Live updates: White House press briefing, executive orders

WASHINGTON - A busy week in Washington is showing no signs of slowing down on Friday. This week saw a number of executive orders from President Donald Trump, fiery confirmation hearings for his cabinet nominees, and of course the tragic midair collision involving an Army helicopter and passenger jet.

Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt held her second briefing of the new administration at 1 p.m. ET.

President Trump will then sign more executive orders at 3 p.m., according to the White House daily schedule. It’s not yet clear what the orders will be, though tariffs on Canada and Mexico have been a hot topic for the president this week.

You can watch these events in the player above, and refresh this story for updates.

Venezuela frees 6 Americans

7:25 p.m. ET: Six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela in recent months were freed by the government of President Nicolás Maduro after he met Friday with a Trump administration official tasked with urging the authoritarian leader to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, announced the release of the six men on social media. The visit by Grenell came as a shock to many Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the "maximum pressure" campaign he pursued against Maduro during his first term.

Trump issues proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month

6:30 p.m. ET: The Trump White House issued a proclamation Friday recognizing February as Black History Month around the same time the Defense Department issued guidance declaring "identity months dead."

The White House proclamation calls for "public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities," though there is no elaboration on what constitutes "appropriate."

Gender ideology disappears from websites, emails

5:30 p.m. ET: According to The Associated Press, public health data disappeared from websites, entire webpages went blank and employees erased pronouns from email signatures Friday as federal agencies scrambled to comply with a directive tied to President Donald Trump's order rolling back protections for transgender people.

The Office of Personnel Management directed agency heads to strip "gender ideology" from websites, contracts and emails in a memo sent Wednesday, with changes ordered to be instituted by 5 p.m. Friday. It also directed agencies to disband employee resource groups, terminate grants and contracts related to the issue, and replace the term "gender" with "sex" on government forms.

Trump signs executive order on ‘Unleashing Prosperity through Deregulation’

5:00 p.m. ET: President Donald Trump signed an executive order called "Unleashing Prosperity through Deregulation."

According to Trump's assistant, the order, "slashes unnecessary regulations, which will put more money in Americans' pockets, unleash economic growth and guarantee that the United States of America remains the strongest competitor on the world market. And in order to achieve that, this order requires a rigorous regulatory budget process. So, for each new regulation issued, at least ten prior regulations will be identified for elimination."

Boats return to the Potomac River for DC plane crash recovery and investigation

3:30 p.m. ET: The remains of 41 people had been pulled from the river as of Friday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr. said at a news conference. He said next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families, and that he expects the remains of all 67 people who died to eventually be recovered.

The wreckage of the plane's fuselage will probably have to be pulled from the water to get all the bodies, he said.

"This is heartbreaking work," Donnelly said, noting that more than 300 responders were taking part in the effort at any one time, including teams of divers and two U.S. Coast Guard cutters, at least one of which carries a crane. "It’s been a tough response for a lot of our people." It was unclear how long the recovery operation would take.

Although Ronald Reagan National Airport has reopened, two of its three runways remain closed to keep aircraft from flying over the crash scene while taking off or landing, said Terry Liercke, the airport's vice president and manager. Roughly 100 flights were canceled Friday.

Trump administration moving to fire FBI agents, AP reports

3:20 p.m. ET: Trump administration officials are moving to fire FBI agents engaged in investigations involving President Donald Trump in the coming days, two people familiar with the plans said Friday.

It was not clear how many agents might be affected, though scores of investigators were involved in various inquiries touching Trump. Officials acting at the direction of the administration have been working to identify individual employees who participated in politically sensitive investigations for possible termination, said the people who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.

White House applauds release of 8 hostages

1:45 p.m. ET: Leavitt said the White House applauded the release of 8 additional hostages from Hamas captivity. 

"Thanks to the ceasefire deal secured by President Trump, 3 Israeli and 5 Thai Nationals are being reunited with their families and their loved ones after being held in unspeakable conditions, for over 15 months, and the president remains committed to the release of all remaining hostages, and they should have never been taken by the brutal terrorist group Hamas in the first place," she stated.

DEI executive orders

1:40 p.m. ET: "When you are flying on an airplane with your loved ones, which every one of us in this room has, do you pray that that your plane lands safely and gets you to your destination or do you pray that the pilot has a certain skin color? I think we all know the answer to that question, and as President Trump said yesterday, it's common sense," Leavitt said.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, U.S., Trump has issued a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump also began his White House briefing Thursday with a moment of silence and a prayer for victims of Wednesday’s crash at Reagan National Airport. But his remarks quickly became a diatribe against diversity hiring and that lowered standards may have been to blame for the crash.

US president to implement tariffs on Canada, Mexico

1:30 p.m. ET: "I can confirm that tomorrow, the February 1 deadline that President Trump put into place, that a statement several weeks ago continues, the president will be implementing tomorrow a 25% tariffs on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada and a 10% tariff on China," Leavitt said.

She continued: "At this point, the president has made it very clear those tariffs are going to be implemented. And in effect, if the president at any time decides to roll back those tariffs, I'll leave it to him to make that decision. But starting tomorrow, those tariffs will be in place."

DC plane crash investigation

1:14 p.m. ET: Leavitt said President Trump wants to increase Federal Aviation Administration standards following the tragic plane crash near Washington D.C. on Wednesday. She said that Trump said that the helicopter was flying higher than the plane should have been, but she noted that the investigation was still ongoing. 

White House received 10,000 submissions for media seats

1:07 p.m. ET: At Friday's White House press briefing, press secretary Leavitt said the White House received more than 10,000 submissions for its open media seats. 

These seats were opened Friday for Ruthless Podcast, which covers political news and is hosted by Josh Holmes and Michael Duncan.

Hegseth says helicopter black box still not recovered

12:45 p.m. ET: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says investigators have not yet recovered a key recording device from the Army helicopter involved in Wednesday’s fatal collision at Ronald Reagan National Airport, AP says.

Speaking on Fox News Channel on Friday, Hegseth noted authorities were still looking for the helicopter’s black box. Other factors in the crash, including the helicopter’s altitude and whether the crew was using its night vision goggles, are still under investigation, Hegseth said.

Trump says Black Hawk helicopter "was flying too high, by a lot."

12:15 p.m. ET: President Donald Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday to post that the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with the American Airlines passenger jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport resulting in the deaths of everyone onboard "was flying too high, by a lot."

"It was far above the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???" Trump’s post continued.

According to FOX Business, NTSB member Todd Inman, when asked by the news organization about whether the helicopter’s altitude played a role in the crash, said "Right now, we've not ruled anything in or out."

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