Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president would open the briefing room to bloggers, podcasters and social-media influencers.

After President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on federal grants and loans, Medicaid's portals went down Tuesday afternoon, causing recipients to panic about their health insurance coverage. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the Medicaid outage Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter, but said payments would not be impacted.

Medicaid recipients on Tuesday reported an outage that has them worried about their health insurance coverage.

Karoline Leavitt used her first briefing in the role to warn veteran reporters that they were increasingly irrelevant.

The White House Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday rescinded a memo that froze federal grants and loans and created widespread confusion this week.

The grant pause is perhaps most similar to a federal government shutdown, when a congressional impasse on spending legislation delays federal payments for some state and local services.

Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person to serve as White House press secretary, made her debut in the briefing room Tuesday, saying that podcasters and social media influencers could apply to participate in future briefings.

Illinois and other states were shut out of the Medicaid system Tuesday. The White House confirmed the portal “outage,” but insisted payments would be unaffected.

Reacting to reports that President Trump rescinded his federal funds freeze order, Congresswoman Lori Trahan warned "the fight is far from over."

Federal judge blocks Trump’s attempt to freeze funding for Medicaid, Meals on Wheels, and other vital programs. • The Trump administration issued an OMB memo freezing federal grants and funding, targeting programs related to healthcare, education, housing assistance, and environmental initiatives.

During an interview on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime Wednesday night, Trump’s unqualified Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke about the president’s outlandish designs to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal—leaving the door open for military intervention in both cases.