Page 61 - Donald Trump Administration

Trump signs order to dismantle Education Department. Here's what it does

Moving to fulfil a campaign promise, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday calling for the dismantling of the Education Department, an agency Republicans have talked about closing for decades. The order says Education Secretary Linda McMahon will, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities. Eliminating the department altogether would be a cumbersome task, which likely would require an act of Congress. In the weeks since he took office, the Trump administration already has cut the department's staff in half and overhauled much of the department's work. Trump adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has cut dozens of contracts it dismissed as woke and wasteful. It gutted the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation's academic progress. The agency's main role is

US govt cannot deport Indian student until court rules, judge orders

A federal judge has ordered immigration officials not to deport an Indian student who was detained by the Trump Administration and accused of spreading Hamas propaganda in the latest battle over speech on US college campuses. US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered that Badar Khan Suri shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order. Suri's attorney wrote in an earlier court filing that Suri was targeted because of his social media posts and his wife's identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech. Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University. Dr Suri is an academic, not an activist," his attorney Hassan Ahmad wrote in a court filing on Thursday. But he spoke out on social media about his views on the Israel-Gaza war. Even more so, his wife is an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and the violence it has perpetrated against Palestinians. Suri's attorney argued

Judge calls Trump admin's response on deportations 'woefully insufficient'

A federal judge instructed the Trump administration to explain why its failure to turn around flights carrying deportees to El Salvador did not violate his court order in a growing showdown between the judicial and executive branches. US District Judge Jeb Boasberg demanded answers after flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants alleged by the Trump administration to be gang members landed in El Salvador after the judge temporarily blocked deportations under an 18th century wartime law. Boasberg had directed the administration to return to the US planes that were already in the air when he ordered the halt. Boasberg had given the administration until noon Thursday to either provide more details about the flights or make a claim that it must be withheld because it would harm state secrets. The administration resisted the judge's request, calling it an unnecessary judicial fishing expedition. In a written order, Boasberg called Trump officials' latest response woefully insufficient. The

Federal judge blocks DOGE from accessing Social Security data for now

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Elon Musk 's Department of Government Efficiency from Social Security Administration systems that hold personal data on millions of Americans. The decision from US District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland also requires the team to delete any personally identifiable data they may have. It comes after labor unions and retirees asked for an emergency order limiting DOGE access to the agency and its vast troves of personal data. They said DOGE's nearly unlimited access violates privacy laws and presents massive information security risks. A recently departed Social Security official who saw the DOGE team sweep into the agency said she is deeply worried about sensitive information being exposed. The Trump administration says DOGE has a 10-person team of federal employees at the Social Security Administration, seven of whom have been granted read-only access to agency systems or personally identifiable information. The administration has

Trump refutes report saying Elon Musk to see plans for any China war

n a social media post late Thursday, Trump said the report was "ridiculous" and "completely untrue"

Donald Trump to order plan to shut down the US Education Department

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday calling for the shutdown of the U.S. Education Department, according to a White House official, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency that's been a longtime target of conservatives. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity before an announcement. Trump has derided the Department of Education as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, finalizing its dismantling is likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. A White House fact sheet said the order would direct Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely. The Trump adminstration has already been gutting the agency through layoffs and program cuts. The department

Immigrants disappear from US detainee tracking after deportation flights

Franco Caraballo called his wife Friday night, crying and panicked. Hours earlier, the 26-year-old barber and dozens of other Venezuelan migrants at a federal detention facility in Texas were dressed in white clothes, handcuffed and taken onto a plane. He had no idea where he was going. Twenty-four hours later, Caraballo's name disappeared from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's online detainee locator. On Monday, his wife, Johanny Snchez, learned Caraballo was among more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants flown over the weekend to El Salvador, where they are in a maximum-security prison after being accused by the Trump administration of belonging to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. Snchez insists her husband isn't a gang member. She struggles even to find logic in the accusation. The weekend flights Flights by U.S. immigration authorities set off a frantic scramble among terrified families after hundreds of immigrants vanished from ICE's online locator. Some turned up

JFK files declassified to restore public trust on US intel: WH press secy

Many documents related to the assassination had already been disclosed, including a set of 13,000 documents released during Joe Biden's presidency

How Trump's administration paved the way for Google's $32 bn Wiz deal

The acquisition is aimed at leveraging Wiz's rapid growth, with the cybersecurity firm boasting a 70 per cent annual revenue increase and over $700 million in annualised revenue

What JFK files reveal: CIA warnings, mafia plots, and a second shooter

Newly released JFK files by the Trump administration reveal CIA warnings on Oswald, possible mafia links, and fresh second shooter evidence, raising questions about the 1963 assassination

Donald Trump releases classified JFK files: Why now and how to access them?

According to the National Archives and Records Administration, approximately 80,000 pages of records related to former President John F Kennedy's assassination have been made public

Judge blocks Trump admin from terminating $14 bn in 'green bank' grants

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from terminating USD 14 billion in grants awarded to three climate groups by the Biden administration, saying the government's vague and unsubstantiated assertions of fraud are insufficient. The order by U.S. District Judge Tonya Chutkan prevents for now the Environmental Protection Agency from ending the grant program, which totaled USD 20 billion. The judge also blocked Citibank, which holds the money on behalf of EPA, from transferring it to the government or anyone else. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin accused the grant recipients of mismanagement, fraud and self-dealing and froze the grants. But after reviewing arguments in the case, Chutkan said Zeldin's allegations fell short. At this juncture, EPA Defendants have not sufficiently explained why unilaterally terminating Plaintiffs' grant awards was a rational precursor to reviewing the green bank program, Chutkan wrote. She was the third judge of the day to rule again

US judge finds Elon Musk's role in USAID closure likely violated law

Judge Chuang barred Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from taking actions related to the agency's closing

Trump releases previously classified files related to JFK assassination

Previously classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were released Tuesday following an order by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office. The documents were posted on the website of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The vast majority of the National Archives' collection of over 6 million pages of records, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings and artifacts related to the assassination have previously been released. Trump told reporters Monday that has administration will be releasing 80,000 files, though it's not clear how many of those are among the millions of pages of records that have already been made public. We have a tremendous amount of paper. You've got a lot of reading, Trump said while visiting the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Researchers have estimated that 3,000 records or so hadn't been released, either in whole or in part. And last month, the FBI said

Federal judge halts Trump admin's ban on transgender military service

A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's executive order banning transgender people from military service on Tuesday U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., ruled that Trump's order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights. She delayed her order by three days to give the administration time to appeal. The judge issued a preliminary injunction requested by attorneys for six transgender people who are active-duty service members and two others seeking to join the military. On January 27, Trump signed an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members "conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life and is harmful to military readiness. In response to the order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualifies people with gender dysphoria from military service. Gender dysphoria is

Donald Trump nominates Republic Airways CEO Bedford to lead US FAA

FAA position has been vacant since January 20, when FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker stepped down a little more than one year into a five-year term when Trump took office

Trump ends secret service protection for Biden's children Hunter, Ashley

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump mentioned that Hunter Biden is currently vacationing in South Africa, where according to him, the human rights of people have been questioned

Donald Trump hangs a copy of Declaration of Independence in Oval Office

President Donald Trump has hung a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the Oval Office, according to images he shared on social media. The Republican president's official account on X showed two images Monday of a framed copy of the historical document hanging on the wall not far from the Resolute desk. In one image, Trump is moving aside heavy dark blue curtains hung around the document to look underneath. It was not immediately clear where the copy came from and when it was installed. The Nationals Archives delivered the Declaration of Independence to the White House at the President's request. It is displayed in the Oval Office where it will be carefully protected and preserved," press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. The original version of the Declaration of Independence is very faded and displayed in the Archives' building. On the version hanging in the White House, according to the images posted, the words are clear and legible. The White House and Nat

Donald Trump names Michelle Bowman as top Federal Reserve bank regulator

President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Michelle Bowman to oversee the Federal Reserve's financial regulatory efforts, a move that could lead to looser rules for large banks. Bowman was appointed by Trump in 2018 to serve on the Fed's governing board. She replaces Michael Barr as the Fed's Vice Chair for Supervision, after Barr stepped down last month to avoid a legal fight that could have ensued had Trump carried out his threat to fire him. Barr, however, stayed on the seven-member Fed board, forcing Trump to pick from one of the existing governors. Her nomination was welcomed by banking industry lobbying groups, including the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America. As Vice Chair, Bowman will be the most powerful federal bank regulator, and will coordinate with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on developing bank rules. The position requires Senate confirmation, though analysts expect she

Trump visits Kennedy Center putting his mark on national arts institution

President Donald Trump on Monday is visiting the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he is taking a tour and chairing a meeting of its board of directors. It was his first time at the venerable institution since he began remaking it at the start of his second term in office. Trump fired the previous board of the Kennedy Center, writing on social media that they do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture. He replaced them with loyalists and installed himself as chairman. The Republican president's allies have complained that the Kennedy Center, which is known for its annual celebration of notable American artists, had become too liberal and woke with its programming. We have to straighten it out. It's not a good situation," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday evening. He was also expected to discuss plans to improve the Kennedy Center and its upcoming artistic programming. Several artists and productions have backed out of performances