Trump, Donald J

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      Larry Hoover, Former Chicago Gang Leader, Wins Commutation From Trump

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      Mr. Hoover was accused of directing the Gangster Disciples even after he went to prison in the 1970s. The federal commutation will not change his state prison sentence.When an Illinois judge sentenced Larry Hoover to up to 200 years in prison for murder in the 1970s, it was the sort of punishment that seemed destined to end his career as a Chicago gang leader.But in the decades that followed, prosecutors said, Mr. Hoover’s power only grew as he directed one of Chicago’s most powerful gangs, the Gangster Disciples, from behind prison walls.Young members would pledge allegiance to Mr. Hoover, whom they called their “king,” and those who broke Gangster Disciple rules, prosecutors said, would face bloody retribution “up to and including murder.” His influence continued to grow into the 1990s, when he was convicted of more crimes in federal court and shipped off to a supermax prison with a life sentence.On Wednesday, after years of lobbying from Mr. Hoover’s supporters, including celebrities, President Trump fully commuted the federal sentence of Mr. Hoover, according to a White House official familiar with the matter.The commutation was not likely to bring Mr. Hoover, who is now 74 and largely a memory in his hometown, back to Chicago’s streets. His state prison sentence remains in effect, with a projected parole date of 2062, when Mr. Hoover would be 111. But the president’s decision showed his willingness to extend leniency to some prisoners, despite his frequent rhetoric about the danger of violent criminal gangs.Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Mr. Hoover, said that the process to commute Mr. Hoover’s sentence had been years in the making. The entertainer Ye, who was formerly known as Kanye West, lobbied Mr. Trump during his first term in office, she said, and others have joined the effort since then.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump’s Tariffs Turn Porsche’s Headwinds Into a ‘Violent Storm’

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      The storied sports car maker, which was facing challenges from China and slumping demand for electric cars, now has to grapple with tariffs from the Trump administration.This year was already shaping up to be a tough one for Porsche. Chinese customers were losing interest in the luxury sports car, its bet on electric vehicles was failing with drivers long enamored by the rumble of its combustion engines and its stock price hovered near record lows.Then President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on all cars imported to the United States starting in April. Last week, he doubled down on that, threatening a 50 percent tariff for all products from the European Union, sending Porsche’s shares tumbling further and E.U. leaders and auto executives scrambling to make a deal.All of Europe’s leading carmakers have been hit by the tariff turbulence, at a time when they are already facing increasing competition from Chinese automakers. But unlike BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, Porsche manufactures its vehicles exclusively in Germany, leaving it more vulnerable to the combined threat of advancements from China’s rivals and tariff increases in the United States.“It is literally a perfect storm,” said Harald Hendrikse, a managing director covering the European auto sector at Citi Research. “You have a triple threat, which is China, an E.V. strategy that was wrong — despite being lauded at the time — and then Trump’s tariffs, which nobody had guessed would be as severe as they are.”That has led Porsche to scale back its forecast for the year, by about 2 billion euros, or $2.2 billion. Its profit margin range is also expected to drop between 6.5 percent and 8.5 percent, from 10 percent to 12 percent.“Our market in China has literally collapsed,” Porsche’s chief executive, Oliver Blume, told shareholders at the company’s annual conference on May 21. “U.S. import tariffs are weighing on our business.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Elon Musk ‘Disappointed’ With Major Trump Policy Bill

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      Elon Musk also said the Republican bill, which passed the House last week, would undermine the work of his DOGE group.Elon Musk criticized the far-reaching Republican bill intended to enact President Trump’s domestic policy agenda, saying it would undermine the administration’s own efforts to shrink federal spending.“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it,” Mr. Musk said in an excerpt from an interview with CBS’s “Sunday Morning” that was released late Tuesday.Mr. Musk added that the bill, which is headed to the Senate after squeaking through the House last week, would undermine the work of the Department of Government Efficiency, the White House effort to shrink the federal government that Mr. Trump tapped him to lead.Mr. Trump has urged swift passage of the bill — officially called the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act — which would slash taxes, providing the biggest savings to the wealthy, and steer more money to the military and immigration enforcement. As written, the legislation would cut health, nutrition, education and clean energy programs to cover part of the cost.But Mr. Musk said he was not sold on a bill that has emerged as the president’s top legislative priority. “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Mr. Musk said. “But I don’t know if it can be both.”A combination of Mr. Trump’s lobbying and compromises struck by Speaker Mike Johnson managed to get the bill through the House, but it faces significant hurdles in the Senate. Republicans hold a only a slim margin in the chamber, and two fiscal conservatives have said they want significant changes on the grounds that the bill lacks concrete measures to reduce the national deficit.Mr. Musk — who spent more than $250 million to help Mr. Trump’s campaign — joined the White House as a “special government employee” to lead the DOGE effort, which Mr. Trump hailed as one of his biggest accomplishments. The effort, which set the lofty goal of slashing $1 trillion from the federal budget but has fallen far short of that goal, has led to clashes with cabinet secretaries and complaints from some lawmakers.Mr. Musk’s support for Mr. Trump has also caused sales to plummet at Tesla, his electric car company, and last week the billionaire said he would spend less time in Washington and more time running his companies. More

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      Trump’s Attacks Have Helped Heal a Deeply Divided Harvard

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      Once at odds over the war in Gaza and questions about free speech, some people on Harvard’s campus have found a reason to come together.A leading pro-Palestinian student demonstrator led chants for a crowd of hundreds gathered in front of the gates to Harvard Yard on Tuesday evening.A former Jewish leader on campus who has criticized pro-Palestinian campus activism delivered the first speech.A professor who is one of Harvard’s most prominent critics then joined them to urge people to defend the university.Harvard in recent years has been the site of bitter acrimony over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, free speech and the future of American higher education.But the Trump administration’s attack on Harvard has infused the campus with a sense of unity it has lacked over the last year and half, as the university prepares for commencement this week.“School pride is probably at an all-time high,” said Abdullah Shahid Sial, a sophomore from Pakistan and one of Harvard’s two undergraduate student body presidents. He said he had not seen the campus so unified. “I hope it continues.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump to Pardon Todd and Julie Chrisley, Reality TV Stars Convicted of Fraud

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      The clemency for Todd and Julie Chrisley, the stars of “Chrisley Knows Best,” is Mr. Trump’s latest gift to people he calls victims of a weaponized justice system.President Trump will fully pardon the reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted three years ago of evading taxes and defrauding banks of more than $30 million to support their luxurious lifestyle.The pardon, announced Tuesday by the White House, is the latest instance of Mr. Trump using his clemency power to settle grievances over what he calls the political weaponization of the justice system. Mr. Trump, in notifying the Chrisleys’ daughter, Savannah, called their treatment “pretty harsh,” as shown in a video clip of their call posted to social media by one of the president’s special assistants, Margo Martin.“Your parents are going to be free and clean, and I hope we can do it by tomorrow,” Mr. Trump tells Savannah Chrisley, adding, “I don’t know them, but give them my regards and wish them a good life.”Savannah Chrisley can be heard saying, “Thank you so much, Mr. President.”The Chrisleys soared to fame about a decade ago in the USA Network hit “Chrisley Knows Best” as self-made, God-fearing real estate moguls who lived in a 30,000-square-foot mansion outside Atlanta. But according to prosecutors, their empire was “based on the lie that their wealth came from dedication and hard work” and they were “career swindlers who have made a living by jumping from one fraud scheme to another, lying to banks, stiffing vendors and evading taxes at every corner.”A jury in 2022 found the couple guilty of eight counts of financial fraud and two counts of tax evasion, while Ms. Chrisley was convicted of additional counts of wire fraud and obstruction of justice. Mr. Chrisley received a 12-year prison sentence, and Ms. Chrisley was sentenced to seven years.According to the Justice Department, the Chrisleys conspired with a former business partner to defraud banks around Atlanta into giving them more than $36 million in personal loans. They submitted false bank statements, audit reports and personal financial statements to obtain the loans, the Justice Department said, and spent the money on luxury cars, real estate and clothing, while also using new fraudulent loans to repay older ones. After spending all the money, the Justice Department said, Mr. Chrisley filed for bankruptcy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Marshals’ Data Shows Spike in Threats Against Federal Judges

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      Data gathered by the law enforcement agency responsible for judicial security showed 162 judges faced threats between March 1 and April 14.Threats against federal judges have risen drastically since President Trump took office, according to internal data compiled by the U.S. Marshals Service.In the five-month period leading up to March 1 of this year, 80 individual judges had received threats, the data shows.Then, over the next six weeks, an additional 162 judges received threats, a dramatic increase. That spike in threats coincided with a flood of harsh rhetoric — often from Mr. Trump himself — criticizing judges who have ruled against the administration and, in some cases, calling on Congress to impeach them.Many judges have already spoken out, worrying about the possibility of violence and urging political leaders to tone things down.Since mid-April, the pace of the threats has slowed slightly, the data shows. Between April 14 and May 27, it shows 35 additional individual judges received threats. Still, the total number of judges threatened this fiscal year — 277 — represents roughly a third of the judiciary.The threat data was not released publicly but was provided to The New York Times by Judge Esther Salas of Federal District Court for New Jersey, who said she obtained it from the Marshals Service, which is tasked by law with overseeing security for the judiciary.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ICE, Shifting Tactics, Detains High School Student at N.Y.C. Courthouse

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      The detention of a 20-year-old Venezuelan appears to be the first reported instance of immigration officials apprehending a student in the city this year.When a 20-year-old from Venezuela was arrested last week at an immigration courthouse in New York, it was the first reported instance of a public school student in the city being apprehended by federal officials since the start of President Trump’s second term.It also signaled a shift in strategy by immigration authorities who are intent on expediting deportations.Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last week began standing inside and outside of immigration courts across the United States in an effort to detain certain migrants who are appearing for scheduled hearings. Immigration lawyers said ICE officers — from San Diego and Los Angeles to Boston and Miami — were targeting migrants shortly after their cases were dismissed by judges. Government lawyers are requesting that the cases be dismissed in order to place the migrants in expedited deportation proceedings.Dylan, the New York student, was arrested on Wednesday in the lobby of a courthouse in Lower Manhattan by ICE officers who showed up at the city’s immigration courts in large numbers. Dylan’s last name was withheld at the request of his family, which fears retaliation from the government.Dylan, 20, was arrested after he showed up to court for what he thought would be a routine hearing.RaizaOn Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams fended off a barrage of questions about the student’s arrest.Mr. Adams, who oversees a school system serving thousands of immigrant students, sought to distance himself from Dylan’s apprehension, saying that the arrest was a federal issue beyond his purview because it did not happen on school grounds.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Pardoned Tax Cheat After Mother Attended $1 Million Dinner

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      Paul Walczak’s pardon application cited his mother’s support for the president, including raising millions of dollars and a connection to a plot to publicize a Biden family diary.As Paul Walczak awaited sentencing early this year, his best hope for avoiding prison time rested with the newly inaugurated president.Mr. Walczak, a former nursing home executive who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes days after the 2024 election, submitted a pardon application to President Trump around Inauguration Day. The application focused not solely on Mr. Walczak’s offenses but also on the political activity of his mother, Elizabeth Fago.Ms. Fago had raised millions of dollars for Mr. Trump’s campaigns and those of other Republicans, the application said. It also highlighted her connections to an effort to sabotage Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s 2020 campaign by publicizing the addiction diary of his daughter Ashley Biden — an episode that drew law enforcement scrutiny.Mr. Walczak’s pardon application argued that his criminal prosecution was motivated more by his mother’s efforts for Mr. Trump than by his admitted use of money earmarked for employees’ taxes to fund an extravagant lifestyle.Still, weeks went by and no pardon was forthcoming, even as Mr. Trump issued clemency grants to hundreds of other allies.Then, Ms. Fago was invited to a $1-million-per-person fund-raising dinner last month that promised face-to-face access to Mr. Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More