Trump Administration

Top US intel officials set to testify about Iran war, homeland threats

Top Trump administration national security officials facing back-to-back congressional hearings starting Wednesday are expected to be pressed on the war in Iran, including a deadly strike on a school, as well as the FBI's capacity to prevent terror attacks inside the United States. The annual worldwide threats hearings involving the government's senior-most intelligence officials are taking place at a time of scrutiny over the US military campaign in the Middle East and heightened concerns about terrorism in the homeland following recent attacks at a Michigan synagogue and Virginia university. The testimony before the House and Senate intelligence committees is expected to centre on the war and in particular the revelation that outdated intelligence likely led to the US firing a missile that hit an elementary school in Iran and killed over 165 people. The outdated targeting data was reported to have come from the Defence Intelligence Agency, whose director, Lt. Gen. James H. Adams,

Trump officials vow legal fight against Anthropic over AI tool ban

The company is asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction to block the government's ban from staying in effect while the legal fight plays out

Top counterterrorism official Joseph Kent resigns in protest of Iran war

He is the first high-profile administration official to step down in protest of the conflict

US judge orders restoration of Voice of America, journalists back to work

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America's operations after it had effectively been shut down a year ago, putting hundreds of employees who have been on administrative leave back to work. U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media a week to put together a plan for putting Voice of America on the air. It has been operating with a skeleton staff since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shut it down. A week ago, Lamberth said Kari Lake, who had been Trump's choice to lead the agency, did not have the legal authority to do what she had done at Voice of America. In Tuesday's decision, Lamberth ruled on the actions she had taken to respond to Trump's order, essentially shelving 1,042 of VOA's 1,147 employees. "Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision," Lamberth wrote. There was no immediate comment on the decision by the agenc

Trump, Rubio call for new leadership in Cuba amid deepening economic crisis

President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged imminent action against Cuba's socialist government as his moves against the island bring the U.S.' longtime opponent deeper into crisis. A day after Trump's sanctions on Venezuela, including a stop to vital oil exports to Cuba, contributed to Cuba's latest nationwide blackout, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both said that the administration sees the island nation as the next country where the U.S. can expand its influence. "Cuba right now is in very bad shape," Trump said. "And we'll be doing something with Cuba very soon," he added. Until recently, Trump's comments on change in Cuba might have been considered remarkable. But they come after his administration's military raid that captured then-President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and the launch of U.S. military strikes against Iran. The Trump administration is looking for President Miguel Diaz-Canel to leave as the U.S. continues negotiating with the Cuban government, accordin

Trump fumes at Nato for refusing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump said Tuesday NATO and most other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, grousing that he has been unable to rally support behind his war of choice in Iran that he insists he's conducting for the good of the world, even if it doesn't appreciate his effort. Trump, who has been pressing allies to help safeguard the critical waterway to ease a chokepoint on the region's oil exports, fumed that the U.S. is not getting support "despite the fact that we helped" NATO "so much," and said that it was in allies' interest to prevent Iran from securing a nuclear weapon. Trump's indignant response to allies' refusal to get involved in the war underscored that the conflict - now in its third week and causing reverberations across the global economy - is one the international community is looking to the U.S. leader to sort out himself after he launched it without consultation. "You would have thought they would have said, We'd love to send a coupl

Trump's delay of visit to China echoes pattern of last-minute changes

Trump's request to delay a planned trip to China is latest example in a pattern of postponing or calling off high-profile meetings that he decides don't suit his interests

Trump tariffs will cost US households more than $2,500 this year: Democrats

President Donald Trump is scrambling to replace the revenue the federal government lost when the Supreme Court struck down his biggest and boldest tariffs last month. If the effort succeeds, congressional Democrats warn in a study out Friday, the administration's import taxes will cost American households an average of $2,512 in 2026, up 44% from $1,745 in tariff costs last year. And this at a time when U.S. consumers are already angry over the high cost of living and the war with Iran is pushing up energy prices. "Despite a Supreme Court ruling that much of Trump's tariff agenda is illegal, the Trump administration refuses to provide relief for families," said Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee. "As American families continue to struggle with high costs, the President keeps choosing to institute new tariffs that will push prices even higher." Calling the study "phony," White House spokesman Kush Desai said "President Trump will ...

Trump admin denounces CNN for airing messages from Iranian leaders

The Trump administration denounced CNN on Thursday for airing a portion of the new Iranian supreme leader's public statement, the second time in three days that he's targeted the network for reporting on how the regime is responding to the American attacks. The attack illustrated the care news outlets must take in reporting during wartime, and the responsibilities of American journalists to report the perspective of countries its government views as enemies. It also exposed inconsistencies. The message of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during his first public statement since he succeeded his father, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, was widely available elsewhere. The White House said on social media that "fake news CNN just aired four straight minutes of uninterrupted Iranian state TV, run by the same psychotic and murderous regime that prided itself on brutally slaughtering Americans for 47 years." Earlier CNN interview criticised by Trump's communications ...

Trump visa changes squeeze rural schools relying on international teachers

Like many school systems facing teacher shortages, South Carolina's Allendale County has looked overseas for help. A quarter of the teachers in the rural, high-poverty district come from other countries. The superintendent praises the international educators - mostly from Jamaica and the Philippines - for their skill and dedication, but she is preparing to lose some of them as the Trump administration reshapes visa programs. Facing higher visa sponsorship costs and uncertain immigration policies, Superintendent Vallerie Cave said it feels too risky to extend some international teachers whose contracts are up or bring on others. "Some of my very best teachers are having to return to their countries," Cave said. For rural schools especially, President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown is pinching a pipeline used widely to fill staffing shortages that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rural districts can struggle to attract American teachers to remote areas that lack plentiful

US at fault in strike on school in Iran, says preliminary inquiry

Outdated targeting data may have resulted in a mistaken missile strike, according to the ongoing military investigation, which undercuts President Trump's assertion that Iran could be to blame

How Trump and his advisers miscalculated Iran's response to war

In the lead-up to the US-Israeli attack, President Trump downplayed the risks to the energy markets as a short-term concern that should not overshadow the mission to decapitate the Iranian regime

US hasn't ruled out option for boots-on-ground in Iran: White House

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said US has not ruled out the option of sending troops on ground in Iran and military operations would end once the objectives of Epic Fury are achieved

Trump announces new oil refinery in Texas, thanks Reliance for investment

Trump announced the opening of a new oil refinery in Texas, calling it the first new US refinery in 50 years and part of a $300 billion deal while thanking Reliance Industries for its investment

Trump warns Iran against laying mines in Strait of Hormuz, threatens action

Trump said that US forces destroyed 10 mine-laying boats in fresh strikes.

Democrats threaten to stall Senate until Trump admin explains Iran war

The Senate last week voted down a war powers resolution, which would have put curbs on Trump's abilities to use military force in Iran

Legal fight reopens over Donald Trump's push to tax low-value imports

The justices in February struck down his use of an emergency powers law to impose duties, but didn't address his authority to halt the exemption for low-value packages

Anthropic sues Trump administration over Pentagon 'supply chain risk' tag

Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon's decision designating the artificial intelligence company a "supply chain risk" over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. Anthropic filed two separate lawsuits Monday, one in California federal court and another in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., each challenging different aspects of the Pentagon's actions against the company. The Pentagon last week formally designated San Francisco tech company a supply chain risk after an unusually public dispute over how its AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare. The lawsuits aim to undo the designation and block its enforcement.

Trump's 'roaring' economy meets rough start to 2026: What the numbers show

President Donald Trump promised that 2026 would be a bumper year for economic growth, but instead it has kicked off with job losses, rising gasoline prices and more uncertainty about America's future. In his State of the Union address less than two weeks ago, the Republican president confidently told the country: "The roaring economy is roaring like never before." The latest batch of data on jobs, pump prices and the stock market suggests that Trump's roar has started to sound far more like a whimper. There is a gap between the boom that Trump has predicted and the volatile results he has produced -- one that could set the tone in this year's mid-term elections as he tries to defend his party's majorities in the House and Senate. With Trump's tariffs drama ongoing, the war in Iran has suddenly created inflationary concerns regarding oil and natural gas. To the White House, it is still early in the year and stronger growth is coming. No signs of a jobs boom "WOW! The Golden Age of .

Trump urges Latin America to use military action to help US fight cartels

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States and Latin American countries are banding together to combat violent cartels as his administration looks to demonstrate it remains committed to sharpening US foreign policy focus on the Western Hemisphere even while dealing with five-alarm crises around the globe. Trump encouraged regional leaders gathered at his Miami-area golf club to take military action against drug-trafficking cartels and transnational gangs that he says pose an "unacceptable threat" to the hemisphere's national security. "The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries," Trump said. "We have to use our military. You have to use your military." Citing the US-led coalition that confronted the Islamic State group in the Middle East, the Republican president said that "we must now do the same thing to eradicate the cartels at home". The gathering, which the White House called the "Shield of the Americas" summit, came ju