White House says some employees were fired by mistake

Eight of the inspectors general fired by President Donald Trump last month have filed a federal lawsuit claiming their firing was illegal and are asking a judge to reinstate them to their positions.

The independent, nonpartisan watchdogs, whose offices oversee trillions in government spending, were abruptly removed from their positions on the first Friday of Trump's term and received short emails from the head of the White House personnel office removing them from their positions.

-- ABC News' Peter Charalambous, Katherine Faulders, Ben Siegel

In a new Truth Social post, President Donald Trump responded to the inflation numbers saying only: "BIDEN INFLATION UP!"

Lowering prices was one of Trump's campaign promises, but with Wednesday's less-than-rosy economic report, Trump is punting blame onto his predecessor.

-- ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

Delivering remarks before the NATO Ukrainian Defense Contact Group in Belgium, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the goal of "returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective."

He added that "chasing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering."

On Tuesday evening after touching down in Europe, Hegseth signaled the Trump administration wants European nations to take on more responsibility for their own defense and said "we are not sending U.S. troops to Ukraine."

"The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland, we must and we are focusing on security of our own borders." Hegseth also said Wednesday morning.

Read more about Hegseth's remarks here.

-- ABC News' Joseph Simonetti

A group of 191 House and Senate Democrats sent a letter to Russell Vought, the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, calling on them to reverse course on actions targeting the nation's consumer financial watchdog agency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was created by Congress in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to safeguard Americans against unfair business practices. It has been brought to a virtual standstill after Vought, who last week was named the agency's acting director, and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency took control of the agency. Vought has since issued a stop-work order to nearly all CFPB staff.

Democrats, in their letter, are calling for Musk's DOGE employees, some of whom physically accessed the agency's federal office and requested access to its industry and consumer data, to be pulled out of the CFPB.

Read more about the letter here.

-- ABC News' Allie Pecorin and Elizabeth Schulze