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Trump said in an interview airing tonight that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will make a “great” defense secretary.

“He’s a talented guy. He’s young, smart, highly educated, and I think he’s going to be a very good defense, hopefully a great defense secretary, but he’ll be a very good defense secretary,” Trump said in a clip of his interview with ABC News.

Hegseth has been under fire for using the messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive military details, including a group chat that accidentally had a journalist in it.

Trump said he had a “talk” with Hegseth, but declined to elaborate what exactly was said. Asked if he has “100% confidence” in Hegseth, Trump said: “I don’t have 100% confidence in anything, I, anything? Do I have 100% — it’s a stupid question.”

Trump offered some warm praise to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who's been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks over his use of the communication app Signal to discuss sensitive military details.

“I have so much confidence in him. The fake news is after him, really after him, but he’s a tough cookie. They don’t know how tough he is,” Trump said, introducing Hegseth, who was greeted with a roar from the crowd.

Trump, whose frequent criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell has at times roiled the financial markets in recent weeks, took some jabs at him from the rally stage in Michigan.

"Interest rates came down, despite the fact that I have a Fed person who’s not really doing a good job, but I won’t say that. I want to be very nice. I want to be very nice and respectful to the Fed,” Trump said.

“You’re not supposed to criticize the Fed. You’re supposed to let him do his own thing. But I know much more than he does about interest rates, believe me,” Trump added.

Trump began his rally in Macomb County tonight by thanking Michigan and saying he won the state three elections in a row.

“We love you. We just had the biggest victory in Michigan, they said, ‘Sir it’s going to be hard.’ Well, we won it twice,” Trump said.

“We actually won it three times,” he added.

Trump won the state in 2016 and 2024, while former President Joe Biden won the state in 2020.

Senate Democrats Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin and Cory Booker held a news conference on Capitol Hill today to counter Trump’s first 100 days in office victory lap. The lawmakers called on Republicans to intervene after what they called Trump’s “100 days of chaos.”

Trump has fired former second gentleman Doug Emhoff from the board that oversees the Holocaust Museum.

“Today, I was informed of my removal from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,” Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a vice president, said in a statement.

“Let me be clear: Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized. To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous — and it dishonors the memory of six million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve,” he said.

The firing was first reported by The New York Times, which said that in addition to Emhoff, other high-profile board members by then-President Joe Biden had also been terminated, including former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain and Susan Rice, who was Biden’s domestic policy chief.

Read the full story here.

During remarks at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan this afternoon, Trump announced plans to replace aging A-10 attack aircraft with 21 new F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets. He also promised updated refueling planes to support ongoing operations.

As the economic effects of tariffs start to take effect, Trump said in an interview that he does not think there are hard times ahead for American consumers.

Asked if Americans should expect "some hard times," Trump told ABC News' Terry Moran, “I don’t think so. I think great times are ahead."

Trump additionally insisted that he warned voters on the campaign trail last year that things would be “tough” early on.

He also predicted during the interview that “China will probably eat" the tariffs in the trade war between Washington and Beijing.

Speaking to the Michigan National Guard this afternoon, Trump praised the state's Democratic governor, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“I’m not supposed to do that,” Trump said about complimenting Whitmer.

“She’s a Democrat. They say, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t have her here.’ I said, ‘No, she’s going to be here.’ She’s done a very good job, frankly, and she’s, she was very much involved with, with the Republicans. They worked together on saving it, and it was not easy. So I want to thank you very much. Gretchen. Good job,” Trump added.

Trump lauded Whitmer for bringing to his attention efforts to “save” the national guard base where he was speaking.

The president's remarks come after Whitmer met with him at the White House this month, rankling some Democrats who have taken a more adversarial posture with Trump.

The former head of Project 2025 believes an “unchained” Trump has made immense progress during the first 100 days of his second term toward undoing liberal gains dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

But Paul Dans — who led the effort to produce a detailed conservative transition plan and policy blueprint that was at the center of last year’s presidential election — believes the president needs an influx of new attorneys to fight for his policies in court. Those battles, Dans told NBC News, will shape the next 100 days.

“If Roosevelt had the New Deal, this is what I would think of as Trump’s real deal,” Dans said. “This is deconstructing the administrative state and walking back a lot of this progressive architecture that had been built up by FDR.”

“What’s coming next is really a squaring off with the courts,” Dans said, adding, “This is going to reach, certainly, a boiling point, and so look to that getting resolved.”

Read the full story here.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that Trump’s slipping favorability numbers may be related to his tariff policy but reiterated that he believes his policy decisions are “the right ones” during his weekly press conference.

“I think the numbers on the economy, as you point out, may be related in some, with some respects to the policy discussion that’s being held about tariffs,” Thune said. "When you’re doing when you’re going through all this, you got to take the long view. And I think his policy decisions are the right ones. And I think over time that will bear fruit."

Asked if consumers should know how much they are required to pay as a result of these tariffs after the White House called it a “hostile move on companies” today, Thune told NBC News he views that as a conversation companies like Amazon should have with the administration.

“I think in the end, you’re going to have inflation... it will be under control. But I understand, you know the short, short-term conclusions of people drawing or even some of the polling data that’s out there, that is what it is. But the fact of the matter is that we make policy decisions with a long-term outcome in mind. You’ve got to have some patience to get there.” Thune said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has walked back his comments suggesting that he had spoken to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., about her launching a possible gubernatorial bid in New York.

Stefanik had posted on X saying it’s “not true” that they had conversations about a possible run. Speaking to reporters at the Capitol today, Johnson said he doesn’t know “what she’s going to do” and “didn’t mean” to say he’s spoken with her.

“I talked to Elise. She’s one of my closest friends, and I was asked a question off the cuff," he said. "What I said, if you go back and read the transcript, which I did, I was trying to explain that I talked to all members all the time about all their opportunities. I didn’t mean to say I’d spoken specifically with Elise about her potential race for governor. I don’t know what she’s going to do, but we talked on the phone today."

Trump called Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos this morning to express his displeasure over Amazon'sconsideration of a plan to display tariff-related costincreasesforsomeitems on its platform, according to a source familiar with the call.

"Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly and he did the right thing," Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn this afternoon before departing for a trip to Michigan.

Trump said he's gotten to know Bezos over the last several years. "He's done a fantastic job," he said.

The call from Trump was first reported by CNN.

What does White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt think of the talk about Trump running for president again in 2028 despite the Constitutional term limits?

"Trump trolling, although the hats are flying off the shelves," she said, referring to Trump 2028 merchandise that the Trump Organization recently began selling.

Leavitt addressed the issue during a Tuesday briefing the White House dubbed a briefing for "new media." One of the attendees asked Leavitt to play a game of "Trump truthing or Trump trolling," where he peppered her with questions to determine whether she thinks Trump is telling the truth about his intentions or simply "trolling."

Trump told NBC News' Kristen Welker in March that he was "not joking" about potentially seeking a third term, which the Constitution forbids.

Arizona Republican Karrin Taylor Robson is up with a new ad campaign trumpeting how "she has President Trump's complete and total endorsement."

Trump spoke favorably about Robson when she was considering a bid. But now that she's running in the same gubernatorial primary as Trump ally Rep. Andy Biggs, Trump has endorsed both of them.

Robson, who is independently wealthy, is the first candidate on the airwaves in this race. Her decision to emphasize the Trump endorsement shows how her campaign is trying to set the narrative before Biggs can get the word out.

The Trump administration is rebuilding several federal firefighter safety programs that it gutted in February, International Association of Fire Fighters President Edward Kelly says.

Kelly said in a statement today that he spoke with both the White House and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Saturday about the programs.

“Yesterday, I was notified that HHS had begun restoring these programs, and staff would be returning to their roles as early as today," Kelly said.

The programs, which fall under the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, were among the first affected by Trump’s unilateral orders to slash federal programs and fire federal workers. They include the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program, the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, and the World Trade Center Health Program.

"It was explained to me that the Reduction in Force (RIF) ordered by a White House Executive Order was misinterpreted by ‘mid-level bureaucrats,’ and our programs — which Secretary Kennedy assured me were ‘critical’ — would continue,” Kelly said in his statement.

Trump made many promises for his second term on the campaign trail that have yet to come to fruition, but within hours of assuming office, he did execute on one of them: issuing sweeping pardons for more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The move included pardons for rioters who assaulted law enforcement officers as thousands stormed the U.S. Capitol, motivated by Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged against him. Trump also commuted the sentences of 14 people serving jail time for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021, and pardoned members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy to overthrow the United States government.

Trump has also exercised his presidential clemency power a number of times for other groups of people and individuals since issuing those sweeping pardons.

Amazon on Tuesday said that it had considered listing tariff charges on Amazon Haul, its discount platform meant to compete with low-cost Chinese e-commerce companies like Temu and Shein, but has decided against it.

An Amazon spokesperson told NBC News: “The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen.”

The spokesperson stressed that nothing had been implemented and that the company had not planned to show tariff charges on its main e-commerce portal.

“This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties,” the spokesperson added.

Read the full story here.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he is in discussions with Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York about her potential bid to run for governor of the state in 2026.

"I mean, my preference is that they all stay here with me, right? We get the job done ... but I don’t begrudge anybody for having other opportunities, and we ultimately support them in whatever they do,” Johnson told reporters. “But are we having conversations? We are, yeah, and that’s all I’m gonna say about it."

In a post on X this morning, Stefanik denied having any communication with Johnson over the matter.

"This is not true," Stefanik said. "I have had no conversations with the Speaker regarding the Governor’s race."

Stefanik, whose nomination to serve as U.N. ambassador was withdrawn by Trump last month amid concerns about House Republicans’ slim majority, is reportedly exploring a gubernatorial campaign after losing the ambassador nomination.

The GOP-led House will vote this afternoon on a measure that would block Democrats from attempting to force inquiries into the Trump administration until October.

While the rules package is designed primarily to set up votes on legislation in the House this week, the last line includes language that would block what are called “resolutions of inquiry” from receiving fast-tracked status.

Resolutions of inquiry are one method that the House can use to obtain information from the executive branch. According to the House rules, if a resolution of inquiry is not reported out of a committee to the floor within 14 legislative days of being introduced, a member can make a privileged motion to force a vote on the measure.

If the rule is adopted today, which is likely, then these resolutions of inquiries would be prohibited from being privileged until Oct. 1.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., recently put forward a resolution of inquiry to force answers from the Trump administration on military information being shared on Signal.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., when asked about this rule provision, said Republicans are “using the rules of the House to prevent political hijinks and political stunts.” He said this would prevent “this nonsensical waste of our time.”

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., the chair of the House Democratic caucus, said he was not surprised that Republican leaders are using this tactic, saying that “they are afraid that both Democrats and Republicans oppose their dangerous worthless policies.”

The House previously adopted a rule that would bar the chamber from voting through Sept. 30 on a joint resolution to revoke Trump's April 2 tariff declaration.

The Senate voted 67-29 to confirm David Perdue as U.S. ambassador to China. Perdue, a former Republican senator from Georgia who is known as a China "hawk," will assume the role amid rising trade tensions between the two countries.

The Senate will also vote to confirm Warren Stephens for U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and Tom Barrack to be ambassador to Turkey.

Barrack is a longtime Trump ally who served as the chair of Trump's 2017 inaugural committee. The California billionaire faced criminal charges alleging he acted as an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates and obstruction of justice in 2021, but was acquitted on all charges by a federal jury in New York the following year.

The Senate will also vote this afternoon on whether to advance Tilman Fertitta's nomination to be ambassador to Italy.

Trump has visited his golf clubs a total of 28 times in his first 100 days in office and has spent 12 of his first 14 weekends at one of his properties in Florida, New Jersey or Virginia.

The president spent parts of 40 days at one or more of his properties, with Mar-a-Lago seeing the most visits. Trump is known to golf at his nearby courses in Jupiter and West Palm Beach during the weekend visits.

Most of Trump’s travel so far this term has been domestic and to his properties. Trump only made one foreign trip, to Vatican City in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.

In one notable moment, the president drew public criticism for using official White House communications to announce his win in the Senior Club Championship golf tournament in Jupiter, Florida, days after his threatened tariff trade war sent markets reeling earlier this month.

Trump’s second-term golfing outpaces his first-term record, which saw 18 golf trips in 100 days. Then-President Joe Biden golfed just once, at the Wilmington Country Club, in his first 100 days.

Trump has golfed with one world leader in his second term, President Alexander Stubb of Finland.

Visits to golf clubs: 28

Trump has participated in 34 interviews in the first 100 days of his second term. Of those, 15 have been with television news outlets, with Fox getting the most airtime.

Though his press team has opened the White House briefing room to “new media,” nontraditional, often conservative outlets represented by individuals without classic journalism training, Trump has participated in only four interviews on such digital platforms.

Interviews: 34

Trump spoke to the press 111 times and held gaggles aboard Air Force 1 14 times.

Trump appeared in the White House briefing room only once, on Jan. 30, two days after an American Airlines flight fatally crashed into the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer plans to meet today with Trump at Selfridge Air National Guard Base during his trip to her state, a spokesperson for the Democratic governor told NBC News.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the plan during the morning press briefing.

“She is planning to be at the base today to support her troops and the long-standing effort she has made to secure support for Selfridge. She will not be at the rally," Whitmer's spokesperson said.

Whitmer's meeting is intended to show support for her troops and Michigan, a source familiar with her thinking told NBC News. Noting that she won't attend Trump's rally tonight, the source said Whitmer has repeatedly disagreed with much of Trump's actions in the first 100 days of his second term.

Whitmer, a potential 2028 presidential contender, came under fire for meeting with Trump in the Oval Office a few weeks ago. She was scheduled to meet with the president privately, but she was in the room while Trump signed executive orders and made false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

During his first 100 days in office, Trump has held 33 publicly known calls and 17 meetings with foreign leaders.

The president has held two calls each with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump has met with Zelenskyy in person twice, once in a highly contentious White House meeting that ended without a critical minerals deal, and again inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City at the funeral of Pope Francis.

Trump’s 17 meetings with foreign leaders have already outpaced the dozen he held at the White House during the first 100 days of his first term. The first foreign leader Trump hosted was Netanyahu.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this morning that the Trump administration is nearing a trade deal with India, though he dodged several questions asking him for a timeline for an announcement.

"I think that we are very close on India," Bessent said at the White House news briefing. "India, in a funny way, is easier to negotiate with than many other countries because they have very high tariffs and lots of tariffs. So it’s much easier to confront the direct tariffs."

India and other Asian countries have been the "most forthcoming" in terms of making deals on trade with the Trump administration, he said.

Bessent added, "President Trump creates what I would call strategic uncertainty in the negotiations. So he is more concerned about getting the best possible trade deals."

"I think the aperture of uncertainty will be narrowing, and as we start moving forward, announcing deals, then there will be certainty, but certainly is not necessarily a good thing in negotiating," he said.

Trump signed more executive orders in his first 10 days in office than any president in recent history signed in their first 100 days.

As Trump reaches the 100-day milestone of his second term, the number of executive orders he has signed outpaces the number of days he has spent in office, at a total of 143.

Of those 143 orders, 36 focus on government and culture, 18 on trade, 13 on industry, 12 on education, and 11 each on immigration and foreign affairs.

Trump’s executive orders have become a cornerstone of his second-term policy agenda. Through them, he has sought to reform immigration policy, establish the Department of Government Efficiency to slash government spending, target prominent law firms, dismantle government agencies, levy tariffs, reshape early childhood education, and ban diversity-related programs across the federal government.

More than two dozen of the orders have led to legal challenges that question their constitutionality and the unilateral power of the executive branch. Several have already landed at the Supreme Court, including one involving federal probationary employees fired by DOGE and one on the administration’s attempts to deport Venezuelan migrants it says are part of criminal gangs.

Other lawsuits seek to challenge Trump’s attempts to freeze federal funding approved by Congress for states, universities and sanctuary cities that he says are violating the demands of his administration.

Trump has also signed 38 proclamations and 39 memorandums spanning everything from government culture to opening protected federal lands for commercial and industry use.

When Toi Cliatt heard a loud bang in his Atlanta home in the early hours of Oct. 18, 2017, his first instinct was to grab the shotgun he kept stored in a closet to defend himself from intruders.

Luckily for him, he hesitated.

“And I’m thinking about, you know, what’s going to happen if it’s law enforcement? We’re dead, you know? And they’re going to make us as the aggressor,” Cliatt said in an interview.

His instinct was correct. It turned out that the people entering the house were FBI agents with flash-bang grenades and guns drawn.

Read the full story.

Trump has leaned heavily on executive power to remake the federal government at the outset of his new administration, largely leaving Congress on the sidelines.

Instead of relying on members of the Republican-controlled House and Senate to pass laws to give him new authorities, Trump has sought to bypass Congress by invoking or repurposing existing laws to carry out his agenda since taking office in January. And he’s received widespread support from his party on Capitol Hill, with Democrats mostly powerless to rein him in.

Read the full story.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said this morning that she thinks it's a coincidence that the two thieves who stole her purse at a D.C. restaurant on Easter Sunday are in the U.S. illegally.

In an interview on "CBS Mornings," Noem was asked how confident she is that the two people arrested are in the country illegally.

"Very confident," she said. "These are career criminals. They have perpetuated crimes against many people in this country for many years illegally."

Asked if it's a coincidence that they happened to choose her purse to steal, she said, "You know, I believe so."

"We were with a big family ... I had it right between my feet, but he was professional in how he took it. And, you know, we’re just glad that now that he’s in custody because of so many other crimes he’s committed," she said. "He worked with other people to do this, and has been doing it for years. ... This is what Americans shouldn’t have to live with. It’s not about me and it’s not about my family as much as it is about, you know, that people live in communities that have been going through this for many years."

New polls are revealing where Americans stand as Trump marks his first 100 days in office of his second term. His overall approval rating holds at 43% with numbers even lower on inflation and tariffs. NBC’s Steve Kornacki joins "TODAY" to break down the numbers.

Canadian voters backed Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party today, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. projects, in a national election strongly influenced by Trump.

The CBC said it was too early to know whether the Liberals would win enough seats to form a majority government, but it projected another term for the party, which has governed Canada for almost a decade.

Read the full story.

Trump's tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts will not be ‘stacked’ with aluminum and steel tariffs, meaning automakers won’t pay tariffs on the cars, auto parts and, on top of that, the metals used to make them, a White House official confirmed to NBC News.

Automakers will be reimbursed for the cost of some of the tariffs on imported parts, up to 3.75% of the value of a new car in the first year, but the measure will be phased out over two years. It’s unclear how auto manufacturers will be reimbursed.

The 25% tariff on automobiles and car parts won’t change, so the cost of imported cars and auto parts is still expected to rise significantly and increase the cost of car repairs and insurance premiums.

TheNew York Times first reported the details of the administration's measures to ease the impact of auto tariffs.

A White House official said the measure reflects the level of cooperation between administration and auto industry. The auto companies are investing in the United States, so they’re getting some runway to make the transition to the new tariffs regime, similar to what was allowed for the semiconductor industry with its expanded electronics exemption.

“President Trump is building an important partnership with both the domestic automakers and our great American workers," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement. "This deal is a major victory for the President’s trade policy by rewarding companies who manufacture domestically, while providing runway to manufacturers who have expressed their commitment to invest in America and expand their domestic manufacturing.”

"We believe the President’s leadership is helping level the playing field for companies like GM and allowing us to invest even more in the U.S. economy," she said.

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley said in a statement that the company "welcomes and appreciates these decisions by President Trump, which will help mitigate the impact of tariffs on automakers, suppliers and consumers.

Democratic Rep. Angie Craig announced today that she’s running for the Senate in Minnesota, a long-expected campaign that sets up a crowded primary among Craig, the state’s lieutenant governor and a former state legislative leader.

In her announcement video, Craig criticized Trump for “trampling our rights and freedoms as he profits,” Elon Musk as “an out-of-control, unelected billionaire trying to take control of our government and burn it to the ground” and “cowardly congressional Republicans.”

Read the full story.

Democrats on the House and Senate appropriations committees unveiled a website today with a list of funding cuts and freezes they accuse Trump of imposing against the law.

Trump is “freezing at least $430 billion in federal funding that Congress has promised to communities across America,” the offices of Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top Democratic appropriators, said in a joint statement.

The list includes scores of items across federal departments and agencies under the categories of “frozen” or “canceled/terminated.” For instance, $15 million in research funds for the Social Security Administration is marked canceled/terminated, while $182 million for the “methane emissions reduction program” is marked as canceled.

The website is the Democrats’ latest effort to draw attention to Trump’s attempts to bypass Congress and withhold or slash spending directed by law.

Trump is headed to Michigan today to deliver a speech marking his 100th day in office.

He will be in Macomb County, north of Detroit, with a stop to deliver remarks to the Michigan National Guard before giving his speech at Macomb County Community College.