Trump Administration

Vance to lead US delegation to ink Iran peace deal in Switzerland: Trump

Vice President JD Vance will lead the US delegation for the in-person signing of the peace deal with Iran in Switzerland on Friday, President Donald Trump said. Both Trump and Vance have electronically signed the framework agreement with Iran's lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, according to a senior US official quoted by The New York Times. In a media interaction in France on Monday, Trump said Vance will attend the signing ceremony. "I may be involved, I may not," the president said in response to a question on his presence at the signing ceremony. The text of the Memorandum of Understanding will be released "pretty soon... sometime after Friday", Trump said. In media interviews here, Vance said the peace agreement was signed digitally on Sunday, and its full text was likely to be made public later this week. "We already signed the deal digitally yesterday (Sunday)," Vance said on the Good Morning America programme on ABC News. The deal was negotiated through mediators

Trump celebrates 80th birthday with Iran deal ahead of UFC cage fight at WH

President Donald Trump marked turning 80 on Sunday by hailing an agreement to end the war in Iran hours before a birthday celebration that once would have seemed unfathomable: a cage-fighting show on the storied South Lawn of the White House. He had been touting the emerging deal for weeks, and last-minute strikes in the conflict had threatened to overshadow the ostentatious UFC mixed martial arts extravaganza - where combatants sealed inside a wire-mesh octagon try to punch, kick, chop and pummel each other into submission. Hour before the fights began, the president said an agreement to end the conflict "is now complete" and declared that the US will end its blockade of Iran and that Strait of Hormuz would reopen, potentially easing high oil prices and skittish global markets. But the crucial details are still to be negotiated. Word of the deal will allow the president to be especially jubilant as he walks out of the White House for the fights. Cabinet leaders, Republican lawmaker

US govt's curbs on Anthropic models reignite calls for sovereign AI

The US move to restrict access to Anthropic's latest AI models has intensified concerns over AI sovereignty and technology dependence in India

As Trump turns 80 with spectacle of cage fights at WH, big issues loom

President Donald Trump celebrates turning 80 on Sunday with a showstopping birthday spectacle that once would have seemed unfathomable: a cage-fighting show on the storied South Lawn of the White House. This week, the hard realities of the office have threatened to overshadow the ostentatious UFC mixed martial arts extravaganza, where combatants sealed inside a wire-mesh octagon try to punch, kick, chop and pummel each other into submission. Trump has found himself boxed into an unpopular and costly war he helped start in Iran. An agreement to end the conflict could be close, but the crucial details are still to be negotiated. Meanwhile, about a mile from Trump's birthday bash, crews pried the president's name off the Kennedy Center after a judge ruled naming it after Trump had gone too far. Regardless, the president will walk out of the White House and be surrounded by Cabinet leaders, top administration officials, Republican lawmakers and 4,000-plus spectators screaming themselve

Trump names James M McDonald to lead New York federal prosecutor's office

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he will appoint one of his personal lawyers to serve as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, filling a pending vacancy after Trump tapped the man currently in the job to be director of national intelligence. James M. McDonald, a former federal prosecutor in the office he had been picked to run, served as a financial regulator during Trump's first term and worked in the White House counsel's office in President George W. Bush's administration. A partner at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, McDonald is part of the legal team handling Trump's pending appeal of felony convictions in New York related to hush money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels as the Republican ran for president in 2016. Trump said Saturday he would name McDonald to the role of US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, one of the most influential positions in the Justice Department. He would replace Jay Clayton, whom Trump put forward this week as .

Trump's name still on Kennedy Center despite court-ordered removal deadline

President Donald Trump's name remained on the facade of the Kennedy Center early Saturday despite a court-ordered Friday deadline to remove references to Trump from the building and other aspects of the iconic performing arts venue's operations. Scaffolding was erected Friday around a section of the building that includes Trump's name, but shortly after midnight, the Kennedy Center asked a judge to extend the deadline until noon Eastern Time on Saturday because of thunderstorms that had swept through the Washington area, causing a delay. In the filing, the Kennedy Center offered assurance that the "removal work is presently ongoing" and would "conclude in the early hours of the morning." A few hours later, workers begin covering the scaffolding with tarps. Dozens of people spent hours Friday on the plaza in front of the Kennedy Center taking pictures and cheering occasionally as they broke into chants of "take it down." Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex-officio board member who sued

Trump denies allegations of defrauding US court to create $1.8 billion fund

US District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami is considering reopening the case to investigate whether the president and the Justice Department defrauded the court

Will leave no stone unturned to hunt down those who harm US: FBI official

America First does not mean America alone, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will "leave no stone unturned" to hunt down and bring to justice those who would harm the US and its allies, FBI Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey has said. He made the remarks during a virtual press briefing on Wednesday on the subject of industrial-scale scam compounds, nihilistic violent extremism and transnational narcotics trafficking. Nihilistic violent extremism (NVE) is violence motivated by a hatred of society and a drive to cause its collapse through indiscriminate chaos. NVE members advocate for destruction across the world by glorifying mass killers, promoting animal cruelty and urging self-harm. "I'm here to discuss three of the most significant threats facing the world today. And those are industrial-scale scam compounds, nihilistic violent extremism and transnational narcotics trafficking. While these threats victimise Americans daily, their deadly impact across Southeast Asia is growing

Trump nominates US Attorney Jay Clayton as national intelligence director

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he plans to nominate Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as director of national intelligence. Trump announced the nomination on social media amid pressure from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director. The situation has led to a standoff in Congress as Democrats said they would refuse to renew a foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte's nomination and named a permanent nominee. "Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay," Trump wrote. "I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.

US helicopter pilots who went down in Strait of Hormuz are fine, says Trump

It was not immediately clear whether the Apache was shot down by Iranian fire, experienced mechanical failure or encountered some other problem

Trump's approval stays near record low as Iran war fuels economic concerns

The Republican leader has faced widespread discontent in recent months over ​his decision to go to war with Iran, which has led to a surge in gasoline prices

Trump dismisses idea that Iran betrays his 'no new wars' campaign message

President Donald Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran this year betrayed his refrain of "No new wars" that he made repeatedly as he campaigned again for the White House. Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," said he "didn't guarantee" there would be no wars if he were back in office. "First of all, I didn't guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?" Trump said. Trump also defended plans for a now-scrapped $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated allies of the Republican president and he repeated his baseless claims of mass fraud in California's drawn-out vote count from Tuesday's primary. He ended the interview abruptly when he became frustrated with pushback from NBC's Kristen Welker. Iran is not an endless war' --------------------------- In his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly cast his Democratic opponents as warmongers and said he was a president who started "no new wars" and would

Trump says he would not unfreeze Iran's assets before peace deal is done

Trump says sanctions relief and access to frozen assets will come only after a peace deal with Iran, while signalling openness to talks with its leadership

Chennai-born architect of Trump's AI policies to leave White House post

Chennai-born Sriram Krishnan, the architect of US President Donald Trump's policies on artificial intelligence, is stepping down from his role as senior policy adviser at the White House. The 42-year-old, who has had stints at Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter, made the announcement of leaving his role as Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence in a post on X on Saturday. "I'll be leaving my role at the White House at the end of this month. After a break I'll be working on helping tackle some of the large challenges facing America on AI (more on that later)," Krishnan said. Krishnan was an architect of the Trump administration's "AI Action Plan", which provided a blueprint to roll back regulation of the emerging technology and promote the build-out of data centres across the country. He also was among Trump's tech advisers who crafted an executive order limiting states' ability to regulate AI. "It is hard to express how big a privilege it has been to serve the American peo

Business pushback led to soft stance on US green card policy: Report

Strong lobbying by American business leaders with the US government over its new policy on green cards led to a softening of stance on the issue, with officials dealing with immigration assuring industry leaders that most work visas would remain unaffected, The Washington Post reported. The pushback from the business leaders, including from technology and artificial intelligence sectors, soon after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rolled out a policy that required individuals working in the US to return to their home countries to make applications for permanent residency or green card. In the ensuing days, multiple private discussions over the phone and email took place among prominent businesses, industry groups and CEOs with the White House and the departments of Homeland Security, Labour and State, The Washington Post reported quoting people familiar with the discussions. The US Chamber of Commerce was among industry groups that pressed administration officials

Warsh pledges to follow best of Fed's traditions while looking for change

The memo is an early window on Warsh's efforts to pursue what he has described as an extensive reform agenda for a central bank he regards as having strayed from its mission

Rubio optimistic on eventual Iran talks despite congressional skepticism

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he is optimistic about the potential for a resumption in nuclear talks with Iran despite a shaky ceasefire in the war that is looking increasingly in doubt. Rubio defended the Trump administration's approach to Iran and other global hotspots in back-to-back hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a House Appropriations subcommittee. He was briefly disrupted by protesters at each session. In his first public testimony since the Iran war began at the end of February, Rubio said the Iranians have agreed to negotiate on nuclear points that they had not been willing to address in the past but would not offer an assessment on what those talks might produce. "They have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention," Rubio told the Senate. He noted, however, that there was no guarantee "it will lead to a deal that's acceptable" and that negotiations .

Trump signs order seeking oversight of AI models for security risks

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on oversight of artificial intelligence Tuesday, less than two weeks after postponing a White House ceremony over his concerns that a similar policy could dull America's technological edge. The order establishes a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release. Participation by AI developers would be voluntary, the order says. "Advanced AI capabilities make our Nation stronger, but also introduce new national security considerations that require coordinated action across executive departments and agencies," the order says. It was not immediately clear to what extent the order differed from the one Trump declined to sign on May 21. The order says the government would have only 30 days to review an AI system, a shorter time frame than some in the industry were expecting. A longer time period might have been seen as too burdensome for

Trump admin proposes 25% tariffs on Brazil despite US trade surplus

The Trump administration proposed 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Brazil, charging that the world's 10th-biggest economy engages in trade practices that are "unreasonable'' and that "burden or restrict US commerce.'' Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he received the decision "with indignation." He also blamed the decision by the US administration on his rival in October's elections, Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, who visited Washington last week. The senator is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, once nicknamed "the Trump of the Tropics" by his allies. The announcement late Monday came after an investigation by the Office of the US Trade Representative, charging Brazil with lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own, among other things. The US has had a goods trade surplus with Brazil for years. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that he and President Donald Trump had "constructive'' meetings with Lula and other Brazilian officials. B

'Now a classified space': Pentagon bars journalists from its press office

In another of a series of moves restricting media access at the Pentagon, the Defense Department has declared that its press office is now a classified space inaccessible to journalists. On X, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez confirmed the move, saying there was "nothing controversial" about it and that it came because speechwriters, who use classified material, were now occupying the space. "The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility," Valdez wrote. "These speechwriters routinely handle classified material as a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space. There's nothing controversial about that." The latest move, first reported by The Washington Post, took place against a backdrop of escalating tensions between the U.S. media and the second Trump administration, which has played out both in the public ar