Page 17 - Trump Administration

Supreme Court clears way for Trump's plans to downsize federal workforce

The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump's plans to downsize the federal workforce despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs. The justices overrode lower court orders that temporarily froze the cuts, which have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency. The court said in an unsigned order that no specific cuts were in front of the justices, only an executive order issued by Trump and an administration directive for agencies to undertake job reductions. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenting vote, accusing her colleagues of a demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President's legally dubious actions in an emergency posture. Trump has repeatedly said voters gave him a mandate to remake the federal government, and he tapped billionaire ally Elon Musk to lead the charge through DOGE. Musk recently left his role. Tens of thousand

Trump slams Mamdani over threat to arrest Israeli PM Netanyahu in NYC

US President Donald Trump's remark was a reference to Zohran Mamdani's criticism of Netanyahu and Israel's actions in Gaza

Trump calls Musk's America Party 'ridiculous', says doomed to fail

Trump's remarks came a day after tech billionaire Elon Musk officially launched the America Party, a political platform he said was aimed at challenging what he called a 'one-party system' in the US

Trump to start sending tariff letters Friday; global duties begin August 1

The Trump administration will send letters to trade partners from Friday announcing unilateral tariff rates, which must be paid starting August 1

Harvard warns foreign students on airport scrutiny, social media posts

Harvard warned students that US officials can check social media and devices during visa and border checks, and deny entry based on content found by State Dept or Customs and Border Protection

US SC clears way for deportation of several immigrants to South Sudan

The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for the deportation of several immigrants who were put on a flight in May bound for South Sudan, a war-ravaged country where they have no ties. The decision comes after the justices found that immigration officials can quickly deport people to third countries. The majority halted an order that had allowed immigrants to challenge any removals to countries outside their homeland where they could be in danger. The court's latest order makes clear that the South Sudan flight detoured weeks ago can now complete the trip. It reverses findings from federal Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts, who said his order on those migrants still stands even after the court lifted his broader decision. The Trump administration has called the judge's finding a lawless act of defiance. Attorneys for the eight migrants have said they could face imprisonment, torture and even death if sent to South Sudan, where escalating political tensions have threatened t

MAGA backers hail Trump for Ukraine arms pause after rebuke of Iran strikes

President Donald Trump is getting praise from his most ardent supporters for withholding some weapons from Ukraine after they recently questioned the Republican leader's commitment to keeping the US out of foreign conflicts. This week's announcement pausing deliveries of key air defence missiles, precision-guided artillery and other equipment to Ukraine comes just a few weeks after Trump ordered the US military to carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Bombing those sites in Iran had some hardcore supporters of the "Make America Great Again" movement openly questioning whether Trump was betraying his vow to keep America out of stupid wars" as he inserted the US military into Israel's conflict with Tehran. With the Ukraine pause, which affects a crucial resupply of Patriot missiles, Trump is sending the message to his most enthusiastic backers that he is committed to following through on his campaign pledge to wind down American support for Ukraine's efforts to repel Russia

US recalls top diplomat in Colombia as tensions with President Petro rise

The Trump administration on Thursday recalled its top diplomat in Colombia for urgent consultations after recent comments from Colombia's president appearing to question the US position on an alleged plan to remove him from office. The US State Department said Thursday that the charge d'affaires at the US embassy in Bogota, John McNamara, would be returning to Washington following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the government of Colombia. Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded in kind, recalling Colombia's ambassador to Washington for consultation. He said he wants to talk to Amb. Daniel Garca Pea about progress on Colombia's priorities in the bilateral relationship. US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in statement that the administration would also be pursuing other measures to make clear our deep concern over the current state of our bilateral relationship. The statement did not elaborate on the reasons for the recall. Petro has

Wrongly deported from US, Garcia says subjected to torture in El Salvador

Kilmar Abrego Garcia said he suffered severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation and psychological torture in the notorious El Salvador prison the Trump administration had deported him to in March, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland when he was mistakenly deported and became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. The new details of Abrego Garcia's incarceration in El Salvador were added to a lawsuit against the Trump administration that Abrego Garcia's wife filed in Maryland federal court after he was deported. The Trump administration has asked a federal judge in Maryland to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it is now moot because the government returned him to the United States as ordered by the court.

Explainer: What's inside Trump's controversial 'One Big Beautiful Bill'

Lower taxes, tighter immigration rules, healthcare cuts, and a clean energy rollback define Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill', now headed to the House for final approval

Trump says trade deal with India 'soon' as July 9 deadline approaches

Trump said he believed India was ready to lower trade barriers for US companies, a move that could pave the way for an agreement and avert the 26 per cent tariff he had announced on April 2

UPenn to ban transgender athletes from women's sports after govt settlement

The University of Pennsylvania reverses stance on transgender athlete participation in sports following Donald Trump's executive order, and subsequent federal investigation

US, Indo-Pacific partners agree to strengthen maritime cooperation

The United States. Australia, India and Japan have agreed to expand their cooperation on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and further collaborate on supplies of critical minerals and rare earths that are key components of high-tech production. The foreign ministers of the four countries, known as the "Quad", met in Washington on Tuesday as the Trump administration seeks to expand US influence in the Indo-Pacific to compete with a rising China amid tensions with partners over trade and defense issues. In a joint meeting with his three colleagues, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Quad must be a vehicle for action that goes beyond statements of intent and stressed that commerce and trade will be critical to ensuring the group's relevance in the future. To that end, the four announced in a statement the creation of a Quad Critical Minerals Initiative that aims to strengthen economic security and collective resilience by collaborating on securing and diversifying critical ...

20 states sue Trump govt for sharing Medicaid data with deportation agents

California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleged on Tuesday that the Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to deportation officials last month, saying he and 19 other states' attorneys general have sued over the move. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr's advisors ordered the release of a dataset including the private health information of people in California, Illinois, Washington, and Washington to the Department of Homeland Security last month, AP reported. Those jurisdictions let noncitizens enrol in Medicaid programmes that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars. The unusual sharing of private health information, including addresses, names, social security numbers, immigration status and claims data, came as deportation officials accelerated enforcement efforts. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon has defended the release. HHS acted entirely within its legal .

Musk risks losing govt contracts worth billions as Trump feud reignites

Elon Musk may find out what happens when DOGE bites man. The billionaire SpaceX, Tesla and X owner who catapulted his zealous embrace of President Donald Trump into a powerful position slashing government spending now risks sweeping cuts to his own bottom line after resuming the feud that led to their very public bitter split last month. Musk's renewed heckling of Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts bill, which passed the Senate on Tuesday, threatens to put billions of dollars of his government contracts in jeopardy if Trump retaliates. The rupture of their tenuous peace has resulted in a wobbling of the stock price of a market-moving company and led the president to muse about deporting Musk to his native South Africa. In a Frankenstein-style twist, as Musk volleyed fresh critiques about the cost of Trump's signature legislation, Trump mused Tuesday about turning Musk's Department of Government Efficiency back on its creator. DOGE is the monster that might have to go back an

Harvard 'violated' civil-rights law on Jewish students' safety: Trump admin

Federal attorneys accuse Harvard University of indifference to antisemitism, warning of funding cuts unless immediate changes are made to protect Jewish and Israeli students

Musk threatens to form new party over Trump's 'insane' $5 trn spending bill

Elon Musk criticises Trump's debt ceiling bill as 'fiscally reckless', warns Congress members of primary losses

Trump orders review of US-Cuba policy, seeks tougher sanctions in 30 days

President Donald Trump has instructed his top Cabinet officials to review the US policy toward Cuba, ordering them to examine current sanctions and come up with ways to toughen them within 30 days. In a memo on Monday, Trump said the reviews should focus on Cuba's treatment of dissidents, its policies directed at dissidents and restricting financial transactions that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government, military, intelligence, or security agencies at the expense of the Cuban people". In one potential significant change, the order said the US should look for ways to shut down all tourism to the island and to restrict educational tours to groups that are organised and run only by American citizens. The move is not a surprise given that Trump has previously said he plans to rescind the easing of sanctions and other penalties in Cuba that were instituted during the terms of former Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In the days before leaving office, Biden mov

Trump's tax, spending cuts bill clears key Senate vote before July 4

Senate Republicans voting in a dramatic late Saturday session narrowly cleared a key procedural step as they race to advance President Donald Trump's package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds by his July Fourth deadline. The tally, 51-49, came after a tumultuous session with Vice President JD Vance on hand if needed to break the tie. Tense scenes played out in the chamber as voting came to a standstill, dragging for hours as holdout senators huddled for negotiations. In the end, two Republicans opposed the motion to proceed to debate, joining all Democrats. It's still a long weekend of work to come.

Senate holds rare weekend vote to meet Trump's tax, spending cuts deadline

The Senate is taking a key procedural vote during a rare Saturday evening session as Republicans race to pass US President Donald Trump's package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds by his July 4 deadline. But the tally was tight and voting came to a standstill as Vice-President J D Vance arrived at the Capitol to break a potential tie. Several Republican senators were registering their opposition to proceeding to open debate on the bill. Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but they have run into a series of political and policy setbacks. Not all GOP lawmakers are on board with proposals to reduce spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other programs as a way to help cover the cost of extending some USD 3.8 trillion in Trump tax breaks. Ahead of the expected roll call, the White House released a statement of administrative policy saying it strongly supports passage of the bill that implements critical aspec