Trump’s idea to for a massive real estate redevelopment of Gaza apparently is not new
The Daily Mail, Newsweek and other media reported this morning that both Donald Trump, who built his business career as a real estate developer, and his real-estate developer son-in-law Jared Kushner talked about wanting to get Palestinians in Gaza out of their homeland and redeveloping the Gaza strip as a massive real estate project at least year ago. Kushner went public with the idea during an appearance at Harvard University in Feb. 2024. A video shows Kushner calling Gaza’s waterfront “valuable.” At the White House yesterday, Trump held a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at which he announced his plan for the U.S. to take over Gaza, send in U.S. troops as an occupying force, and redevelop the place into what he described as the Gaza Riviera.
Trump’s Gaza redevelopment plan receives widespread rejection
 Egypt and Jordan were quick to reject the Trump plan for a U.S. takeover and redevelopment of Gaza. Trump wants them to provide new homes for the approximately 2 million people who would be forced from their Gaza homeland. Saudi Arabia also rejected the plan as did Hamas. Britain and France joined in the rejections. On Capitol Hill, Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham described the plan as “problematic” while Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said what Trump proposed is like a “bad, sick joke. A U.S. invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of U.S. troops and decades of war in the Middle East.”
USAID employees around the world told to return to the U.S.
As the Trump Administration and Elon Musk continue executing their plan to close down the U.S. Agency for International Development and other government departments, USAID has notified employees around the world that they will be placed on administrative leave on Friday and should return to the U.S. Numerous USAID employees in the U.S. already have been laid off and been told to stay away from agency property. The shutdown of the agency that has helped ensure U.S. influence around the world while helping save millions of people from starvation and disease, now has received public praise from Russia, Iran, Hungarian Dictator Viktor Orban and El Salvador’s strongman.
Capitol Hill officials locked out of U.S. Treasury when trying to find out what Musk is doing
Democratic lawmakers including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut were among the elected officials joining with up to 1,000 people in a protest at the U.S. Treasury yesterday. The officials demanded to see what Elon Musk and his computer experts were doing after they were given access to the government’s payment system computers. The officials were not allowed into the building. The Trump Administration confirmed that Musk and his people had computer access. It’s been reported that they have been accessing massive files containing sensitive personal information about Americans including Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, tax returns, and more.
CIA tries to get rid of its workforce
 The Central Intelligence Agency is trying to induce its employees to quit with a buyout offer that has been sent to what’s described as the entire workforce. CNN reported that a spokesperson said that President Trump’s new CIA Director John Ratcliffe wants to make the agency more responsive to Trump’s views on the agency. Trump has been highly critical of the CIA in the past, alleging that CIA agents and others were part of what Trump calls the deep state.
Trump orders U.S. to pull out of U.N. organizations
Donald Trump has signed an executive order pulling the U.S out of the United Nations organizations the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In addition, the order requires that the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. explore pulling out of UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The order requires the U.S. to immediately stop paying any money to the U.N. related to UNHRC and UNRWA.
