Page 4 - Trump Administration

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 ...

Pakistan's role as mediator problematic, says US senator Lindsey Graham

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham termed "problematic" the role of Pakistan as a mediator in the United States' war with Iran. Graham's remarks came as Pakistan's Defence Minister Khwaja Asif said he is not in favour of Islamabad joining the Abraham Accords, which deal with establishing diplomatic, economic and security ties between Israel and Arab nations. Asif also talked about his country's long-standing position to not accept Israel until the Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital is established. "It has been apparent to me for quite a while that Pakistan as a mediator is more than problematic. Their animosity towards Israel is long standing," Graham said in a post on X. He asked Pakistan to respond to US President Donald Trump's call to mediators in the US-Iran war to join the Accords. "As to the defence minister's comments about the Abraham Accords, saying that Pakistan would never join because they don't trust Israel: The clip may be a

'Gone absolutely crazy': Trump again slams media coverage on Iran conflict

Trump's outburst came through a Truth Social post in which he called out the media outlets and democrats over the framing of the narrative around the conflict

India, US sign MoU to secure critical minerals, rare earths supply chains

The framework is designed to deepen comprehensive cooperation across the entire critical minerals and rare earth supply chain

US making progress with Iran on Hormuz, but Trump remains cautious: Rubio

The US has made significant progress in negotiations with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but President Donald Trump is maintaining a cautious approach and will not accept a bad deal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday. The remarks by the US Secretary of State, currently on a four-day trip to India, came amid indications that the US and Iran are looking at a preliminary deal to reopen the shipping lane before hammering out a comprehensive peace agreement. "Work is still in progress. We thought we might have some news last night, maybe today," he told a small group of reporters before leaving for Agra. "So we have what I think is a pretty solid thing on the table in terms of get the Strait open, enter into a very real, significant time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matters and hopefully we can pull it off," Rubio said The US Secretary of State said there has been global support for the ongoing efforts to end the conflict in West Asia, but added that the road to

Marco Rubio visits Saint Teresa's Mother House, children's home in Kolkata

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Kolkata on Saturday for his four-day diplomatic tour to India, with the city marking the opening leg of a visit that carries considerable political and historical resonance. His arrival in the eastern metropolis ended a 14-year hiatus since an American secretary of state last visited the city, coming only weeks after West Bengal witnessed a landmark political transition with a BJP-led government assuming office. In a post on X, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said, "Secretary Marco Rubio has landed in Kolkata. This is his first trip to India. Later today, we will call on Prime Minister @narendramodi in New Delhi. Trade, Technology, Defense, QUAD, and many other items to discuss and advance over the next few days!" Rubio became the first US secretary of state to set foot in Kolkata since Hillary Clinton visited the city in May 2012. Although the US Department of State was yet to publish Rubio's Kolkata itinerary, sources in the US ...

Rubio embarks on mission to ease tensions with allies during Nato meeting

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on his latest mission to assuage nervous US allies in Europe about the Trump administration's intentions with NATO or at least put a friendlier face on whipsawing changes and uncertainty about American troop reductions. Rubio will attend a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Sweden on Friday - the same day senior Pentagon officials are expected to brief the 32-nation alliance on plans for the US military's commitment to European defence at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels. The meeting of diplomats, which precedes a NATO leaders' summit in Turkey in July, comes amid great uncertainty over how the war in Iran will play out and whether stalled US efforts to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict will resume. Resentment also still simmers on the continent over President Donald Trump's criticism of allies and his interest in taking over Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. Rubio has often been called on to offer a calmer, less ...

Trump announces 5,000 additional US troops to Poland, sparks confusion

President Donald Trump on Thursday said the US will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, stirring confusion following weeks of changing statements from Trump and his administration about reducing - not increasing - the American military footprint in Europe. The Trump administration has said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and US officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer deploying to Poland. Trump's social media announcement raises more uncertainty for European allies that have been blindsided by the changes as the administration has complained about NATO members not shouldering enough of the burden of their own defense and failing to do more to support the Iran war. "Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland," Trump said on Truth ...