Page 3 - Trump Administration

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

Trump vents about federal judge who blocked renovation of Kennedy Centre

President Donald Trump on Saturday branded the federal judge who blocked his renovation of the Kennedy Centre as "an anti Trump Hater" and predicted that the nation's premier performing arts centre he wanted to shutter for a two-year overhaul will "soon be closed, probably never to open again." In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, Trump fumed about the Friday decision from US District Judge Christopher Cooper who also ordered Trump's name removed from the centre. Clearly angered by his latest legal setback, he said it was "impossible for me to be treated fairly," tying Cooper's ruling to earlier losses, including the Supreme Court's rejection in February of his sweeping tariffs. His post aimed to make the case for the project but did not clarify whether he would continue to defend it in court. Hours after Cooper's decision, Trump said he was backing away from the renovations and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president'

Pete Hegseth reassures Pacific allies as he softens China threat rhetoric

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth assured Pacific allies on Saturday that Washington remained committed to the region, but toned down previous comments calling China a threat. Speaking to a group of world leaders, diplomats and top security officials at the Shangri-La defense conference in Singapore, Hegseth said that the region "has profound implications for US security and prosperity" and that Washington's priority was to "achieve a lasting and favorable balance of power in the Pacific." It was his second time addressing the forum. Last year, he raised the ire of Beijing by warning of rapidly developing threats from China, particularly its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. He said China is no longer just building up its military forces to take Taiwan, it's "actively training for it, every day." This year, however, the meeting comes only about two weeks after US President Donald Trump visited Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, following which Trump called Xi a "great leader" and

US revokes Xinhua journalist's visa after China expels NYT reporter

The Trump administration has revoked the visa of a Chinese national working for the state news agency Xinhua in the United States, in an apparent reciprocal act to Beijing's decision to expel a New York Times reporter. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the visa had been revoked. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter involves visa privacy. A State Department official confirmed there was a plan to revoke the visa. The tit-for-tat move by the Trump administration has followed the expulsion by Beijing of Vivian Wang, a China correspondent for The New York Times, apparently over the appearance of the Taiwanese leader in a DealBook event in which Wang had no role. It was a rare occasion of the US government directly retaliating against Beijing's expulsion of American journalists. The Times, which first reported the reciprocal move by the Trump administration, said the newspaper does not ask governments to revoke media credentials or otherwise interfere wi

Trump admin's immigration surge cost 668,000 jobs, says Brookings report

In the 86 cities that saw the sharpest rise in ICE arrests, they found roughly 13 lost jobs associated with each excess arrest

Trump to hand Kennedy Center control to Congress after court setback

Trump decried the judge's ruling and said he would be 'working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it'

US judge orders removal of Trump's name from Kennedy Center, blocks closure

A federal judge ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump's name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center and blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations -- the latest legal setback for Trump's efforts to leave his personal mark on the landscape of the nation's capital. US District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, DC, ruled that the Kennedy Center board's March 16 vote to close the facility was "ill-informed and seemingly preordained" with no regard for its legal obligations. The administration had announced the work would begin in July and last approximately two years, but Cooper's ruling halts those plans for now. "The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one," he wrote. Cooper also concluded that the board "overstepped its statutory bounds" by unilaterally adding Trump's name to the centre. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it, h

Rubio thanks Pakistan for West Asia peace efforts after meeting counterpart

Rubio said both leaders 'agreed upon the importance of working together to further strengthen a meaningful partnership for better security'

Trump set to meet Cabinet as he looks to seal deal to end Iran war

President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had "largely negotiated" a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he's closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran's nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that's been politically unpopular for Republicans. But as things stand, Trump also risks finding closure to his war of choice comes with an unsatisfactory ending. The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism - even from some of his own supporters - that Iran's hardline leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened. It all comes to

Joe Biden sues Justice Department to block release of audio, transcripts

Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday in an effort to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of the former president's interview with a ghostwriter that were obtained by the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified documents. Biden's lawyers said in a lawsuit filed in Washington's federal court that the Justice Department plans to release the files to Congress and a conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, after the department had previously argued that they were exempt from disclosure under the public records law. Biden's lawyers argued that the disclosure would "constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden's privacy." "Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home," his attorneys wrote. "And when the US Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular ...