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Lisa Murkowski, a longtime senator from Alaska and an independent voice in an increasingly tribal party, has been the rare Republican on Capitol Hill willing to criticize President Trump's actions.
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The threat of investigations into whether the administration violated the judges' orders comes as President Trump and his advisers are increasingly butting heads with the courts.
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Out of power in Congress, Democrats who were slow to fight back against President Trump are increasingly finding ways to do so. But activists want much more.
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Get the latest news on President Donald Trump's return to the White House and the new Congress.
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The signed memorandum of understanding was thin on details, and the White House did not comment. But President Trump has said he expects to sign a minerals deal with Kyiv soon.
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President Trump's Africa envoy Massad Boulos has finished a tour of several East African nations, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he discussed a peace deal that could involve the U.S. tapping the country's rich mineral resources, including cobalt and lithium. Several Western mining companies are already reportedly lined up to take part in the U.S.-backed mineral resources partnership. "These people are among the poorest in the world," says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. "They live on top of the incredible mineral riches that have been plundered by so many companies, so many colonial powers, so many of the neighbors of DRC. I hope the U.S. will really make sure there is an equitable deal, but that can really only happen if there is a peace agreement."
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Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, joins us as President Trump's defiance of the courts is pushing the United States toward a constitutional crisis, with multiple judges weighing whether to open contempt proceedings against his administration for ignoring court orders. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg criticized officials for continuing to stonewall his inquiry into why planes full of Venezuelan immigrants were sent to El Salvador last month even after he ordered the flights halted or turned around midair. Boasberg noted in his order that Trump officials have since "failed to rectify or explain their actions," giving the administration until April 23 to respond. This comes as Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador but was blocked from seeing or speaking to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father who was sent to CECOT on the March flights in what the Department of Homeland Security has admitted was an "administrative error." Both the Trump administration and the government of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have refused to release and return Abrego Garcia. This week, federal Judge Paula Xinis said the administration had made no effort to comply with the order, and said she could begin contempt proceedings. "The government is providing no information, not even the most basic factual information about what's been happening," says Warren.
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 U.S. congressional Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday to block President Donald Trump's plan to remove 9,500 troops from close ally Germany by prohibiting funding for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Europe without congressional approval.
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