Trump swipes at top senator while giving ultimatum on his ‘big beautiful’ MAGA bill: Live updates

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Donald Trump’s selection to lead the Small Business Administration was just confirmed by the Senate.

Former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, a devout Trump supporter, was confirmed 52 – 46.

Loffler previously served as Trump’s Inaugural Committee co-chair with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East.

Loeffler was the CEO of a financial services company before joining Congress from 2020 – 2021.

Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the New York Stock Exchange president.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Donald Trump has terminated thousands of national park and forest management employees, sparking claims the move could harm the country’s most sacred natural lands.

Roughly 1,000 newly hired National Park Service (NPS) employees and about 3,400 U.S. Forest Service workers were fired this past week, CBS News reported.

The cuts are the latest maneuver by Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE to slim the government and root out fraud, waste and abuse.

The firings were not announced publicly by the agencies and were instead confirmed by Democratic lawmakers.

NPS and the Forestry Service did not immediately respond to Dailymail.com’s request for comment.

‘Shameful. This means chaos in our National Parks, less health care for Native Americans, and a loss of technical staff who operate our water infrastructure in the West. Americans deserve better,’ California Democrat Sen. Alex Padilla wrote on X.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a noted conservative libertarian, pressed Lori Chavez-Deremer on whether she still supports pro-union legislation, as she did in Congress.

Paul has expressed he may not be able to support the nominee because of her past support for the labor law called the PRO Act, which she backed in recent years but has not turned against.

‘You no longer support the aspect of the PRO Act that would have overturned state right to work laws?’ Paul asked.

Chavez-Deremer: ‘Yes, sir.’

Paul: ‘No more questions.’

Kamala Harris signed with a top Hollywood talent agency as she plots her next move.

The former vice president has been seen taking in Broadway shows, attending a Lakers game and checking out damage from the Los Angeles wildfires.

Now she’s signed on with Creative Artists Agency, which represents top Hollywood stars like Beyoncé, Morgan Freeman, Glen Powell and Nicole Kidman. She also joins former President Joe Biden, who signed with the agency last month.

Her agents will focus on getting her speaking gigs and publishing opportunities.

Harris is weighing her next career move, which include a possible run for governor of California next year.

‘Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He ripped into how the U.S. spent over $200 billion more than Europe helping Ukraine against Russia and ‘got nothing back.’

‘On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is “MISSING.” He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.”

He went on to warn that ‘dictator without elections’ Zelensky ‘better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.’

Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta revealed his thoughts about President Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt and also bashed the president for his decision to exclude the Associated Press from Air Force One.

The House and Senate are doing a SPECTACULAR job of working together as one unified, and unbeatable, TEAM, however, unlike the Lindsey Graham version of the very important Legislation currently being discussed, the House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it!

We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to “kickstart” the Reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of, “ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.” It will, without question, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent in Doral, Florida

President Donald Trump landed in Miami, Florida Wednesday morning ahead of his early evening appearance at the Saudi-backed FII Priority Summit.

The president joins other prominent speakers including Lance Armstrong and Serena Williams and will likely talk TikTok, as the social media app’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, is also expected to be on hand.

Trump appeared to be dressed for golf as he disembarked Air Force One at the Miami International Airport.

He’s spending the daytime hours at his local golf club, the Trump National Doral Miami.

The president has been in Florida since Friday, spending an elongated Presidents’ Day weekend in the warmer weather.

Before departing for Miami Wednesday morning, the AP’s reporter and photographer were told by White House staff again that they weren’t invited to join the press pool.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, has arrived at her confirmation hearing.

She is testifying this morning in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

She is a former Republican congresswoman from Oregon known for her close ties to labor unions.

The 56-year-old served just one term in the House of Representatives from 2023 – 2025.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

In the first two weeks of February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained more than 1,800 migrants with criminal convictions or with pending criminal charges against them.

This represents 59 percent of the total number of illegal immigrants taken into ICE custody from early February to the middle of the month, according to data obtained by NBC News.

Meanwhile, the other 41 percent of the 4,422 illegal immigrants brought into ICE custody this month are not criminals.

President Donald Trump’s stance, however, is that all migrants in the U.S. without documentation are criminals because they illegally entered or illegally remained in the country.

President Donald Trump tore into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after U.S. negotiators opened talks with Russia without him that are meant to find a way to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Trump blamed Zelensky for failing to head off the war inside his country, and the president said he himself was behind a push to require Ukraine to hold new elections before any peace plan can go through.

‘You have leadership now that’s allowed a war to go on that should have never even happened, even without the United States,’ Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida Tuesday – even as he said ‘I like him personally’ when speaking about Zelensky.

‘You should have ended it – three years, you should have never started it,’ he said, appearing to blame Zelensky for Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Volodymyr Zelensky has blasted the United States for ‘helping’ Vladimir Putin ‘to come out of isolation’, warning that Donald Trump ‘is living in a disinformation space’ created by Moscow.

The Ukrainian President declared that his country is not for sale, disputing Trump’s claims that the US has given Ukraine $500billion and calling the suggestion that Kyiv pay this back with a mineral exploration deal ‘not a serious conversation.’

‘Look, we all want a victory, and we want Trump to win, and we want Ukraine to win, all of us to succeed,’ he said. ‘But there is nothing clear here… I am protecting Ukraine. I can’t sell it away. I can’t sell our state.’