Page 36 - Donald Trump Administration

Bondi told Trump in May his name appeared multiple times in Epstein files

Trump was briefed in May on his name appearing in Epstein files. During the meeting, Bondi also told Trump that names of several other high-profile individuals had been mentioned in the files

AG Bondi urged to testify over claim she told Trump he was in Epstein files

Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing Democratic calls to testify before Congress following a newspaper's revelation that she told President Donald Trump that his name appeared in the files of the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Bondi told Trump his name was among many high-profile figures mentioned in the files, which the Justice Department this month said it would not be releasing despite a clamor from online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and members of Trump's base. Trump's personal ties to Epstein are well-established and his name is already known to have been included in records related to the wealthy financier, who killed himself in jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, responded to the report by calling on Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. We need to bring Bondi and Patel into the Judiciary Committee to

China leads the AI race as US struggles on energy, warns AI firm Anthropic

Anthropic, a Silicon Valley artificial intelligence startup, has urged Washington to cut down 'red tape' surrounding the power infrastructure development to stay competitive with China

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff to visit West Asia in push for ceasefire in Gaza

President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was heading to the Middle East as the U.S. tries once again to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, a breakthrough that has eluded the administration for months as conditions worsen in Gaza. Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokesperson, told reporters Tuesday that Witkoff was going to the region with a strong hope that the U.S. can deliver a ceasefire deal as well as a new humanitarian corridor for aid distribution. I would suggest that we might have some good news, but, again, as we know, this could be a constantly changing dynamic, Bruce said. Bruce didn't have other details about where Witkoff would be going or what he had planned. It comes as Gaza saw its deadliest day yet for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war, with at least 85 Palestinians killed while trying to reach food Sunday. The Israeli army has said it fired warning shots, but says the reported death toll was greatly inflated. The United Nations' fo

WHCA slams White House for excluding WSJ from Scotland trip over coverage

The press pool, made up of journalists from multiple outlets who travel with the President and report for the wider White House press corps, is facing growing pressure from the Trump administration

Trump admin releases FBI files on MLK Jr despite his family's objections

The Trump administration has released records of the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate's family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination. The digital document dump includes more than 240,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration. In a lengthy statement released Monday, King's two living children, Martin III, 67, and Bernice, 62, said their father's assassination has been a captivating public curiosity for decades. But the pair emphasized the personal nature of the matter, urging that these files must be viewed within their full historical context. The Kings got advance access to the records and had their own teams reviewing them. Those efforts continued even as the government granted public access. It was not immediately clear Monday whether the document

Trump admin lashes out at NYC, 2nd man arrested in customs officer shooting

The Trump administration lashed out Monday against New York City officials over their sanctuary policies as authorities arrested a second man living in the country illegally in connection with the shooting of an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called the two suspects, both from the Dominican Republic, scum of the earth. She said they'd accumulated lengthy criminal records in just a few years and should have never been free to commit Saturday's robbery-gone-wrong in a Manhattan park. Noem blamed the mayor and city council, nearly all Democrats, saying the people that were in charge of keeping the public safe refused to do so. Border czar Tom Homan, meanwhile, vowed the administration would flood the zone with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents following the shooting. So sanctuary cities get exactly what they don't want: more agents in the community, he said alongside Noem and other officials during a news .

Lawyers seek to delay Abrego Garcia's release over deportation fears

Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia have asked a federal judge in Tennessee to delay releasing him from jail in order to prevent the Trump administration from trying to swiftly deport the Maryland construction worker. US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr in Nashville is expected to rule soon on whether to free Abrego Garcia while he awaits trial on human smuggling charges. If the Salvadoran national is released, US officials have said he would be immediately detained by immigration authorities and targeted for deportation. Abrego Garcia became a prominent face in the debate over President Donald Trump's immigration policies when he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in March. That expulsion violated a US immigration judge's order in 2019 that shields Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faces threats of gang violence there. The administration claimed that Abrego Garcia was in the MS-13 gang, although he wasn't charged and has repeatedly denied

US House Committee backs terror group tag for TRF over Pahalgam attack

Last week, the US Department of State designated Lashkar-e-Taiba-backed The Resistance Front as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist

Harvard faculty who fear school's destruction seeks deal with Trump admin

The stakes for Harvard will be in focus on Monday, when a federal judge in Boston will hear arguments on whether the Trump administration illegally froze more than $2 billion in research funding

US justice dept asks court to unseal grand jury records in Epstein case

Justice Department lawyers made the requests Friday to two judges in Manhattan, where prosecutors handled separate criminal cases against Epstein and his former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell

Trump sues Wall Street Journal, Murdoch for $10 bn over Epstein article

The suit alleges that the WSJ article falsely linked Trump to Epstein and included fabricated evidence, causing damage to his reputation

Trump's birthright citizenship order remains blocked amid legal battles

President Donald Trump's plan to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the US illegally will remain blocked as an order from one judge went into effect Friday and another seemed inclined to follow suit. US District Judge Joseph LaPlante in New Hampshire had paused his own decision to allow for the Trump administration to appeal, but with no appeal filed in the last week his order went into effect. The judge's order protects every single child whose citizenship was called into question by this illegal executive order," Cody Wofsy, the ACLU attorney representing children who would be affected by Trump's restrictions, said. The government has not appealed and has not sought emergency relief so this injunction is now in effect everywhere in the country. The Trump administration could still appeal or even ask that LaPlante's order be narrowed but the effort to end birthright citizenship for children of parents who are in the US illegally or temporarily can't ta

Trump grants pollution rule waivers to plants citing security needs

Among the exempted operations were taconite iron ore plants in Minnesota owned by the United States Steel Corp. and six facilities owned by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in Minnesota and Michigan

Trump authorises AG Pam Bondi to release Epstein grand jury records

Donald Trump's move follows growing pressure from supporters demanding transparency in the Jeffrey Epstein case and calls to release grand jury testimony

Trump won't recommend special counsel in Epstein case, says spokeswoman

President Donald Trump will not recommend a special counsel in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, a White House spokeswoman has said, turning aside calls for further action in an inquiry that has roiled the Justice Department and angered supporters who had been expecting a treasure trove of documents from the case. The rejection of a special counsel is part of an effort by the White House to turn the page from continued outrage from corners of Trump's base over the Justice Department's refusal last week to release additional records from the investigation into Epstein, a well-connected and wealthy financier who killed himself in jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Officials also said Epstein did not maintain a much-hyped "client list" and said the evidence was clear he had died by suicide despite conspiracy theories to the contrary. Trump on Wednesday sought to clamp down on criticism from his own supporters about his administration's handling of the ...

Trump checked for lower leg swelling, diagnosed with common vein condition

President Donald Trump recently underwent a medical checkup after noticing "mild swelling" in his lower legs and was found to have a condition common in older adults that causes blood to pool in his veins, the White House has said. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that tests by the White House medical unit showed that Trump has chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when little valves inside the veins that normally help move blood against gravity gradually lose the ability to work properly. Leavitt also addressed bruising on the back of Trump's hand, seen in recent photos covered by makeup that was not an exact match to his skin tone. She said the bruising was "consistent" with irritation from his "frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin". Trump takes aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. She said during her press briefing that her disclosure of Trump's medical checkup was meant to dispel recent speculation about the 79-year-old president's

Trump admin tells embassies to limit criticism of foreign elections

The State Department is pulling back from commenting on or criticising elections overseas unless there is a clear and compelling US foreign policy interest in doing so. In new guidance issued Thursday to all US embassies and consulates abroad, the department said that those outposts should refrain from issuing statements that invoke any particular ideology and that what they may say must be in line with President Donald Trump's stated position that the US will respect the sovereignty of all foreign nations. "Consistent with the administration's emphasis on national sovereignty, the department will comment publicly on elections only when there is a clear and compelling US foreign policy interest to do so," according to the cable, a copy of which was shared with The Associated Press. The department has for decades issued statements highly critical of or questioning the legitimacy of certain elections, notably in authoritarian countries. That is changing as the Trump administration has

Trump admin pulls $4 bn federal funding for California bullet train project

The Trump administration has revoked federal funding for California's high-speed rail project, intensifying uncertainty about how the state will make good on its long-delayed promise of building a bullet train to shuttle riders between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The US Transportation Department announced it was pulling back USD 4 billion in funding for the project, weeks after signalling it would do so. Overall, a little less than a quarter of the project's funding has come from the federal government. The rest has come from the state, mainly through a voter-approved bond and money from its cap-and-trade programme. President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy both have slammed the project as a "train to nowhere". "The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED." The loss marks the latest blow to California by the Trump administration, wh

Justice dept fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Diddy, Epstein cases

The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a prosecutor in the federal cases against Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. There was no specific reason given for her firing from the US attorney's office in the Southern District of New York, according to one of the people who spoke to the AP on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Her termination comes shortly after she prosecuted Combs, who was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offences. The Justice Department recently appeared to acknowledge the existence of an investigation into James Comey, though the basis for that inquiry is unclear. He was abruptly fired by Trump during his first administration in 2017.