Trump establishes ‘digital Fort Knox’ for bitcoin but crypto markets slump in response: Live updates

Louisiana’s ever-folksy John Kennedy cautiously expresses some disquiet in this interview with former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.

Patrick Brazeau, 50, a controversial Quebec-based lawmaker, took to X on Thursday to challenge Trump’s eldest son to a charity bout.

“In light of these bogus tariffs from President Trump from the U.S. onto Canada, I challenge you to a fight to raise money for cancer research or an organization of your choosing”, Brazeau wrote to Don Jr.

Here’s more from Madeline Sherratt.

That’s an increase on January and a decent showing amid a climate of DOGE-backed federal layoffs.

Here’s the latest from Rhian Lubin.

Nearly half of the country’s attorneys general sued the Trump administration over the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s mass firings of federal workers.

The AGs accuse the administration of terminating tens of thousands of probationary employees without first following federal regulations, including a 60-day advance notice to affected employees and states.

“These large-scale, indiscriminate firings are not only subjecting the Plaintiff States and communities across the country to chaos. They are also against the law,” the suit filed on Thursday says.

“Where an agency fails to provide such notice, the employees ‘may not be released.’”

Here’s the latest from Kelly Rissman.

The late night host roasted the president for falsely claiming, during his address to Congress on Tuesday evening that the U.S. government spent $8m on making mice “transgender”.

Here’s Greg Evans on Kimmel.

Scott Bessent made that odd statement as part of a defense of his boss’s tariffs hike unsettling the stock market.

Let them eat overpriced cake?

A detention center in Texas is reopening as the Trump administration prepares to restart the detention of migrant families and kids – a move that advocates worry could usher in another “dark chapter” in America’s treatment of immigrants.

CoreCivic, a company that manages the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to reactivate the facility.

The facility, which holds up to 2,400 people, was built in 2014 for ICE to provide additional space to hold migrant families.

CoreCivic ran the center until 2024, “when funding for the contract with ICE was terminated and the facility was idled,” the company said in a statement.

The newest agreement is set to expire in 2030.

The billionaire Trump adviser wants government-run entities like the U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak to be taken private.

“Basically, something’s got to have some chance of going bankrupt, or there’s not a good feedback loop for improvement,” Musk told the Morgan Stanley Technology Media & Telecom conference this week.

“We should try to privatize everything we possibly can, and that would be my recommendation.”

The DOGE leader reserved special ire for Amtrak, saying the rail provider “can leave you with a very bad impression of America,” compared with comparable services in other countries.

The outgoing Canadian PM appears to be taking Trump’s latest aggressions rather personally.

Trudeau is into his final weeks as the country’s leader after he was forced to resign by his party before Christmas over internal disputes about how to handle the U.S. president and his tariffs on Canadian imports.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, the PM became visibly emotional while saying he had worked hard for the country.

“On a personal level, I made sure that every single day in this office, I put Canadians first, that I have people’s backs, and that’s why I’m here to tell you all, we got you, even in the very last days of this government, we will not let Canadians down today and long into the future,” he said, his eyes welling with tears.

“We want to continue to be strong and resolute in our response and we will continue to be there for each other because the unity that Canadians are feeling right now is actually the most important thing in being able to stand up against the trading partner that is much bigger than us.”

While the American was highly complimentary about Claudia Sheinbaum after their call yesterday, it seems the same cannot be said for his latest exchange with Ottawa.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, contrary to Trump’s claim the interaction was “somewhat friendly”, the truth is that it was heated and profanity-laden.

Here’s more from Katie Hawkinson.