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Trump news at a glance: US and Ukraine sign long-awaited minerals deal; Noem doubles down on deportation threat
Ukraine and the US have signed a deal pushed by President Donald Trump that will give the US preferential access to Ukrainian mineral resources and fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.The accord establishes a joint investment fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction as Trump tries to secure a peace settlement in Russia’s three-year-old war in Ukraine.After fraught negotiations, which almost collapsed at the last minute, the agreement is central to Kyiv’s efforts to mend ties with Trump and the White House, which frayed after he took office in January.Here are the key stories at a glance:US and Ukraine sign minerals deal after months of negotiationsThe US and Kyiv have signed an agreement to share revenues from the future sale of Ukrainian minerals and rare earths, sealing a deal that Donald Trump has said will provide an economic incentive for the US to continue to invest in Ukraine’s defense and its reconstruction after he brokers a peace deal with Russia.Read the full storyKristi Noem says Ábrego García would be deported if returned to USKristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, said that if Kilmar Ábrego García was sent back to the US, the Trump administration “would immediately deport him again.” Ábrego García is a Salvadorian man who the Trump administration has admitted was mistakenly deported from Maryland last month. Noem’s comments come as a federal judge again directed the Trump administration to provide information about its efforts so far, if any, to comply with her order to retrieve Ábrego García from an El Salvador prison.Read the full storyTrump officials contacted El Salvador president about Ábrego García, sources sayBehind the scenes, the Trump administration has been in touch directly with the Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele in recent days about the detention of Kilmar Ábrego García, the man wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, according to two people familiar with the matter.The nature of the discussion and its purpose was not clear because multiple Trump officials have said the administration was not interested in his coming back.Read the full storyTrump pressures journalist to accept doctored photo as realDonald Trump lashed out at an ABC journalist in a tense TV interview to mark 100 days of his second term in office, in which among other confrontations he angrily pushed correspondent Terry Moran to agree with him that a doctored photo was actually real, telling him: “Why don’t you just say yes.”Read the full storyUS economy shrinks in first quarter of Trump 2.0The US economy shrank in the first three months of the year, according to official data, triggering fears of an American recession and a global economic slowdown. Donald Trump, who returned to the White House promising to “make America great again”, sought to blame Joe Biden for the figure.Read the full storyUS supreme court open to religious public charter schoolsThe US supreme court’s conservative majority seemed open to establishing the country’s first public religious charter school as they weighed a case that could have significant ramifications on the separation of church and state.Read the full storyColumbia student freed after federal judge orders releaseMohsen Mahdawi walked out of immigration detention after a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release. The Palestinian green-card holder and student at Columbia University had been detained and ordered deported by the Trump administration on 14 April despite not being charged with a crime.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:
Detainees at an immigrant detention center in the small city of Anson, Texas, sent the outside world a message as a drone flew by: SOS.
The US is treading the path followed by democracies that descended into authoritarianism and dictatorship, former ambassadors to countries that underwent autocratic takeovers warned.
The Trump administration is moving to cancel $1bn in school mental health grants, saying they reflect the priorities of the previous administration.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 29 April 2025. More - in US Politics
Trump officials contacted El Salvador president about Kilmar Ábrego García, sources say
The Trump administration has been in touch directly with the Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele in recent days about the detention of Kilmar Ábrego García, the man wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, according to two people familiar with the matter.The nature of the discussion and its purpose was not clear because multiple Trump officials have said the administration was not interested in his coming back to the US despite the US supreme court ordering it to “facilitate” Ábrego García’s release.The contacts produced no new developments after Bukele rejected the outreach, the people said. The supreme court had ordered the administration to return Ábrego García to the US so that he would face immigration proceedings as he would have, had he not been sent to El Salvador.The discussions appeared to be an effort by the Trump administration to window dress the underlying legal case and build a paper trail it could reference before the US district judge Paula Xinis, who previously ruled that Donald Trump raising the matter in the Oval Office was insufficient.Ábrego García has since been moved out of Cecot, the mega-prison officials known as the terrorism confinement center, to another prison in El Salvador since the supreme court ruling which the administration has repeatedly tried to manufacture uncertainty around or otherwise misrepresent.The recalcitrance from the US administration to comply has been on display for weeks as senior Trump advisers have become increasingly determined to use it as a case to test the extent of presidential power and its boast that the courts have no practical way to ensure quick compliance with orders.At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said he would “never tell” if he had been in touch with Bukele. CNN earlier reported Rubio has had discussions with Bukele directly. The New York Times reported there had been a diplomatic note sent to Bukele.“I would never tell you that. And you know who else I’ll never tell? A judge,” Rubio said as he sat next to Trump, adding it was “because the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president to the united states and the executive branch, not some judge”.And in an interview with ABC News that aired the night before, the US president himself said he “could” tell El Salvador to return Ábrego García.When it was raised to him that he had the ability to call Bukele and say “send him back right now”, Trump deflected responsibility. “I’m not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don’t want to do this,” he said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe remarks could yet pose major headaches for the justice department in court as it prepares in the coming weeks to face a series of probing questions from Ábrego García’s lawyers, in writing and in depositions, about the administration’s efforts to comply with the supreme court ruling.By Trump saying that his lawyers had told him not to call Bukele, it could open the department up to bruising questions about whether they were deliberately flouting the order and place them in threat of contempt.After a closed-door hearing on Wednesday in federal district court in Maryland, Xinis refused the justice department’s request to extend a pause in discovery proceedings, ordering it to respond to questions from Ábrego García’s lawyers about his detention by this Friday.Xinis also said in an expedited deposition schedule that Ábrego García’s lawyers could interview up to six administration officials – including Robert Cerna, a top official at Ice, and Joseph Mazarra, the acting general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security – by next Thursday. More
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Trump’s loyal footsoldiers doff their Maga caps at cabinet love-in
There were navy blue and red baseball caps up and down the table, strategically placed in front of every cabinet member, and each bearing the message “Gulf of America”.Yet the unorthodox collection of headwear, embroidered with Donald Trump’s forced new name for the centuries-old Gulf of Mexico, was far from the most bizarre aspect of an extraordinary White House gathering hosted by the president on Wednesday.The cabinet meeting to commemorate the first 100 days of Trump’s second term was, in the view of some social media commentators, something more akin to a gathering of Kim Jong-un loyalists in North Korea, each successive speaker trying to outshine the other in heaping lavish praise on their dear leader.There was the sight of Elon Musk, the outgoing head of the unofficial “department of government efficiency”, placing one of the red Gulf of America hats on top of the Doge one he was already wearing.There was also an outing for a favorite Maga – Make America Great Again – conspiracy theory, with the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, repeating the debunked claim that 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children were somehow “lost” by the Biden administration.Pam Bondi, Trump’s hand-picked attorney general, played the role of chief cheerleader, causing the president to nod his head as she commended him.“Mr President, your first 100 days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country ever, ever,” she gushed. “[I’ve] never seen anything like it, thank you.”Recalling her Tuesday visit to the Drug Enforcement Administration she added: “They said to me you, Donald Trump, have taken the handcuffs off of DEA agents.”It was, however, some peculiar allegations made by Kennedy concerning the Biden-era health and human services (HHS) department that really raised eyebrows, coming soon after “loud quacks” from the health secretary’s duck-themed cellphone ringtone interrupted Trump, the Associated Press reported.“We have ended HHS, as the role as effector, the principal effector in this country, for child trafficking,” Kennedy said.He went on: “During the Biden administration HHS became a collaborator in child trafficking for sex and for slavery. And we have ended that and we are very aggressively going out and trying to find these children, 300,000 children that were lost by the Biden administration.”During his campaign for the 2024 election, Trump repeatedly misrepresented government data to falsely claim that 300,000 migrant children who crossed the border unaccompanied had gone missing, and said many of them were trafficked or likely to be dead.The children were not in fact lost or missing. HHS data recorded only the numbers crossing the border, and tracking ceased when they were placed in homes and communities with relatives already in the US.Kennedy did not expand on the “aggressive” efforts his department was making to try to find children who were actually never missing.Much of the rest of the two-hour meeting, and a question-and-answer session with the media, was consumed by Trump talking up the perceived accomplishments of his first 100 days. He attempted to distance himself from Tuesday’s bleak economic data that suggests the US could be heading for a recession on the back of his tariff policies:“I’m not taking a credit or discredit for the stock market,” he said. “I’m just saying we inherited a mess.”Yet when the stock market was soaring during the final year of Biden’s presidency, Trump frequently insisted it was because investors were buoyant at the prospect of him returning to the White House.The president was asked by a reporter on Wednesday if he had spoken with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, about the tariffs that have sparked a potentially costly trade war between the countries, and have led to predictions of empty shelves before the end of the year as imports dry up.Trump said he had not, and offered his own prediction as to how Christmas might look for American families.“Somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are gonna be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls,” he said.“So maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally.”The Associated Press contributed to this report More
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Democrats rally at US Capitol to decry ‘failure’ of Trump’s first 100 days
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers gathered on the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday to accuse Donald Trump of spending his first 100 days damaging the US economy and democracy with the help of “complicit” congressional Republicans.The speeches by party leaders served as a counterpoint to Trump’s insistence at a rally in Michigan the night before that he has “delivered the most profound change in Washington in nearly 100 years” with an administration focused on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, the dismantling of parts of the federal government and the levying of tariffs on major US trading partners.Democrats, meanwhile, are still reeling from a disappointing performance in last November’s elections but believe that as the economy’s health shows signs of flagging and GOP lawmakers get to work on what is expected to be a significant piece of legislation to extend tax cuts while slashing the social safety net, they have an opportunity to regain voters’ trust.“Donald Trump’s first 100 days can be defined by one big F-word: failure. Failure on the economy, failure on lowering costs, failure on tariffs, failure on foreign policy, failure on preserving democracy, failure on helping middle-class families,” the top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said from the Capitol steps.He went on to characterize Republican lawmakers, few of whom have broken publicly with the president since his 20 January inauguration, as “co-conspirators. They are complicit. They are aiding and abetting all of Donald Trump’s failures. They’re not standing up to him once they’re involved and they will shoulder the blame.”The party gathered hours after the release of economic data that showed the US economy shrank in the first three months of this year, which lawmakers said was evidence Trump had broken the promise of prosperity he made to American voters.“A hundred days into this presidency, we’ve gone from three years of solid growth in our economy to the steepest decline that we’ve seen since the pandemic. That’s the truth,” said the Delaware senator Lisa Blunt Rochester. “Groceries are up, retirement savings are down, that’s the truth. Outbreaks of measles and the avian flu, that’s the truth.”More than 1,300 days remain in Trump’s presidency, but Democrats are eyeing a resurgence in next November’s midterm elections. A return to a majority in the House is within reach, as the current GOP majority is just three votes, a historically low margin.Earlier in the day, the House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said that the party can only do so much without controlling at least one chamber of Congress, but promised change as soon as they returned to the majority.“As Democrats, we will fight as hard as we can the next two years to stop bad things from happening. We will protect our system of free and fair elections, and then work hard to convince the American people to entrust us the majority next November,” Jeffries said at a speech at a Washington DC theater.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“At that point, we will be able to do much, much more for you,” Jeffries said, promising to “block any budget that goes after your social security, Medicare or Medicaid” and “hold the Trump administration accountable for its corrupt abuse of power”.Trump’s 100th day in office came not long after major polls showed his approval rating had dropped well belong 50%, fueled by concerns over his economic policies but also some wariness over his aggressive approach to immigration enforcement, which has seen high-profiles cases of foreigners being removed from the country on questionable grounds.Yet the Democrats have their own rebuilding to do. Recent surveys have indicated that voters are sour on the party, with a CNN poll released last month finding its approval rating has never been lower.The House Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar signaled that the party plans to put economic concerns at the heart of its pitch to voters as it eyes rebuilding legislative majorities in 2026.“We’re going to focus on making life more affordable, making life easier for everyday Americans in these next 100 days and at every turn, until we flip the House and we flip the Senate and we put a check on the Trump administration’s reckless economic policies,” Aguilar said. More
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Trump administration to cancel $1bn in Biden-era school mental health grants
The Trump administration is moving to cancel $1bn in school mental health grants, saying they reflect the priorities of the previous administration.Grant recipients were notified on Tuesday that the funding will not be continued after this year. A gun violence bill signed by Joe Biden in 2022 sent $1bn to the grant programs to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors and other mental health workers.A new notice said an education department review of the programs found they violated the purpose of civil rights law, conflicted with the department’s policy of prioritizing merit and fairness, and amounted to an inappropriate use of federal money.The cuts were made public in a social media post from the conservative strategist Christopher Rufo, who claimed the money was used to advance “left-wing racialism and discrimination”. He posted excerpts from several grant documents setting goals to hire certain numbers of nonwhite counselors or pursue other diversity, equity and inclusion policies.“No more slush fund for activists under the guise of mental health,” Rufo wrote.The education department confirmed the cuts. In an update to members of Congress that was obtained by the Associated Press, department officials said the Republican administration would find other ways to support mental health.“The Department plans to re-envision and re-compete its mental health program funds to more effectively support students’ behavioral health needs,” according to the notice.Donald Trump’s administration has cut billions of dollars in federal grants deemed to be related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and has threatened to cut billions more from schools and colleges over diversity practices. The administration says any policy that treats people differently because of their race amounts to discrimination, and it argues that DEI has often been used to discriminate against white and Asian American students. More
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If leaders stay silent, the US won’t survive Trump’s next 100 days | Robert Reich
We have witnessed the first 100 days of the odious Trump regime.The US constitution is in peril. Civil and human rights are being trampled upon. The economy is in disarray.At this rate, we will not make it through the second 100 days.Federal judges in more than 120 cases so far have sought to stop Trump – judges appointed by Republicans as well as Democrats, some appointed by Trump himself – but the regime is either ignoring or appealing their orders. It has even arrested a municipal judge in Milwaukee amid a case involving an undocumented defendant.Recently, Judge J Harvie Wilkinson III of the court of appeals for the fourth circuit – an eminent conservative Reagan appointee who is revered by the Federalist Society – issued a scathing rebuke to the Trump regime. In response to its assertion that it can abduct residents of the US and put them into foreign prisons without due process, Wilkinson wrote:
If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home? And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies? The threat, even if not the actuality, would always be present, and the Executive’s obligation to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ would lose its meaning.
Wilkinson’s fears are already being realized. Ice recently deported three US citizens – aged two, four and seven – when their mothers were deported to Honduras. One of the children, who has stage 4 cancer, was sent out of the US without medication or consultation with doctors.Meanwhile, the regime continues to attack all the independent institutions in this country that have traditionally served as buffers against tyranny – universities, non-profits, lawyers and law firms, the media, science and researchers, libraries and museums, the civil service and independent agencies – threatening them with extermination or loss of funding if they do not submit to its oversight and demands.Trump has even instructed the Department of Justice to investigate ActBlue, the platform that handles the fundraising for almost all Democratic candidates and the issues Democrats support.Meanwhile, Trump is actively destroying the economy. His proposed tariffs are already raising prices. His attacks on the Fed chief, Jerome Powell, are causing tremors around the world.Trump wants total power, even at the cost of our democracy and economy.His polls are plummeting yet many Americans are still in denial. “He’s getting things done!” some say. “He’s tough and strong!”Every American with any shred of authority must loudly and boldly explain the danger we are in.A few Democratic members and progressives in Congress (Bernie Sanders, AOC, Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy) have expressed outrage, but most seem oddly quiet. Granted, they have no direct power to stop what is occurring but they cannot and must not appear to acquiesce. They need to be heard, every day – protesting, demanding, resisting, refusing.Barack Obama has spoken up at least once, to his credit, but where is my old boss, Bill Clinton? Where is George W Bush? Where are their former vice-presidents – Al Gore and Dick Cheney? Where are their former cabinet members? They all must be heard, too.What about Republican members of Congress? Are none willing to stand up against what is occurring? And what of Republican governors and state legislators? If there were ever a time for courage and integrity, it is now. Their silence is inexcusable.Over 400 university presidents have finally issued a letter opposing “the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education”. Good. Now they must speak out against the overreach endangering all of American democracy.Hundreds of law firms have joined a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the law firm Perkins Coie’s appeal of the regime’s demands. Fine. Now, they along with the American Bar Association and every major law school must sound the alarm about Trump’s vindictive and abusive use of the justice department.America’s religious leaders have a moral obligation to speak out. They have a spiritual duty to their congregations and to themselves to make their voices heard.The leaders of American business – starting with Jamie Dimon, the chair and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who in normal times has assumed the role of spokesperson for American business – have been conspicuously silent. Of course they fear Trump’s retribution. Of course they hope for a huge tax cut. But these hardly excuse their seeming assent to the destruction of American democracy.We have witnessed what can happen in just the first 100 days. I’m not at all sure we can wait until the 2026 midterm elections and hope that Democrats take back at least one chamber of Congress. At the rate this regime is wreaking havoc, too much damage will have been done by then.The nation is tottering on the edge of dictatorship.We are no longer Democrats or Republicans. We are either patriots fighting the regime or we are complicit in its tyranny. There is no middle ground.Soon, I fear, the regime will openly defy the supreme court. Americans must be mobilized into such a huge wave of anger and disgust that members of the House are compelled to impeach Trump (for the third time) and enough senators are moved to finally convict him.Then this shameful chapter of American history will end.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com More
