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中泰越联合缴获5吨制毒原料抓获41人

2026年4月4日 07:45 / 联合早报

中泰越三国禁毒部门联合开展执法合作行动，在泰国、越南和中国打掉三处非法制造依托咪酯、依托咪酯前体巯基依托咪酯窝点，抓获41名嫌疑人，缴获5吨制毒原料。

据中国央视新闻报道，山东省禁毒部门2024年5月发现，多名制毒嫌疑人购买制毒原料并活跃于中国、泰国、越南等地，涉嫌非法制造依托咪酯。

为打击该跨国制毒团伙，中国公安部禁毒局指导山东省禁毒部门开展案件侦办工作，并与泰国、越南禁毒部门开展执法合作。

报道称，根据中方提供的情报线索，泰国、越南两国禁毒部门迅速锁定嫌疑人行踪和制毒窝点后，公安部禁毒局即率中方专案组赴泰国开展工作。

星期四（4月2日），三国执法人员同步开展收网行动，山东、河南、湖南、广东、甘肃等省公安机关组织警力协同作战，成功破获案件。

执法人员现场缴获依托咪酯固体6公斤、液体65升，卡痛叶15公斤，制毒原料5吨，制毒设备若干台。案件目前仍在进一步侦办。

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee sees inflation from Iran war as risk to 2026 rate cuts

April 3, 2026 / 5:35 PM EDT / CBS News

By Aimee Picchi

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee thinks that the Iran war risks fueling inflation, which would make it harder for the central bank to ease interest rates in 2026.

Goolsbee — who emphasized he was speaking for himself and not for the Federal Reserve as a whole — told CBS News that, before the start of the conflict, he was confident the Fed could cut its benchmark rate this year. But that optimism has waned as the war drives up oil and fuel prices.

“Before the war, before we got the oil shock, I’ve been on the optimistic side of the rate — I believed rates could come down even multiple times in 2026,” Goolsbee said.

The energy shock “complicates that picture for me — that if we’re truly not going to see any improvement in inflation, to me that starts pushing these decisions off to 2027 at the earliest,” he said.

The Fed in March left the federal funds rate — what banks charge each other for short-term loans — unchanged because of mounting economic uncertainty amid the Iran war, although policymakers indicated they still expected to cut rates once in 2026. Since then, energy costs have continued to rise, with the average price of gasoline hitting $4.09 a gallon on Friday, more than $1 higher than before the war.

In 2026, Goolsbee is serving as one of five alternate members of the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank’s rate-setting panel. He participates in discussions and contributes to economic assessments, and is slated to rotate onto the committee as a voting member in 2027, according to the Fed.

Private economists are also paring their forecasts for interest rate cuts this year due to the risk that higher oil and fuel prices will reignite inflation, which remained well above the Fed’s 2% annual target before the Iran war began. CME FedWatch, which bases the probability of rate cuts based on 30-Day Fed funds futures prices, now predicts that the Fed won’t issue a single rate cut in 2026.

The next Consumer Price Index report, set to be released on April 10, is likely to show that March prices rose at a 3.1% annual pace, accelerating from February’s 2.4% rate, according to economists polled by FactSet.

Pressure on household budgets from higher energy prices could threaten to derail consumer spending, Goolsbee told CBS News. Even before the war, many Americans were feeling pinched financially, and coping with the sharp increase in gas prices could cause some to pull back on spending in other areas, he added.

“It’s in the near term, but not immediate, that you would start to see that weighing down the consumer,” he said. “They would just get sticker shock — people were already highly concerned about affordability and the cost of living, and this would just be piling onto it.”

Consumer spending has been “the backbone of our growth,” Goolsbee said, adding that the pressure on households from higher costs “endangers the extended nature of this boom.”

Goolsbee also worries that economic uncertainty arising from the Iran war could spill over into the labor market, which on Friday posted stronger-than-expected March gains, with 178,000 new jobs created last month. The Labor Department revised February’s payrolls report lower to a loss of 133,000 jobs, larger than the 92,000 decline originally reported.

The labor market has been described as “low hire, low fire,” meaning that while companies aren’t doing much hiring, they also aren’t making large layoffs. Economic uncertainty is likely behind the current state of the labor market, Goolsbee said.

“I think that combination comes from so much uncertainty. Most of the businesses that I’m out here talking to in the Midwest say they’re a little bit sitting on their hands until they get some resolution, whether it’s geopolitical and the price of oil or tariffs, and what the rates are going to settle down to,” Goolsbee said.

Edited by Alain Sherter

Downed jets puncture Trump’s and Hegseth’s claims of air invulnerability

2026-04-03 4:07 PM ET / CNN

Analysis by Aaron Blake

Updated 5:35 PM ET Apr 3, 2026

President Donald Trump, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his side, looks on as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, on March 7, 2026.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

An Iran war that was already proving quite unpopular with the American people has entered a new, more problematic phase. That comes with the news that a US fighter jet was shot down over Iran.

There remains a lot we don’t know, including the status of the two crew members. While CNN has reported one of them has been rescued and is receiving medical treatment, we don’t know the fate of the other.

And that was followed by news that Iran hit a second US combat aircraft on Friday. The pilot was able to navigate the plane out of Iranian territory before ejecting from the aircraft and was subsequently rescued, a US official told CNN.

Neither of these incidents means Iran is suddenly on anything close to an equal footing militarily. And there have thus far been limited American casualties, including no known deaths in the last three weeks.

But in a conflict in which military dominance is the US’ chief advantage, this episode underscores the perils of asymmetric warfare, the costs of which the American public already isn’t buying.

These events also puncture the Trump administration’s claims about its complete dominance of the skies over Iran — along with the veneer of impenetrability it has attempted to construct over the past month.

Those claims had already been contradicted in a number of cases. But this is a case in point.

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have suggested the United States and Israel had something amounting to free rein to fly over Iran. They cast Tehran as having no ability to counteract that.

At a March 4 briefing — nearly a full month ago — Hegseth said that such dominance was just around the corner.

“Starting last night, and to be completed in a few days in under a week, the two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies,” Hegseth said. He called it “uncontested airspace.”

“And Iran will be able to do nothing about it,” he added.

Trump has also played up this air dominance over the past two weeks.

“And we literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country; they can’t do a thing about it,” he said on March 24. He added that the United States could strike a power plant, and “they can’t do a thing about it.”

The president has said for weeks that Iran had “no navy,” “no military,” “no air force” and “no anti-aircraft systems.” In a White House address Wednesday night, he said he could hit Iran’s oil facilities, “and there’s not a thing they could do about it.

“They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100% annihilated,” Trump said. “We are unstoppable as a military force.”

Again, these are two downed planes out of thousands.

The administration has occasionally emphasized that there would be setbacks, including losses of life. And Hegseth in the same March 4 briefing acknowledged situations in which “a few drones get through or tragic things happen.”

But the administration’s claims about its military dominance in the skies have been absolutist, with phrases like “complete control” and “uncontested airspace,” even casting Iran as not even having the weaponry necessary to respond.

And it’s merely the latest example of Trump and those around him apparently exaggerating military success.

After the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last June, Trump repeatedly said the country’s nuclear program had been “obliterated” and cast it as irretrievable. Except that’s not what an early US intelligence assessment showed. And sure enough, just nine months later, the administration again suddenly pitched Iran as an imminent nuclear threat.

Shortly after the war began, Trump falsely blamed Iran for a strike on an elementary school that we later learned was likely struck by the United States, according to a preliminary investigation and other evidence.

And just a day ago, CNN reported that Trump’s claims about the destruction of Iran’s missile launchers had been greatly exaggerated — and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps still retains about half of its capabilities.

The political problem with all of this is that the US military success is supposed to be the main thing that the administration has going for it.

Americans have little faith in the mission. They don’t think it’s been explained. The list of four objectives has constantly shifted. And perhaps the biggest problem is economic pessimism resulting from the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the subsequent rising gas prices. Americans just don’t think the war is worth the costs.

Through it all, Hegseth in particular has argued that the media has given short shrift to the military success of the campaign.

“This is what the fake news misses,” he said in that same March 4 briefing. “We’ve taken control of Iran’s airspace and waterways without boots on the ground.”

A month later, the most crucial waterway remains a very important exception. And the control of Iran’s airspace and the demise of its missile launching program aren’t looking as complete as advertised.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

Trump issues executive order to bolster college sports rules

2026-04-03 22:19:36 UTC / Reuters

By Reuters

April 3, 2026 10:19 PM UTC Updated 57 mins ago

节点运行失败

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a round table on collegiate sports in the White House in Washington, D.C., March 6, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Friday that aims to reinforce the rules of college sports in a bid to restore ​financial stability and protect the future of college athletics.

Friday’s order directs ‌federal agencies to bolster the effectiveness of key college-sports rules on transferring, eligibility and pay-for-play. It seeks evaluations on whether any violations of such rules render a university unfit for ​federal grants and contracts.

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It calls on the relevant governing bodies to ​update rules by establishing clear eligibility limits, setting transfer rules as ⁠well as banning “improper” financial arrangements including pay-for-play agreements facilitated by collectives and similar ​entities.

The order also calls on Congress to quickly pass legislation to address these ​critical issues.

Trump issued an executive order in July that sought to block some recruiting payments by third parties to college athletes in big-money sports like football and men’s basketball in ​order to preserve funds available for women’s and non-revenue sports.

Trump said at a ​White House event a month ago that the soaring cost of college football programs was ‌hurting ⁠college sports in general, and vowed to issue a new executive order that would be more comprehensive.

The value of name, image and likeness – known as NIL – contracts has been rising, especially for football players, creating a costly burden for colleges ​that is forcing ​some of them ⁠to abandon some other sports, Trump said last month.

Until five years ago, the NCAA prohibited college athletes from accepting compensation ​for the use of their name, image and likeness. ​After a ⁠2021 Supreme Court ruling, the NCAA changed its rules to allow college athletes to be paid.

Although football and basketball attract by far the most attention among college sports, ⁠many ​non-football college athletes help feed teams for the ​Olympics.

College athletics support over half a million student-athletes with nearly $4 billion in scholarships annually and produced ​75% of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team.

Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Mark Porter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

3月9日，一架美国空军F-15E攻击鹰战斗机在一个未公开地点起飞，执行支援代号“史诗狂怒伊朗行动。 （路透社）

美国两架参与伊朗战争的战斗机坠毁，一名飞行员失踪。美国和伊朗军方都在搜寻这名飞行员。

《纽约时报》报道，美国军方确认一架美国F-15E“攻击鹰”战机（F-15E Strike Eagle）星期五（4月3日）被伊朗击落，机上一名飞行员获救，美国特种部队还在设法营救另一名跳伞逃生的飞行员。

这是美以伊战争爆发以来，美国战机首次在伊朗境内被击落。

报道引述美国官员说，另有一架美国战机在波斯湾地区坠毁，机上唯一飞行员已被找到并获救。

两名美国官员确认，一架美国A-10“疣猪”攻击机（A-10 Warthog），与F-15E战机几乎同时坠毁，飞行员已安全获救。他们没有说明战机坠毁原因。

伊朗军方称打下一架美国F-15E战机，并在波斯湾地区击落一架美国A-10战机。

伊朗军方说，伊方防空系统击中A-10战机。美国官员指这架战机在霍尔木兹海峡附近坠毁，但没有具体说明坠机地点位于哪个国家。

报道引述三名不愿具名的伊朗官员说，伊朗军方也在搜寻F-15E战机上的美国飞行员。三人说，伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队已封锁西南部科吉卢耶省（Kohgiluyeh）和博耶尔-艾哈迈德省（Boyer-Ahmad）的一个区域，他们认为这架战机在那里坠毁。

美国和以色列官员说，美国特种部队展开救援行动时，一架美国UH-60“黑鹰”直升机（UH-60 Black Hawk）遭地面火力击中，但仍能继续飞行并安全脱险。

美国战机首次在伊朗上空被击落后，美国总统特朗普接受全国广播公司（NBC）访问时说，F-15E战机被击落不会影响美国与伊朗的停火谈判，他拒绝对搜救失踪美国飞行员的行动置评。

Moon-bound Artemis II astronauts enjoy a relaxed day in space, spectacular Earth views

April 3, 2026 / 7:27 PM EDT / CBS News

The moon-bound Artemis II astronauts, enjoying spectacular views of Earth as it recedes behind them, took a break to chat with their families Friday before reviewing plans for closely observing the moon from the unique perspective of the lunar far side Monday.

Their flight plan for Friday also included rehearsals of basic medical procedures — including chest compressions and methods to clear airway obstructions — to help prepare future Orion crews for possible emergencies in deep space.

As the Orion capsule was pulling away from Earth late Thursday, April 2, 2026, commander Reid Wiseman captured a stunning view of the home planet, showing northern Africa, the Strait of Gibraltar, the lush coast of Brazil across the Atlantic Ocean and shimmering auroral displays over the poles. NASA

Plans to fine-tune the spacecraft’s approach to the moon with an “outbound trajectory correction” maneuver, or OTC, were called off because the precisely aimed Orion spacecraft remained almost perfectly on course.

But the highlights of the crew’s day in space, at least for armchair astronauts on Earth, were jaw-dropping photos of the home planet from the vantage point of deep space.

Two photos captured by Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman Thursday, shortly after a rocket firing that boosted the crew out of Earth orbit toward the moon, showed a full Earth suspended in the black of space.

The side of the planet facing the Orion capsule was in darkness, but a time exposure, captured a few seconds later, showed a clear view of northern Africa, the Strait of Gibraltar and the green coast of Brazil on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

A poignant shot of Earth through one of the Orion capsule’s cockpit windows. April 2, 2026. NASA

Also visible: colorful auroral displays over the poles and sunlight peeking around one side.

Yet another shot showed the blue-and-white planet framed in a cockpit window, an image that captured the gulf between the four Artemis II crew members and the rest of humanity.

Later in the day, a live video feed from a camera mounted on one of Orion’s solar wings showed the moon dead ahead, a tiny gray marble suspended in blackness.

“It was really great to wake up this morning and look out the window and see the full moon off the front of the vehicle,” Wiseman radioed mission control. “There was no doubt where we are heading right now, and we really appreciate all the work down there.”

Wiseman and his Artemis II crewmates — Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — are the first people to journey to the moon since the final Apollo mission in December 1972.

A camera on the end of a solar array shows the view dead ahead of the Artemis II astronauts — the moon. NASA

They will set a new distance record Monday when they fly past the 248,655-mile mark set by the crew of Apollo 13 in 1970. The far side fly over will begin at 6:47 p.m. EDT Monday, when the Orion disappears behind the leading edge of the moon, cutting off contact with Earth.

For 40 minutes, the astronauts will be alone with their thoughts and their observation checklists, passing within about 4,000 miles of the lunar surface at 7:05 p.m. To them, the moon will appear to be about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.

While that might not seem like a particularly close encounter, researchers say the astronauts will bring unique tools to their observations — human eyes.

“We are going to maximize every minute of looking at that far side,” Koch said before launch. The ship’s trajectory “will allow us to see things for the first time ever with human eyes, and that actually makes a difference to the people doing the scientific data analysis.”

Forty minutes after flying behind the moon, Orion will sail back into line-of-sight contact with Earth, and from there, the spacecraft will head for home, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego on April 10.

Trump gives an Oval Office primetime address on the war with Iran

2026-04-03 07:15 PM EDT / CNN

By Kaitlan Collins, CNN

President Trump addresses the nation from the Oval Office on the current state of the war in Iran and fires his attorney general, Pam Bondi, the very next day. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reports on the week at the White House.

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伊朗媒体：美国提议停火48小时 伊朗以猛攻回应

2026年4月4日 07:27 / 联合早报

伊朗国家媒体报道，据称摄于伊朗中部的这张照片，是被击落的美国战机残骸。 （路透社）

伊朗法尔斯通讯社星期五（4月3日）引述一名知情人士报道，美国2日通过某个友好国家向伊朗提议停火48小时，伊朗以猛烈攻击作为回应。

知情人士说，在紧张局势持续升级、美军因误判伊朗军力而陷入困境的情况下，美方提出这一建议。在伊朗攻击科威特北部布比延岛的美军仓库后，美方寻求停火的外交努力愈发迫切。

报道说，伊朗方面以持续发动猛烈攻击回应美方这一提议。

另据《纽约时报》报道，美国军方3日证实，一架美国F-15E“攻击鹰”战机（F-15E Strike Eagle）被伊朗击落，机上一名飞行员获救，美国特种部队还在设法营救另一名跳伞逃生的飞行员。另有一架美国A-10“疣猪”攻击机（A-10 Warthog）几乎同时间在波斯湾地区坠毁，机上唯一飞行员已被找到并获救。

三名不愿具名的伊朗官员说，伊朗军方也在搜寻F-15E战机上的失踪美国飞行员。伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队已封锁西南部科吉卢耶省（Kohgiluyeh）和博耶尔-艾哈迈德省（Boyer-Ahmad）的一个区域，他们认为美军F-15E战机在那里坠毁。

Trump gives rare praise to persistent GOP foe after White House ballroom vote

April 3, 2026 6:04pm EDT / Fox News

The planning commission approved the privately funded project even as a federal judge ruled it needs Congressional approval

By Elaine Mallon Fox News

President Donald Trump gave a rare shout out to longtime critic, Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, on Thursday after he voted to approve plans for the new White House ballroom.

“I would like to thank the hardworking Commissioners and Staff of the National Capital Planning Commission, who just voted overwhelmingly, 8-1, to approve the magnificent White House Ballroom now rising on this Hallowed Ground,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I am pleased to announce that even Board Member Senator Rand Paul, known as an extraordinarily difficult vote, voted a strong YES.”

TRUMP PAUSES OIL EXEC SUMMIT TO PEEK AT WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM’S PROGRESS

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during a nomination hearing with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Capitol Hill on April 3.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Paul and Trump share a contentious relationship, including Paul being highly critical of Trump’s tariff policies and Trump’s military attacks on Iran. In late March, he was the only Republican to vote in favor of a war powers resolution aiming to limit the president’s ability to continue foreign military intervention.

Trump and Paul have been sparring since the 2015 GOP primary, when they clashed during the first Republican debate in August 2015. The tension has flared since, including Trump calling Paul “sick Wacko” just in November.

A McCrery Architects rendering provided by the White House of the new ballroom. (White House)

The ballroom still faces legal hurdles. On Tuesday, a federal judge halted the project, ruling that construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom must receive Congressional approval.

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Leon wrote in a 35-page ruling. “No statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS HALT TO TRUMP WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PROJECT; DOJ APPEALS DECISION

An excavator works to clear rubble after the East Wing of the White House was demolished on Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Eric Lee/Getty Images)

The National Capital Planning Commission proceeded with the vote despite the ruling. The commission chair, Will Scharf, said at the start of Thursday’s meeting that the judge’s ruling only prevented construction of the project.

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“We’ll move past that and continue our consideration of the East Wing modernization project,” he said.

The ballroom, which is being funded by private donors, is slated to be completed by 2028. However, the project’s end date remains unknown as the Trump administration plans to appeal the judge’s decision.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

‘This is a recalibration’: Trump Cabinet worries no one is safe after Bondi and Noem firings

2026-04-03T22:15:35.378Z / CNN

By Adam Cancryn, Kristen Holmes

1 hr 23 min ago
PUBLISHED Apr 3, 2026, 6:15 PM ET

Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi listen as President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Oval Office on September 15.

Tom Brenner For The Washington Post via Getty Images

When President Donald Trump ousted his attorney general, Pam Bondi, it sent a clear message to his remaining Cabinet members: The job security they’ve enjoyed until now is no longer guaranteed.

Trump has grown increasingly willing to fire top officials who he believes are underperforming, amid deepening frustration with his declining approval ratings and fears of a wipeout in the November midterm elections, a half-dozen sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The president announced he was removing then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March following months of damaging headlines and internal complaints, marking the first major departure from his senior ranks. On Thursday, he ousted Bondi after souring on her ability to do the high-profile job.

The twin firings have fanned fears that additional Cabinet members could soon be on the chopping block, multiple sources said. That’s brought an abrupt end to the sense of relative stability that once pervaded the administration — even as it remains unclear what changes Trump will make and when.

“This is a recalibration,” said one person close to Trump. “There are high expectations that are not being met.”

There are multiple Cabinet officials who could be at risk, according to several sources familiar. There’s Labor Department Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who has come under internal investigation following complaints within the department about her conduct. However, ousting Chavez-DeRemer could cause a headache for the White House, one source noted, suggesting the media reaction would focus on the fact that all three of Trump’s first high-profile firings were women.

There’s also FBI Director Kash Patel, who generated a series of negative headlines earlier this year after being filmed chugging beer with the Olympic hockey team — an episode that irritated Trump at the time and was viewed by some around the president as just the latest of several easily avoidable missteps.

And Trump has been hot and cold for months on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, multiple sources said. An abrasive figure within the administration, Lutnick has also attracted a wide range of internal critics. Yet he maintains a longstanding friendship with Trump, who has so far proven unwilling to dump one of the few Cabinet officials who knew him well before his political career.

The fresh scrutiny of Trump’s top lieutenants represents a marked shift from the first year of his second presidential term, when the White House reflexively resisted carrying out any firings at all. At the time, Trump and his top aides worried doing so would amount to confirming Democratic critiques of the administration, while undercutting claims that he’d assembled the best collection of talent in White House history.

But Trump’s standing with voters has eroded significantly in recent months, driven by Americans’ angst over the economy and unhappiness with his administration’s priorities. Republicans are now increasingly likely to lose control of Congress next year, a development that would curtail Trump’s ambitions and expose his administration to a range of Democratic investigations. Depending on Senate elections — and how many seats Republicans potentially lose — it could also make confirming new Cabinet officials significantly harder.

Those stakes have fueled speculation among officials and allies that Trump will make more personnel moves, in a bid to demonstrate the high standards he’s setting for his administration — and signal that more needs to be accomplished in the coming months.

“It’s just a function of whether he thinks you’re doing the job well,” another person close to Trump said. “When it comes to this stuff, it’s an audience of one.”

In a statement, White House spokesman Davis Ingle praised the performance of Chavez-DeRemer, Patel and Lutnick.

“President Trump has the most talented cabinet and team in American history,” he said. “Patriots like Kash Patel, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Howard Lutnick are tirelessly implementing the President’s agenda and achieving tremendous results for the American people.”

Even for those closest to Trump, it remains unclear what the president will ultimately decide to do. The president often wavers on firing someone for months, surveying associates and floating potential replacements without committing to a final decision, sources said.

Beyond Trump’s personal feelings, there are also more conventional concerns in play when it comes to dismissing his top officials — chief among them who might serve as a viable replacement.

The White House already has a handful of pending lower-level nominees being considered by the closely divided Senate. Ousting more Cabinet officials now would mean finding more candidates who could win confirmation — and adding them to the queue at a time when Trump is already pressuring lawmakers to defy precedent and pass a sprawling legislative package just ahead of the midterms.

Even so, Bondi’s firing has ramped up anxiety in MAGA world that Trump is willing to make more changes regardless of the obstacles they create. Trump officials are increasingly aware that stepping out of line could cost them their job, multiple people close to the White House said.

And while Noem’s ouster was well-telegraphed, coming soon after a disastrous congressional hearing, a consistent subject of discussion when it comes to Bondi’s ouster has been: “Why now?”

The handling of the Epstein files, while a huge issue for the president, had been ongoing for over a year. During that time, Trump had praised Bondi both publicly and privately. There was no apparent catalyst, no defining moment, and no clear sense even in the hours before he made the decision that Trump would follow through with the firing.

“Do I think she’ll probably get fired? Yes. But could he see all the negative coverage and change his mind, also yes,” one senior White House adviser said Thursday, moments before Trump officially fired Bondi.

That sequence of events has been a source of discomfort to others in the Cabinet who have at times faced Trump’s ire. And 14 months into his presidency, it’s left them with the distinct impression that anyone could be next.

“I don’t think anybody’s safe,” said one White House ally. “Ever.”