Live updates: Obama, Biden and Clinton speak at Jesse Jackson's funeral; Trump says Cuba 'is going to fall pretty soon'
The former presidents are among those speaking at the civil rights leader's funeral in Chicago.
What to know today...
- JESSE JACKSON TRIBUTES: Democratic leaders are paying their respects to civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson at his funeral in Chicago. Former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker are among those scheduled to speak this afternoon.
- CUBA NEXT: President Donald Trump told CNN today that Cuba’s government “is going to fall pretty soon” and its leaders “want to make a deal so badly,” repeating similar comments he made recently, including at a White House event yesterday where he said it was “just a question of time” before Americans can visit the island nation again.
- TRUMP ON NOEM: President Donald Trump told NBC News that his ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was less about her job performance and more about elevating Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and "wasn't a hard choice." But Trump added he "wasn’t thrilled" about Noem's congressional testimony this week about a $220 million ad campaign. He also spoke about the U.S. Senate race in Texas and plans for Iran.
- TRUMP EPSTEIN FILES ALLEGATION: The Justice Department released previously unseen documents from the Epstein files that included new summaries and notes from interviews the FBI conducted with a woman from South Carolina who made allegations against the late sex offender and Trump, according to an NBC News analysis.
Biden says Jackson changed history, influenced presidents through generations
Former President Joe Biden spoke of Jackson's generational impact in remarks at his funeral, saying that Jackson "believed in his bones in the promise of America."
"He used his gifts to influence generations, generations of Americans and countless elected officials, including presidents, as you see here today," Biden said. "And through his impassioned words on the campaign trail and through moments of quiet courage, he changed history in ways."
The former president commended Jackson's belief that "everybody deserved to be treated equally throughout their lives." Biden then critiqued the Trump administration, saying, "Now we're in a tough spot, folks."
"We got an administration that doesn't share any of the values that we have. I don't think I'm exaggerating a little bit," Biden continued.
"He knew who we were at our best, and he simply refused to let us off the hook as a party, as a nation, or as individuals," Biden said of Jackson. "He helped lead us closer to fulfilling our nation's promise of restoring the nation's soul."
Obama says it's 'hard to hope' in eulogy at Jackson's funeral
Obama ripped into the Trump administration during his remarks, saying, "we are living in a time that’s hard to hope."
"Every day you wake up to things you just didn't think were possible," he said.
"Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law. An offense to common decency," Obama said.
"Each day we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other, and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all.
"Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated, and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength. We see science and expertise denigrated, while ignorance and dishonesty and cruelty and corruption are reaping untold rewards. Every single day. We see that, and it’s hard to hope," he said.
While it may be tempting "to give in to cynicism," Obama said, he pointed to Jackson's example as a way forward, and to be "messengers of hope" and "messengers of change."
Obama recounts Jackson's first presidential campaign: 'There wasn't any place ... where we didn't belong'
During his remarks, the former president remembered being a young man during Jackson's first presidential campaign and watching the civil rights leader participate in a debate on TV.
"Jesse hadn't just held his own. He had owned that stage. He wasn't an intruder. He wasn't a pretender. He belonged on that stage and the message he sent to a 22-year-old child of a single mother with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasn't any place, any room, where we didn't belong," Obama told mourners in Chicago.
The former president added, "Jesse didn't just speak to Black folks. He spoke to white folks and Latinos and Asian Americans and the first Americans, he spoke to family farmers and environmentalists. He spoke to gay rights activists when nobody was talking to gay rights activists and blue collar workers, and he gave them the same message: that they mattered, that their voices and their votes counted."
Former President Barack Obama speaks at a public memorial service to celebrate Jesse Jackson today. Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP - Getty Images
Former President Barack Obama begins remarks
Former President Barack Obama is honoring Jackson at his funeral. He was greeted with cheers from attendees before speaking from the book of Isaiah.
"It is an honor to join you today to celebrate the Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, a man who when the poor and the dispossessed needed a champion and a country needed healing, stepped forward again, and again and again," Obama said.
Gov. JB Pritzker honors Rev. Jesse Jackson: He 'belonged to Chicago'
Pritzker, speaking at Jackson's funeral, told attendees, "Reverend Jackson belonged to Chicago and Chicago belonged to him. He was ours, and we were his."
The governor thanked Jackson's family for sharing him with the world.
Former presidents have arrived at Jesse Jackson's funeral
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have arrived at Jesse Jackson's funeral and are expected to deliver remarks.
The public service is taking place at the House of Hope church in Chicago. Several other Democratic leaders were also in attendance, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Jill Biden and former President Joe Biden attend today's service. Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP - Getty Images
What led Trump to fire Kristi Noem?
The president fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem yesterday, making her the first Cabinet member to be removed in Trump’s second term. An administration official told NBC News the move was due to a culmination of Noem’s “many unfortunate leadership failures,” most recently a grilling on Capitol Hill over a $220 million border security ad campaign that featured her prominently. NBC’s Garrett Haake reports and "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker joins "ToDAY" with analysis.
Anthropic says that the Pentagon has declared it a national security risk
Anthropic said the Defense Department has designated it a threat to national security, a striking move that bans it from doing business with the U.S. military and could send shock waves through America’s AI industry.
The designation, which the company said it received yesterday and specifically labels Anthropic a “supply-chain risk to national security,” requires the Pentagon and its contractors to stop using Anthropic’s artificial intelligence services for all defense business.
Trump again says 'Cuba is going to fall pretty soon'
In a phone interview with CNN today, the president, unprompted, said, "Cuba is going to fall pretty soon, by the way — unrelated, but Cuba is going to fall. They want to make a deal so badly."
CNN's Dana Bash, who spoke with the president, reported that she then asked how Cuba will fall, and he responded: “They want to make a deal. So I’m going to put Marco over there, and we’ll see how that works."
Trump added that the administration is "really focused" on Iran, she said.
This is the second day in a row that the president has mentioned Cuba, telling Politico yesterday that the administration is actively talking to Cuban leaders amid instability on the island following the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January.
During an event at the White House yesterday, Trump also said it would be “just a question of time” before Americans can visit Cuba again. He also repeatedly suggested that Cuba would be the next focus of the administration.
24 states sue to stop Trump’s newly imposed 10% global tariff
Oregon and 23 other states are suing the Trump administration in the first legal challenge against the 10% global tariff the president imposed in an effort to replace previous tariffs that were struck down by the Supreme Court.
The 10% global tariff, which took effect Feb. 24 under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, can remain in effect for 150 days without congressional authorization.
“The president has once again exercised tariff authority that he does not have— involving a statute that does not authorize the tariffs he has imposed — to upend the constitutional order and bring chaos to the global economy,” the states write in the lawsuit.
The White House said it would “vigorously defend” the tariffs in court. “The president is using his authority granted by Congress to address fundamental international payments problems and to deal with our country’s large and serious balance-of-payments deficits,” spokesperson Kush Desai said.
The states argue that Section 122 is meant to address short-term monetary emergencies, not the normal trade deficits that are created when a wealthy country such as the U.S. buys more from other countries than it sells to them, and that the Trump administration is “contorting” the meaning of “balance of payments.”
Courts are moving forward with the process of refunding the $130 billion or more that was collected before the tariffs were struck down, which the Supreme Court ruling did not address. A federal judge in New York ruled yesterday that companies that paid the tariffs deserve refunds, two days after another federal court rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to slow the refund process.
It is unclear whether, when or how the refunds companies receive would be passed on to American consumers.
“The focus right now should be on paying people back, not doubling down on illegal tariffs,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement.
Trump praises John Cornyn, disparages James Talarico, as he weighs Texas Senate endorsement
The president last night praised Sen. John Cornyn as an “underrated person,” telling NBC News that he was impressed by the incumbent senator’s performance in Tuesday’s primary after polls has consistently showed him trailing challenger Ken Paxton, who is Texas' attorney general.
“He was supposed to lose by 10 points and he won,” Trump said. “He’s a good man.”
That was as close to tipping his hand on his pending endorsement in the Cornyn-Paxton runoff as the president would get during a 10-minute phone call. The president has said he will reveal his endorsement in the race soon, and whichever candidate doesn't get it should drop out of the race.
The president expressed no concern about the Democratic nominee in Texas, State Rep. James Talarico, carrying the Lone Star State.
“He’s a radical left lunatic. He’s worse than Crockett,” Trump said, referring to Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who lost to Talarico in Tuesday's primary. Trump noted newly surfaced videos of Talarico discussing multiple genders, which the president considered disqualifying in Texas.
“Crockett was a very untalented person,” Trump said. “In retrospect, she might have been better than him. When you look at his comments on six genders, on Christianity.”
During the call, Trump also spoke about some of his goals for Iran and his reasons for firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Clinton, Obama and Biden to speak at Jesse Jackson's funeral
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are scheduled to speak at the funeral for civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, which is taking place later this morning in Chicago.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also plan to speak and honor Jackson, who died last month at the age of 84.
Trump says he wants Iran’s leadership structure gone and has preferences for a ‘good leader’
The president indicated yesterday that he wants to see Iran’s leadership structure fully removed and that he has some names in mind for a “good leader.”
“We want to go in and clean out everything,” Trump told NBC News in a phone call. “We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period."
Kristi Noem’s ouster isn’t enough. Democrats say they want her to pay.
Kristi Noem may be out at the top of the Department of Homeland Security, but Democrats are still demanding a “reckoning.”
Democrats met news of Noem’s ouster yesterday with a cascade of calls for accountability. They ranged from a potential probe into the legality of contracts cut during her tenure to a perjury investigation after her congressional testimony to even a push for impeachment to keep her from holding public office in the future.
Rep. Tony Gonzales drops re-election bid amid ethics probe into his affair with a staffer
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, announced last night that he will drop his bid for re-election but will serve out the rest of his term in Congress following a tumultuous set of weeks for the congressman, who admitted having had an affair with an aide who later died by suicide.
"After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district,” Gonzales said in statement on X.
DOJ releases missing Epstein files related to a woman who made an allegation against Trump
The Justice Department yesterday released previously unseen documents from the Epstein files that included new summaries and notes from interviews the FBI conducted with a woman from South Carolina who made allegations against the late sex offender and Trump, according to an NBC News analysis.
In a series of 2019 interviews with the FBI, the woman said she was a sexual assault victim of Jeffrey Epstein. She also alleged that she was assaulted by Trump in the 1980s when she was between the ages of 13 and 15.
Trump says he ‘wasn’t thrilled’ with Kristi Noem’s $220M ad campaign on self-deportation
The president suggested last night that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s ouster was less about her job performance and more about elevating Sen. Markwayne Mullin to the Cabinet post.
In his first public comments since he fired Noem, Trump was complimentary of her year-plus tenure, while he also praised Mullin, R-Okla.
“She’s a fine person. She did a good job. I’m a big fan of the senator from Oklahoma. It wasn’t a hard choice,” Trump said in a phone call with NBC News.
