Page 27 - Donald Trump Administration

Rubio meets Qatar PM ahead of Israel visit as US balances ties with allies

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Qatar's prime minister on Friday before he visits Israel this weekend, showing how the Trump administration is trying to balance relations between key Middle East allies days after Israel targeted Hamas leaders in a strike on Doha. Despite tensions between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rubio will arrive in Israel on Sunday for a two-day visit. It is a show of support for the increasingly isolated country before the United Nations holds likely contentious debate on the creation of a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu opposes. Rubio also is expected to travel to a divisive archeological site in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim for the capital of what they hope is an eventual independent nation. The same day his trip to Israel was announced, America's top diplomat sat down at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. There was n

What to know about killing of Charlie Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA

A 22-year-old Utah man was arrested in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during an event on a college campus, authorities said Friday. "We got him," Gov Spencer Cox told reporters at a news conference announcing the arrest of Tyler Robinson in Wednesday's killing of Kirk at Utah Valley University. He was taken into custody Thursday night and is due in court early next week. Investigators believe he acted alone. Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organisation Turning Point USA, was a top podcaster, culture warrior and ally of President Donald Trump. He led an effort to remake the GOP's get-out-the-vote effort in the 2024 election based on the theory there were thousands of Trump supporters who rarely vote but could be persuaded to do so. His killing was the latest in a string of attacks on US politicians that have targeted members of both major parties. Here's what to know about Kirk's shooting: Suspect is arrested Cox, a Republican, said a fami

Brazil braces for new US sanctions after Bolsonaro conviction angers Trump

Brazil braced Friday for possible new US sanctions linked to former President Jair Bolsonaro's conviction on coup charges, after the administration of President Donald Trump warned it would respond "accordingly." Trump said he was "very unhappy" with the conviction, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on his X account that the US government would "respond accordingly to this witch hunt." Brazil's Foreign Ministry called Rubio's comments an inappropriate threat that would not intimidate the government, adding that the country's judiciary is independent and that Bolsonaro was granted due process. "Threats like the one made today by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a statement that attacks Brazilian authority and ignores the facts and compelling evidence in the case files, will not intimidate our democracy," Brazil's foreign office said on X. Sen Rogrio Carvalho, the government leader in the Senate, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday that the administrat

Best of BS Opinion: Is the US still a reliable ally to its friends?

Today's wrap of the Opinion Page straddles borders and ideas, as always; from the reliability of the US, to institutional strength in democracies, to Las Vegas' shimmering lights, it's all here

Judge blocks Trump policy barring undocumented people from 'Head Start'

A federal judge has issued a nationwide block on a Trump administration directive that prevented children in the US illegally from enrolling in Head Start, a federally funded preschool programme. Head Start associations in several states filed suit against the policy change by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The ruling by a federal judge in Washington state on Thursday comes after a coalition of 21 Democratic attorney generals succeeded in temporarily halting the policy's implementation within their own states. With the new ruling, the policy is now on hold across the country. In July, HHS proposed a rule reinterpretation to disallow immigrants in the country illegally from receiving certain social services, including Head Start and other community health programmes. Those programs were previously made accessible by a federal law in President Bill Clinton's administration. The change was part of a broader Trump administration effort to exclude people without legal .

Judge temporarily blocks US bid to deport Guatemalan, Honduran children

An Arizona judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's effort to remove Guatemalan and Honduran children living in shelters or foster care after coming to the US alone, according to a decision Thursday. US District Judge Rosemary Marquez in Tucson extended a decision made over the Labor Day weekend. Lawyers for the children said their clients have said they fear going home, and that the government is not following laws designed to protect migrant children. A legal aid group filed a lawsuit in Arizona on behalf of 57 Guatemalan children and another 12 from Honduras between the ages 3 and 17. Nearly all the children were in the custody of the US Health and Human Services Department's Office of Refugee Resettlement and living at shelters in the Phoenix and Tucson areas. Similar lawsuits filed in Illinois and Washington, DC, seek to stop the government from removing the children. The Arizona lawsuit demands that the government allow the children their right to present their c

Ex-FBI officials sue Kash Patel, allege he fired agents who probed Trump

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday (local time) on behalf of Brian Driscoll, Steven Jensen, and Spencer Evans, accusing Patel of politicising the agency to protect his own job

Trump downplays his letter to Epstein released by Dems; calls it 'nonsense'

The document, shared on House Democrats' X account, reignited an uproar against the Trump administration for its handling of the Epstein case

Trump dines out in Washington DC, declares city 'safe zone' amid crackdown

Accompanied by JD Vance, Donald Trump visits Joe's Seafood as National Guard patrols the city; nearly 2,200 arrests are reported, while protests and standoffs continue against his actions

US court rules Lisa Cook can stay Fed Guv while fighting Trump's firing bid

A federal court ruled Tuesday that embattled Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her position while she fights President Donald Trump's efforts to fire her. The ruling, which will almost certainly be appealed, is a blow to the Trump administration's efforts to assert more control over the traditionally independent Fed, which sets short-term interest rates to achieve its congressionally mandated goals of stable prices and maximum employment. Congress has also sought to insulate the Fed from day-to-day politics. Trump said he was firing Cook on August 25 over allegations raised by one of his appointees that she committed mortgage fraud related to two properties she purchased in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook is accused of saying two properties were primary residences, which could have resulted in lower down payments and mortgage rates than if either was designated a second home or investment property. Cook's lawyers argued that firing her was unlawful because ...

US Chief Justice Roberts keeps in place Trump's $5 bn foreign aid freeze

Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily kept in place the Trump administration's decision to freeze nearly USD 5 billion in foreign aid. Roberts acted on the administration's emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in case involving billions of dollars in congressionally approved aid. President Donald Trump said last month that he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a president roughly 50 years ago. The high court order is temporary, though it suggests that the justices will reverse a lower court ruling that withholding the funding was likely illegal. US District Judge Amir Ali ruled last week that Congress would have to approve the decision to withhold the funding.

Peter Navarro lashes out at India after another online fact-check on X

Peter Navarro, Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing for US President Donald Trump, on Monday yet again attacked India after being continuously fact-checked for his false claims on X.Instead of facing facts about Indian oil purchases from Russia, he alleged Indians of twisting the results of a poll he had posted on X.He wrote on X, "India has largest population in the world & all it can do is manage few hundred thousand X propagandists to jerk around a poll? Too funny. America: look at how foreign interests use our social media to advance their agenda."Navarro's reaction came to his previously challenged X's content moderation policies on which he had launched a poll to gauge user opinions, escalating his feud with the social media platform after being corrected on his earlier post."Indian special interests trying to interfere with domestic dialogue with lies about India buying Russian oil. Should X present this crap as comments from "diverse viewpoints"?, he wrote on

Trump's ultimatums to Putin face reality as Russia escalates war in Ukraine

Since taking office, Trump has largely sided with Putin, blaming the US, cutting Kyiv's aid, and limiting intelligence, aiding Russia in regaining lost territory

Trump greeted with mixed cheers, boos during brief US Open appearance

President Donald Trump attended the US Open on Sunday and briefly stepped out from a luxury box to wave at a main court crowd mostly still arriving for the men's final. He drew mixed cheers and boos. Arthur Ashe stadium was only partially full and Trump's waves weren't announced beforehand. They were also brief enough so that some of those in attendance didn't notice them. The president attended as a guest of Rolex despite imposing steep tariffs on the Swiss watchmaker's home country, and organisers were seeking to keep booing of him from being seen on the TV broadcast. Trump has built the bulk of his second term's domestic travel around attending major sports events rather than hitting the road to make policy announcements or address the kind of large rallies he so relished as a candidate. Because of extra security screening, the final between second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, a 22-year-old Spaniard, and No. 1 seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner, 24, of Italy, was pushed back ha

Trump was FBI informant against Epstein: US House Speaker Mike Johnson

While Johnson sought to clarify Trump's stance, the president himself has dismissed calls for greater transparency in the Epstein case, describing the demand for more disclosures as a 'Democrat hoax'

Trump admits failure to end Russia-Ukraine war, calls it 'most difficult'

During his campaign for the office, Trump had made numerous claims that, should he be elected, he would put an end to the war within 24 hours of entering office

In post-Jan 6 era, 600 US officers train for riots amid record high threats

The car jolted as protesters pounded on its windows, boxing in the lawmaker trapped inside. Within seconds, officers in full riot gear surged forward in formation, yanking open the doors and pulling the passenger to safety. A few hundred yards away, another team of police moved just as quickly, surrounding, isolating and arresting a man spotted in the crowd with a gun. The clashes were staged, unfolding Friday at a Secret Service training complex in Maryland. The US Capitol Police led the operation, joined by 600 officers representing nearly 20 agencies including the Secret Service and local police and sheriff's departments in one of the largest law enforcement training drills in the country. The goal was to sharpen coordination among the many agencies that must work side by side in Washington, a push shaped by the glaring security breakdowns of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. With 2025 on track to bring more threats against members of Congress than any year in histo

Judge blocks Trump admin from ending protections for Haitians, Venezuelans

A federal judge on Friday ruled against the Trump administration from ending temporary legal protections that have granted more than 1 million people from Haiti and Venezuela the right to live and work in the United States. The ruling by US District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco for the plaintiffs means 600,000 Venezuelans whose temporary protections expired in April or whose protections were about to expire September 10 have status to stay and work in the United States. Chen said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's actions in terminating and vacating three extensions granted by the previous administration exceeded her statutory authority and were arbitrary and capricious. Temporary Protected Status is a designation that can be granted by the Homeland Security secretary to people in the United States, if conditions in their homelands are deemed unsafe for return due to a natural disaster, political instability or other dangerous conditions. The Department of Homeland ...

US appeals court blocks Trump from withholding billions in foreign aid

A 2-1 ruling by a three-judge appeals panel on Friday dealt Trump another setback in his effort to block spending of billions in foreign aid already approved by Congress for global programmes

Trump names Hassett, Warsh and Waller as top three finalists for Fed chair

Earlier, Trump indicated that while he had some idea of who he wanted to pick for the position, he was committed to an interview process