(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump marked 100 days of his second term with a Cabinet meeting amid economic turmoil and an escalating trade war.
Trump began the meeting by touting deportation numbers and attacking judges who have ruled against the administration on deportations conducted without due process.
He also referred to recent economic numbers as a result of former President Joe Biden’s leadership, though Biden was only the president for 19 days of the first quarter. The president also said companies were making plans to build more plants in the U.S.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tasked with making federal cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency, attended the meeting. Although Musk is not a Cabinet member, he has attended all meetings so far and at times clashed with other Cabinet members over DOGE’s actions.
Musk is only meant to be a temporary government employee, but Trump invited him to stay “as long as he wants.”
The trend of blaming the Biden administration continued, with Cabinet members and Trump repeatedly blaming issues on the previous administration for problems faced by their departments. Cabinet members also boasted about their achievements and praised Trump repeatedly.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the administration is fighting 200 lawsuits and said the Trump administration will prevail in the courts, including the Supreme Court.
Transportation Secretary. Sean Duffy said projects that implement DEI initiatives will lose federal funding, also threatening a loss of funding for giving licenses to people in the U.S. illegally.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer also said all 50 governors were warned that extending unemployment benefits to people in the U.S. without authorization would mean a loss of federal funding.
Trump also touched on the January collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet that killed 67 people, blaming the Biden administration for ATC issues. He talked up upgrades to technology for air traffic control, a field that has suffered shortages for decades.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins raised the possibility of allowing the use of psychedelics for treating veterans after early research has suggested they could be effective for PTSD and treatment-resistant depression.
The meeting follows an economic report indicating a contraction, with the GDP shrinking 0.3% in the first quarter. When asked about his statements alternately claiming credit for good economic numbers and blaming Biden for bad ones, Trump doubled down on blaming Biden.
Trump blamed Biden for this quarter’s numbers and possibly next quarter’s, before returning to his familiar complaints that the U.S. was being “ripped off” by other countries.
The news is in line with economists’ predictions that the U.S. could be in the beginning of a recession, which is defined as two quarters of negative economic growth.
Trump’s on-again and off-again tariffs and escalating trade war with China have caused economic turmoil, with experts warning of higher prices and empty shelves in the coming weeks.
The stock market also dipped in response to the report.
The Trump administration is also facing multiple legal challenges over deportation efforts and a battle over the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported after what the administration called an “administrative error.”
When asked if he had been in touch with El Salvador about Abrego Garcia’s court-ordered return, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to answer and also said he would not answer a judge if asked the same question.
Trump also lashed out at what he called “radical left” judges and referring to immigrants being deported as criminals, though reporting found the majority of those deported to a prison in El Salvador had no criminal record.
In recent days, reports also surfaced that multiple children who are American citizens were deported with a parent.