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In an appearance on Fox News, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told host Jesse Watters that President Donald Trump has a very simple goal: to abolish the IRS.
“Donald Trump announced the External Revenue Service and his goal is simple: to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay,” said Lutnick, explaining that they intend to use a combination of tariffs and Elon Musk’s DOGE purges of waste and fraud to cut spending and try to eliminate the IRS.
On Air Force One on Wednesday evening, the president signed more executive orders including one terminating any federal taxpayer-funded benefits from going to or incentivizing migrants in the U.S. illegally.
Earlier Trump spoke at the Saudi-backed FII Priority Summit at which he doubled down on his attack on President Volodymyr Zelensky after the Ukrainian leader accused him of living in a Russian “disinformation space.”
The president again called Zelensky a “dictator” who has done a “terrible job” in leading his country through the war on his country while receiving billions of dollars in aid.
That row erupted after Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago press conference that Ukraine “should never have started” the conflict, even though its territory was invaded by Vladimir Putin’s troops.
Trump could push for streamlined initial deal on Ukraine minerals, report says
Reuters reports that the Trump administration may seek to strike a simplified minerals deal with Ukraine to establish a pact quickly and negotiate detailed terms later, such as how much of Ukraine’s vast resources the U.S. would own, two people with knowledge of the matter told the agency Wednesday.
This follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s rejection last week of a detailed U.S. proposal that would have seen Washington receive 50 percent of Ukraine’s critical minerals, including graphite, uranium, titanium, and lithium, the latter of which is a key component in electric car batteries.
That episode made clear that reaching a full deal will take time, the sources said. But President Donald Trump wants a pact with Ukraine before potentially authorizing additional U.S. military support for Kyiv or advancing a proposal to facilitate formal peace talks between Ukraine and Russia to conclude the three-year conflict, which was instigated by Moscow’s invasion neighbor.
Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, is in Kyiv this week to discuss the parameters of a revised pact and what Ukraine needs in return for signing. Zelensky stated he would meet with Kellogg on Thursday, “and it is crucial for us that this meeting – and overall cooperation with America – be constructive.”
When asked whether U.S. officials would continue pursuing a deal, a Trump adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about Zelensky: “Absolutely, we need to get this guy back to reality.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 02:13
Hegseth orders Pentagon to cut 8 percent of budget for each of the next five years
Newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is instructing Pentagon leadership to begin preparing for an 8 percent budget cut in each of the next five years.
The cuts are expected to span across the following areas: Operations at the southern border, modernization of nuclear weapons, missile defense and acquisition of submarines, and one-way attack drones and other munitions, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post.
Michelle Del Rey reports.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 02:00
Lutnick says Trump’s goal is ‘to abolish the internal revenue service’
In an appearance on Fox News this evening, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Jesse Watters that President Donald Trump has a very simple goal: to abolish the IRS.
“Donald Trump announced the External Revenue Service and his goal is simple: to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay,” said Lutnick.
He continued: “We have to use tariffs, we have to use the External Revenue Service to take care of America and cut the scams and the abuse, the waste, and let’s make America great. Great. Not great like 20 years ago. We mean great as in no deficit and basically try to eliminate the Internal Revenue Service.”
Earlier in the segment, speaking about entitlements, waste, and fraud, and Elon Musk’s DOGE, Lutnick said: “Think about it: we have almost $4 trillion of entitlements, and no one has looked at it before. You know Social Security is wrong, you know Medicaid and Medicare are wrong so [Elon’s] going to cut one trillion…”
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 01:32
COMMENT: Can Starmer build a bridge between the US and Europe strong enough to withstand a Trump kicking?
When Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump in Washington next week, I’m told he will tell the president that the US can achieve much more working with its allies than it can alone.
The prime minister will reassure Trump the UK will boost its defence spending. He will define what he meant by the US needing to be a crucial “backstop” for European forces to safeguard a ceasefire or peace deal in Ukraine – probably air support, intelligence, satellite communications and reconnaissance, but without US combat troops (even if European forces were killed by the Russians).
But can Starmer really be a bridge between the EU and the US?
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 01:30
Treasury secretary to skip G20 Summit
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will slip the G20 Summit due to “obligations in Washington.”
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 01:23
Experts skeptical as Trump boosts Elon Musk’s plan for ‘DOGE dividend’ checks to taxpayers
Donald Trump is endorsing an idea from Elon Musk and his supporters to cut Americans a check for “savings” identified by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
Speaking at a Saudi-backed investment conference in Miami on Wednesday, the president endorsed an idea to give 20 percent of those alleged savings back to American taxpayers, with another 20 percent to “pay down debt,” Trump said. It is unclear where that remaining 60 percent would go.
Alex Woodward takes a look at the idea, its origins, and its viability.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 01:08
In resurfaced interviews, Kash Patel called out Elon Musk multiple times for getting rich off taxpayer money
Patel, who hosted the podcast Kash’s Corner, has called Musk a monopolist, claimed he mass-harvested data and accused him of making his fortune from federal contracts funded by taxpayer dollars, according to Rolling Stone.
Katie Hawkinson has the story.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 01:00
Trump talks taxes at Miami conference
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will work with Republicans in Congress to significantly reduce taxes on both individuals and companies.
“We’re going to dramatically cut taxes for families and for workers and for companies, including no tax on tips and hopefully no tax on Social Security and no tax on overtime,” Trump said at the FII Priority conference in Miami hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
The president stated that his plan will also reduce taxes on domestic oil and gas producers and permit companies to deduct 100 percent of their investments in new domestic factory construction and other capital expenditures.
“If you buy something that is going to be good for our country, we’re going to let you expense it,” Trump said.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 00:45
UK PM backs ‘democratically elected’ Zelensky after Trump’s ‘dictator’ tirade
A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister had called Zelensky on Wednesday evening and said it was “perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime as the UK did during World War Two”.
The call follows a day in which Zelensky had traded barbs with Trump, leading the US president to post a diatribe on his social media site, TruthSocial, in which he claimed his Ukrainian counterpart was “a dictator without elections.”
Christopher McKeon reports.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 00:30
Trump to sign executive order ending federal benefits going to illegal migrants
Fox News reports, citing a White House official on background, that one of the executive orders being signed by President Donald Trump this evening is designed to terminate any and all federal taxpayer benefits going to illegal migrants.
The order will direct every federal agency and department to identify all federally funded programs currently providing financial benefits to migrants in the country illegally and “take corrective action”, ensuring that any federal funds to states and localities “will not be used to support sanctuary policies or assist illegal immigration.”
Additionally, the executive order will mandate improvements in eligibility verification to prevent federal benefits from going to anyone in the US illegally.
Oliver O’Connell20 February 2025 00:24