While White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her first White House briefing that beneficiaries of programs like Social Security and Medicare would not be affected by the freeze on federal aid, she did not say Medicaid wouldn’t be affected.

When asked about Medicaid payments being cut off to individuals, Leavitt said: “I’ll check back on that.”

Subsequently, the White House said Medicaid wouldn’t be affected, but Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said reimbursement portals were down in all 50 states, amid concern that the program had been caught up in the freeze.

Leavitt then tweeted: “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.”

Eight current or prospective transgender military members have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its ban on trans service members. They say it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 5th Amendment.

“The categorical exclusion of transgender people from military service lacks a rational basis, is arbitrary, and cannot be justified by sufficient federal interests.”

Here’s what you need to know about legal challenges to Trump’s executive order:

The son of conservative media pundit Tucker Carlson has landed a new job in the White House.

Buckley Carlson, 28, is set to start work as deputy press secretary in Vice President J.D. Vance’s office, sources first told ABC News.

The younger Carlson has worked on Capitol Hill since 2019, including as communications director for then-Indiana Representative Jim Banks in 2021.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told The Independent that she would oppose making former congressman Sean Duffy Transportation Secretary in protest of Donald Trump’s federal aid pause. On Monday evening, he received a cloture vote of 97-0. Duckworth said she would normally be a yes but said that she would be a “no” in response.

Below are all the Democrats who voted against his confirmation:

• Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
• Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)
• Cory Booker (D-NJ)
• Chris Coons (D-DE)
• Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
• Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
• Dick Durbin (D-IL)
• Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
• Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
• Andy Kim (D-NJ)
• Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM)
• Ed Markey (D-MA)
• Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
• Chris Murphy (D-CT)
• Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Jack Reed (D-RI)
• Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
• Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)
• Tina Smith (D-MN)
• Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
• Ron Wyden (D-OR) 

Several states are suing Donald Trump’s administration to block an order from his administration that freezes federal grant funding across the government.

A lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James — joined by attorneys general from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island — is imminently expected to hit court dockets. The suit will seek a court order to immediately halt the implementation of the directive from the White House Office of Management and Budget.

“This president has exceeded his authority, he has violated the constitution and he has trampled on a co-equal branch of government,” James told reporters in a video briefing on Tuesday. “There is no question, this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional.”

She called the Trump administration memo “arbitrary and capricious.”

“What we are doing is protecting democracy and the rule of law,” she said.

Here’s Kelly Rissman with the background to the freeze:

Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Committee, and Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the committee, sent a letter to the president on Tuesday that said that Congress did not receive the legally-required 30-day notice of the dismissals.

“While IGs aren’t immune from committing acts requiring their removal, and they can be removed by the president, the law must be followed,” Grassley and Durbin’s letter reads. “The communication to Congress must contain more than just broad and vague statements, rather it must include sufficient facts and details to assure Congress and the public that the termination is due to real concerns about the Inspector General’s ability to carry out their mission.”

The letter said that the president must offer a “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for each removal.

Far-right provocateur Michael Knowles defended Donald Trump’s mass deportations on Tuesday by telling his audience that the president was merely getting rid of violent criminals, all while arguing that “we need prejudice” because “stereotypes are all true.”

Communities across the United States have been gripped in fear for weeks as they braced for raids from Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid Trump’s promises to clear out “illegal criminal migrants” and send them out of the country.

President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman used her first briefing to end the mystery surrounding the drones seen over New Jersey in recent months.

New White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, took to the podium for the first time on Tuesday, boasting of President Donald Trump’s achievements from his first week back in office.