Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent, at CPAC in Maryland

Image source, Getty Images

Over at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, I heard former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss speaking a little earlier.

Her speech was very focused on her home country: "We have a socialist government, commissars ruling over us who are leading our country in a terrible direction".

"Britain isn’t working. Britain is becoming a failed state," she tells the conference, focusing too on "mass migration" and energy policy.

The former prime minister, a Conservative, also alleges that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was "funding the BBC".

Truss got a minimal response from the crowd here at CPAC, but delays pushing her into lunchtime wasn't doing her any favours.

• For context: The BBC's charity BBC Media Action - an international development organisation that is completely separate from BBC News and funded by external grants and voluntary contributions - has received funding from USAID. According to a 2024 report, USAID donated $3.23m (£2.6m), making it the charity's second-largest donor that financial year.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

President Donald Trump has a busy afternoon today - his first full day back in Washington after a multi-day trip to his estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

At 15:00 local time (20:00 GMT), President Trump will host an event to mark Black History Month in the East Room of the White House. It's unclear if he'll take questions here, but the event is open to pre-credentialed media.

In the evening, at around 21:00, the president will head to Washington's National Building Museum, where he's set to deliver remarks at a meeting of Republican governors.

On Truth Social, Trump also said he'd watch the US play against Canada in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey tournament.

A controversial new leader of the FBIpublished at 19:36 Greenwich Mean Time 20 February

19:36 GMT 20 February

Nomia Iqbal
North America correspondent

A month since Donald Trump took office and another controversial cabinet pick of his has gone through.

Kash Patel, 44, is now the new head of the FBI.

The lawyer and former federal prosecutor narrowly got over the line, reflecting how polarising he is - the last three FBI picks were approved by at least 90 senators.

All Democratic senators voted against with just two Republicans, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, siding with them.

To Republicans, Patel is the right person to shake up an agency they allege was biased against conservatives during the Biden administration. They're also angry at the criminal investigations into Donald Trump.

But to Democrats, Patel is a far-right conspiracy theorist with little experience in law enforcement and someone who would simply put fealty to the president over his responsibilities to lead a department that is meant to operate independently.

One Democratic Senator, Chris Murphy said Republicans would "come to regret this vote to their grave".

Patel worked for President Trump in his first term and had promised to go after his enemies if he ever ran the FBI, as well as shutting down its headquarters in Washington and turning it into a museum for the so-called "deep state".

He slightly walked back these comments during his hearing saying they'd been taken out of context.

FBI directors are given 10-year terms as a way to stop them from becoming beholden to the president who picked them.

The previous leader Christopher Wray - chosen by Trump in 2017 - was seen as insufficiently loyal. Last month Wray resigned before being officially ousted.

Image source, Getty Images

And just like that, Trump nominee Kash Patel has been confirmed in the US Senate as the next FBI director.

The vote was 51 to 49.

Two Republicans, Susan Collins from Maine, and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, voted no.

Through multiple rounds of confirmation hearings, Patel faced stiff pushback and sharp criticism from Democrats, concerned about his qualifications and his unwavering loyalty to Trump.

Image source, Reuters

Stepping away from the White House for a moment, the Senate is voting on Kash Patel's nomination to become director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Patel has proven to be a controversial pick to lead the US's top law enforcement agency - critics say he is under-qualified and wants to use the job to effect partisan retribution on critics of Donald Trump.

He is a fervent supporter of the president, and a critic of the FBI. He has previously suggested dramatically limiting the agency's authority - some Republicans believe it has unfairly targeted conservatives in recent years.

The nominee has also made headlines for his so-called "enemies list" - a list of people in the appendix of his book Government Gangsters, who he says are members of the "deep state". That list includes former President Joe Biden.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

We've just wrapped up the White House news conference after nearly an hour.

The bulk of it, from my perspective at least, was the administration highlighting its own achievements, with a view towards sending a message to supporters that they're doing what they said.

It was, in a way, a longer version of a common refrain from administration officials: "promises made, promises kept".

There were few answers, however, for some of the most pressing questions of the day - namely Ukraine.

Many observers will be laser-focused, for example, on National Security Adviser Mike Waltz's efforts to avoid criticising Vladimir Putin, particularly when compared to his strong language on Volodymyr Zelensky and his "unacceptable" comments about Donald Trump.

The White House's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, seemed to acknowledge that Ukraine was becoming the focus of the briefing, telling reporters that Waltz "has had a lot of questions" and imploring them to ask Miller or Hassett about the economy.

Kevin Hassett, US director of the National Economic Council, is being asked about the roughly 6,000 people that have reportedly been recently fired from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Hassett says there are "more than 100,000 people working [at the IRS] to collect taxes, and not all of them are fully occupied", adding that the White House was cutting jobs "very rationally".

Since entering office, Donald Trump has moved swiftly to enact a sweeping purge of federal government workers to shrink federal spending.

The effort - led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) - has resulted in tens of thousands of federal employees who have either resigned or been fired.

Some of the staff recently let go have been asked to come back, after officials said they were let go by mistake, including employees that worked in the US's nuclear programme.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is asked about tonight's hockey match between the US and Canada, and whether Trump will be watching.

"I think he's watching for the United States to win tonight," Leavitt says.

"I know he talked to the USA hockey team this morning," she continues, saying the players were "jubilant" over the call.

Since Trump has floated the idea of adding Canada to the US as the 51st state - an idea which Canadian leaders vehemently oppose - fans from both countries have become more raucous.

Canadian fans booed the national anthem at National Hockey League and National Basketball Association games when it was played on their home turf following Trump's remarks. In the US, fans in Boston have booed the Canadian national anthem too.

Leavitt, like her boss, does not shy away from the controversy, even when under the spotlight.

"We look forward to the United States beating our soon-to-be 51st state - Canada," she says, before moving to another question.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is asked if President Donald Trump views his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as a dictator, after comments from Trump earlier this week in which he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator.

Trump is "very frustrated" with Zelensky right now, Waltz says.

"The fact that he hasn't come to the table, that he hasn't been willing to take this opportunity that we've offered", he says, adding that he hopes the Ukrainian will "very soon".

He doesn't directly answer the question, but finishes by saying: "We could argue all day long about what has happened in the past".

Mike Waltz has just been questioned on who is more at fault for the invasion of Ukraine - Vladimir Putin or Volodymyr Zelensky.

Waltz responds by saying that Trump's frustration with Zelensky is multi-fold.

He adds that some of what he calls "insults" at Trump coming out of Kyiv are not acceptable.

Zelensky recently said that Trump was living in a "disinformation space" created by Russia, after Trump appeared to blame Ukraine for the war.

Image source, US pool

National Security Adviser Mike Walz is asked about the war in Ukraine and whether Trump could be the subject of "manipulation" by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Walz says "if there's anybody in this world that can go toe-to-toe with Putin... it's Donald J Trump," referring to him as the "dealmaker in chief"

He adds that he wants to "push back" on the notion that the US's European allies have not been consulted on a potential deal to end the war, saying that the president has spoken with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and France's Emmanuel Macron, and that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit next week.

On funding for the war, Walz says "it is unacceptable" that the US "continues to bear the burden" of the war in Ukraine and the defence of Europe.

"We fully support our Nato allies", he says, but it's time for our European allies to "step up".

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt now calls on a journalist from Elon Musk's social media platform X to ask the first question among the press gathered at the briefing.

She says the journalist is occupying the press briefing room's "new media seat" and says she is "excited" to have X at the briefing.

• For context: The White House has opened up the news briefings to less traditional media outlets since Trump returned to office, including TikTokers and podcasters. At the same time, it has also banned journalists working for the Associated Press (AP) news agency from attending press briefings due to AP's refusal to acknowledge the Gulf of Mexico by its new US-given name - the Gulf of America.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, US pool

We're now hearing from National Security Adviser Mike Waltz - a key player in Trump's foreign policy goals across the world, from Ukraine to Gaza.

"What a month," he began. "What a sea change in foreign policy."

Notably, Waltz's first anecdote was about being in the room when Trump called Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky - both of whom he claims said "only Trump" can end the fighting in that war.

Waltz has also lauded the administration's efforts to return Americans held abroad, military operations against Islamic State group and other extremist targets abroad and pressure on Panama to dial back Chinese influence.

There are so far few surprises in this news conference - in fact, many of these talking points were shared with media, both online and in a paper handout, before this briefing began.

Image source, US pool

Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett is next up and talks about inflation.

He says the plan to get it down involves reducing spending, and he points to the role of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) - which while not an official government department is an agency Trump has tasked with cutting federal spending - in making that happen.

• For context: Reducing the cost of living was a key campaign pledge of Trump's presidential campaign.

Hassett also says he has met Mexican officials about "reciprocal trade". Trump has previously threatened to introduce 25% tariffs on Mexico but has agreed to hold off since the country promised higher security on its shared border with the US.

At the news briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt touts President Trump's "record" activity during his first month in office, including hosting several foreign leaders.

This includes the leaders of Israel, Japan, Jordan and India, Leavitt says.

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to visit the White House on Monday, she continues, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is scheduled visit on Thursday.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Today's press briefing has begun with a triumphant tone, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt going through what the White House sees as an "incredible" first month.

First up is deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who's begun by outlining what he terms Trump's efforts to "restore merit", end diversity and inclusion efforts and cut waste from the federal government.

Miller also references Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America - a tricky issue that has put the administration on a collision course with news outlets including the Associated Press.

His remarks have, essentially, been a list of Trump's policy announcements and executive actions.

The White House clearly sees immigration as its biggest win, with Miller pointing to statistics that show a 95% drop in detentions at the US-Mexican border.

"I think it's almost impossible to describe the scale and scope of that achievement," Miller says. "This is the biggest and most successful change in any area of law enforcement that this nation has ever seen."

Image source, US Pool

Image source, Getty Images

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt kicks off today's briefing by reeling off a list of things Donald Trump has done during his first month in office.

He has signed "73 executive orders", she says, adding that's "more than double" the number former President Joe Biden did during the same period.

So far the Senate has "confirmed 18 cabinet-level employees", Leavitt says, and she expects Kash Patel "to be confirmed as the next director of the FBI" later today.

She is followed by Stephen Miller, who claims the beginning of Trump's term is "the most historic opening to a presidency in American history".

In just a few minutes, we're expecting a briefing from the White House.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt typically gives these briefings alone.

Today though, she is joined by Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz - a key player in the talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia over the future of Ukraine.

You can watch the news conference live by pressing play at the top of this page.

Image source, Getty Images

A majority of Americans are concerned by the Trump administration's effort to massively shrink the federal workforce, and are worried that essential services many rely on could be compromised, new polling suggests.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll indicates that 58% of respondents are concerned that federal programmes such as social security retirement payments and student aid could be delayed.

Only 29% of respondents said they were not worried about the federal government purge, led by Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) - which is not an official government department.

Other data gathered by the poll suggests that even among Trump's most faithful supporters, nearly half (44%) believe the richest Americans, like Musk, are profiting off their White House connections.

This latest poll follows another earlier this month, external, which suggested a majority of Americans felt positively about Trump's opening weeks in office and were in favour of Musk's work, but disagreed over how much influence he should have.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News

Senior White House officials will hold a news briefing at 13:00 local time (18:00 GMT) as the administration marks exactly one month since President Donald Trump took office.

In addition to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the briefing will be attended by Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz - a key player in the talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia over the future of Ukraine.

The outset of the briefing is likely to focus on various policies that the administration see as "wins" so far, including immigration, tariffs on steel and aluminium and foreign investments.

Journalists will have many questions to ask, with Waltz in particular likely to face queries about Trump's policy towards Ukraine and increasingly hostile comments about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the talks in Saudi Arabia and the administration's proposal to "take over" Gaza for redevelopment.

Stay with us for more updates.