Trump's Cabinet Meeting Was Unusually Short

President Trump gathered his Cabinet for a video-broadcasted meeting Thursday that ended without questions from reporters. He spoke for about a half hour and called on some of his agency heads, but Trump ended his the meeting without asking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to speak. It seemed an opportunity to avoid commentary on the situation in Minnesota, where the recent deaths of two US citizens at the hands of federal agents has put Noem in the hot seat, with some members of Congress calling for her resignation, the AP reports.

• There were also no comments from Attorney General Pam Bondi, a day after the FBI searched the election office of a Georgia county that has been central to right-wing conspiracy theories over Trump's 2020 election loss.

• Trump asked officials to keep it short. During other appearances with Cabinet officials—and many other events with reporters present—Trump is apt to take a slew of questions on the news of the day and other topics, the AP notes. Thursday was an exception. Trump, who had repeatedly implored Cabinet officials to keep the meeting short, let Vice President JD Vance have the brief final word. Then Trump closed the meeting, prompting White House handlers to usher the press out despite reporters yelling out questions.
• Powell replacement. Trump said at the meeting that "next week" he'll announce his choice to replace Jerome Powell as the chair of the Federal Reserve. The president has criticized Powell for not slashing benchmark interest rates as low as Trump would like. Powell has insisted that the Fed stay independent of politics and make its choices based on inflation and job market data. Trump said his pick will do a "good job" and that he wants the Fed to cut rates when there are signs of economic growth.
• Hegseth. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned the US military "will be prepared to deliver whatever the president expects" if Iran continues to try to develop nuclear weapons. "They have all the options to make a deal," Hegseth said at the meeting. "They should not pursue nuclear capabilities. And we will be prepared to deliver whatever this president expects of the War Department."

• Kennedy. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave an update on TrumpRx, a government website in development that's intended to help people buy drugs directly from manufacturers. "That's going to be happening sometime probably in the next 10 days," Kennedy said.
• Witkoff. Special envoy Steve Witkoff said a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is coming soon, NBC News reports. "We have a security protocol agreement that's largely finished, a prosperity agreement that's largely, largely finished," Witkoff said. "And I think the people of Ukraine are now hopeful and expecting that we're going to deliver a peace deal sometime soon." Trump said he had asked Vladimir Putin not to strike Kyiv during an upcoming spell of extreme cold.

• Trump says the last meeting was boring. The president said of his Cabinet meeting in December, "It was a little bit on the boring side." Recalling being seen as struggling to keep his eyes open during that gathering, Trump insisted, "I didn't sleep. I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell out of there." The comment drew laughter, including from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has made a trademark of laughing loudest during Cabinet meetings, the AP reports.
• Others who didn't speak. In addition to Noem and Bondi, there were other Cabinet members in the room who did not get called on to speak.That includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, though Trump praised them both during the meeting. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and OMB Director Russell Vought also did not speak.