US news

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares149 Views

      in US Politics

      Modi heads to US in mission to dodge a tit-for-tat tariff battle

      by

      The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, is heading to Washington for high-stakes talks in an attempt to avoid a trade war with Donald Trump.India is considering tariff cuts in at least a dozen sectors in the hope of dodging US tariffs that would pile more pressure on its already slowing economy.Wednesday’s meeting will test the much-hyped “bromance” between Trump and Modi, in which they exchanged bear hugs and effusive compliments during the president’s first term. Trump has called Modi “the nicest human being”, while the Indian prime minister has referred to the president as his “dear friend.” Both are populists who rose to power on waves of anti-establishment ardour and nationalism.The Indian foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, told reporters that the fact the prime minister had been invited to visit the US “within barely three weeks of the new administration taking office, shows the importance of the India-US partnership”.Trump has not held back his frustration over India’s high tariffs, labelling the country a “very big abuser” and accusing it of blocking US imports.Modi’s two-day visit comes shortly after Trump announced a 25% tariff on global steel and aluminium imports into the US. Calling the tariffs “the first of many”, the president indicated there could be levies on cars, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other goods. He is planning a system of “reciprocal tariffs”, saying: “If they charge us, we charge them.”The metal tariffs have rattled India’s steel and aluminium industries, which export good worth billions of dollars to the US each year. The Indian Steel Association said on Tuesday the steel tariff was “expected to slash exports to the US by 85%”.In an effort to pre-empt punitive trade action, in its budget last week the Indian government cut duties on a range of goods, including high-end motorcycles such as Harley-Davidsons. It is also considering tariff cuts on other products, including electronics, medical and surgical equipment, chemicals, dish antennae and wood pulp, many of which originate in the US.Bilateral trade has been growing steadily, surpassing $118bn (£95bn) in the last financial year, with India running a $32bn trade surplus. Trump says he wants a relationship that is more “fair” while India says it is open to discussing a limited trade deal to address US concerns about market access.Trump has urged Modi to buy more US defence and energy products, with India presenting a lucrative market as the world’s largest arms importer. Nuclear energy, including small and modular reactors, is also on the agenda, as India seeks to expand its clean energy sources to meet decarbonisation targets. Reports suggest India is already in talks to buy combat vehicles and finalise a fighter jet engine deal.Another significant issue is Trump’s crackdown on illegal migration. The president says Modi has assured him India “will do what’s right” on the matter.The US last week deported 104 Indian migrants and plans to return many more. Images of deportees in shackles during a 42-hour military flight prompted public anger in India, with a senior Indian government official responding that “this kind of treatment can perhaps be avoided”. Discussions are expected to focus on managing the return of hundreds of other Indian nationals to be deported.Modi will also push for expanding H-1B visas, which are vital for the Indian IT workforce in the US. Importantly for Modi, Trump has expressed support for the H-1B visa programme, which brings skilled foreign workers to the tech sector. Elon Musk has backed the H-1B visa scheme, saying it drives innovation but, highlighting the ideological divide among key figures in Trump’s orbit, Steve Bannon and other Maga voices argue that H-1B visas siphon jobs and undermine American workers.Modi has framed his visit as an opportunity to build on the successes of the US-India partnership, in particular in technology, defence, energy, and supply chains. But his immediate mission is to keep trade relations from spiralling into a damaging tit-for-tat tariff battle. More

    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Elon Musk appears with Trump and tries to claim ‘Doge’ team is transparent

      by

      Elon Musk claimed in the Oval Office on Tuesday that his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) was providing maximum transparency as it bulldozed its way through the federal government, remarks contradicted by the reality of how he has operated in deep secrecy.The appearance from Musk was the first time he had taken questions from the news media since his arrival in Washington, and he used his time standing next to Donald Trump at the Resolute Desk to defend the aggressive cost-cutting measures the Doge team has pursued.Musk confidently asserted, without offering any evidence, that some officials at the now gutted USAid had been taking “kickbacks” and that “quite a few people” in the government had “managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position”.The most startling claim centered on his insistence that the Doge team had been transparent about its activities as it had swept through roughly 20 agencies, seeking the removal of career officials who stood in his way and accessing sensitive data systems.“We are actually trying to be as transparent as possible,” Musk said, referring to what Doge has posted on X. “So all of our actions are maximally transparent. I don’t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the Doge organization.”In reality, Musk has taken great pains to conceal how Doge has operated, starting with his own involvement in the project. Musk himself is a “special government employee”, which the White House has said means his financial disclosure filing will not be made public.The Doge team involves about 40 staffers, but the actual number is not known. Staffers have tried to keep their identities private and refused to give their last names to career officials at the agencies they were detailed to, the Guardian has previously reported.Musk has also tried to stop Doge staffers from being identified. When the Wall Street Journal reported that one 25-year-old staffer, Marko Elez, had made racist posts on an anonymous X account in recent months, Musk called for the reporter who wrote the story to be fired.Their identities have slowly come to light not because of any transparency efforts on the part of Musk but as a result of Doge staffers having to use their official government emails and sometimes being added to employee directories – often over their objections.Doge technically reports to the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. But Musk has operated with virtually unchecked power as he radically reshapes the federal government, and some of his moves have caught the White House by surprise, a person familiar with the matter said.Musk’s appearance came on the sidelines of Trump signing new executive orders related to his bureaucratic cost-cutting initiatives, including one to implement the “workforce optimization initiative” of Doge that limits hiring, according to a White House official.The billionaire stood next to the Resolute Desk, where Trump sat as he signed the executive orders, wearing a black “Dark Maga” hat and accompanied by his young son, who is named X. While Musk responded to reporters, Trump was busy staring at the boy with amusement.Asked about possible conflicts of interest as a result of Musk gutting agencies that either are investigating his companies for regulatory noncompliance or that have contracts with his companies, such as the defense department, Musk suggested there were none.“First of all, I’m not the one filing the contract. It’s the people at SpaceX or something,” said Musk, the founder, chief executive, chief engineer and chair of SpaceX.Pressed by reporters on the possibility that Doge might be moving too fast and cutting too much, Musk said he would simply reverse any measures that were gratuitous, reprising a strategy that he has used to reduce costs in his private companies.“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. Nobody’s going to bat 1,000,” Musk said. “We all make mistakes. But we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”But Musk has bristled at criticism leveled at him or Doge, and has lashed out at injunctions issued by federal judges. Over the weekend, Musk promoted a series of posts that contemplated defying a court order that temporarily blocked the Department of the Treasury from giving Doge access to its payment systems. More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Associated Press barred from Oval Office for not using ‘Gulf of America’

      by

      The Associated Press said it was barred from sending a reporter to Tuesday’s Oval Office executive order signing in an effort to “punish” the agency for its style guidance on upholding the use of the name of the Gulf of Mexico, in lieu of Donald Trump’s preferred name for the geographic landmark as the Gulf of America.AP’s executive editor, Julie Pace, said in a statement: “As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism.”“Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.”Pace continued: “It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”Aaron Terr, of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (Fire), called the move “an alarming attack on press freedom”.“The role of our free press is to hold those in power accountable, not to act as their mouthpiece. Any government efforts to erode this fundamental freedom deserve condemnation,” Terr said.The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) protested the decision in a statement posted on social media.“The White House cannot dictate how news organizations report the news, nor should it penalize working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors’ decisions,” said Eugene Daniels, WHCA president. “The move by the administration to bar a reporter from the Associated Press from an official event open to news coverage today is unacceptable.”The order signing in the Oval Office ultimately became a question-and-answer session with the president and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man tasked by Trump with overhauling the US government. When asked about those who have called Musk’s anti-government efforts a “hostile takeover” of the executive branch, Musk said: “The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get.”Shortly after his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order to rename both the Gulf of Mexico and Denali, the highest peak in North America. Per his order, the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the Gulf of America, and Denali will revert to Mount McKinley – the name it was called before Barack Obama changed it in 2015.At the time, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, jokingly suggested that North America, including the United States, should be renamed Mexican America as it had been in the 17th century.A few days later, the AP rolled out their style guidance on Trump’s order, noting that the organisation “will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen”. The AP said that’s because the gulf has carried the Gulf of Mexico name for “more than 400 years” and that other countries and international bodies do not have to recognize the name change.That’s not the case for Mount McKinley, whose name Trump changed from its former name of Denali. Because the area of the Alaskan mountain “lies solely in the United States” and Trump has full authority to change the name, the AP said, it will use the name Mount McKinley.The AP’s style is not only used by the agency, but by thousands of journalists and writers globally.Most news organizations, including Reuters, call it the Gulf of Mexico although, where relevant, Reuters style is to include the context about Trump’s executive order.The AP’s move was a stark departure from other major organisations, including Google, which has since confirmed and renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on Google Maps in the US.The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the statements by the WHCA and the AP. Mexico’s foreign ministry also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. More

    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump reportedly fires watchdog who oversees USAid after damning report

      by

      Donald Trump reportedly fired the federal watchdog responsible for overseeing the US Agency for International Development (USAid) on Tuesday, one day after the independent inspector general issued a damning report detailing the impact of the president’s sudden dismantling of the agency.Paul Martin, who was appointed by Joe Biden in December 2023, was dismissed in an email from Trent Morse, deputy director of the White House office of presidential personnel, seen by the Washington Post.Martin found that “widespread staffing reductions across the agency … coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAid’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance”.Reuters and the Associated Press also confirmed the news. A USAid official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Martin had been “removed from his position”. A US official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity added that the White House have given no reason for the firing.The shuttering of USAid was one of the first steps taken by Elon Musk and the newly founded so-called “department of government efficiency”, a team within the White House created by Trump. USAid employs about 10,000 staff, with approximately two-thirds posted at the agency’s more than 60 missions overseas across multiple countries. Trump had called for nearly all of the agency’s employees to be put on administrative leave, and had placed 500 on leave last week, before a judge blocked the move Friday.Among the effects of the sudden halt in the agency’s work Martin documented are more than $489m of food assistance at ports, in transit and in warehouses being at risk of spoilage or loss. He also noted that the agency had lost almost all ability to track $8.2bn in unspent humanitarian aid – affecting its ability to ensure none of it falls into the hands of violent extremist groups or goes astray in conflict zones.The agency requires that programs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria the West Bank and Gaza be vetted to ensure safe usage of US taxpayer funds. However, a lack of workers to vet the programs could lead to funding unintentionally being funneled into terrorist groups, according to the report.Martin’s firing comes two weeks after Donald Trump fired 18 inspectors general, violating a law that requires the administration to alert Congress 30 days before taking such an action.On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order requiring agencies to cooperate with the Musk-led team at “Doge” as it cuts federal staffing. Trump called USAid “incompetent and corrupt” as he tasked the Doge team with scaling down the agency.The order notes that agency heads “will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionUSAid is the world’s largest donor of aid, supporting maternal health in conflict zones, clean water access, HIV/Aids treatments and more around the world. While its budget accounted for 42% of the humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024, it takes up less than 1% of the US federal budget.Marina Dunbar and Robert Mackey contributed to this reportSend us a tip
      If you have information you’d like to share securely with the Guardian about the impact of cuts to federal programs, please use a non-work device to contact us via the Signal messaging app at (646) 886-8761. More

    • 250 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Musk defends Doge role and rejects conflict of interest claims as he joins Trump for Oval Office ceremony – live

      by

      Speaking from the Oval Office, where he stood behind the Resolute Desk, but to the right of a seated Donald Trump, Elon Musk just defended his outsized role in the gutting of federal agencies, under the auspices of his “department of government efficiency”.Asked about critics who call his effective control over multiple federal agencies, and the cutting of funding for congressionally approved programs federal judges have ordered to halt, Musk said: “The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get”.“That’s what democracy is all about”.He also dismissed concerns about his own clear conflicts of interest, since six of his businesses are dealing with investigations, complaints or regulatory actions from 11 of the federal agencies he has taken a leading role in drastically cutting back or reshaping.Musk told reporters he is trying to be as transparent as possible, even though his own financial disclosures will not be made public. “Transparency is what builds trust” he said.Trump backed Musk’s claim there was no problem with his role. Trump also claimed that he saw a lot of “kickbacks” with government contracts. The president said that he hoped the courts would allow him to pursue his agenda.Trump claimed that his administration, with Musk’s help, had already found billions in “fraud and abuse”, despite the fact that multiple examples they have previously offered to the public have been false or misleading. Trump cited no new evidence, but told reporters “and you know what we’re talking about”. This appears to be his new shorthand for the debunked claim that Musk’s team had uncovered $50 million in funding to send condoms to the besieged Gaza Strip.Here is photograph of the press availability in the Oval Office posted on Musk’s platform X by Katie Miller, the spokesperson for his “department of government efficiency”, which shows that Miller’s spouse, Stephen, was just out of the frame of wire photographs, to Trump and Musk’s right.The Associated Press was not allowed in to the Oval office to report on the Musk-Trump news conference, the not-for-profit news cooperative says, because it has declined to abide by a White House directive to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.The AP’s executive editor, Julie Pace, said in a statement:
      As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism.
      Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.
      It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.
      The AP issued this style guidance note on 23 January on the renaming:
      President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.
      The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.
      Speaking from the Oval Office, where he stood behind the Resolute Desk, but to the right of a seated Donald Trump, Elon Musk just defended his outsized role in the gutting of federal agencies, under the auspices of his “department of government efficiency”.Asked about critics who call his effective control over multiple federal agencies, and the cutting of funding for congressionally approved programs federal judges have ordered to halt, Musk said: “The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get”.“That’s what democracy is all about”.He also dismissed concerns about his own clear conflicts of interest, since six of his businesses are dealing with investigations, complaints or regulatory actions from 11 of the federal agencies he has taken a leading role in drastically cutting back or reshaping.Musk told reporters he is trying to be as transparent as possible, even though his own financial disclosures will not be made public. “Transparency is what builds trust” he said.Trump backed Musk’s claim there was no problem with his role. Trump also claimed that he saw a lot of “kickbacks” with government contracts. The president said that he hoped the courts would allow him to pursue his agenda.Trump claimed that his administration, with Musk’s help, had already found billions in “fraud and abuse”, despite the fact that multiple examples they have previously offered to the public have been false or misleading. Trump cited no new evidence, but told reporters “and you know what we’re talking about”. This appears to be his new shorthand for the debunked claim that Musk’s team had uncovered $50 million in funding to send condoms to the besieged Gaza Strip.Here is photograph of the press availability in the Oval Office posted on Musk’s platform X by Katie Miller, the spokesperson for his “department of government efficiency”, which shows that Miller’s spouse, Stephen, was just out of the frame of wire photographs, to Trump and Musk’s right.Elon Musk has joined Donald Trump in the Oval Office, as the president put his signature on an executive order that requires federal agencies to coordinate with the billionaire Tesla chief’s “department of government efficiency”.In comments to the press, Musk called the federal bureaucracy an “unelected” fourth branch of government, and also said the US budget deficit must be addressed. Trump, meanwhile, talked about the need to root out “corruption”.A coalition of labor unions yesterday filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) violated federal law by accessing secure systems in three government departments.“Elon Musk and his minions are stealing Americans’ private personal and financial data in one of the biggest data hacks in U.S. history,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the plaintiffs in the suit.“I suspect no one who voted for Donald Trump thought he would allow Musk permission to invade their privacy. This is a breach of our fundamental freedoms. Right now, inside the Department of Education, the world’s richest man is rifling through 45 million people’s private student loan accounts and feeding the data into artificial intelligence.”The suit singles out Doge’s access of secure systems in the departments of Treasury and education, and the office of personnel management. Last week, a judge temporarily stopped Musk’s officials from accessing the Treasury’s payment system:Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director Kash Patel coordinated with the White House and justice department on the firing of top bureau officials, then lied about it at his confirmation hearing, the top Democrat on the judiciary committee said.Dick Durbin made the allegation in a letter to justice department inspector general Michael Horowitz, and requested an investigation.“It is unacceptable for a nominee with no legal or current role in government to personally direct the unjustified and potentially illegal firings of dedicated, nonpartisan professionals at the FBI. If these allegations are true, then Mr. Patel may have committed perjury before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Patel said.The Senate judiciary committee is expected to on Thursday vote on advancing Patel, who Democrats consider a concerning pick to lead the bureau because of his vows to use its powers to retaliate against Trump’s enemies.Shortly after Trump took office, a former personal lawyer to the president who is now a senior justice department official ordered the firing of several veteran FBI agents, and asked for the names of everyone at the bureau who worked on January 6-related cases. Here’s more on that:Officials from Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” are “actively dismantling” the department of education, a Democratic congresswoman told HuffPost.Donald Trump recently signaled that he would like to see the department abolished, and congresswoman Melanie Stansbury said Musk’s employees “are in the building, on the sixth floor, canceling grants and contracts.”She expects the department “to potentially be dissolved in the coming days.”“It’s not legal. They know it’s not legal. But they’re doing it anyway,” said Stansbury. “The only recourse we have right now is to … go the courts.”Here’s more on the Trump administration’s plans for the department:Donald Trump plans to today sign an executive order that will require heads of US government departments and agencies to cooperate with the Elon Musk-chaired “department of government efficiency” (Doge), Reuters reports.Citing a White House official, the president will also order agency heads to limit hiring to only essential staff. The order comes as Democrats warn that Trump is defying the law by allowing Musk and his staff to enter federal agencies and access secure systems, or shut them down altogether.The White House says Trump will signs executive orders at 3pm. Here’s more about the concerns surrounding Doge:Republican congressman Guy Reschenthaler has been an advocate for Marc Fogel during his detention, and had this to say about the news that he had been released:
      Our prayers have been answered. Thanks to President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, Marc Fogel has been freed from Russia! Marc spent 1,255 days locked away in a Russian penal colony under the Biden Administration. President Trump freed Marc in just 22 days.
      Notice the reference to the Biden administration. Donald Trump and his allies have sought to cast themselves as more effective than his Democratic predecessor at every turn, and do have some diplomatic successes to promote, such as when Venezuela earlier this month agreed to release six detained Americans.Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was serving a 14 year prison sentence in Russia after getting caught with medically-prescribed marijuana “will be on American soil” by tonight, the Trump administration announced on Tuesday.“Today, President Donald J. Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are able to announce that Mr. Witkoff is leaving Russian airspace with Marc Fogel, an American who was detained by Russia,” National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said in a statement. “President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the President’s advisors negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine. Since President Trump’s swearing-in, he has successfully secured the release of Americans detained around the world, and President Trump will continue until all Americans being held are returned to the United States.”Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.The Trump administration is pushing for the war with Russia to end, while Zelensky is hoping for more US military commitments, as well as NATO membership, the deployment of peacekeeping troops.Trump said in a Fox interview on Monday that Ukraine “may be part of Russia someday.”After Pope Francis rebuked mass deportation of migrants plan, US border czar Tom Homan has pushed back, saying Francis should leave border enforcement to his office.“I’ve got harsh words for the Pope: Pope ought to fix the Catholic Church,” Homan, a Catholic, told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.“I’m saying this as a lifelong Catholic — I was baptized Catholic, my first Communion as a Catholic, confirmation as a Catholic. He ought to fix the Catholic Church and concentrate on his work and leave border enforcement to us.”The criticism was in response to the pope’s public letter condemning the Trump administration’s efforts sent earlier on Tuesday.“I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” Francis wrote in a letter sent on Tuesday. “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”Francis urged people “not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”Homan compared the wall surrounding the Vatican City to the US border wall.Federal judge John Bates on Tuesday ordered US health agencies to restore websites that were suddenly and unexpectedly taken offline after Trump signed an executive order to scrub websites of “gender ideology extremism.”The legal saga began after medical advocacy group Doctors for America sued US health agencies for taking down their websites.”Prior to the sudden, unannounced removal, these Defendants had maintained these or similar webpages and datasets on their websites for years,” the lawsuit says. “The removal of the webpages and datasets creates a dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, deprives physicians of resources that guide clinical practice, and takes away key resources for communicating and engaging with patients.”Donald Trump hit out at federal judges who have frustrated his efforts to transform the government, calling them “highly political” and arguing he is merely fighting fraud and waste. The president received an assist from his ally, House speaker Mike Johnson, who said he had met with Elon Musk and was “excited” about his work in the “department of government efficiency”. But the American Bar Association warned that the administration was flying in the face of the constitution, and that it “cannot choose which law it will follow or ignore”, while a Democratic senator said that if the White House begins ignoring court orders it does not like, it would be “maybe the greatest challenge to democracy in our lifetimes.” Meanwhile, an appeals court granted prosecutors’ request to drop charges against two of Trump’s co-defendants in the classified documents case, marking the end of the aborted federal effort to convict the president prior to his re-election.Here’s what else has been going on today:

      Steve Bannon pleaded guilty to a fraud charge connected to a fundraiser falsely billed as paying for a border wall, but will serve no jail time.

      Two senior officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have resigned, after a top White House official who also played a major role in Project 2025 ordered the watchdog to stop work.

      Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, will go to Ukraine to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, announced Trump, who also predicted the war with Russia would end “soon”.
      King Abdullah of Jordan has arrived at the White House to meet with Donald Trump, and the fate of the ceasefire in Gaza is expected to be high on their agenda.The two leaders may also discuss Trump’s proposal for the United States to take over the territory and for its population to be displaced to countries neighboring Israel – such as Jordan.We have a separate live blog covering the meeting, and you can follow it here: More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump continues clearout of top US labor officials with fresh firing

      by

      Donald Trump has fired a top official at the independent agency responsible for labor relations with the federal government.Susan Tsui Grundmann, one of three board members at the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), has been dismissed, a White House official told the Guardian. She served as the agency’s chair.Trump is “committed to building a team fully committed to advancing his America-First agenda”, the White House official said.Her profile page on the agency’s website has already been removed, and an organizational chart of its leadership states that the chair role is now vacant.Tsui Grudmann’s firing was first revealed by a Washington Post reporter on social media.The FLRA is responsible for overseeing management and labor relations for some 2.1 million federal employees. Tsui Grundmann was nominated to its board by Joe Biden in 2021, and approved by the Senate in 2022, before her designation as chair in 2023. Her term was set to end on 1 JulyTrump has already been sued after firing a board member of the National Labor Relations Board, Gwynne Wilcox, last week.Wilcox has argued that the president only has authority to remove board members for negligence or misconduct, which were not alleged by the Trump administration during her termination.In 1935 the US supreme court ruled in Humphrey’s Executor v United States that the US constitution did not grant “illimitable power of removal” to the president.The FLRA has identical stipulations, with a statute that states a president can remove a member “only upon notice and hearing and only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office”.The FLRA was contacted for comment.As chair, Tsui Grundmann argued against stagnant funding and understaffing at the agency amid increases in unfair labor practice charge filings, saying the agency would have to engage in furloughs if funding remained flat.Last year, Biden nominated Colleen Duffy Kiko and Anne Wagner to serve on the three-member board. Duffy Kiko had previously served as a Republican appointee to the board under Trump. Wagner is a former counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees.Send us a tipIf you have information you’d like to share securely with the Guardian about the impact of cuts to federal programs or the federal workforce, please use a non-work device to contact us via the Signal messaging app at (646) 886-8761. More

    • 188 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Danes offer to buy California to spite Trump’s Greenland aims: ‘We’ll bring hygge to Hollywood’

      by

      Since returning to the presidency last month, Donald Trump has called for Canada to become the 51st US state, suggested he might take over the Panama Canal, floated US ownership of Gaza – and tried to buy Greenland.Now, Denmark – which owns Greenland – is clapping back.More than 200,000 Danes have signed a satirical petition to buy California from the US.“Have you ever looked at a map and thought, ‘You know what Denmark needs? More sunshine, palm trees, and roller skates.’ Well, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make that dream a reality,” the petition reads. “Let’s buy California from Donald Trump!”Across the top of the petition’s website, a slogan calls to “Måke Califørnia Great Ægain” and imaginary supporters like Lars Ulrich of Metallica and Viggo Mortensen of Lord of the Rings fame offer their reasons for making California “New Denmark”.“We’ll bring hygge to Hollywood, bike lanes to Beverly Hills and organic smørrebrød to every street corner. Rule of law, universal healthcare and fact-based politics might apply,” the petition continues.“Let’s be honest – Trump isn’t exactly California’s biggest fan. He’s called it ‘the most ruined state in the union’ and has feuded with its leaders for years. We’re pretty sure he’d be willing to part with it for the right price.”Trump and California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, have been locked in tense relations since the president retook office – with Newsom recently directing $50m to fight the Trump administration and its deportation efforts and Trump threatening to condition federal disaster aid to the state in wake of the Los Angeles wildfires.The petition aims to crowdfund $1tn (“give or take a few billion”) and receive 500,000 signatures.Trump began floating the idea of purchasing Greenland in 2019, saying the US needs to control the autonomous territory “for economic security”. The Arctic island is believed to be rich in oil and gas, and other raw materials essential to green technology – that are becoming available as massive ice sheets and glaciers melt as a result of the climate crisis. The same melting ice is also opening up new shipping routes.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSpeaking on Danish television in January, Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister, said Greenland was “not for sale”, adding: “Seen through the eyes of the Danish government, Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”Similarly, following a visit from Donald Trump Jr earlier this year, Greenland’s prime minister, Múte Egede, said: “We are Greenlanders. We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danish either. Greenland’s future will be decided by Greenland.”Although the Danish petition to purchase California may be a joke, the US’s bid to purchase Greenland appears quite serious. Buddy Carter, a Republican representative of Georgia, announced that he had introduced a bill to authorize the purchase of Greenland and rename it “Red, White and Blueland”. More