Vance did meet Zelensky as Europe is rocked by Trump’s US-Russia discussions on Ukraine. Following live updates.

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By Emily Spatz, Globe Correspondent

A crowd of more than a thousand people are rallying outside the JFK federal building after marching through the city from Boston Common where they gathered earlier to protest the Trump administration’s policies on everything from climate change to foreign relations.

The march shut down parts of Court Street, Tremont Street, and Washington Street to traffic when they moved through the city.

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By the Associated Press

The Associated Press interviewed four such conservatives about Musk’s effort to slash the federal workforce and disfavored programs.

Some point to early successes. Others see DOGE stoking outrage without targeting the biggest spending: defense spending and programs with bipartisan support like Medicare and Social Security.

The DOGE website claims at least $5.6 billion in savings so far — a tiny fraction of Musk’s initial goal of $2 trillion.

“This thing has paid for itself many times over now,” said Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Relief.

But Manhattan Institute senior fellow Jessica Riedl said: “So far, DOGE seems more about looking for symbolic culture war savings than truly reducing the budget deficit in any meaningful way.”

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By the Associated Press

With the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association under threat from President Trump’s Department of Education for a transgender student’s participation, some Democrats said Republicans were missing the real issues in women’s sports.

Citing scare tactics and haphazard policymaking, Representative Lori Trahan blasted her Republican colleagues for using transgender athletes as a political cudgel.

“It’s politics at its worst,” said Trahan, who represents the state’s third congressional district.

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By the Associated Press

“Clearly it’s a new day,” new Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters outside the White House.

She said Trump’s winning back the presidency shows the American people “believe that government was too big.”

Rollins said Elon Musk’s government efficiency team was working at her agency and that it had already canceled some contracts and nearly 1,000 employee trainings related to diversity, equality and inclusion.

Rollins also said she’d welcome DOGE’s input in the nation’s food stamp program.

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By the Associated Press

Trump’s mass layoffs of federal workers and spending freezes could come back to bite him in the economic data.

The monthly jobs reports could start to show a slowdown in hiring, if not go negative at some point after the February numbers are released. The last time the economy lost jobs during a month was in December 2020, when the United States was still muscling its way out of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Overall, it doesn’t seem that DOGE has managed to actually cut spending substantively yet — instead they’ve just created chaos,” said Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale University. She noted that employers that rely on government grants and contracts would also show declines in hiring, if not worse.

“Given everything that is happening in the federal government, it is very plausible that job growth could turn negative at some point,” Gimbel said. “But it may take a few more reports for the impact to show up.”

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By Danny McDonald, Globe Staff

The question was meant as a moment of levity, but it cut to the trepidation of scientific communities across the nation in the early days of Trump’s new administration.

“Is anyone else here concerned?” asked Melissa Varga, after introducing herself as the science network senior manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Cambridge-based nonprofit.

The line was met with laughs inside a nondescript room at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston’s Back Bay Thursday, where more than a hundred scientists, engineers, researchers, and academics from across the country, and a few from abroad, gathered for a town hall forum as part of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The political backdrop of the meeting was recognized during the town hall, early and often. After all, the confab is happening after two weeks of what some local Democratic lawmakers have called disorder and confusion at the nation’s largest funders of research: the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

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By the Associated Press

German defense minister Boris Pistorius said US Vice President JD Vance’s comparison of Europe to “ugly Soviet era” authoritarianism was unacceptable.

Vance lectured European governments about free speech nine days before Germany’s election, accusing them of hostility to the idea that “somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election.”

Pistorius countered that Germany’s right-wing AfD party can campaign completely normally, and “democracy doesn’t mean that the loud minority is automatically right.”

“Democracy must be able to defend itself against the extremists who want to destroy it,” Pistorius said.

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By the Associated Press

The Golden Theatre marquee for the new musical “Operation Mincemeat” is dark because special light bulbs ordered to spell out the show’s title are stuck in China, said Rick Miramontez, president of DKC/O&M and a spokesman for the show.

Thousands of the ceramic yellow LED bulbs by Satco were meant to arrive in early February, in time to install them for Saturday’s first preview. Now the show on the Great White Way, named after Broadway’s famous theater lights, will have to welcome theatergoers with a blank space.

On Feb. 1, Trump announced a 10 percent tariff on imports from China, which led the country to quickly implement retaliatory tariffs on select American imports.

The bulbs have apparently been caught in the contest. The ad agency in charge of the marquee was told March would be the earliest they’d arrive.

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By Anjali Huynh, Globe Staff

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell joined a group of more than a dozen attorneys general on Friday in criticizing Vance for claiming this week that the courts did not have the authority to infringe on the president’s power. The group fired back, saying Vance’s statement “is as wrong as it is reckless.”

In his first weeks in office, Trump has signed dozens of sweeping executive orders aimed at aligning federal policy with his vision for the country. Many of those orders have since faced legal challenges from those affected by his changes, advocacy groups, and coalitions of state Democratic attorneys general, several of whom prepared to counter his administration’s actions for months before Trump took office.

Several judges have issued rulings to temporarily pause some of Trump’s orders or declare them unconstitutional, such as the Trump administration’s efforts to end birthright citizenship for some children and cut biomedical research funding.

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By STAT

The Trump administration is set to eliminate thousands of federal health care jobs, targeting employees across public health and science agencies who were hired in the past one to two years.

Senior officials were informed in meetings Friday morning that roughly 5,200 people on probationary employment — recent hires — across agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be fired that afternoon, according to sources briefed on the meetings.

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By the Associated Press

Jeremy Powers of Florida doesn’t think Trump’s unsolicited suggestion that the US annex its neighbor to the north is a good idea: “We don’t need to try and manifest destiny and gather more land. We need to partner and work with other countries in a more friendly manner.”

Shannon Robinson of Canada said Trump’s proposal is offensive and ignorant, but “he can say what he wants and it’s actually bringing Canadians together right now.”

Said Joseph Sullivan of Louisiana: “All he’s doing is creating chaos and making other countries want to hate America. That’s all he’s doing right now.”

Added Robinson: “We’re allies. We love you guys. And we’re proud of the amicable relationship we have, but we’re also proud to be distinct.”

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By the Associated Press

Two senior Senate Democrats are asking Trump to reinstate the top watchdog for the US Agency for International Development, calling his firing illegal.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the foreign affairs committee, and Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the homeland security committee, wrote Trump saying the firing of Inspector General Paul Martin without justification appeared to be an act of retaliation.

Martin’s office had released a report the day before warning that dismantling USAID had all but eliminated proper oversight for billions of dollars in unspent humanitarian funds.

Shaheen and Peters say the law requires 30-days notice to Congress and a reason.

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By the Associated Press

Republicans are trying again to exclude people in the US illegally from the numbers used to portion out congressional seats among the states. But a new study suggests their inclusion has had little impact on presidential elections or control of Congress.

If residents lacking permanent legal status had been excluded from the apportionment process from 1980 to 2020, no more than two House seats and three Electoral College votes would have shifted between Democrats and Republicans, according to demographers from the University of Minnesota and the Center for Migration Studies of New York.

“This would have had no bearing on party control of the House or the outcome of presidential elections,” they wrote.

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By the Associated Press

Hungary’s nationalist prime minister said Trump’s administration will reconnect Russia with Europe’s economies and energy networks if the war in Ukraine ends.

“The United States has initiated a change that puts the whole Western world’s system of arguments, value system, and way of thinking on a new track,” Orbán said on Hungary’s state radio. “This process is progressing much faster than many people thought. We call this the Trump tornado.”

Hungary, unlike most European countries, continues to rely on Russian oil and gas. Orbán predicted the European Union will “fall apart” if energy prices aren’t brought down.

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By the Associated Press

During the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said he would only agree to meet in person with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after a common plan is negotiated with US President Trump.

He also said he believes Trump is the key to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and that the US president had given him his cellphone number.

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By the Associated Press

Grenell, currently working on special projects for Trump, suggested he’d be interested in the 2026 race to succeed Democrat Gavin Newsom if the former vice president throws her hat in the ring.

“If Kamala Harris runs for governor, I believe that she has such baggage … that it’s a new day in California, and that the Republican actually has a shot,” Grenell told reporters. “And I wouldn’t say no.”

Grenell spoke after taking part in Vice President JD Vance’s meetings with world leaders in Munich.

Harris hasn’t publicly expressed an interest in the governor’s race, but would be a heavy favorite to win the Democratic nomination.

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By the Associated Press

A large group of federal workers and labor activists rallied in Washington against the layoffs.

Many wore masks to protect their identities, for fear of reprisal from the administration. One carried an enormous silver spoon covered in aluminum foil, in reference to the “Fork in the Road” letter informing federal workers of government-wide buyouts.

One rally-goer who identified himself as Jeff, held a “No One Voted for Elon Musk” sign. He said Democrats should be more forceful, saying “We can’t fight illegality with legality.”

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By the Associated Press

The Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General said it was launching an audit of the security controls for the federal government’s payment system after Democratic senators raised red flags about the access provided to Trump aide Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team.

The audit will also review the past two years of the system’s transactions as it relates to Musk’s assertion of “alleged fraudulent payments,” according to a letter from Loren J. Sciurba, Treasury’s deputy inspector general, that was obtained by The Associated Press.

The audit marks part of the broader effort led by Democratic lawmakers and federal employee unions to provide transparency and accountability about DOGE’s activities under President Donald Trump’s Republican administration. The Musk team has pushed for access to the government’s computer systems and sought to remove tens of thousands of federal workers.

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By the Associated Press

The Trump administration is cutting $336 million in contracts designed to help schools and states adopt best practices in the classroom.

An Education Department news release said officials uncovered “wasteful and ideologically driven spending” at 10 regional centers hired to help schools apply research such as “equity audits.”

The department said it plans to open new contracts to replace the Regional Educational Laboratories. They were ordered by Congress in 1965 and are still required under federal law, with a mission to support school policies that improve student outcomes.

Trump officials also cut four contracts for equity service centers totaling $33 million. Without providing evidence, the department said the centers supported “divisive training in DEI, Critical Race Theory and gender identity.”

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By the Associated Press

Vance met separately with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and said NATO members must spend more on their militaries.

Vance told Rutte that the Trump administration wants to ensure “that NATO does a little bit more burden sharing in Europe, so the United States can focus on some of our challenges in East Asia.”

Rutte agreed: “We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more.”

Steinmeier told the conference that how exactly the Russia-Ukraine war ends “will have a lasting influence on our security order and on the position of power of Europe and America in the world.”

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By the Associated Press

In ‘s resignation letter to Trump’s new attorney general, Pam Bondi — The Associated Press obtained a copy — she accused Adams’ lawyers of offering the mayor’s help on immigration policy if the case were dropped — a “quid pro quo” deal that she said would set “a breathtaking and dangerous precedent” if approved.

Bove’s memo to Sassoon directed her to drop the case so that the mayor of America’s largest city could help with Trump’s immigration crackdown and could himself campaign for reelection unencumbered by criminal charges.

In response to her resignation, Bove placed case prosecutors on leave and said they and Sassoon would face internal investigations.

Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro — who also represents Elon Musk in unrelated cases — called the “quid pro quo” claim a “total lie.”

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By the Associated Press

The federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams remains active, for now.

As of Thursday night, no paperwork asking a judge to drop the charges had been filed in court. The acting deputy U.S. attorney general, former Trump personal lawyer Emil Bove, wrote in a letter obtained by the AP that the Justice Department in Washington would file a motion to drop Adams’ charges and bar “further targeting” of the mayor.

Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, and five high-ranking Justice Department officials resigned Thursday rather than follow that order to drop the charges— a stunning escalation in a dayslong standoff over the Trump administration prioritizing political aims over criminal culpability.

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By the Associated Press

JD Vance urged European officials to stem illegal migration on the continent during his speech before the Munich Security Conference.

Vance says the European electorate didn’t vote to open “floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.”

The vice president also accused Europeans of squelching free speech, saying freedom is in danger.

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By the Associated Press

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was supposed to join Vance in the U.S. meeting with Zelenskyy Friday but was delayed when his Air Force plane had to return to Washington after developing a mechanical problem en route to Munich.

He took a different aircraft, but it was unclear whether he would arrive in time for the meeting.

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By the Associated Press

Hours ahead of the Vance and Zelenskyy meeting, the Ukrainian president said a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective confinement shell of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kyiv region.

Radiation levels have not increased, Zelenskyy and the U.N. atomic agency said.

The strike is a “very clear greeting from Putin and Russian Federation to the security conference,” Zelenskyy told reporters.

The Kremlin denied this, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the Munich organizers of making a “strange and politicized” decision not to invite Russia.

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By the Associated Press

Vice President JD Vance is appearing at the Munich Security Conference at a time of intense concern and uncertainty over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.

The future of Ukraine is top on the agenda following President Donald Trump’s lengthy phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, when they pledged to work together to end the 3-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Vance is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later Friday for talks that many observers, particularly in Europe, hope will shed at least some light on Trump’s ideas for a negotiated settlement to the war.

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By the Associated Press

No longer in charge, Sen. Mitch McConnell has been speaking his mind, the long-serving GOP leader rejecting President Donald Trump’s more high-profile Cabinet nominees — alone at times, among the Republicans, casting his no votes.

When it came to Pete Hegseth, now the defense secretary, who faced allegations of excessive drinking and aggressive behavior toward women, McConnell said the combat veteran had “failed, as yet, to demonstrate” he was ready for the job.

On Tulsi Gabbard, who was sworn in this week as director of national intelligence, he said she has displayed “a history of alarming lapses in judgment,” citing in particular her views toward Russia, China and the security breach by former government contractor Edward Snowden.

And as Senate Republicans confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, McConnell, a survivor of childhood polio who used a wheelchair during the vote, opposed.

“A record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts,” the Kentucky senator said.

This is McConnell unplugged, three weeks into the Trump administration, and his new role as no longer the Senate GOP leader but one of 100 senators. It is testing the strength, but also the limits, of his influence on the institution, where he has been a monumental presence for nearly 40 years.

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By the Associated Press

Trump said Thursday that he wants to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and that eventually, he hopes all three countries could agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent. He also said he hopes to gain commitments from the U.S. adversaries to cut their spending.

“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Trump said. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully much more productive,” Trump said.