Trump has 'the power to fire anyone': White House
The White House says it is confident that it will emerge victorious in any legal challenges to the dismissals.
US President Donald Trump has "the power to fire anyone" within the federal government, the White House said Tuesday amid an ongoing wave of dismissals that has seen dozens of career civil servants lose their jobs.
"It is the belief of this White House and the White House Counsel's Office that the president was within his executive authority to do that.
He is the executive of the executive branch, and therefore he has the power to fire anyone within the executive branch that he wishes to," spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters in her White House debut.
The comments come after Trump ordered the dismissal of federal staffers from across government agencies, including the mass dismissals of what multiple reports said was at least 18 inspectors general (IGs) on Friday.
Several prosecutors who worked on cases against Trump, including those who served in special counsel Jack Smith's office, have also been fired.
Hannibal Ware, the chairperson of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, slammed the abrupt dismissals of the government watchdogs, saying "removals inconsistent with the law are a significant threat to the actual and perceived independence of IGs".
He pointed to a 2022 amendment to the law that established the government watchdogs.
The amendment specified that the inspectors must be given 30 days notice before they are terminated, and must be provided with "substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons" for their firings.
"IGs are not immune from removal. However, the law must be followed to protect independent government oversight for America," Ware said in a statement.
Tariffs on Canada and Mexico
Trump still plans to make good on his promise to issue tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the White House spokeswoman told reporters.
Leavitt added that Trump is also still weighing fresh tariffs on China for Saturday. Trump said last week he would announce 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1 unless the countries help tackle the twin issues of US fentanyl trafficking and immigration.
US funding pause
Mandatory programmes like Medicaid and SNAP food benefits will be excluded from the federal funding pause ordered by President Donald Trump, the White House's Office of Management and Budget told lawmakers in a memo seen by Reuters.
"(Any) program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause," the mem o said.
DeepSeek app
US officials are looking at the national security implications of the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek, Leavitt said in the presser.