Page 62 - Donald Trump Administration

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

ICE violated rights of US citizen, 21 others during arrests: Activists

Federal immigration agents violated the rights of 22 people, including a US citizen, in immigration enforcement arrests during the first weeks of President Donald Trump's second term, Chicago activists and attorneys alleged Monday. The arrests allegedly violate a 2022 agreement between Chicago groups and the federal government detailing how US Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers can make collateral arrests, where agents detain others besides those being targeted. The agreement, following a lawsuit over 2018 immigration sweeps, covers Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Wisconsin, which are under the ICE office in Chicago. Every time you hear from this administration about how they're rounding up gang members, terrorists, the worst of the worst, you need to take a dose of reality," said Mark Fleming, an attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, said at a news conference. "You need to dig deeper to understand who exactly they are arresting. The NIJC

President Trump's lawyers keep judge in dark on Venezuelan deportation data

US District Judge James Boasberg convened a hearing Monday to press Justice Department lawyers for answers about whether the deportations took place after he'd issued an order Saturday not to do so

US-EU tariff war risks $9.5 trn of business: American Chamber of Commerce

Trump has railed against the US goods trade deficit with the EU, although in services there is a US surplus, and urged manufacturers to produce in America

US Fed meeting this week has investors anxiously awaiting Powell's remarks

Even as the Federal Reserve chair has touted US resilience, uneasiness sparked by President Donald Trump's rapidly escalating trade war has sent stocks tumbling over the past month

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia among 43 nations to face Trump's travel ban

The draft also places 10 countries, including Afghanistan and Bhutan, on the Red List, meaning their citizens could face a full visa suspension

Trump admin deports hundreds of immigrants despite judge's orders to pause

The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members, officials said Sunday. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling. US District Judge James E Boasberg issued an order Saturday blocking the deportations but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order. OopsieToo late, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally who agreed to house about 300 immigrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in his country's prisons, wrote on the social media site X above an article about Boasberg's ruling. That post was recirculated by White House communications director Steven Cheung. Secretar

Trump, Putin to discuss Russia-Ukraine war this week, says US envoy

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week as the US tries to broker a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff. It would be the second publicised call between the two leaders since Trump began his second term in January. Trump and Putin spoke in February and agreed to start high-level talks over ending the war in Ukraine. I think the two presidents are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week, Witkoff said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union. Witkoff this week met with Putin in Russia for talks aimed at ending the country's invasion of Ukraine and said he expects to see a deal soon. The president uses the timeframe weeks and I don't disagree with him. I am really hopeful that we are going to see some real progress here, Witkoff said. When Witkoff appeared later Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation, he again spoke about a prospective Putin-Trump call but did not offer specific

Trump orders deep cuts to Voice of America, other US-funded media outlets

President Donald Trump's administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organisation's director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, the failed Arizona gubernatorial and US Senate candidate whom Trump named a senior adviser to the agency, posted on X that employees should check their email. That coincided with notices going out placing Voice of America staff on paid administrative leave. For the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced, Michael Abramowitz, the organisation's director,

Judge stalls Trump's bid to speed deportations using 18th-century law

A federal judge on Saturday barred the administration of President Donald Trump from deportations under an 18th-century law that Trump invoked just hours earlier asserting the United States was being invaded by a Venezuelan gang and that he had new powers to remove its members from the country. James E Boasberg, chief judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia, said he needed to issue his order immediately because the government was already flying migrants it claimed were newly deportable under Trump's proclamation to El Salvador and Honduras to be incarcerated there. "I do not believe I can wait any longer and am required to act," he said during a Saturday evening hearing in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and Democracy Forward. "A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm," Boasberg added, noting they remain in government custody. The ruling came hours after Trump claimed the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, was invading the United States

Was 'sarcastic' when promising end to Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hrs: Trump

President Donald Trump said Friday that he was being a little bit sarcastic when he repeatedly claimed as a candidate that he would have the Russia-Ukraine war solved within 24 hours - and even before he even took office. Trump was asked about the vow he repeatedly made on the campaign trail during an interview for the Full Measure television programme as his administration is still trying to broker a solution 54 days into his second term. Well, I was being a little bit sarcastic when I said that," Trump said in a clip released ahead of the episode airing Sunday. What I really mean is I'd like to get it settled and, I'll, I think, I think I'll be successful. It was a rare admission from Trump, who has a long record of making exaggerated claims. Trump said at a CNN town hall in May 2023, They're dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I'll have that done - I'll have that done in 24 hours. That is a war that's dying to be settled. I will get it settled before

Didn't want PM Modi, others to see tents, potholes in Washington DC: Trump

US President Donald Trump said he did not want Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other world leaders who visited him to see the tents and graffiti near federal buildings in Washington DC and has ordered the cleaning up of the American capital. "We're cleaning up our city. We're cleaning up this great capital, and we're not going to have crime, and we're not going to stand for crime, and we're going to take the graffiti down, and we're already taking the tents down, and we're working with the administration," Trump said Friday in remarks at the Department of Justice. He said so far the Mayor of Washington DC Muriel Bowser has been doing a good job cleaning up the capital. We said there are tents galore right opposite the State Department. They have to come down. And they took them down right away. And so so far, so good. We want to have a capital that can be the talk of the world," Trump said. "When Prime Minister Modi of India, the President of France, and all of these people Prime

Trump demands control at Columbia, alarming scholars and speech groups

The Trump administration brushed aside decades of precedent when it ordered Columbia University to oust the leadership of an academic department, a demand seen as a direct attack on academic freedom and a warning of what is to come for other colleges facing federal scrutiny. Federal officials told the university it must immediately place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under "academic receivership for a minimum of five years". The demand was among several described as conditions for receiving federal funding, including USD 400 million already pulled over allegations of antisemitism. Across academia, it was seen as a stunning intrusion. "It is an escalation of a kind that is unheard of," said Joan Scott, a historian and member of the academic freedom committee of the American Association of University Professors. "Even during the McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done." President Donald Trump has been threatening to withhold federal .

Senate approves funding bill just before shutdown deadline, sends to Trump

The Senate passed a six-month spending bill on Friday hours before a government shutdown, overcoming sharp Democratic opposition to the measure and sending it to President Donald Trump to be signed into law. The essentially party-line vote, 54-46, reflected gnawing Democratic angst over how to confront the Trump administration as its Department of Government Efficiency fires federal workers and dismantles operations. Democrats argued over whether to fight even risking a shutdown and fumed that Republicans drafted a measure that included little of their input, shortchanging health care, housing and other priorities. But in the end, enough of the Democratic senators decided a government shutdown would be even worse, and backed Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer's strategy to allow the bill to come forward. "A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive," Schumer said. "Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster ...

'Our predecessor turned DOJ into Department of Injustice': Donald Trump

Trump made these remarks at the Department of Justice following a series of terminations and resignations of Biden-era judges, attorneys, and other officials under the new administration

Europe's troop shortages exposed as Trump warns shift in US security focus

In the year after Russia launched outright war on Ukraine, NATO leaders approved a set of military plans designed to repel an invasion of Europe. It was the biggest shake-up of the alliance's defence readiness preparations since the Cold War. The secret plans set out how Western allies would defend NATO territory from the Atlantic to the Arctic, through the Baltic region and Central Europe, down to the Mediterranean Sea. Up to 300,000 troops would move to its eastern flank within 30 days, many of them American. That would climb to 800,000 within six months. But the Trump administration warned last month that US priorities lie elsewhere. Europe must take care of its own security, and those goals now seem questionable. Mustering just 30,000 European troops to police any future peace in Ukraine is proving a challenge. Billions of euros are being shifted to military budgets, but only slowly, and the Europeans are struggling to fire up production in their defence industries. Beyond ...

Hundreds of US govt offices may begin closing this summer at DOGE's behest

Federal agencies will begin to vacate hundreds of offices across the country this summer under a frenetic and error-riddled push by Elon Musk's budget-cutting advisers to terminate leases that they say waste money. Musk's Department of Government Efficiency maintains a list of canceled real estate leases on its website, but internal documents obtained by The Associated Press contain a crucial detail: when those cancellations are expected to take effect. The documents from inside the General Services Administration, the US government's real estate manager, list dozens of federal office and building leases expected to end by June 30, with hundreds more slated over the coming months. The rapid pace of cancellations has raised alarms, with some agencies and lawmakers appealing to DOGE to exempt specific buildings. Several agencies are facing 20 or more lease cancellations in all, including the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the US Department of Agriculture and the US Geological

Trump's proposed 200% tariff on EU wines will hit demand, say US sellers

The United States is suddenly looking less bubbly for European wines. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a planned 50% tariff on American whiskey. Wine sellers and importers said a tariff of that size would essentially shut down the European wine business in the US. I don't think customers are prepared to pay two to three times more for their favorite wine or Champagne, Ronnie Sanders, the CEO of Vine Street Imports in Mt. Laurel Township, New Jersey, said. Jeff Zacharia, president of fine wine retailer Zachys in Port Chester, New York, said 80% of the wine he sells is from Europe. Importers depend on European wines for a big part of their distribution system, he said, and there's not enough US wine to make up for that. This is just going to have a major negative impact on the whole US wine industry in all aspects of it, including U.S. wineries, he said. Zacharia said there are

Trump admin asks SC to partly allow birthright citizenship restrictions

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow restrictions on birthright citizenship to partly take effect while legal fights play out. In emergency applications filed at the high court on Thursday, the administration asked the justices to narrow court orders entered by district judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington that blocked the order President Donald Trump signed shortly after beginning his second term. Three federal appeals courts have rejected the administration's pleas. The order would deny citizenship to those born after February 19 whose parents are in the country illegally. It also forbids US agencies from issuing any document or accepting any state document recognising citizenship for such children.

Trump escalates trade war, pledges more tariffs after EU, Canada's response

The latest decision has marked an escalation in the already heated trade war between the US and other nations