Page 68 - Donald Trump Administration

Donald Trump's AI-generated video shows Gaza as luxury resort, sparks row

The video features a golden statue of Trump, a hummus-eating, dancing Musk, and American and Israeli leaders relaxing on beach, promoting his proposal to expel 2.1 mn Palestinians and transform Gaza

Providing 'tech support,' fixing US 'govt computer systems', says Elon Musk

Musk added that he had received "a lot of death threats," over the work he has been doing, which has involved hundreds of people losing their jobs

Judge extends order halting Trump from firing whistleblower agency head

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Wednesday extended a temporary restraining order to block the firing of Hampton Dellinger, who leads the Office of Special Counsel

Trump's tariffs on China risk hurting US economy more than data suggests

There is little doubt that a harsher treatment of Chinese products under the first Trump administration, much of which was continued by the Biden White House, reduced China's share of US imports

Musk, his tech support effort get star turn at Trump's Cabinet meeting

Elon Musk took a star turn at the first Cabinet meeting of President Donald Trump's new term, holding forth in a black Make America Great Again campaign hat on Wednesday about his role as humble tech support for the federal government and laying out dire stakes if his cost-cutting efforts fail. If we don't do this, America will go bankrupt, Musk told department heads assembled around a large wooden table in the Cabinet Room. Trump, not one to easily share the spotlight, seemed happy to turn the top of the hour-plus meeting over to Musk for a little summary of what the Department of Government Efficiency has been up to, saying that Musk's team had found evidence of horrible things afoot in the government. He's sacrificing a lot, Trump said of Musk, referencing the time the world's richest man is taking away from his many business ventures. He's also getting hit." Musk, for his part, said his lightning-fast efforts to right-size the government had drawn death threats and he jokingly

Trump admin to eliminate more than 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts

The Trump administration said Wednesday it is eliminating more than 90% of the US Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall US assistance around the world. The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing court battles with the administration. The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday. Wednesday's disclosures also give an idea of the scale of the administration's retreat from US aid and development assistance overseas, and from decades of US policy that foreign aid helps US interests by stabilizing other countries and economies and building alliances. President Donald Trump and ally Elon Musk have hit foreign aid harder and faster than almost any other target in their push to cut the size of the federal government. Both men say USAID projects .

Trump sees 'thirst' for his 'gold card' visa with $5 mn for US citizenship

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he plans to start selling a gold card visa with a potential pathway to US citizenship for USD 5 million, seeking to have that new initiative replace a 35-year-old visa programme for investors. If we sell a million, that's USD 5 trillion dollars, Trump said during the first meeting of his second-term Cabinet, suggesting that the new revenue generated for federal coffers could be used to pay off the country's debt. I think we will sell a lot because I think there's really a thirst, Trump said of demand from the business community to participate. The president said of recipients that they'll be wealthy and they'll be successful and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it's going to be extremely successful. Companies can buy gold cards and, in exchange, get those visas to hire new employees, Trump said. No other country can do this because people don't want to go to other ...

UK's Starmer meets Trump amid worries over drifting US support for Ukraine

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer flew to Washington on Wednesday after announcing a big increase in the British defense budget, an investment that he hopes will help persuade US President Donald Trump to maintain support for Ukraine as Washington pushes to end the war. Though Starmer is touting the trans-Atlantic special relationship that has endured since World War II, he faces an uncertain reception. Trump has upended decades of US foreign policy during his first weeks in office. Ukraine and its European allies are scrambling to respond after the Trump administration engaged directly with Moscow on ending the war in Ukraine. Starmer's visit to the White House on Thursday is part of European efforts following a trip to Washington by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week to ensure Kyiv gets a voice in negotiations, and that the US still backs Europe in dealing with an aggressive Russia on its doorstep. Starmer confirmed he will host a meeting of international leaders in

Democratic governors pitch state jobs to federal workers fired by Trump

Some of America's governors mostly Democrats have a message for the wave of fired federal workers: We want you. The governors are welcoming former federal staffers who lost their jobs in the Trump administration's widespread cost-cutting agenda to apply for government jobs in their states. Some places are holding job fairs, while Hawaii's governor says the state is fast-tracking hiring for these applicants. The effort amounts to a small level of resistance against the Republican president and potentially a bit of political maneuvering from the leaders in blue states, eager to be seen as the party helping workers in need. In most cases, the governors are trying to fill up long lists of job openings in their states, and in some the effort involved simply directing people to an online jobs page. But if it ends up helping laid-off workers get new jobs, the outreach could be a way for the politicians to win over voters ahead of elections at home as well as to troll Trump. The federal

Trump revokes oil permit, Chevron license in Venezuela in blow to Maduro

A permit issued by the United States government allowing energy giant Chevron Corp. to pump and export Venezuelan oil will be terminated this week, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, ending what became a financial lifeline for the South American country. Trump's announcement in his Truth Social network accused the government of President Nicols Maduro of not meeting democratic conditions for last year's July presidential election as well as of not moving fast enough to transport back to Venezuela immigrants set for deportation. We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicols Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, Trump wrote. Trump post did not specifically mention California-based Chevron nor the permit, formally known as a general license, that exempts the company from economic sanctions and allows it to export and sale Venezuelan oil in the U.S. But it is the only Venezuela-related license whose issuance and renewal ...

Zelenskyy coming to WH to sign US-Ukraine critical minerals deal: Trump

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a long-sought minerals deal that will closely tie the two countries together for years to come. Trump made the announcement at the start of the first Cabinet meeting of his second term, hailing the deal as a very big agreement. The Republican president has long complained that the United States has spent too much taxpayer money to support Ukraine in the war with Russia that began when the Kremlin invaded three years ago. Trump has framed the emerging deal that would give the US access to Ukraine's deposits of so-called rare earth minerals used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries as a chance for Kyiv to pay back the US for aid already sent for the war effort under Democratic President Joe Biden. The previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we've been able to make a deal where we're going to get the money back and and a lot of ..

Elon Musk in politics? His father Errol says 'he will struggle to connect'

Speculation about Elon Musk's political ambitions has grown post-Trump era, fuelled by his presence at key government meetings and informal political gatherings

Trump govt lines up Latin American cooperation for migrant deportations

Venezuelan migrants handed over to Mexico like it's a US immigration detention facility. Families from Central Asia flown to Panama and Costa Rica to await voluntary repatriation to their countries. Venezuelans from Guantanamo Bay handed off on a Honduran tarmac and returned to Caracas. It all sends the unmistakable message that trying to get to the US border is no longer worth it. US President Donald Trump's administration has laid the groundwork to reverse the region's migration flow. And while the numbers remain modest, an outline of how the US hopes to overcome limited detention space as it gears up its deportation machine is emerging. Making deals across Latin America In its first month, the Trump administration has reached deals with Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama to act as stopovers or destinations for migrants expelled from the U.S. It has brokered deals with Venezuela to pick up its people in Texas, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Honduras. But no

Here's all you need to know about ruling blocking Trump's refugee ban

President Donald Trump's effort to suspend the system for resettling refugees in the US is on hold after a federal judge in Seattle blocked it. US District Judge Jamal Whitehead, a 2023 appointee of former President Joe Biden, found that while the president has broad authority over who comes into the country, he cannot nullify the law passed by Congress establishing the program. The Justice Department indicated it would consider a quick appeal, saying Trump's actions have been well within his authority. Here's what to know about the case. What is this lawsuit about? Trump halted the nation's refugee resettlement program as part of a series of executive orders cracking down on immigration, saying cities had been taxed by record levels of migration and couldn't absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees. He barred refugees from coming to the US, and the administration began cutting off funding for agencies that support refugees. The refugee program, created by ..

US lawmakers warn that China could use Elon Musk to influence Trump

China's Washington embassy said China welcomed mutually beneficial cooperation" with people from all walks of life in the United States

Musk's new ultimatum spurs fresh confusion among US federal workers

The confusing back-and-forth has rippled through the federal bureaucracy, with some agencies instructing workers to comply and others not

Under Trump, illegal border crossings at 15-year low: WH press secy

Leavitt also noted a 'reverse migration effect,' in which migrants are choosing to stay in their countries of origin, citing the Trump administration as the reason

House GOP advances budget resolution, key to pushing Trump's agenda forward

With a push from President Donald Trump, House Republicans sent a GOP budget blueprint to passage Tuesday, a step toward delivering his big, beautiful bill with USD4.5 trillion in tax breaks and USD2 trillion in spending cuts despite a wall of opposition from Democrats and discomfort among Republicans. House Speaker Mike Johnson had almost no votes to spare in his bare-bones GOP majority and was fighting on all fronts against Democrats, uneasy rank-and-file Republicans and skeptical GOP senators to advance the party's signature legislative package. Trump was making calls to wayward GOP lawmakers and had invited Republicans to the White House. The vote was 217-215, with all Democrats opposed, and the outcome was in jeopardy until the gavel. On a vote like this, you're always going to have people you're talking to all the way through the close of the vote, Majority Leader Steve Scalise said before the roll call. It's that tight. Passage of the package is crucial to kickstarting the

Will offer 'gold cards' for $5 mn path to citizenship, says Trump

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he plans to offer a gold card visa with a path to citizenship for USD5 million, replacing a 35-year-old visa for investors. "They'll be wealthy and they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it's going to be extremely successful, Trump said in the Oval Office. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump Gold Card would replace EB-5 visas in two weeks. EB-5s were created by Congress in 1990 to generate foreign investment and are available to people who spend about USD1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people. Lutnick said the gold card actually a green card, or permanent legal residency would raise the price of admission for investors and do away with fraud and nonsense that he said characterize the EB-5 program. Like other green cards, it would include a path to citizenship. About 8,000 people obtained investor visas in the 12-month .

Trump wants Keystone XL Pipeline built, pledges easy regulatory approvals

The pipeline was first proposed in 2008 to bring oil from Canada's Western tar sands to US refiners and was halted in 2021 by then-owner TC Energy Corp after Biden revoked a key permit