Tag Archives: Trump administration

Axios reports: Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday she is resuming the practice of attempting to seize reporters’ phone records in order to smoke out leakers. It is a complete reversal of the policy that former President Biden and former Attorney General Merrick Garland put in place restricting subpoenas of reporters’ news-gathering materials. “I have concluded that it is necessary …

Politico reports: Trump administration officials have discussed allowing some Afghan refugees to remain in the United States, days after a group of potentially vulnerable migrants from the war-torn country received emails from Customs and Border Protection revoking their humanitarian parole status. The policy discussions come as prominent Christian leaders and nonprofit organizations have pressed the White House to protect what …

CBS News reports: The United States Department of Agriculture is withdrawing a rule proposed in August to help prevent food poisoning from poultry contaminated with salmonella. The Biden Administration effort, which had been in development for three years, would have required poultry companies to keep levels of salmonella bacteria under a certain threshold and test for the presence of six …

April Ryan writes for Black Press USA: “This president is a master of distraction and is destroying what it took 250 years to build. Here’s another distraction in his quest for attention. Another failure of his first 100 days,” said North Carolina Rep. Alma Adams, responding to efforts to physically remove the Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth’s lunch counter exhibit from …

Axios reports: FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday in a since-deleted post that his agency had arrested a Milwaukee judge who allegedly tried to help an undocumented defendant avoid arrest. Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, was arrested on charges of obstruction of an immigration arrest operation, Patel’s post said. “We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents …

CNN reports: Trump emergency management officials are discussing reforms that would make it much harder for communities to qualify for federal disaster assistance, honoring President Donald Trump’s executive order to shift more responsibility for disaster response and recovery to states rather than the federal government. A memo from acting FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton [photo], a Trump appointee, outlines a long …

Semafor reports: Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary said Thursday he has “no plans to take action” to restrict the availability of mifepristone, the pill used in most medication abortions in the US. Speaking at the Semafor World Economy Summit, Makary took a firmer stance on the issue than he did in his Senate confirmation hearing last month, when …

Politico reports: The State Department is eliminating the Office of Global Change, which oversees international climate change negotiations for the United States. Staff were told about the move verbally Thursday afternoon, according to three people who were granted anonymity to speak about the decision to avoid reprisal. The news thrust the office into chaos and raised questions among staff about …

The Hill reports: China canceled 12,000 metric tons of United States pork shipments amid a high-stakes trade standoff between the superpowers, according to data released Thursday. China, one of the biggest U.S. trading partners, axed 12,000 metric tons of U.S. pork orders, the data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows. The move represents the biggest cancellation of pork …

Mediaite reports: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth went off on the acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff amid a search for a leaker at the Pentagon, according to a report published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal. The paper said Hegseth was “rattled” after word got out last month that the Pentagon was set to brief Elon Musk …

The Associated Press reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press. The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified …

The Hill reports: Demonstrators gathered Thursday on the steps of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for a “die-in” over proposed funding cuts at the agency that could devastate programs addressing LGBTQ health disparities. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sought to radically reshape HHS and its approach to health care, including through funding cuts to programs …

ABC News reports: Ed Martin, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the next U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., apologized in a new interview for his past praise of a Jan. 6 rioter who had a lengthy history of antisemitic statements and infamously posted photos of himself dressed as Adolf Hitler. “I’m sorry,” Ed Martin said in an interview with the Jewish …

The Hill reports: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned states Thursday that they will lose federal funding for roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects if they continue to foster diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs; impede President Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts; or defy other directives from the administration. “Federal grants come with a clear obligation to adhere to federal laws,” Duffy …

Reuters reports: A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday blocked Donald Trump’s administration from withholding federal funding from several so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to cooperate with the Republican president’s hardline immigration crackdown. U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued the injunction at the request of 16 cities and counties nationally led by San Francisco that in a lawsuit …

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump administration directives that threatened to cut federal funding for public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the Republican administration of violating teachers’ due process and First Amendment rights. …

The Washington Post reports: The United States faces millions of measles cases over the next 25 years if vaccination rates for the disease drop 10 percent, according to new research published Thursday. No change in the current vaccination rate would result in hundreds of thousands of measles cases over the same period, according to a mathematical model produced by a team …

The Hill reports: National Economic Council (NEC) Director Kevin Hassett dismissed the notion that President Trump is worried about empty shelves in supermarkets and households due to the ongoing tariff war and claimed the U.S. is actively engaged in trade negotiations with scores of countries around the world. “No, absolutely not,” Hassett said Wednesday night in an interview on Fox …

Axios reports: Food and Drug Administration databases that physicians and public health experts rely on for key drug safety and manufacturing information have been neglected due to DOGE-directed layoffs, leaving health professionals flying blind on basic questions about certain drugs they’re prescribing, current and former FDA officials tell Axios. Information gaps that have become a hallmark of the workforce reductions …

NBC News reports: The Trump administration has quietly transformed the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, forcing out a majority of career managers and implementing new priorities that current and former officials say abandon a decadeslong mission of enforcing laws that prohibit discrimination in hiring, housing and voting rights.  “It’s been a complete bloodbath,” said a senior Justice Department lawyer in the …