Wednesday morning news - February 12, 2025

Trump welcomes American teacher released by Russia President » Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and others stood in the snow last night to greet Marc Fogel outside the White House.

AUDIO: [Fogel welcome ceremony]

Fogel is an American teacher who had been imprisoned in Russia over what his family said was prescribed medical marijuana.

Inside the White House moments later thanked those who worked to secure his release:

FOGEL:  President Trump, these men that came from the diplomatic service, the senators and representatives that passed legislation in my honor to get me home.

Trump officials say his release came amid a diplomatic thaw that the president hopes will lead to serious talks aimed at ending the Ukraine war. The president indicated that another prisoner release from Russia may be announced today.

Israel latest » Hamas has until noon on Saturday to release all of its remaining hostages or else.

That’s the deadline given by both President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Netanyahu reiterated that deadline Tuesday

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

He says that if the hostages aren't released Israel will pull out of the ceasefire agreement and resume attacks against Gaza.

Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv …

SOUND: [Israel demonstration]

Demonstrators took to the streets once again carrying signs that read “Don’t blow the deal” and calling on the Israeli government to end the war.

Trump meeting with Jordan crown prince » President Trump also discussed the situation in the Middle East with another of America’s allies in the region.

TRUMP:  The King just left and we, uh, we've had a great discussion, terrific discussion, uh, concerning Gaza and everything else.

King Abdullah of Jordan met with the president at the White House.

Abdullah later dodged questions about Trump’s request to resettle Palestinian refugees in Jordan while the United States takes over in Gaza and works to rebuild it. Jordan has agreed to take in 2,000 sick Palestinian children to start.

DOGE » A short time later, the president and Elon Musk welcomed reporters in the Oval Office to talk about the ongoing efforts of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk who leads that effort Musk said reigning in the spiraling national debt is critical for America’s future. And he said taking an ax to the entrenched administrative state is a must.

MUSK:  We have this unelected, uh, fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has, in a lot of ways currently, more power than any elected representative.

In response to complaints and concerns about transparency, Musk said all actions are shared on the DOGE website.

President Trump also signed an executive order Tuesday directing DOGE to limit hiring to essential positions only. The plan is to replace just one federal worker for every four who leave, aiming to streamline government.

But key areas like national security, law enforcement are exempt from the order.

Watchdog to DOGE: Cut Planned Parenthood funding » And a conservative watchdog group is urging DOGE to take a hard look at funds going to Planned Parenthood. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, Planned Parenthood received roughly $75 billion in federal taxpayer dollars from 2019 to 2021.

That included more than 20-billion in Health and Human Services grants and over 50-billion from public health programs.

And the head of Advancing American Freedom, Tim Chapman, wrote to Elon Musk on Tuesday. He said " the time has come for the United States to finally defund the largest abortion provider in America."

The letter added "While we are grateful for your work eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government, we truly believe that the opportunity to defund Planned Parenthood may be yours and President Trump’s greatest moment,"

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Winter weather » Winter weather is blasting numerous Mid-Atlantic states dropping heavy snow in some places and icing over roads and power lines.

Brian Hurley with the National Weather Service:

HURLEY:   Lot of areas with four to six inches of snow including the D. C. Baltimore area. D. C. Baltimore farther north might be four or five inches and then areas farther south like towards Fredericksburg, Virginia, we could be looking at anywhere from six to eight inches or even more.

Winter storm warnings extend from Kentucky to southern New Jersey.

A separate storm system is expected to dump heavy snow from Kansas and Missouri to the Great Lakes starting Tuesday night.

I’m Kent Covington. 

Straight ahead: Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. Plus, women supporting the Make America Healthy Again movement.

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