Thursday Briefing: Trump Reverses Spending Freeze

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Thursday Briefing: Trump Reverses Spending Freeze

Trump reversed an order to freeze federal funds

The White House yesterday walked back President Trump’s order to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order on Tuesday after it caused mass confusion across the country.

The Trump administration had struggled to explain the funding freeze, a decision that interrupted the Medicaid system, which provides health care to millions of low-income Americans.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, wrote on social media that “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.” She said the president’s executive orders on federal funding “remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”

The decision by the Trump administration to pull the directive was a significant reversal. Democratic leaders celebrated the announcement.

Grilling: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for health secretary, faced tough questions and struggled to convince senators that he was not against vaccines during confirmation hearings in Washington. Kennedy — who has been vocally skeptical of vaccines, supports unorthodox diets and has spouted conspiracy theories — is one of Trump’s most polarizing choices.

More on TrumpA stampede at a Hindu festival left dozens dead

At least 30 people were killed and dozens of others injured yesterday in a crush that occurred when pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh Mela Hindu festival rushed to bathe in river waters.

Safety barricades broke and fences were toppled during the gathering, held where the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers meet. Thousands of people who were lying or sitting on the banks were trampled. People in the water tried to escape, adding to the chaos.

The Maha Kumbh Mela festival draws millions of Hindu pilgrims to the city of Prayagraj once every 12 years. The chief minister of the state government said that there would be an inquiry to find out how, despite heavy precautions, an accident like this could occur.

In photos: Atul Loke, a Times photographer, documented the panic and confusion from the deadly crowd crush.

****** is expected to release more hostages

****** will release eight hostages today — three Israelis and five Thai nationals — after more than a year of captivity in Gaza, Israeli officials said. The release would be the third so far in the six-week truce.

More than a billion people across the world began celebrating the Lunar New Year with fireworks, family time and feasts. Here’s how people said goodbye to the Year of the Dragon and welcomed the Year of the Snake.

Lives lived: Mauricio Funes, a former president of El Salvador who fled to Nicaragua to escape corruption investigations, died at 65.

CONVERSATION STARTERS We watched a ******** chatbot argue with itself

As DeepSeek rattled markets this week with its new chatbot, my colleague Vivian Wang had a question: Given that the start-up is from China, how does it navigate Beijing’s censorship? Vivian decided to test it out.

“I was absolutely fascinated by the way the chatbot talked to itself during the reasoning process as it tried to negotiate with itself what was and wasn’t acceptable to share,” Vivian told us. “It felt a little like watching someone argue with themselves.”

DeepSeek was far less censored than most ******** platforms, but it also couldn’t answer questions like, “Who is Xi Jinping?” Read more about Vivian’s test.

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