's activity in the last two weeks has involved a slew of executive orders — more than any modern president has issued in their first two weeks.
- Over in Congress, three of Trump's most controversial Cabinet picks had hearings before Senate committees this week: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel.
Go deeper: Sign up for Axios' Hill Leaders for our ongoing coverage.
Federal funding freeze and worker buyouts
💰 On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced a surprise, temporary pause of federal grant, loan and other financial assistance programs, effective 5pm ET that same day.
- The move — which required agencies to document whether more than 2,000 programs received funding related to abortion, diversity, undocumented immigrants or climate policy — sent states, nonprofits, schools and other programs scrambling in confusion.
- By the end of the day, a federal judge had temporarily blocked the freeze.
💼 The Trump administration also offered Tuesday to pay federal workers who voluntarily resigned a buyout package that includes pay through Sept. 30, Axios' Marc Caputo and Emily Peck also scooped.
- Millions of workers received an email with the subject line "A Fork in the Road" — the same language Elon Musk used when purging X's workforce after he became owner.
Federal funding freeze
🎯 The White House on Wednesday backtracked on the funding freeze, rescinding the memo that had ordered the temporary pause, though asserting it was "NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze."
- White House officials had said the freeze would not affect Medicare, Social Security or other direct assistance that Americans "rely on."
- But outages on various websites and the lack of detail or warning itself still caused chaos.
What's next: A federal judge temporarily blocked the funding freeze on Friday, citing a social media post from press secretary Karoline Leavitt as evidence the case should continue.
Trump blames DEI for plane crash
🕯️After the deadliest aviation crash the U.S. has seen in decades, Trump held a press conference Thursday at the White House as the cause remained unknown and a recovery mission was underway.
- Without evidence, the president blamed diversity, equity and inclusion policies and his Democratic predecessors for what he framed as a lower-quality aviation workforce. He later ordered a DEI review of all federal aviation hiring and safety decisions.
- Axios fact-checked the claims. Data shows air traffic controllers and airfield operations specialists are predominately male and white.
The collision between an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter over D.C.'s Reagan Airport left 67 people dead across both aircrafts.
Go deeper: What to know about the plane crash victims
Tariff merry-go-round
🧮 Tariffs were coming on Saturday: 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, alongside 10% tariffs on China.
- Then, they weren't, according to Reuters.
- But no, they still are, according to the White House.
No matter what, the tariffs will likely spark retaliation of an unknown magnitude, risking economic pain for businesses and consumer, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.
DEI scrubbing on federal websites
👀 Some federal web pages tracking issues such as HIV prevention, climate change and transgender care went down as of Friday afternoon.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sites or datasets were scrubbed of information on ending gender-based violence, contraception for health care providers and AtlasPlus, which housed HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and STD.
- The list goes on.
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