Page 33 - Trump Administration

US Justice Department seeks to unseal Epstein, Maxwell grand jury files

US Justice Department moves court to unseal Epstein, Maxwell grand jury records after Donald Trump demands transparency; Trump sues Wall Street Journal for $10 billion over 'defamatory' Epstein report

Trump admin tells embassies to limit criticism of foreign elections

The State Department is pulling back from commenting on or criticising elections overseas unless there is a clear and compelling US foreign policy interest in doing so. In new guidance issued Thursday to all US embassies and consulates abroad, the department said that those outposts should refrain from issuing statements that invoke any particular ideology and that what they may say must be in line with President Donald Trump's stated position that the US will respect the sovereignty of all foreign nations. "Consistent with the administration's emphasis on national sovereignty, the department will comment publicly on elections only when there is a clear and compelling US foreign policy interest to do so," according to the cable, a copy of which was shared with The Associated Press. The department has for decades issued statements highly critical of or questioning the legitimacy of certain elections, notably in authoritarian countries. That is changing as the Trump administration has

Trump reaps $50 bn from tariffs as world 'chickens out' from retaliation

Data from the US Treasury shows that the US customs revenue soared significantly in the second quarter to $64 billion, up $47 billion from the same period last year

US Senate approves Trump's $9 bn cut on foreign aid, public broadcasting

US Senate narrowly passes $9 billion Trump budget cut targeting public broadcasting and foreign aid; measure heads to House amid mounting criticism

Decoded: What are Epstein files and why is Trump admin not releasing them?

US President Donald Trump slammed his supporters as weaklings for believing Democratic "bullshit" on Jeffrey Epstein, saying he no longer wants their support. Here's a decoded on the Epstein files

State dept layoffs affect Trump priorities like intelligence, energy, China

One employee coordinated intelligence activities. Another worked to leverage US energy interests abroad. And a third was an expert on strategic competition with China. They are just some of the more than 1,300 State Department employees fired last week, eliminating hundreds of years of institutional knowledge and experience. The move has stunned America's diplomatic workforce, not only as their careers abruptly end but as they wonder who if anyone will fill in on what they call critical work to keep the US safe and competitive on the world stage. Many of the positions and offices abolished Friday under Secretary of State Marco Rubio's dramatic reorganisation plan overlap with priorities President Donald Trump has laid out for his second term, such as combating visa fraud and countering China. Other cuts could have wide impact on everyday life, including processing Americans' passport applications. Trump administration officials have defended the mass dismissals, saying they are .

Why did Trump admin allow Nvidia to resume H20 AI chips sales to China?

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the administration has allowed the resumption of sales of H20 AI chips because the company will not be giving its best technology to China

'Credible Epstein files should be released', says Trump amid MAGA backlash

Trump flip-flops on the release of the 'Epstein files' as his supporters express outrage on the lack of transparency, fuelling speculation about potential cover-ups involving high-profile figures

Trump admin pulls back deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in LA

About 2,000 National Guard troops will be released from duty because the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said

Trump admin fires 17 immigration court judges across 10 states, says union

Seventeen immigration court judges have been fired in recent days, according to the union that represents them, as the Trump administration pushes forward with its mass deportations of immigrants in the country. The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents immigration court judges as well as other professionals, said in a news release that 15 judges were fired "without cause" on Friday and another two on Monday. The union said they were working in courts in 10 different states across the country California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia. "It's outrageous and against the public interest that at the same time Congress has authorised 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause," said the union's President Matt Biggs. "This is nonsensical. The answer is to stop firing and start hiring." The firings come as the courts have been increasingly at th

US won't publish major climate change report on Nasa website as promised

The Trump administration has taken another step to make it harder to find major, legally mandated scientific assessments of how climate change is endangering the nation and its people. Earlier this month, the official government websites that hosted the authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments went dark. Such sites tell state and local governments and the public what to expect in their backyards from a warming world and how best to adapt to it. At the time, the White House said NASA would house the reports to comply with a 1990 law that requires the reports, which the space agency said it planned to do. But on Monday, NASA announced that it aborted those plans. "The USGCRP (the government agency that oversees and used to host the report) met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host globalchange.gov's data," NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. That means no data from the assessment or t

Trump to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine in major shift on arms policy

In a major policy shift, Trump approves Patriot missile aid to Ukraine after earlier freeze; Zelenskyy says talks with Trump were positive as Russian strikes intensify across Ukrainian cities

King Charles to host Trump for state visit between September 17-19

US President Donald Trump will make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK between Sept. 17 and 19 when he will be hosted by King Charles II and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace said Monday. Trump, who is a big supporter of the royal family, particularly of the monarch, will be accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump during the three-day visit, the palace confirmed. No US president has been invited for a second state visit. Trump previously enjoyed the pomp and pageantry of the state visit in 2019 during his first term when he was hosted by Charles' late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. The invitation for the second state visit from the king was hand-delivered by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in February during a meeting at the White House. After reading it, Trump said it was a great, great honor and appeared particularly pleased by the fact he will be staying at Windsor Castle, to the west of the capital. That's really something, he said. Precedent for ..

Senate panel blames Secret Service failures in Trump rally shooting attempt

The findings were released on the one-year mark of the shooting, which jolted the 2024 presidential campaign

Trump defends Attorney General Bondi amid Maga backlash over Epstein files

As conservative influencers attack Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Epstein case, Donald Trump urges unity, calling the investigation 'a waste of energy'

DOJ said to fire more prosecutors, staff involved in Trump prosecutions

The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter. The overall number of terminations was not immediately clear but they cut across both the classified documents and election interference prosecutions brought by Smith, and included a handful of prosecutors who were detailed to the probe as well as Justice Department support staff and other non-lawyer personnel who aided them, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves that have not been publicly announced. The firings are part of a broader wave of terminations that have roiled the department for months and that have targeted staff who worked on cases involving Trump and his supporters. In January, the Justice Department said that it had fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on prosecutions of Trump, and last month fired at least three ...

Trump admin considers deporting third-country nationals to Africa

South Sudan has accepted eight third-country deportees from the U.S. and Rwanda says it's in talk with the administration of President Donald Trump on a similar deal, while Nigeria says it's rejecting pressure to do the same. Although few details are known, these initiatives in Africa mark an expansion in U.S. efforts to deport people to countries other than their own. The United States has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama but has yet to announce any major deals with governments in Africa, Asia or Europe. While proponents see such programs as a way of deterring what they describe as unmanageable levels of migration, human rights advocates have raised concerns over sending migrants to countries where they have no ties or that may have a history of rights violations. Last year, U.K. Supreme Court ruled that a similar plan to deport rejected asylum-seekers to Rwanda was illegal. Trump meets with West African leaders Earlier this week, Trum

US state dept begins layoffs as SC ruling clears path for federal firings

US state department staffers have been informed of layoffs after a Supreme Court order overturned an injunction against executive-led agency restructuring without Congressional approval

Israel says Iran could recover enriched uranium at nuclear site hit by US

While Israeli officials suspect uranium remains at Isfahan, experts say any attempt by Iran to retrieve it would require a highly complex and difficult recovery effort

Freed from detention, Mahmoud Khalil files $20 mn claim against Trump govt

On a recent afternoon, Mahmoud Khalil sat in his Manhattan apartment, cradling his 10-week-old son as he thought back to the pre-dawn hours spent pacing a frigid immigration jail in Louisiana, awaiting news of the child's birth in New York. For a moment, the outspoken Palestinian activist found himself uncharacteristically speechless. I cannot describe the pain of that night, Khalil said finally, gazing down as the baby, Deen, cooed in his arms. This is something I will never forgive. Now, weeks after regaining his freedom, Khalil is seeking restitution. On Thursday, his lawyers filed a claim for $20 million in damages against the Trump administration, alleging Khalil was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite as the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests. The filing a precursor to a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act names the Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and th