US politics live: Donald Trump revokes protected status for 600,000 Venezuelans in US

President Trump’s administration has laid down the law for thousands of people residing in the US, as part of his countrywide crackdown.

Welcome to our live coverage of American politics and the early days of the new Trump administration.

The Trump administration has offered huge severance payouts to roughly two million employees of the federal government, as it seeks to both slim down the size of the public service and get rid of people who don’t support Donald Trump’s agenda.

Meanwhile confusion abounds regarding Mr Trump’s effort to impose a wide-ranging freeze on federal government spending.

The freeze, which was due to go into effect at 9am AEST, affects federal grants, loans and other spigots of money.

Today has brought about a number of interesting updates. The White House finally commented on the mysterious drone saga from late 2024, reassuring Americans the drones spotted flying in New Jersey were “authorised to be flown and were “not the enemy”.

Read on for all of Wednesday’s updates.

Originally published as US politics live: Donald Trump revokes protected status for 600,000 Venezuelans in US