A US judge temporarily blocks a sweeping White House order to pause federal grants, loans and other financial assistance from taking effect
In her first-ever briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump's plan to pause trillions of dollars in US government funding is about being "good stewards of tax dollars", which she said the president was elected to do
The judges ruling came as it was set to come into force on Tuesday, and as confusion spread over which programmes would be impacted
Democratic minority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, earlier said the move would cause missed payrolls and rent payments, and cause "chaos"
Pause on federal funding targeted at DEI and 'wokeness', says White House
Multiple US media outlets are now reporting that a second government memo has been sent out regarding the freeze in federal assistance.
According to this new memo, funds for Medicaid, Head Start, farmers, small businesses and rental assistance will not be affected by the freeze.
The BBC has not yet verified the contents of this document.
A little earlier, we brought you news that a number of state attorneys general were bringing a lawsuit against Trump's move to freeze federal assistance.
Our US partner CBS News now reports that the initial six attorneys general have now been joined by a number of others, including those in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon and Wisconsin.
Caroline Hawley
Reporting from Washington DC
President Trump’s sweeping order to freeze federal funding has caused confusion, huge concern for its recipients, and fury among his political opponents.
Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer said the blast radius of the decision was virtually limitless.
At her first press conference, the new White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, insisted that the freeze wouldn’t affect aid going straight to individual Americans such as social security benefits, and food stamps.
But she made clear there’d be no more federal funding in the future for many environmental projects, for affirmative action programmes and for what she called “transgenderism and woke-ness”.
The freeze is being challenged in the courts because the money has already been approved for spending by Congress.
As well as difficulty accessing Medicaid payments, which we reported on earlier, other recipients of federal health dollars have also reported being locked out - according to CBS News - the BBC's US partner.
This includes the Head Start early childhood education programmes and community health centres.
A group of Democratic state attorney generals are preparing to file a lawsuit against President Trump's plans to pause federal assistance.
Attorney generals from California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island held a press conference earlier today.
New Jersey attorney general Matt Platkin said this the "second time" they have "stood up" - in reference to the lawsuit against Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship.
New York attorney general Letitia James said the president had "exceeded" his authority with a funding freeze.
Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockDemocrat Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has condemned Trump's funding freeze as "illegal and unconsitutional" and says the president is causing "cruel nasty, and illegal chaos".
"Trump has done a lot of bad things this week. But nothing is worse than this," Schumer says during a Senate Democrats news conference.
He claims the funding slashes are Project 2025 "in another name". Project 2025 is a right-wing think tank policy paper on proposals that would expand presidential power and impose an ultra-conservative social vision.
As we reported earlier, the web portal used by government agencies to track funding is currently offline after Trump's executive order cut off assistance to federal aid programmes.
Karoline Leavitt, who just finished her first White House press conference as Trump's spokeswoman, just posted on X to say: "The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage.
"We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly."
The portal, Payment Management Services, is run by the Department of Health and Human Services and handles billions of dollars each year.
Lisa Lambert
BBC News
Simply put, Medicaid is a public health insurance program for the poor. Each state operates its own version of the program and puts in money, with the federal government also providing funds.
There were 72.2 million people enrolled in Medicaid nationally as of last September.
It has a massive price tag - $880bn across the US in 2023, according to health care data and research group KFF.
The federal government provides most of the funding for Medicaid (its share varies by state, but the minimum is 50%) . That money comes in the form of grants.
Federal funds are supposed to increase in times of great stress, such as the pandemic. Still, Medicaid can be a big budget item for many states, and, as they also must fund programs such as public education few can make up for huge cuts in federal funds.
The program is often confused with Medicare, the health insurance program for retirees. Like Social Security, Medicare is backed with a trust fund, making it harder for the federal government to cut or block money to the program.
Coming back to the issue of Medicaid, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said she was not sure whether it would be affected by the funding freeze.
She said the freeze is "temporary" and "does not affect individual assistance that's going to Americans".
Meanwhile, the federal online system used for tracking funds for services such as Medicaid has been taken down on Tuesday.
The website currently warns that due "to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, [Payment Management Services] is taking additional measures to process payments. Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments", according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.
Democrats reacted with fury.
"This is a blatant attempt to rip away health care from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed," said Oregon Senator Ron Wyden.
Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz said: "Multiple states locked out of Medicaid portal."
"This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it's unlawful."
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Josh Hawley said that he had been assured that there will be "no interruption to Medicaid or Medicare or any grant that floats to individuals".
Image source, Getty ImagesLeavitt is grilled about the wildfire response in California - specifically about what role the military played in turning the water back on in the impacted regions.
The White House Press Secretary says that Donald Trump applied pressure on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass - to turn the water back on in places that have been "incredibly dry".
Pressed again about what specific role the military played, Leavitt says that the Army Corps of Engineers has been on the ground in California to respond to the disaster - but again does not answer the question directly.
Earlier, there was some confusion in the briefing after the White House spokeswoman defended Trump's cuts to federal aid programmes.
She said that the cuts wouldn't affect most Americans, but was unprepared for a question about Medicaid - the federal healthcare programme that assists some 72 million low-income Americans.
"Are you guaranteeing here that no individual now on Medicaid would see a cut-off because of the policy?" one reporter asked. It came after Leavitt said the cut would not affect Medicare, the health programme for pensioners.
“I’ll check on that and get back to you,” Leavitt replied. The programme affects roughly 19% of Americans.
Leavitt earlier declined to answer a question about the freeze’s impact on Medicaid, a statement from the White House released afterwards says “…mandatory programs like Medcaid and SNAP will continue without pause”.
But several states, including Illinois, are claiming they’re being blocked from the web portal that allows them to access federal Medicaid grants.
Across the last hour or so we've been listening in to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's first White House briefing.
If you're just joining us now here were the key points she made:
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr / BBC NewsWe've just wrapped up the news briefing, after about 50 minutes of questions and answers with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
I can say, without hesitation, that that briefing was unlike any other I've experienced in the more than two years I've been coming to the White House.
For one, the enormous interest in President Trump and his new administration was readily apparent. By an order of several magnitudes, there were far more people in attendance than I ever saw at briefings during the Biden administration, including on "big" news days, such as when he dropped out of the presidential race last summer or when there were significant updates to give about the fighting in Gaza.
This is a new administration in style and substance: The Trump team is much more prepared than it was in 2017, when the first briefing descended into chaos as then-spokesman Sean Spicer argued with reporters about the size of Trump's inauguration crowd.
By contrast, Leavitt today seemed well-prepared for the questions she would receive from journalists, on topics from the budget to the border.
But she also seemed prepared to go on the offensive when she felt it necessary to defend the administration's record so far, repeatedly taking jabs at the media and at the reporters in the room.
She was also quick to take swipes at the former administration and at Joe Biden - whom she joked may have spent his presidency "sleeping upstairs in the residence" rather than working.
It remains to be seen how often these briefings take place - but, to a certain extent, Leavitt seems content to let Trump do the talking himself.
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
The press briefing is now over.
And as expected - Leavitt was repeatedly asked about undocumented immigration and Trump's vows to conduct mass deportations.
Leavitt seemed to confirm the fears of some immigration advocates that people would get caught up as "collateral arrests" as the administration goes after aliens with criminal histories.
That term - which originated in the first Trump administration - means that undocumented immigrants caught up in these raids will also be detained and ultimately processed for deportation.
While Leavitt says the focus will be on criminals, it's clear that this administration sees undocumented immigrants as having committed a crime by being in the US illegally.
"If they broke our nation's laws, they are criminals," she said.
Leavitt is asked about Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship.
Anyone born in the US is automatically granted citizenship, as enshrined in the constitution.
Trump is trying to do away with this right, but that executive order was blocked last week by a federal court in Seattle.
Leavitt says the Seattle federal judge has a right to his opinion, but "it is in disagreement with the legal opinion of this administration".
She says that the new White House believes that the children of illegal immigrants are "not subject to the laws of this jurisdiction", and therefore are not American.
She notes that an appeal has been filed after the Seattle ruling, and that the administration is prepared to fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
Leavitt is now being asked a question about who advised the president on the legality of the freeze on federal funding for certain programmes and grants.
As the reporter points out, Congress holds the power of the purse.
"As the OMB memo clearly states, this is certainly within the confines of the law," Leavitt says.
"So they disagree with lawmakers who say they don't have the power to freeze [federal funds]," a reporter asks Leavitt.
She instructs reporters to - again - read the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) memo that was released this week.
The briefing shifts now to tariffs, with Leavitt asked about timelines.
She tells the media that the 1 February date for Canada and Mexico holds, with the president "very much still considering" the same date for China.
White House: Mysterious New Jersey drones 'not the enemy'
Late last year there were conspiracy theories flying thick and fast about mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey.
Trump's spokeswoman addressed the situation, saying they were cleared to fly by the FAA and were largely conducting research.
Some of them were owned by enthusiasts, she says.
You can watch her full comments in the video above.
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
During the Biden administration, questions often went to the US networks and wire services in the first row first, often in order.
Leavitt, however, seems to be working more of the room.
She just asked a question to a Daily Caller reporter in the back row, joking that those in the back "haven't gotten much attention these last four years".
Leavitt has also, repeatedly, cited her own boss when giving her answers, noting that he "talked about that" or "answered this question already" about a variety of topics.
Quizzed more now on the federal assistance freeze and whether it will end up raising prices, Leavitt reiterates her earlier examples of programme that won't be affected - including social security and welfare benefits.
She adds she can provide a full list after the briefing.
Leavitt does not address questions about how to respond to Americans who are worried that they will be affected by funding that trickles down from other programs.
Shifting to cost cutting - the press secretary suggests Trump has taken "historical action" to achieve this - citing the repeal of certain Biden regulations.
She further references the declaration of a national energy emergency. Trump wants to increase supply to bring down cost, she explains - saying energy is one of the "number one drivers of inflation".