Trump proposes 'getting rid of FEMA' while visiting North Carolina

SWANNANOA, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump said he was considering “getting rid of” the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a trip to disaster zones Friday, offering the latest sign of how he is weighing sweeping changes to the nation's central organization for responding to disasters.

Instead of having federal financial assistance flow through FEMA, the Republican president said Washington could provide money directly to the states. He made the comments while visiting North Carolina, which is still recovering months after Hurricane Helene, on the first trip of his second term.

“FEMA has been a very big disappointment," the Republican president said. “It’s very bureaucratic. And it’s very slow."

Trump said Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native and chair of the Republican National Committee, would help coordinate recovery efforts in the state, where frustrations over the federal response have lingered. Although Whatley does not hold an official government position, Trump said he would be “very much in charge.”

While the president emphasized his desire to help North Carolina, a battleground state that's voted for him in all of his presidential campaigns, he was much less generous toward California, where he plans to visit wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles later in the day.

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Trump ends Fauci's security detail and says he'd feel no responsibility if harm befell him

FLETCHER, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump has ended the federal security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who advised him on the COVID-19 pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

Fauci is the latest in a string of former Trump aides-turned-critics to see their federal protection canceled despite ongoing threats to their lives.

Speaking to reporters in North Carolina on Friday, Trump said he wouldn’t feel any responsibility if harm befell the former government officials. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues, said that Fauci’s federal security detail was ended on Thursday and that he has since hired private security.

When asked about Fauci and former national security adviser John Bolton, Trump said, “They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security, too."

Trump, a Republican, earlier this week revoked protection details for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his top aide, Brian Hook, as well as Bolton. All have faced threats from Iran since they took hard-line stances on the Islamic Republic during Trump’s first administration and fell out with him in the years after he left office in 2021.

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5 economic forces that could shape the first year of Trump's presidency

WASHINGTON (AP) — Like most presidents, Donald Trump faces an economy that seldom bends to political ambitions.

The Republican has promised strong growth, high tariffs, income tax cuts and booming oilfields. But despite the solid job market and low 4.1% unemployment rate, he has to contend with headwinds like inflation, a budget deficit, increased tensions over trade, the fallout from his plans to curtail immigration and a persistent wealth gap.

Each of these issues could help to shape how voters feel about a president they returned to the White House with the specific goal of fixing the economy.

For his part, Trump wants to blame all the challenges before him on his predecessor, Joe Biden, who in turn blamed Trump in 2021 for the problems his own administration had to tackle.

“This begins with confronting the economic chaos caused by the failed policies of the last administration,” Trump told the World Economic Forum on Thursday.

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Desperate families await return of 4 female soldiers held by Hamas for 15 months

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Hamas announced Friday that it would release four female soldiers held hostage for 15 months in Gaza, as part of an exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners laid out in its ceasefire agreement with Israel. An advocacy group representing the families of hostages confirmed the identities of the captive Israelis to be released on Saturday.

Under the deal that paused the 15-month war, Israel would release 200 Palestinian prisoners or detainees in exchange for the four Israeli women, including 120 militants serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.

The four Israeli soldiers, Karina Ariev, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20; Naama Levy, 20; and Liri Albag, 19, were captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war and have had no contact with the outside world since then.

In a statement, The Hostages and Missing Families Forum welcomed their expected release.

“An entire nation has fought for them and anxiously awaits their longed-for return to their families’ embrace,” it said.

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Oath Keepers founder Rhodes is barred from entering Washington or Capitol without court's permission

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday barred Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes from entering Washington without the court's approval after President Donald Trump commuted the extremist group leader's 18-year prison sentence in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who oversaw the seditious conspiracy trial of Rhodes and other Oath Keepers, issued the order two days after Rhodes visited Capitol Hill, where he met with at least one lawmaker, chatted with others and defended his actions the day of the riot.

Mehta’s order applies to seven other defendants who were charged in one of the most serious conspiracy cases brought by the Justice Department over the riot. The order also prohibits them from entering the Capitol building or surrounding grounds without the court’s permission.

Ed Martin, who has been serving as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia since Trump’s inauguration on Monday, argued that Trump’s commutations mean Rhodes and others are no longer subject to the court’s supervision. In a court filing that bears only his name and signature, Martin urged the judge to vacate Friday’s order.

Martin has served as a board member of the Patriot Freedom Project group, which portrays the Jan. 6 defendants as victims of political persecution. He’s now overseeing the office that prosecuted the hundreds of riot defendants.

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What Americans think about Trump and Musk's plans for the federal government: AP-NORC poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans see the federal government as rife with corruption, inefficiency and red tape — but they're less sure about whether Elon Musk is the right person to fix it.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults strongly or somewhat approve of President Trump's creation of an advisory body on government efficiency, which Musk is helming. About 4 in 10 disapprove, while the rest were neutral or didn't know enough to say. (The poll was conducted before Vivek Ramaswamy announced he would no longer be involved in the group.)

The goal of the advisory body, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is to expose fraudulent and wasteful spending across the federal bureaucracy, and its leaders have floated a range of possible ways to cut costs, including eliminating entire agencies. But although most agree that the federal government is facing major problems, many Americans also have an unfavorable view of Musk and are hesitant about the Republican president relying on billionaires for advice about government policy.

As the plans take more concrete shape, the poll shows that Americans are ambivalent about some of the changes that Trump and his team have mentioned in the past few months — including eliminating large numbers of federal jobs and moving federal agencies outside Washington. Substantial shares don't have an opinion, indicating that there's plenty of room for opinion to shift in either direction.

A return-to-office policy for federal workers — which was one of Trump's first executive actions on Inauguration Day — is fairly popular.

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Colombia president decrees emergency powers to restore order in coca region wracked by rebel combat

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s president issued a decree Friday giving him emergency powers to restore order in a coca-growing region bordering Venezuela that has been wracked in recent days by a deadly turf war among dissident rebel groups.

President Gustavo Petro's decree, which can be extended, gives him 90 days to impose curfews, restrict traffic and take other steps that would normally violate Colombians' civil rights or require congressional approval.

It is the first time in more than a decade that a Colombian president has used such an extreme measure and underscores the seriousness of the current conflict in a country that for decades was paralyzed by political violence.

However, it applies only to the rural Catatumbo region near the border with Venezuela, where the Colombian state has struggled for decades to gain a foothold. In the past week, at least 80 people have been killed and an estimated 36,000 more displaced as fighting intensifies between the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and holdouts from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Petro's conservative opponents have criticized the move, accusing the former guerrilla of riding roughshod over the constitution. But some activists have celebrated it, saying they are hopeful the move translates into better infrastructure, health care and schools in the traditionally lawless region.

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Trump and Vance join March for Life anti-abortion activists in celebrating the movement's gains

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump vowed to support anti-abortion-rights protesters in his second term as tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Washington on Friday for the annual March for Life.

“We will again stand proudly for families and for life,” Trump declared in a prerecorded video address.

Protesters had come to the capital for decades to call for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, which affirmed a constitutional right to an abortion. Now, with the repeal of Roe in 2022, they are now on the inside rather than the outside. With Trump's return to the White House and Republicans in control of Congress, the activists want to build on their victories.

“Our country faces the return of the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes," Vice President JD Vance told the crowd in his in-person speech.

Vance hailed Trump’s previous actions on abortion, saying the president “delivered on his promise of ending Roe" and appointed hundreds of anti-abortion judges.

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Target is ending its diversity goals as a strong DEI opponent occupies the White House

NEW YORK (AP) — Discount store chain Target said Friday that it would join rival Walmart and a number of other prominent American brands in scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have come under attack from conservative activists and, as of this week, the White House.

The Minneapolis-based retailer said the changes to its “Belonging at the Bullseye” strategy would include ending a program it established to help Black employees build meaningful careers, improve the experience of Black shoppers and to promote Black-owned businesses following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.

Target, which operates nearly 2,000 stores nationwide and employs more than 400,000 people, said it already had planned to end the racial program this year. The company said Friday that it also would conclude the diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, goals it previously set in three-year cycles.

The goals included hiring and promoting more women and members of racial minority groups, and recruiting more diverse suppliers, including businesses owned by people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, veterans and people with disabilities.

Target has long been a fierce corporate advocate for the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people. In a memo to employees, Kiera Fernandez, Target’s chief community impact and equity officer, described the DEI decisions as a “next chapter” in the company's decades-long process to create “inclusive work and guest environments that welcome all.”

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Las Vegas Raiders are negotiating a deal to hire Pete Carroll as their head coach, AP source says

The Las Vegas Raiders are negotiating a deal to hire Pete Carroll to be their new head coach, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Friday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract hasn’t been finalized.

The 73-year-old Carroll returns to the sideline after leading Seattle to two NFC championships and the franchise’s only Super Bowl title during a 14-year stretch that ended following the 2023 season.

He joins a team that’s partly owned by Tom Brady, who beat Carroll and the Seahawks in the Super Bowl 10 years ago. Brady watched from the sideline as Malcolm Butler picked off Russell Wilson’s pass at the goal line to seal the victory for the New England Patriots.

Brady is believed to have a major hand in the hiring process for this job and the general manager spot, which was filled by Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek on Wednesday. The club, however, has not announced Spytek's hire. Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, finished his career with the Bucs.

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