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President Donald Trump made what the White House is calling a "historic" visit to the Justice Department Friday to deliver remarks and rally support for his agenda.
The visit, the first by Trump and the first by any president in a decade, took him into the belly of an institution he has disparaged in searing terms for years but one that he has sought to reshape by installing loyalists and members of his personal defense team in top leadership positions.
Trump was also scheduled to sign executive orders at 12 p.m. ET, but it’s unclear which orders that included, or if that was still happening. The event was to be closed to the press.
Follow below for live updates.
Senate passes Trump's budget bill, averting government shutdown
6:46 p.m. ET: The Senate passed a six-month spending bill on Friday, averting a government shutdown.
The vote was 54-46.
Democrats voiced frustration that Republicans went ahead with a measure they said included little input from them, and one they viewed as shortchanging key priorities such as health care and housing assistance. But in the end, some of them viewed a shutdown as a worse outcome and supported Democratic leader Chuck Schumer's effort to allow the bill to come to a final vote.
Senate appears likely to pass Trump budget
5:07 p.m. ET: The Senate is taking a key vote that needs 60 votes to push the Republican-backed government funding bill forward in the chamber.
While it’s not a vote for final passage, which only requires a simple majority, this vote is a larger hurdle because it requires 60 votes to overcome the Senate’s filibuster rules.
The vote ended 62-38, with 10 Democrats voting in favor to break the filibuster. The final vote is scheduled for later in the evening.
Trump vows to ‘expel the rogue actors’
4:30 p.m. ET: "We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose, very much expose their egregious crimes and severe misconduct of which was levels never seen anything like it," Trump said in a wide-ranging speech that touched on everything from Russia's war against Ukraine to the price of eggs.
"It’s going to be legendary. And going to also be legendary for the people that are able to seek it out and bring justice. We will restore the scales of justice in America, and we will ensure that such abuses never happen again in our country."
Trump starts speaking at Justice Department
3:40 p.m. ET: President Trump has begun speaking at the Justice Department, 40 minutes later than planned.
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FBI Director Kash Patel speaks at the Justice Dept.
FBI Director Kash Patel delivered remarks from the Justice Department building about restoring law and order in the United States. Patel's speech came before a rare visit to the DOJ by President Donald Trump.
Vance says US manufacturing can rebound
2 p.m. ET: Vice President JD Vance toured a Michigan plastics manufacturing facility on Friday, promoting a promised Trump administration industrial renaissance nationwide even as jitters about rising tariffs and steep drops in consumer confidence and financial markets point to the opposite.
Vance was in Bay City, which was known in the 1800s for thriving sawmills and shipbuilding concerns that have long since closed. Speaking at Vantage Plastics, he vowed, "We started a great American comeback," and said the Trump administration will "make it easier and more affordable to make things again in the United States."
But he also repeatedly urged patience before the Trump White House's economic policies take hold, noting, "This is not always easy, and it doesn’t happen overnight."
– Associated Press
Trump to speak at Justice Department
What we know:
Trump is scheduled to speak at the Justice Department at 3 p.m. ET.
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What we don't know:
It’s unclear whether it will air live or as a taped playback. You can watch his speech on LiveNow from FOX in the video player above as soon as it’s available.
What they're saying:
"I’m going to set out my vision," Trump said Thursday about the purpose for a visit to the Justice Department.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House on March 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
"President Trump will visit the Department of Justice to give remarks on restoring law and order, removing violent criminals from our communities, and ending the weaponization of justice against Americans for their political leanings," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Have other presidents spoken at the Justice Department?
The backstory:
Although there's some precedent for presidents to speak to the Justice Department workforce, Trump's trip two months into his second term is particularly striking because of his unique status as a onetime criminal defendant indicted by the agency he is now poised to address. His remarks are also likely to feature an airing of grievances over his exposure to the criminal justice system — including an FBI search in 2022 of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for classified documents.
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Trump on Canada: "We don't need anything they have"
In a White House meeting with the leader of NATO, President Trump discussed Canada and the tariffs and relationship between the two countries. He suggested Canada should become a state of the United States.
RELATED: Trump asks Supreme Court to allow birthright citizenship restrictions
The relationship between presidents and Justice Department leaders has waxed and waned over the decades depending on the personalities of the officeholders and the sensitivity of the investigations that have dominated the day. The dynamic between President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his attorney general, Merrick Garland, was known to be fraught in part because of special counsel investigations that Garland oversaw into Biden's mishandling of classified information and into the firearms and tax affairs of his son Hunter.
How Trump upended Justice Department norms
Dig deeper:
Attorney General Pam Bondi has asserted that the department needs to be depoliticized even as critics assert agency leadership is injecting politics into the decision-making process.
When it comes to setting its agenda, the Justice Department historically takes a cue from the White House but looks to maintain its independence on individual criminal investigations. Trump has upended such norms. Bondi was part of Trump’s defense team at his first impeachment trial, and Kash Patel, another close ally, serves as his FBI director.
RELATED: Judge orders Trump administration to reinstate thousands of fired workers
Bondi regularly praises Trump in Fox News Channel appearances and proudly noted that she had removed portraits of Biden, Garland and Vice President Kamala Harris from a Justice Department wall upon arriving.
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Pam Bondi sworn in as US Attorney General
US President Donald Trump swore in Pam Bondi as U.S. Attorney General. Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and corporate lobbyist, is expected to oversee a radical reshaping of the department that has been the target of Trump’s ire over the criminal cases it brought against him. She enters with the FBI, which she will oversee, in turmoil over the scrutiny of agents involved in investigations related to the president, who has made clear his desire to seek revenge on his perceived adversaries.
"We all adore Donald Trump, and we want to protect him and fight for his agenda. And the people of America overwhelmingly elected him for his agenda," Bondi said in a recent Fox interview with Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
RELATED: Trump's trade war 2.0: Timeline of tariffs, retaliation, and global fallout
Even before Bondi was confirmed, the Justice Department fired department employees who served on special counsel Jack Smith's team, which charged Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election and with hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Both cases were dismissed last November in line with longstanding Justice Department policy against indicting sitting presidents.
RELATED: Department of Education employees sent home, nearly half of staff to be eliminated: report
Officials also demanded from the FBI lists of thousands of employees who worked on investigations into the Jan 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of Trump's supporters stormed the building in an effort to halt the certification of the electoral vote, and fired prosecutors who had participated in the cases. And they've ordered the dismissal of a criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams by saying the charges had handicapped the Democrat’s ability to partner in the Republican administration’s fight against illegal immigration.
What's next:
Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First and Fifth Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
The Source: This report includes information from The Associated Press and previous LiveNow from FOX reporting.