President Donald Trump continues to take sweeping executive actions in his second term, including an order this week targeting a senior official from his first administration who became one of his critics.
Focus continues on the legal battle regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant who was living in Maryland when he was wrongfully deported by the administration.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a second Signal chat to discuss last month's airstrikes in Yemen with his wife, brother and personal lawyer, sources told ABC News on Sunday.
In response, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois called for him to “resign in disgrace” in a statement on Sunday.
“How many times does Pete Hegseth need to leak classified intelligence before Donald Trump and Republicans understand that he isn’t only a f***ing liar, he is a threat to our national security?” Duckworth said.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, also issued a statement on Sunday, saying that he has “grave concerns about Secretary Hegseth’s ability to maintain the trust and confidence of U.S. servicemembers and the Commander-in-Chief.”
Reed called on the Department of Defense's Office of the Inspector General to include this incident in its ongoing investigation of Hegseth’s handling of classified information.
“If true, this incident is another troubling example of Secretary Hegseth’s reckless disregard for the laws and protocols that every other military servicemember is required to follow. He must immediately explain why he reportedly texted classified information that could endanger American servicemembers’ lives on a commercial app that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer,” Reed said.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
Trump delivered an Easter message on his social media platform focusing on immigration, his predecessor, and the 2020 election.
"Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country," Trump wrote.
"Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten!"
After a primarily negative message focused on immigration and former President Joe Biden, the President signed off: "I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!"
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh
Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick, the three Defense Department officials who were let go this week as part of a leak investigation, spoke out in a joint statement posted on X Saturday.
The officials said they are disappointed by how their service ended and alleged they've been slandered.
"At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of 'leaks' to begin with," they said.
"While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength," they added.
-ABC News' Cindy Smith
Solicitor General John Sauer responded Saturday to the Supreme Court's extraordinary overnight order that temporarily blocked the removal of any alleged Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador calling it "unprecedented" and wrong.
Sauer argued that the detainee plaintiffs have no standing to seek an injunction from the high court since the government has already paused their pending deportations and is allowing the legal process to play out.
He noted no lower court has weighed in on the facts of the government's "notice" and "opportunity to appeal" process implemented in the wake of the SCOTUS order last month.
"This Court should deny the application to allow the lower court to resolve applicants’ claims in the first instance," Sauer wrote. "The lower courts have not found critical facts in this case."
"There has been no fact-finding about the timing, nature, and manner of notice that the government has given [Alien Enemies Act] detainees. Nor has there been fact-finding in the lower courts concerning which detainees in the putative class have actually tried to seek habeas, and whether any detainees were deprived of that opportunity," he added.
Sauer also implored the justices to limit the sweeping overnight order to only a pause on AEA removals — not any removals of Venezuelan alleged gang members.
-ABC News' Devin Dwyer
