Treasury secretary ‘confident’ Fed chair nominee will be confirmed as Trump threatens Powell again – live

On Monday, Virginia’s governor, Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat and the state’s first female governor, signed into law a bill that eliminates tax exemptions for organizations connected to the Confederacy.

HB167, passed by Democrats in the Virginia house and senate, specifically removes the Virginia division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Stonewall Jackson Memorial, the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, along with other groups, from the state’s list of organizations that are exempt from state property taxes.

Founded in 1894, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is a non-profit with chapters in states including California, Kentucky, South Carolina and others. The organization is largely responsible for the proliferation of Confederate statues and monuments across the country after the US civil war. According to tax filings published by ProPublica, the group raised more than $2.1m in revenue, had more than $1.1m in expenses and possessed $15.8m in assets in 2025.

Delegate Alex Askew, who sponsored versions of the bill for three consecutive years, celebrated the bill’s passage into law.

“Governor Spanberger’s signing of this bill is a proud moment and an important step forward for Virginia,” he said in a statement.

Richmond and Danville, both in Virginia, were capitals of the 11 treasonous, slaveholding states that seceded from the Union and attempted to form their own country built on enslavement. But in the last year, Virginia Democrats have worked to reshape the state’s reputation.

Bishop James Massa, the chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on doctrine, issued a formal response on Wednesday to JD Vance’s comment the night before that Pope Leo should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology” in relation to the US war on Iran.

“For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war,” Massa wrote. The bishop continued:

A constant tenet of that thousand-year tradition is a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2308). That is, to be a just war it must be a defense against another who actively wages war, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.’

“When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.

On Tuesday, at a sparsely attended Turning Point USA event in Georgia, the vice-president had suggested that the pope’s criticism of war, after the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, was a matter of opinion.

Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism, seemed to suggest he understood the Catholic doctrine for determining whether a war is morally justifiable or not better than the pope.

“There are certainly things that the pope has said in the last few months that I disagree with,” Vance said at the University of Georgia event. “Let me just take one very concrete example related to this conflict in Iran. So the pope said something where he said, and I’m going to try to remember the exact quote, but he said that ‘God is never on the side of those who wield the sword’.”

“When the pope says that God is never on the side of people who wield the sword, there is more than a thousand-year tradition of just war theory,” the vice-president added. “We can, of course, have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just.”

“How do you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those innocent people from those who had survived the Holocaust?” he continued.

“I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance said. “If you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth and that’s one of the things that I try to do and it’s certainly something I would expect from the clergy.”

Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to stop Donald Trump from collecting potentially billions of dollars from claims he brought against the US federal government.

The Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act was introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives in response to a series of claims Trump has filed against agencies that he oversees. He is seeking $230m from claims filed under a 1946 federal law related to the search of his Mar-a-Lago property, and to the investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election that brought him to power. Such claims are usually handled by career officials in the justice department, but Trump has stacked the department with bureaucrats believed to be loyal to him.

In another instance, he has sued the Internal Revenue Services after his tax returns were disclosed to news outlets, and is seeking $10b.

“It is such a blatant and obvious conflict for the president to be able to use the administration as his own personal ATM. We must immediately pass this legislation and close any loopholes that allow an executive to grift money from the American taxpayers,” said Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat who is backing the bill in that chamber.

Jamie Raskin, the Democratic ranking member on the House judiciary committee, said: “Trump’s systematic exploitation of executive branch power to loot billions of dollars from American taxpayers is the ongoing scandal of this ruthlessly corrupt Administration. The ‘Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act’ will prevent the president from pursuing the emerging MAGA grift of suing the government as a ‘plaintiff’ on bogus grounds and then settling the suit as ‘defendant’ for big bucks.”

The bill would stop presidents and vice-presidents as well as their family and trusts from collecting damages from the government, curb their ability to file administrative claims and impose new guardrails on lawsuits they bring against the government.

Its prospects in the Republican-controlled Congress are unclear.

The supreme court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has delivered a sustained attack on her conservative colleagues’ use of emergency orders to benefit the Trump administration, calling the orders “scratch-paper musings” that can “seem oblivious and thus ring hollow”.

Jackson, the court’s newest justice, delivered a lengthy assessment of roughly two dozen court orders issued last year that allowed Donald Trump to put in place controversial policies on immigration, steep federal funding cuts and other topics, after lower courts found they were probably illegal.

While designed to be short-term, those orders have largely allowed the US president to move ahead, for now, with key parts of his sweeping conservative agenda.

Jackson spoke for nearly an hour on Monday at Yale Law School, which posted a video of the event on Wednesday.

• Scott Bessent said that he was “confident” that Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, would survive his confirmation hearing next week. The treasury secretary’s comments come after Trump told Fox Business that he would fire Jerome Powell at the end of the month if the Senate was unable to confirm Warsh to lead the central bank.

• However, John Thune, the Senate’s top Republican, urged the justice department to “wrap up” its ongoing investigation into Powell. The probe threatens to stall Warsh’s confirmation. Outgoing Republican senator Thom Tillis, a deciding vote, has said repeatedly that he won’t support any nomination as long as there is an investigation into Powell.

• In a vote of 47-52, Senate Democrats failed to pass a war powers resolution to curb the Trump administration’s military campaign in Iran. This is the upper chamber’s fourth failed attempt, but its first since Congress returned from its most recent recess and the ongoing two-week ceasefire with Iran began. At an earlier press conference, Democrats vowed to force a war powers resolution vote every week until it advances.

• Also on Capitol Hill, Thune is preparing to bring a “narrow” budget bill, to fund federal immigration enforcement until the end of Trump’s term, to the Senate floor. However, he’s set to face pushback from GOP lawmakers in both chambers, who argue that they should use a reconciliation bill, which only requires a simple majority to advance, to include more priorities before the midterm elections. Meanwhile, the House postponed a vote to extend a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), amid pushback from several Republicans who are clamoring for greater reforms.

• The House voted to hold a vote on a bill that would extend temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants living in the US until April 2029. Six lower-chamber Republicans joined all Democrats to advance the bill via a discharge petition. This is the maneuver that forces a vote if there are more than 218 signatories. There will now be a full vote on the bill itself on Thursday.

• On Truth Social, the president leaned into controversy and shared another altered image. However, this time it depicts Jesus Christ embracing the president. “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!” Trump wrote. This comes as the administration’s standoff with Pope Leo XIV continues. In Georgia on Tuesday, vice-president JD Vance urged the pontiff to be “be careful” when talking about matters of theology.

John Thune, the Senate majority leader, called on the Department of Justice to “wrap up” its investigation into the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell.

“I think it’s in everybody’s best interest to wrap up the investigation. I’ve said that before, it would be better if it winds down,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill today.

As I reported earlier, the inquiry into the head of the central bank threatens to stall the confirmation of Donald Trump’s pick to replace Powell, Kevin Warsh.

Outgoing Republican senator Thom Tillis, who will be a crucial vote during Warsh’s confirmation hearing next week, has said repeatedly that he won’t support any nomination as long as there is an investigation into Powell.

The investigation appears to be ongoing. Prosecutors showed up unannounced on Tuesday at the construction site for the Fed’s renovations, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed source and a letter.

Meanwhile, Trump went on a lengthy tangent during a Fox interview about the Fed’s renovations, alleging without evidence that it “is probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetence”, and seemed unfazed by the possibility that Tillis could block Warsh’s nomination.

In a vote of 47-52, Senate Democrats failed to pass a war powers resolution to curb the Trump administration’s military campaign in Iran.

The Republican senator Rand Paul voted yes on the measure, bucking his party. While John Fetterman was the only Democratic senator to vote against the resolution.

This is the upper chamber’s fourth failed attempt, but its first since Congress returned from its most recent recess and the ongoing two-week ceasefire with Iran began.

At an earlier press conference, Democrats vowed to force a war powers resolution vote every week until it advances, in order to get Republicans “on record” as supporting the war.

“Our numbers will grow,” said Chris Murphy, who serves on the Senate foreign relations committee. House Democrats are pushing for a vote on a similar measure this week.

The House voted to hold a vote on a bill that would extend temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants living in the US until April 2029.

Six lower chamber Republicans joined all Democrats to advance the bill via a discharge petition. This is the maneuver that forces a vote if there are more than 218 signatories.

A reminder that TPS provides relief to people already in the US if their home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary events. The Trump administration has sought to end most enrollment in the program – and tried to strip the status from a string of countries, including Haiti, Somalia and Venezuela – saying it runs counter to US interests. However, many of these attempts have been challenged and blocked in federal court.

In February, a district court judge blocked the Trump administration from stripping TPS from up to 350,000 Haitians.

There will now be a full vote on the bill itself on Thursday. It faces a bigger hurdle in the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to clear the filibuster.

Scott Bessent said that he was “confident” that Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, would survive his confirmation hearing next week. This comes after Trump’s comments to Fox Business that he would fire Jerome Powell at the end of the month if the Senate was unable to confirm Warsh to lead the central bank.

Bessent said that Republicans on the Senate banking committee are “aligned” on Warsh’s candidacy. However, one of the deciding votes – outgoing GOP senator Thom Tillis – has said he will not confirm any nominee until the federal investigation into Powell is dropped.

Powell’s term ends on 15 May, and if there is no confirmed successor, the president has vowed to oust the incumbent amid a probe into Powell’s handing of Federal Reserve renovations.

Bessent, however, maintained his conviction that there would be no showdown. “I am very optimistic that the Kevin Warsh will be the chair of the Fed on time,” he told reporters at the White House.

Bessent was asked about gas prices in today’s briefing, namely when the US will get to $3 gas. The treasury secretary said that this will depend on “how the negotiations go [with Iran]”.

The US kept its side of the ceasefire, he says, but the strait of Hormuz has not been reopened.

“So we will see, and I’m optimistic that during the summer we will see gas with a 3 right in front of it, sooner rather than later,” he says.

Bessent adds that he’s been meeting with his Middle Eastern counterparts, who say that “once the strait is open they can start pumping again within one week”.

Pressed on whether this can be achieved by the summer, Bessent says:

I am optimistic that sometime between June 20 and September 20, we can have $3 gas again.

Responding to a question from far-right commentator Jack Posobiec, the press secretary said that the rape and sexual misconduct allegations against former congressman Eric Swalwell are “despicable and disgusting”.

She added that it’s “plausible” there are “many other Democrats” in Washington who knew about Swalwell’s “perhaps illegal behavior”.

Scott Bessent said that “over six million filers have claimed no tax on tips with an average deduction of $7,100” while “over 25 million filers have claimed no tax on overtime with an average deduction of $3,100”.

The treasury secretary added that the average refund this year will be $3,400.

As Karoline Leavitt begins her briefing, she extols the larger tax refunds that Americans can expect this year.

“What the American people must not forget is that every single Democrat in Congress voted against these tax refunds. The media has largely omitted this fact and other critical details in their stories covering the benefits of the Trump tax cuts,” the press secretary said.

However, as my colleague Anna Betts reports, while some taxpayers are receiving larger refunds this year, due to 2025 changes enacted by Republicans, this comes alongside rising living costs.

The most recent data has shown that US inflation surged in March, with prices up 0.9% compared with last month and 3.3% over the year, amid the US-Israel war with Iran. And the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence survey, also released last week, recorded a 10.7% drop to its lowest level on record.

In a short while, we’ll hear from Karoline Leavitt, who will hold a White House press briefing. She’ll be joined by the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent and head of the Small Business Administration, Kelly Loefller.

We’ll bring you the latest lines as things get under way.

Earlier, I reported that the House was planning to vote on a bill to extend a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), – which allows intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign nationals outside the US without the need for warrants or court orders. However, the lower chamber has postponed the vote amid pushback from several Republican representatives, who are clamoring for greater Fisa reforms.

Earlier, Trump urged GOP members of Congress to pass a “clean” extension of section 702, which is set to expire next week. The president previously lambasted the bill, calling it an afront to civil liberties and has claimed that its been weaponized against him. However, the ongoing war on Iran appears to have shifted Trump’s view. “I am willing to risk the giving up of my Rights and Privileges as a Citizen for our Great Military and Country!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Donald Trump said today that Hungary’s prime minister-elect, Peter Magyar, who defeated nationalist and key Trump ally Viktor Orbán, was “going to do a good job”.

Orbán, who maintained close ties to Moscow, was ousted in Sunday’s ballot after 16 years in power as voters handed a decisive victory to Magyar’s Tisza party with a record turnout.

“I think the new man’s going to do a good job – he’s a good man,” Trump told ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl, who posted the remarks on X.

Noting that Magyar was formerly a member of Orbán’s party and had similar views on immigration, Trump was quoted as saying: “I think he’s going to be good.”

Magyar for his part said he was heartened by the fact that Trump spoke about him “in very friendly terms”.

JD Vance visited Budapest last week to rally with Orbán, and hailed the 62-year-old as a “model” for Europe.

Trump reportedly said he did not know if it would have made a difference if he had personally gone to Hungary to campaign for Orbán.

“He was behind substantially,” Trump told Karl. “I wasn’t that involved in this one. Viktor’s a good man, though.”

Orbán’s defeat is a major blow to global nationalists and so-called strongman politics, signaling the waning allure of the Trumpism movement in Europe and raising questions about whether proximity to the US president could be a political liability.

The US vice-president said on Monday he was “sad” about Orban’s loss but promised Washington would work with Magyar.