President Donald Trump attends the national prayer service at the...

President Donald Trump attends the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

Donald Trump has been inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States, and the work of running the country begins. Follow the first 100 days of the new administration.

Trump's third-term musings seem more a tease than a pledge

President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Tuesday in...

President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Tuesday in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump has just started his second term, his last one permitted under the U.S. Constitution. But he's already started making quips about serving a third one.

“Am I allowed to run again?” Trump joked during the House Republican retreat in Florida last month. Whether teasing or taunting, it seems to be part of a pattern. Just a week after he won election last fall, Trump suggested in a meeting with House Republicans that he might want to stick around after his second term was over.

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NATO allies insist Ukraine and Europe must be in peace talks

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, speaks with North Macedonia's...

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, speaks with North Macedonia's Defense Minister Vlado Misajlovski at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. Credit: AP/Geert Vanden Wijngaert

BRUSSELS — Several NATO allies stressed on Thursday that Ukraine and Europe must not be cut out of any peace negotiations as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied that the United States is betraying the war-ravaged country.

European governments are reeling after the Trump administration signaled that it is planning face-to-face talks with Russia on ending the Ukraine war without involving them, insisted that Kyiv should not join NATO, and said that it’s up to Europe to protect itself and Ukraine from whatever Russia might do next.

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8 inspectors general fired by Trump file a federal lawsuit

President Donald Trump arrives to greet Marc Fogel at the...

President Donald Trump arrives to greet Marc Fogel at the White House on Tuesday in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — Eight government watchdogs sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over their mass firing that removed oversight of his new administration.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington asks a judge to declare the firings unlawful and restore them to their positions.

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Hegseth calls NATO membership for Ukraine unrealistic

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, walks with Britain's Defense...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, walks with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Johanna Geron

BRUSSELS — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and in sweeping remarks suggested that the way forward for Ukraine was for the country to abandon hopes of a return to its pre-2014 borders and prepare for a negotiated settlement with Russia — one that should be backed up with an international force of troops.

Hegseth made the comments Wednesday during the first trip to NATO and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group by a member of the new Trump administration. Allies have been waiting to hear how much continued military and financial support Washington intends to provide to Ukraine’s government.

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Trump doubles down on plan to empty Gaza

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive...

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

CAIRO — Behind U.S. President Donald Trump’s vows to turn Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” lies a plan to forcibly drive a population from its land, rights groups say, warning it could be a war crime under international law.

Trump doubled down this week on his vows to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians, saying they would not be allowed to return and suggesting at one point he might force Egypt and Jordan to take them in by threatening to cut off U.S. aid.

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Modi and Trump's friendly rapport may be tested 

President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace...

President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace after giving a joint statement in New Delhi, India on Feb. 25, 2020. Credit: AP/Manish Swarup

NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s longstanding bonhomie with President Donald Trump could be tested as the Indian leader kicks off a visit to Washington on Wednesday, eager to avoid tariffs that have been slapped on others and threats of further taxes and imports.

India, a key strategic partner of the United States, has so far been spared any new tariffs, and the two leaders have cultivated a personal relationship. Modi — a nationalist criticized over India’s democratic backsliding — has welcomed Trump's return to the White House, seeking to reset India’s relationship with the West over his refusal to condemn Russia for its war on Ukraine.
 

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Japan says it has asked U.S. to exclude it from tariffs

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a press...

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, on Aug. 27, 2024. Credit: AP

TOKYO — Japan 's government said Wednesday it asked the U.S. to exclude it from 25% steel and aluminum tariffs, a change from duty-free quotas that Tokyo was given previously.

Japan made the request through its embassy in Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump removed the exceptions and exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel imports to a minimum of 25%, while hiking aluminum tariffs to 25% from 10%.

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Trump administration owes US business millions in unpaid bills amid USAID shutdown, lawsuit says

Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of...

Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

The Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is stiffing American businesses on hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills for work that has already been done, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The administration’s abrupt freeze on foreign aid also is forcing mass layoffs by U.S. suppliers and contractors for USAID, including 750 furloughs at one company, Washington-based Chemonics International, the lawsuit says.

“One cannot overstate the impact of that unlawful course of conduct: on businesses large and small forced to shut down their programs and let employees go; on hungry children across the globe who will go without; on populations around the world facing deadly disease; and on our constitutional order,” the U.S. businesses and organizations said.

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Trump administration appeals Maryland judge's ruling blocking birthright citizenship order

In this Sept. 16, 2015, photo, a woman in Sullivan...

In this Sept. 16, 2015, photo, a woman in Sullivan City, Texas, who said she entered the country illegally, walks with her daughter who was born in the United States, but was denied a birth certificate. Credit: AP/Eric Gay

President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday said it's appealing a Maryland federal judge's ruling blocking the president's executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for people whose parents are not legally in the country.

In a brief filing, the administration's attorneys said they were appealing to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. It's the second such appeal the administration has sought since Trump's executive order was blocked in court.

The government's appeal stems from U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman's grant of a preliminary injunction last week in a case brought by immigrant rights groups and expectant mothers in Maryland. Boardman said at the time her court would not become the first in the country to endorse the president's order, calling citizenship a “precious right” granted by the Constitution's 14th Amendment. 

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Trump ally Steve Bannon pleads guilty and avoids jail time in border wall fraud case

Steve Bannon exits court in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 11,...

Steve Bannon exits court in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. Credit: AP/Yuki Iwamura

Steve Bannon pleaded guilty on Tuesday to defrauding donors to a private effort to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, ending a case the conservative strategist decried as a “political persecution.”

Spared from jail as part of a plea deal, he left court saying he “felt like a million bucks.”

Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty in state court in Manhattan to one count of scheme to defraud, a low-level felony. The case involved We Build the Wall, a non-profit that Bannon himself once suspected was a scam.

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Common 'cents': Long Island businesses like Trump's plan to end penny production

Freshly made pennies sit in a bin at the U.S....

Freshly made pennies sit in a bin at the U.S. Mint in 2007.  Credit: AP/David Zalubowski

To them, it just makes cents.

Some members of Long Island's business community expressed support Monday for a directive from President Donald Trump telling the U.S. Treasury Department to stop minting the one-cent coin.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!" Trump said in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. "I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies."

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Trump fires top FEMA staffer over claim NYC spent $59M on 'luxury hotels' for migrants

Hundreds of migrants wait in the cold outside the immigration...

Hundreds of migrants wait in the cold outside the immigration office in Manhattan for their appointments on Jan. 31, 2024. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.

The Trump administration fired a top FEMA staffer and three others for making what a spokeswoman said were "egregious payments to luxury NYC hotels for migrants," claims city officials have disputed.

The firings came after billionaire Elon Musk, head of a quasi-official initiative to cut federal government, posted using similar wording on X Monday that his team “just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.”

A New York City spokeswoman said in an email the city had received a $59.3 million payment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to care for migrants, but that it was a reimbursement of money the city had already spent. 

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Judge leaves intact a ban on DOGE access to Treasury records pending a hearing Friday

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, claps as...

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, claps as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk prepares to depart after speaking at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, on Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

A federal judge on Tuesday made some clarifications but left intact a ban for now that prevents Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records containing sensitive personal data for millions of Americans.

Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in Manhattan issued an order to continue a ban prior to a hearing Friday. The ban was put in place last week by another federal New York jurist in response to a lawsuit that 19 Democratic attorneys general brought against President Donald Trump.

Justice Department attorneys told Vargas in a filing on Sunday that the ban was unconstitutional and needed to be immediately reversed.

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Trump signs executive order to continue downsizing federal workforce

Sona Anderson of San Diego, center, shouts her support for...

Sona Anderson of San Diego, center, shouts her support for civil service workers as activists protest the policies of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk outside the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday that would continue downsizing the federal workforce, including strict limits on hiring.

The Associated Press reviewed a White House fact sheet on the order, which is intended to advance Elon Musk 's work slashing spending with his Department of Government Efficiency.

It said that “agencies 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."

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Vance offers an 'America First' argument on AI deregulation in his first foreign policy speech

United States Vice-President JD Vance delivers a speech during the...

United States Vice-President JD Vance delivers a speech during the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. Credit: AP/Sean Kilpatrick

In his first big moment on the world stage, Vice President JD Vance delivered an unmistakable message: the United States under the 47th president has room for you on the Trump train — but it also has no problem leaving you behind.

Vance, speaking at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, hewed closely to President Donald Trump's “America First” outlook as he spoke of maintaining U.S. dominance in the surging industry.

He also pressed European nations to step back from “excessive regulation” of the AI sector that he said “could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off.”

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DOGE cuts $900 million from agency that tracks American students' academic progress

A federal research office that tracks the progress of America’s students is being hit with almost $900 million in cuts after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency found no need for much of its work.

It’s unclear to what degree the Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences will continue to exist after Musk’s team slashed scores of contracts. Industry groups said at least 169 contracts were suddenly terminated Monday, accounting for much of the institute's work.

The Education Department did not immediately share details on the cuts. Madison Biedermann, an agency spokesperson, said the action will not affect IES’ primary work, including the NAEP assessment, known as the nation’s report card, and the College Scorecard, a database of university costs and outcomes.

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Trump steel, aluminum tariffs likely to drive up car costs, industry leaders say

An employee works on the production line at the Martinrea...

An employee works on the production line at the Martinrea auto parts manufacturing plant that supplies auto parts to Canada and U.S. plants in Woodbridge, Ontario on Feb. 3. Credit: AP/Chris Young

DETROIT — President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel imports this week could wreak havoc on American auto manufacturing, industry leaders say. The moves align with the Trump administration's aggressive global trade agenda and ambitions to strengthen U.S. industry, but they could have an inverse effect.

On March 12, all steel imports will be taxed at a minimum of 25%, the result of two orders the president signed Monday that also include a 25% tariff on aluminum. That could have a serious impact on domestic auto companies including Ford, GM and Stellantis — and make these companies' vehicles more expensive for the nation's car buyers.

Tariffs on crucial products coming from outside of the U.S. places pressure on domestic sourcing of the materials, experts say. The basic rules of supply and demand could drive up costs.

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Senator seeks watchdog inquiry into Kash Patel, alleges behind-the-scenes role in purge at FBI

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of...

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing at the Capitol on Jan. 30. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

WASHINGTON — A top Democratic senator has asked the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate after he says he received information that President Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, had been “personally directing the ongoing purge” of agents at the bureau.

The letter Tuesday from Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asserts that Patel may have misled the panel at his confirmation hearing last month when he said in response to a question that he was not aware of any plans inside the FBI to punish or fire any agents.

The hearing took place just hours before news broke that a group of senior FBI executives had been told either to resign or be fired, and one day before it was revealed that the Justice Department had demanded a list of thousands of agents who worked on investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a move some bureau employees fear could be a precursor to more expansive firings.

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The plastic straw has come to symbolize a global pollution crisis. Trump wants them to stay

Plastic straws are displayed in a glass on Feb. 11...

Plastic straws are displayed in a glass on Feb. 11 in Cincinnati. Credit: AP/Joshua A. Bickel

Straws might seem insignificant, inspiring jokes about the plastic vs. paper debate, but the plastic straw has come to symbolize a global pollution crisis over the past decade.

On Monday, President Donald Trump waded into the issue when he signed an executive order to reverse a federal push away from plastic straws, declaring that paper straws “don’t work” and don’t last very long. Trump said he thinks “it’s OK” to continue using plastic straws, although they've have been blamed for polluting oceans and harming marine life.

In 2015, video of a marine biologist pulling a plastic straw out of a turtle’s nose sparked outrage worldwide and countries and cities started banning them, starting with the Pacific Island nation Vanuatu and Seattle in 2018.

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Judge tells agencies to restore webpages and data removed after Trump's executive order

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive...

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered government agencies to restore public access to health-related webpages and datasets that they removed to comply with an executive order by President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington agreed to issue a temporary restraining order requested by the Doctors for America advocacy group. The judge instructed the government to restore access to several webpages and datasets that the group identified as missing from websites and to identify others that also were taken down “without adequate notice or reasoned explanation.”

On Jan. 20, his first day back in the White House, Trump signed an order for agencies to use the term “sex” and not "gender" in federal policies and documents. In response, the Office of Personnel Management's acting director required agency heads to eliminate any programs and take down any websites that promote “gender ideology.”

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Trump tariffs rattle small business owners already dealing with tight margins

In this May 9, 2019, file photo, steel rods produced...

In this May 9, 2019, file photo, steel rods produced at the Gerdau Ameristeel mill in St. Paul, Minn., await shipment. Credit: AP/Jim Mone

President Donald Trump's continued roll out of a wide array of tariffs is rattling small business owners already dealing with tight profit margins.

Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum and promised more import duties to come. Last week, the administration imposed a , 10% tariff on Chinese goods coming into the U.S.

Sandra Payne, owner of Denver Concrete Vibrator, imports steel and other raw materials for her business. Her company makes tools to settle concrete and other industrial tools. Most of the steel the company uses comes from China, and she gets material from Canada and Mexico, too.

“Small businesses run on very small margins. And so a 25% increase in any product is going to hurt," she said. “And we can’t just raise our prices every time the cost goes up to us. So we are losing a lot of money.”

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Trump won't block immigration arrests in houses of worship. Now these 27 religious groups are suing

Fatima Guzman prays during a church service at the Centro...

Fatima Guzman prays during a church service at the Centro Cristiano El Pan de Vida, a mid-size Church of God of Prophecy congregation in Kissimmee, Florida on Feb. 2, 2025. Credit: AP/Alan Youngblood

More than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists — filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, contends that the new policy is spreading fear of raids, thus lowering attendance at worship services and other valuable church programs. The result, says the suit, infringes on the groups’ religious freedom — namely their ability to minister to migrants, including those in the United States illegally.

“We have immigrants, refugees, people who are documented and undocumented,” said the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

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Pope rebukes Trump administration over migrant deportations, warns 'it will end badly'

Pope Francis prays as he presides over a mass for...

Pope Francis prays as he presides over a mass for the jubilee of the armed forces in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Sunday. Credit: AP/Alessandra Tarantino

Pope Francis issued a major rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants, warning that the program to forcefully deport people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”

Francis took the remarkable step of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown in a letter to U.S. bishops who have criticized the expulsions as harming the most vulnerable.

History's first Latin American pope has long made caring for migrants a priority of his pontificate, demanding that countries welcome, protect, promote and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters. Francis has also said governments are expected to do so to the limits of their capacity.

Citing the biblical stories of migration, the people of Israel, the Book of Exodus and Jesus Christ’s own experience, Francis affirmed the right of people to seek shelter and safety in other lands and said he was concerned with what is going on in the United States.

“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. “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.”

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EU vows U.S. tariffs 'will not go unanswered' and will trigger tough countermeasures

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses the audience...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses the audience at the Grand Palais in Paris, Tuesday. Credit: AP/Michel Euler

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday that U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” adding that they will trigger tough countermeasures from the 27-nation bloc.

“The EU will act to safeguard its economic interests. We will protect our workers, businesses and consumers,” von der Leyen said in a statement in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum the previous day.

“Tariffs are taxes — bad for business, worse for consumers,” von der Leyen said. “Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered — they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures.”

How Elon Musk's crusade against government could benefit Tesla

Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in...

Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in Folsom, Pa., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

Elon Musk has long railed against the U.S. government, saying a crushing number of federal investigations and safety programs have stymied Tesla, his electric car company, and its efforts to create fleets of robotaxis and other self-driving automobiles.

Now, Musk’s close relationship with President Donald Trump means many of those federal headaches could vanish within weeks or months.

On the potential chopping block: crash investigations into Tesla’s partially automated vehicles; a Justice Department criminal probe examining whether Musk and Tesla have overstated their cars’ self-driving capabilities; and a government mandate to report crash data on vehicles using technology like Tesla’s Autopilot.

The consequences of such actions could prove dire, say safety advocates who credit the federal investigations and recalls with saving lives.

“Musk wants to run the Department of Transportation,” said Missy Cummings, a former senior safety adviser at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “I’ve lost count of the number of investigations that are underway with Tesla. They will all be gone.”

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Trump says he is considering tariff exemptions on Australian steel and aluminum

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks in Canberra about his...

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks in Canberra about his telephone conversation with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Credit: AP/LUKAS COCH

U.S. President Donald Trump said he agreed to consider a tariff exemption on Australian steel and aluminum imports after a telephone call on Tuesday with Australia’s prime minister.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese argued for an exemption during the call, which was scheduled before Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Monday.

Trump said the United States trade surplus with Australia was one of the reasons he was considering an exemption from the tariffs.

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Trump will host Jordan's King Abdullah II as he escalates pressure on his Gaza resettlement plan

President Donald Trump stands with Jordan's King Abdullah II at...

President Donald Trump stands with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on June 25, 2018. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.

The visit is happening at a perilous moment for the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza as Hamas, accusing Israel of violating the truce, has said it is pausing future releases of hostages and as Trump has called for Israel to resume fighting if all those remaining in captivity are not freed by this weekend.

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Venezuela sends 2 planes to US to return migrants, signaling a potential improvement in relations

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro acknowledges supporters during an event marking...

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro acknowledges supporters during an event marking the anniversary of the 1992 failed coup led by the late President Hugo Chavez, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 4. Credit: AP/Cristian Hernandez

Two Venezuelan planes flew to the United States on Monday and returned home with deported Venezuelans, signaling a possible improvement in relations between longtime diplomatic adversaries and a victory for President Donald Trump in his efforts to get more countries to take their people back.

The U.S. and Venezuelan governments separately confirmed the flights by Venezuelan airline Conviasa without saying how many were aboard or disclosing their routes.

“Flights of Illegal Aliens to Venezuela Resume,” the White House said in a post on the “X” platform, saying they were overseen by Richard Grennell, a top Trump adviser who recently traveled to Venezuela.

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Trump steps up his 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminum, risking inflation on promise of more jobs

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday removed the exceptions and exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel, meaning that all steel imports will be taxed at a minimum of 25%. Trump also hiked his 2018 aluminum tariffs to 25% from 10%.

“We were being pummeled by both friend and foe alike,” Trump said as he signed two proclamations changing his orders during his first term. “It's time for our great industries to come back to America.”

The moves are part of an aggressive push by the president to reset global trade, with Trump saying that tax hikes on the people and companies buying foreign-made products will ultimately strengthen domestic manufacturing. But the tariffs would hit allies as the four biggest sources of steel imports are Canada, Brazil, Mexico and South Korea, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

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LI scientists: Trump cuts to biomedical research funding would 'decimate science' in the U.S.

Bruce Stillman, president and CEO of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, said...

Bruce Stillman, president and CEO of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, said the funding cuts would "decimate science in the United States." Credit: Barry Sloan

A federal judge Monday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from imposing cuts to medical research that experts said would hobble work on Long Island and across the country intended to help 9/11 survivors and people living with cancer, Alzheimer's and other diseases.

A two-page order by Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts granted a request for a restraining order filed hours earlier by New York State Attorney General Letitia James and 21 other state attorneys general alleging the cuts violated Congressional appropriations law and asking that grant payments continue.

The order sets a Feb. 21 hearing.

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'Back to plastic': Trump pushes for plastic straws as he declares paper ones 'don't work'

FILE- A large soft drink with a plastic straw from...

FILE- A large soft drink with a plastic straw from a McDonald's restaurant is shown in Surfside, Fla., May 24, 2018. Credit: AP/Wilfredo Lee

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is moving to reverse a federal push away from plastic straws, declaring that paper straws “don’t work.”

Trump signed an executive order Monday, saying: “It’s a ridiculous situation. We’re going back to plastic straws”

The move by Trump — who has long railed against paper straws, and whose 2019 reelection campaign sold Trump-branded reusable plastic straws for $15 per pack of 10 — targets a Biden administration policy to phase out federal purchases of single-use plastics, including straws, from food service operations, events and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.

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US judge keeps Trump plan to push out federal workers on hold

President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the...

President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

BOSTON — President Donald Trump's plan to downsize the federal workforce remains on hold after a courtroom hearing on Monday afternoon.

It's the latest example of how the Republican president's ambitious plans have become ensnared in the judicial system.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. had paused the deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, last week.

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Trump is expected to pardon ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich 5 years after commuting his sentence

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks in 2020 during a news...

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks in 2020 during a news conference in Chicago. Credit: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday will pardon Democratic former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to a person familiar with his plans.

Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence for political corruption charges during his first term. He planned to sign the pardon on Monday afternoon, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the pardon publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Blagojevich was convicted on charges that included seeking to sell an appointment to then-President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat and trying to shake down a children’s hospital.

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Nearly two dozen states sue the Trump administration to halt cuts in medical research funding

President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the...

President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

BOSTON — Attorneys general from 22 states filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration for slashing funding for medical and public health research at universities nationwide.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston challenges the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health over efforts to reduce funding that goes to so-called indirect costs — including lab, faculty, infrastructure, and utility costs.

The states argue that research into treating and curing human disease “will grind to a halt" and people would lose access to “modern gene editing, vaccines such as flu vaccines, and cures for diseases like cancer, infectious diseases, and addiction.”

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Judge finds Trump administration hasn't fully followed his order to unfreeze federal spending

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he prepares to sign a proclamation declaring Feb. 9 Gulf of America Day as he travels from West Palm Beach, Fla. to New Orleans on Sunday. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

WASHINGTON — A federal judge found Monday that the Trump administration hasn’t fully followed his order to unfreeze federal spending and ordered the White House to release all money.

U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell found there’s evidence that some federal grants and loans are still not going out to the recipients and ordered that the cash be released.

McConnell earlier ordered a halt to Trump administration plans for a sweeping freeze federal funding. The Republican administration has said the pause was necessary to ensure federal spending fits with the president’s agenda.

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Head of the agency that protects whistleblowers sues Trump, saying his firing was illegal

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at the Naval...

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in New Orleans on Sunday. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

WASHINGTON — The head of the Office of Special Counsel, a federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers, sued President Donald Trump on Monday, saying he was illegally fired as part of the president’s massive overhaul of the government.

Hampton Dellinger was informed of his firing in an email Friday evening from the White House personnel director, who said he was writing on behalf of the president. Dellinger's termination comes as Trump's Republican administration is testing the limits of well-established civil service protections by moving to dismantle federal agencies and push out staffers

Dellinger notes in his lawsuit, filed in Washington federal court, that special counsels can be removed by the president “only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Dellinger was confirmed last year by the Senate for a five-year term to lead the watchdog agency.

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USAID staffers turned away from offices even after court suspends leave order

United States Agency for International Development, or USAID contract worker...

United States Agency for International Development, or USAID contract worker Priya Kathpal, right, and Taylor Williamson, who works for a company doing contract work for USAID, carry signs outside the USAID headquarters in Washington on Monday. Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

WASHINGTON — Officials and federal officers turned away scores of U.S. Agency for International staffers who showed up for work Monday at its Washington headquarters, after a court temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have pulled all but a fraction of workers off the job worldwide.

A front desk officer turned away a steady stream of agency staffers— dressed in business clothes or USAID sweatshirts or T-shirts—saying he had a list of no more than 10 names of people allowed to enter the building. Tarps hung over USAID's interior signs.

A man who earlier identified himself as a USAID official took a harsher tone, telling arriving staffers “just go" and "why are you here?”

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Trump says no right of return for Palestinians in Gaza under his plan for US 'ownership'

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return under his plan for U.S. “ownership” of the war-torn territory, contradicting other officials in his administration who have sought to argue Trump was only calling for the temporary relocation of its population.

Less than a week after he floated his plan for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and turn it in “the Riviera of the Middle East," Trump, in an interview with FOX News' Bret Baier that was set to air on Monday, said “No, they wouldn’t” when asked if Palestinians in Gaza would be have a right to return to the territory. It comes as he has ramped up pressure on Arab states, especially U.S. allies Jordan and Egypt, to take in Palestinians from Gaza, who claim the territory as part of a future homeland.

“We’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump said. “In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”

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With Trump in the White House, Iranians mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution

Iranian demonstrators burn a representation of the U.S. flag during...

Iranian demonstrators burn a representation of the U.S. flag during a rally commemorating anniversary of 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the late pro-U.S. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought Islamic clerics to power in Tehran, Iran on Monday. Credit: AP/Vahid Salemi

TEHRAN, Iran — Tens of thousands of Iranians marked the anniversary of the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the first such rally since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and restarted his “maximum pressure” campaign targeting Tehran.

The annual commemoration of the end of the rule of the American-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the creation of Iran's Shiite theocracy comes this year as deep uncertainty lingers across the country.

Iran faces crushing sanctions wrecking its economy and the threat of more coming from Trump, even as the American president suggests he wants to reach a deal with Tehran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. Iran's currency, the rial, fell to record low of 928,500 rials to $1 in aftermarket trading on Monday, a drop of more than 6% from Friday.

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Third judge blocks Trump's order ending birthright citizenship for kids of people in US illegally

In this Sept. 16, 2015, photo, a woman in Sullivan...

In this Sept. 16, 2015, photo, a woman in Sullivan City, Texas, who said she entered the country illegally, walks with her daughter who was born in the United States, but was denied a birth certificate. Credit: AP/Eric Gay

CONCORD, N.H. — A third federal judge on Monday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante in New Hampshire comes after two similar rulings by judges in Seattle and Maryland last week.

Laplante, who was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush, said he wasn't persuaded by the Trump administration's defense of the executive order. He said he would issue a longer preliminary injunction later explaining his reasoning.

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Pope's point-man on migration and aid concerned about USAID cuts, alarmed at US migrant crackdown

Cardinal Michael Czerny meets with journalists at the Vatican press...

Cardinal Michael Czerny meets with journalists at the Vatican press hall, in Rome, on March 30, 2023. Credit: AP/Gregorio Borgia

Pope Francis’ point-man on migration and development has urged the Trump administration to remember Christian principles about caring for others, saying people are being “terrorized” by the U.S. crackdown on migrants and vital church-run aid programs are being jeopardized by the planned gutting of USAID.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, a Czech-born Canadian Jesuit, is one of the cardinals most closely associated with Francis’ pontificate and heads the Vatican office responsible for migrants, the environment, the church’s Caritas Internationalis charity and development.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Czerny said every incoming government has the right to review its foreign aid budget, and to even reform an agency like USAID. But he said it’s another thing to dismantle an agency after it has made funding commitments.

“There are programs underway and expectations and we might even say commitments, and to break commitments is a serious thing,” Czerny said Sunday. “So while every government is qualified to review its budget in the case of foreign aid, it would be good to have some warning because it takes time to find other sources of funding or to find other ways of meeting the problems we have.”

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Supreme Court that Trump helped shape could have the last word on his aggressive executive orders

President Donald Trump gestures to Supreme Court Chief Justice John...

President Donald Trump gestures to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts after being sworn in as president during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: AP/Chip Somodevilla

President Donald Trump will need the Supreme Court, with three justices he appointed, to enable the most aggressive of the many actions he has taken in just the first few weeks of his second White House term.

But even a conservative majority with a robust view of presidential power might balk at some of what the president wants to do.

The court gave Trump major victories last year that helped clear away potential obstacles to his reelection, postponing his criminal trial in Washington, D.C., then affording immunity from prosecution for official actions. But Trump's first term was marked by significant defeats — as well as some wins — at the court.

There's no shortage of issues that could find a path to the nation's highest court. Lower courts already have paused orders on birthright citizenship, a freeze on government grants and loans, and a buyout order for federal workers.

Other lawsuits have been filed over restrictions on transgender people, limits on asylum-seekers, efforts to shutter USAID, Elon Musk and his team's access to sensitive data and the firing of officials at independent federal agencies.

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Trump says he has directed Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing cost

President Donald Trump is pictured before boarding Air Force One...

President Donald Trump is pictured before boarding Air Force One at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in New Orleans on Sunday. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

President Donald Trump says he has directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the cost of producing the one-cent coin.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”

Trump's new administration has been sharply focused on cutting costs, targeting entire agencies and large swaths of the federal workforce for dismissal.

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Venezuelan immigrants ask court to block Trump administration from sending them to Guantanamo

Lawyers for three Venezuelan immigrants arrested in New Mexico during President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown have asked a federal court to prevent them from being sent to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

A court filing Sunday says while the men haven't been told they'll be transferred out of the Otero County Processing Center, they have a credible fear that they'll be sent to Guantanamo. Other detainees at the facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, were flown to the U.S. naval base in recent days, the document says.

The filing claims the three immigrants “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantanamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.”

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Trump says he is serious about Canada becoming 51st state in Super Bowl interview

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One where Trump signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 9 "the first ever Gulf of America Day," as he travels from West Palm Beach, Fla. to New Orleans on Sunday. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

President Donald Trump said he is serious about wanting Canada to become the 51st state in an interview that aired Sunday during the Super Bowl preshow.

“Yeah it is,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier when asked whether his talk of annexing Canada is “a real thing" — as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently suggested.

“I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. And I’m not going to let that happen," he said. "Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially a subsidy to Canada?”

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Trump says he will announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs Monday, and more import duties are coming

President Donald Trump, left, waves as he boards Air Force...

President Donald Trump, left, waves as he boards Air Force One with grandson Theodore, Ivanka Trump's son, at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Sunday. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

President Donald Trump said he will announce on Monday that the United States will impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including from Canada and Mexico, as well as other import duties later in the week.

“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he responded, “aluminum, too” will be subject to the trade penalties.

Trump also reaffirmed that he would announce “reciprocal tariffs” —“probably Tuesday or Wednesday" — meaning that the U.S. would impose import duties on products in cases where another country has levied duties on U.S. goods.

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Vance and Musk question the authority of the courts as Trump's agenda faces legal pushback

Vice President JD Vance speaks at the International Religious Freedom...

Vice President JD Vance speaks at the International Religious Freedom Summit at the Washington Hilton on Wednesday in Washington. Credit: AP/Rod Lamkey

WASHINGTON — Top Trump administration officials are openly questioning the judiciary's authority to serve as a check on executive power as the new president's sweeping agenda faces growing pushback from the courts.

Over the past 24 hours, officials ranging from billionaire Elon Musk to Vice President JD Vance have not only criticized a federal judge's decision early Saturday that blocks Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records, but have also attacked the legitimacy of judicial oversight, a fundamental pillar of American democracy, which is based on the separation of powers.

“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance wrote on X on Sunday morning.

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U.S. officials are bound for Europe for top-level talks on Ukraine

President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at...

President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower on Sept. 27, 2024, before his return to the White House. Credit: AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Sunday that top administration officials will meet with European officials this week about how to end the war in Ukraine, nearly three years after Russia launched an all-out invasion.

Less than a day earlier, the New York Post reported that Trump had a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss steps toward a negotiated solution. There was no immediate confirmation from the White House or the Kremlin. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz declined to comment in a television interview.

Waltz said the Russian economy is not doing well and that Trump “is prepared to tax, to tariff, to sanction” Moscow to get Putin to the negotiating table.

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Egypt announces emergency Arab summit after Trump's Gaza plan infuriates key allies

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, right, meets with Palestinian...

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, right, meets with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa during his visit at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday. Credit: AP/Amr Nabil

CAIRO — Egypt announced Sunday that it will host an emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss “new and dangerous developments” after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Trump's suggestion, made at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, infuriated the Arab world, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — key allies of Washington.

Both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Trump’s call to resettle 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza and for the U.S. to take ownership of the enclave, but Trump claims that they would eventually accept it.

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They helped U.S. order airstrikes against Taliban. Now Trump's moves have left those Afghans in limbo

Afghan Hashmatullah Alam, 40, who worked with U.S. Army, poses...

Afghan Hashmatullah Alam, 40, who worked with U.S. Army, poses at a beach in Shengjin, northwestern Albania, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. Credit: AP/Vlasov Sulaj

TIRANA, Albania — They helped the U.S. military order airstrikes against Taliban and Islamic State fighters and worked as drivers and translators during America's longest war. They were set to start new lives in the United States.

Then President Donald Trump issued executive orders that put an end to programs used to help Afghans get to safety in America. Now those same Afghans, who underwent a yearslong background check, find themselves in a state of limbo.

“I was shocked. I am still in shock because I have already waited four years for this process, to get out of this hell and to get to a safe place and live in peace and have a new beginning,” said Roshangar, one of the Afghans whose life was upended by Trump's action. Roshangar requested that The Associated Press only use his first name because he was afraid of Taliban reprisals.

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How Republican skeptics in the Senate got to 'yes' on RFK Jr. and Gabbard

This combination photo shows Tulsi Gabbard, nominee for Director of...

This combination photo shows Tulsi Gabbard, nominee for Director of National Intelligence, left, pictured Jan. 30, 2025, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, pictured Jan. 29, 2025, at their confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington. Credit: AP

WASHINGTON — Republican skepticism in the Senate of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees has been worn down, putting his unconventional choices for some of the most powerful positions in the federal government on the verge of confirmation.

Floor votes are expected this week on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in line to be the nation's health secretary, and Tulsi Gabbard, the choice for director of national intelligence. Both are from outside traditional Republican circles and espoused views in the confirmation process that alarmed GOP senators at times. Still, their nominations have advanced to the full Senate after crucial committee votes.

One by one, Republicans have acquiesced to Trump's picks, even those whose personal history, lack of experience and unorthodox views would have once made them hardly imaginable for a Cabinet.

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Elon Musk dodges DOGE scrutiny while expanding his power in Washington

Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event...

Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington on Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

Elon Musk made a clear promise after Donald Trump decided to put him in charge of making the government more efficient.

“It’s not going to be some sort of backroom secret thing,” Musk said last year. “It will be as transparent as possible," maybe even streamed live online.

It hasn't worked out that way so far.

In the three weeks since the Republican president has been back in the White House, Musk has rapidly burrowed deep into federal agencies while avoiding public scrutiny of his work. He has not answered questions from journalists or attended any hearings with lawmakers. Staff members for his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have sidelined career officials around Washington.

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A presidential first: Trump at the Super Bowl, latest chapter in a complicated legacy with football

Donald Trump shakes hands with Herschel Walker in New York...

Donald Trump shakes hands with Herschel Walker in New York after agreement on a 4-year contract with the New Jersey Generals USFL football team on March 8, 1984. Credit: AP/Dave Pickoff

As a student, Donald Trump played high school football. As a business baron, he owned a team in an upstart rival to the NFL and then sued the established league. As president, he denigrated pros who took a knee during the national anthem as part of a social justice movement.

On Sunday, he adds to that complicated history with the sport when he becomes the first president in office to attend a Super Bowl.

Trump’s appearance at the Superdome in New Orleans to watch the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles follows the NFL’s decision to remove the “End Racism” slogans that have been stenciled on the end zones since 2021.

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Trump says some white South Africans are oppressed, could be resettled in the US. They say no thanks

President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner with Senate Republicans...

President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner with Senate Republicans at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

Groups representing some of South Africa's white minority responded Saturday to a plan by President Donald Trump to offer them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by saying: thanks, but no thanks.

The plan was detailed in an executive order Trump signed Friday that stopped all aid and financial assistance to South Africa as punishment for what the Trump administration said were “rights violations” by the government against some of its white citizens.

The Trump administration accused the South African government of allowing violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and introducing a land expropriation law that enables it to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without compensation.”

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Federal judge blocks Elon Musk's DOGE from accessing sensitive US Treasury Department material

People listen to speakers during a rally against Elon Musk...

People listen to speakers during a rally against Elon Musk outside the Treasury Department in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

A federal judge early Saturday blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the preliminary injunction after 19 Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump. The case, filed in federal court in New York City, alleges the Trump administration allowed Musk’s team access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system in violation of federal law.

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19 states sue to stop DOGE accessing Americans' personal data

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, claps as...

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, claps as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk prepares to depart after speaking at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, on Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

Nineteen Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump on Friday to stop Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans.

The case, filed in federal court in New York City, alleges the Trump administration allowed Musk's team access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system in violation of federal law.

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Judge says he will temporarily block Trump from placing 2,200 USAID workers on paid leave

A street sign with names of U.S. government agencies housed...

A street sign with names of U.S. government agencies housed at the Ronald Regan Building, including the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID headquarters in Washington, is pictured with one building occupant taped, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing 2,200 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development on paid leave.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, sided with two federal employee associations in agreeing to a pause in plans to put the employees on paid leave as of midnight Friday.

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Donald Trump shunned Project 2025 as a candidate, but is adopting its ideas in office

An activist protests against President Donald Trump's plan to stop...

An activist protests against President Donald Trump's plan to stop most federal grants and loans during a rally near the White House on Jan. 2025 in Washington. Credit: Getty Images/Anna Moneymaker

On the presidential campaign trail, candidate Donald Trump consistently distanced himself from Project 2025, a conservative think tank initiative that proposed sweeping changes to the federal government.

“I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it,” Trump said in a July social media post days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, as national polls showed a majority of voters were unsupportive of the book’s proposals.

Now as president, Trump is trying to put many of the proposals into place, through his growing list of executive orders and actions in his first weeks back in office.

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Vance says the DOGE staffer who resigned after a report of racist postings should be brought back

Vice President JD Vance speaks at the International Religious Freedom...

Vice President JD Vance speaks at the International Religious Freedom Summit at the Washington Hilton, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Rod Lamkey, Jr.

Vice President JD Vance said Friday that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency should rehire a staff member who resigned after he was linked to social media posts that espoused racism, with President Donald Trump later endorsing his vice president's view.

Marko Elez resigned Thursday after The Wall Street Journal linked the 25-year-old DOGE staffer to a deleted social media account on X that posted last year, “I was racist before it was cool” and “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” among other posts.

The account in September included a post that said, “Normalize Indian hate." The vice president's wife, Usha Vance, is the daughter of Indian immigrants.

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More active duty troops will head to US-Mexico border, bringing the total to 3,600

Members of Mexico's National Guard stand guard at an inspection...

Members of Mexico's National Guard stand guard at an inspection checkpoint for cars in line to cross the border into the United States from Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Tijuana, Mexico. Credit: AP/Gregory Bull

Trump says he's revoking Biden's security clearance, ending intelligence briefings in payback move

President Donald Trump said Friday that he's revoking former President Joe Biden's security clearance and ending the daily intelligence briefings he's receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him in 2021.

Trump made the announcement on social media shortly after arriving at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend.

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Trump official's directive tying transportation grants to birth rates could hinder blue states

Cars pass the 95th Street Red Line Station, the train...

Cars pass the 95th Street Red Line Station, the train station currently the farthest south on the line and where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to extend from in 2025, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago. Credit: AP/Erin Hooley

Shortly after he was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy circulated a memo that instructed his department to prioritize families by, among other things, giving preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average when awarding grants.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the directive last week “deeply frightening," and Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray called it “disturbingly dystopian.”

The memo also calls for prohibiting governments that get Department of Transportation funds from imposing vaccine and mask mandates, and requiring their cooperation with the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

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Japan's Ishiba makes a whirlwind Washington trip to try to forge a personal connection with Trump

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives at Joint Base Andrews,...

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. Credit: AP/Kevin Wolf

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba didn't skimp on the legwork as he prepared for his first meeting with President Donald Trump.

He huddled this week with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, two executives Trump recently hosted at the White House. He sought advice from his immediate predecessor, Fumio Kishida.

Ishiba even called on the widow of Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister with whom Trump bonded over rounds of golf during his first term.

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Musk team's access to student loan systems raises alarms over personal information for millions

Democrats are pushing back against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as it turns its attention to the Education Department, with lawmakers raising concerns about DOGE’s access to internal systems containing personal information on tens of millions of Americans.

In a letter to the acting education secretary, a group of Democrats is seeking to intervene as DOGE gains increasing access to student loan databases and other systems. Democrats fear it could lay the groundwork for a takeover akin to Musk’s attempt to close the U.S. Agency for International Development. The letter demanded details about DOGE’s work and vowed to fight any attempt to close the Education Department.

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Trump fires head of Federal Election Commission, but she won't leave

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive orders in the White House on Tuesday in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

WASHINGTON — The chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission posted a letter from President Donald Trump informing her that she’d been fired, but she’s refusing to leave.

“Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner & Chair,” Ellen Weintraub, a frequent critic of Trump, wrote on the social media network X Thursday evening. “There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn’t it,” she added.

Weintraub was appointed to a six-year term in 2002. Under federal law, she’s allowed to remain a commissioner past the expiration of her term until a replacement is prepared to join the commission, which oversees compliance with federal election laws.

She did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday night. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment. The attempt to fire Weintraub occurs as the Trump administration has engaged in dismissals of top officials across the U.S. government.

Iran supreme leader criticizes proposed nuclear talks with US, upending push to negotiation

In this photo released by an official website of the...

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei salutes in a meeting with a group of air force officers in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. Credit: AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran's supreme leader said Friday that negotiations with America “are not intelligent, wise or honorable” after President Donald Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also suggested that “there should be no negotiations with such a government,” but stopped short of issuing a direct order not to engage with Washington.

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Forced leaves start for thousands at USAID under a Trump plan to gut the foreign aid agency

Demonstrators and lawmakers rally against President Donald Trump and his...

Demonstrators and lawmakers rally against President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk as they disrupt the federal government, including dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, which administers foreign aid approved by Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

WASHINGTON — Forced leaves began in Washington and worldwide Friday for most employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development, as federal workers associations turned to the courts to try to roll back Trump administration orders that have dismantled most of the agency and U.S.- funded aid programs around the world.

Under the administration's plan, the agency is to be left with fewer than 300 workers out of thousands.

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Trump reboots AI policy

President Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room flanked by Masayoshi...

President Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room flanked by Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp, Larry Ellison, Executive Charmain Oracle and Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI at the White House on January 21 in Washington. Credit: AFP via Getty Images/JIM WATSON

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is sending the country’s artificial intelligence policy back to the drawing board, scrapping Biden-era protections such as those against biased algorithms in a move that some say will let AI proliferate unchecked.

A Trump executive order from January calls for a new AI action plan “free from ideological bias” to be developed within 180 days by a group of White House science and tech officials, including David Sacks, a venture capitalist and former PayPal executive whom Trump named as a special adviser for AI and crypto.

The lifting of Biden’s guardrails and the six-month long wait for a new action plan has companies in areas ranging from health care to talent recruitment wondering how to proceed, said Aaron Tantleff, a partner at the law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP specializing in tech policy.

“I have clients saying ‘I can’t wait,’” Tantleff said in an interview. Neither the tech companies developing the AI systems nor the end users of those systems are likely to halt their work until the new policy emerges, he said.

Judge temporarily blocks Trump plan offering incentives for federal workers to resign

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at...

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House on Thursday in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal workers by offering them financial incentives, the latest tumult for government employees already wrestling with upheaval from the new administration.

Thursday's ruling came hours before the midnight deadline to apply for the deferred resignation program, which was orchestrated by Trump adviser Elon Musk.

Labor unions said the plan was illegal, and U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston paused its implementation until after he could hear arguments from both sides at a court hearing scheduled for Monday afternoon. He directed the Republican administration to extend the deadline until then.

A White House official said 65,000 workers have signed up to leave their jobs while being paid until Sept. 30. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt described federal employees who have been working remotely as lazy, saying “they don’t want to come into the office" and “if they want to rip the American people off, then they’re welcome to take this buyout.”

Business association asks Trump to help LI

Matthew Cohen, the new president and CEO of the Long...

Matthew Cohen, the new president and CEO of the Long Island Association business group, in Melville, Friday, July 2, 2021. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost

A Long Island business group in a letter to President Donald Trump Thursday urged his administration to make tax reforms and allow the Island's renewable energy sector projects to continue, citing that the issues are "critical to Long Island’s economy."

The Long Island Association asked Trump to repeal the federal cap on state and local taxes — referred to as SALT — to help spur local spending and highlighted "the importance of offshore wind to our economy."

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Trump signs order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel

President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close U.S. ally.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel are members of or recognize the court. Israel is a close U.S. ally and the court recently issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his actions toward Palestinians in Gaza after the Hamas attack against Israel in October 2023.

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Senate confirms Project 2025 architect Russell Vought to lead powerful White House budget office

Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's choice for Director of the...

Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's choice for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, attends a Senate Budget Committee hearing on his nomination, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

The Senate confirmed Russell Vought as White House budget director on Thursday night, putting an official who has planned the zealous expansion of President Donald Trump's power into one of the most influential positions in the federal government.

Vought was confirmed on a party-line vote of 53-47. With the Senate chamber full, Democrats repeatedly tried to speak as they cast their “no” votes to give their reasons for voting against Vought, but they were gaveled down by Sen. Ashley Moody, a Florida Republican who was presiding over the chamber. She cited Senate rules that ban debate during votes.

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Trump's Justice Department ends Biden-era task force aimed at seizing assets of Russian oligarchs

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks after being sworn in by...

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks after being sworn in by Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington, as President Donald Trump looks on. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

The Trump administration's Justice Department has disbanded a Biden-era program aimed at seizing the assets of Russian oligarchs as a means to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The move to disband Task Force KleptoCapture is one of several moves undertaken by the Justice Department under the new leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi that presage a different approach toward Russia and national security issues.

The department also ended the Foreign Influence Task Force, which was established in the first Trump administration to police influence campaigns staged by Russia and other nations aimed at sowing discord, undermining democracy and spreading disinformation. The U.S. government in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election aggressively moved to disrupt propaganda campaigns by Russia, which officials have assessed had a preference for Trump.

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Democratic attorneys general challenging Musk's staff access to Americans' sensitive personal data

Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event...

Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington on Jan. 20. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

Democratic attorneys general in several states vowed Thursday to file a lawsuit to stop Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's from accessing federal payment systems containing Americans' sensitive personal information.

A dozen attorneys general, including New York's Letitia James, said in a statement that they were taking action “in defense of our Constitution, our right to privacy, and the essential funding that individuals and communities nationwide are counting on."

“As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law," the statement said. "The President does not have the power to give away our private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.

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Trump administration plans to slash all but a fraction of USAID jobs, officials say

Demonstrators and lawmakers rally against President Donald Trump and his...

Demonstrators and lawmakers rally against President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk as they disrupt the federal government, including dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, which administers foreign aid approved by Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for U.S. aid projects as part of its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands.

Two current USAID employees and one former senior USAID official told The Associated Press of the administration's plan, presented to remaining senior officials of the agency Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity amid a Trump administration order barring USAID staffers from talking to anyone outside their agency.

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Trump administration sues Chicago in latest crackdown on 'sanctuary' cities

Immigrants from Venezuela are reflected in a marble wall while...

Immigrants from Venezuela are reflected in a marble wall while taking shelter at the Chicago Police Department's 16th District station on May 1, 2023. Credit: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast

The Trump administration sued Chicago on Thursday alleging that 'sanctuary' laws in the nation's third-largest city “thwart" federal efforts to enforce immigration laws.

The lawsuit, which also names the state of Illinois, is the latest effort to crack down on places that limit cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police. It follows the federal government's threats of criminal charges and funding cuts to what are known as sanctuary cities.

“The conduct of officials in Chicago and Illinois minimally enforcing — and oftentimes affirmatively thwarting — federal immigration laws over a period of years has resulted in countless criminals being released into Chicago who should have been held for immigration removal from the United States," according to the lawsuit filed in Chicago's federal court.

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Senate vote could put Project 2025 architect in charge of Trump's budget office

Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's choice for Director of the...

Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's choice for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, attends a Senate Budget Committee hearing on his nomination, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

The Senate was headed for a confirmation vote Thursday night on Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s nominee for White House budget director, who is planning to use one of the most powerful positions in federal government to zealously expand the president's power.

The Thursday night vote was planned after Democrats had exhausted their only remaining tool to stonewall a nomination — holding the Senate floor throughout the previous night and day with a series of speeches where they warned Vought was Trump's “most dangerous nominee.”

“Confirming the most radical nominee, who has the most extreme agenda, to the most important agency in Washington,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in a floor speech. “Triple-header of disaster for hardworking Americans.”

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Egypt lobbies against Trump plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians as Israel makes preparations

Israel says it has begun preparations for the departure of Palestinians from Gaza despite international rejection of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to empty the territory of its population. Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes against the proposal, warning it would put its peace deal with Israel at risk, officials said.

Trump administration officials have tried to dial back aspects of the proposal after it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. But officials have provided few details.

In a social media post Thursday, Trump said that the Palestinians would be “resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes,” after which Israel would turn Gaza over to the United States. No U.S. soldiers would be needed for his plan to redevelop it, he said. Hours later, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted again that the relocations would be temporary, with Palestinians living "somewhere else in the interim,” while Gaza is cleaned up and rebuilt.

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2nd federal judge in 2 days blocks President Trump's birthright citizenship order

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown departs a press availability after...

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown departs a press availability after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship in a case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in Seattle. Credit: AP/Lindsey Wasson

A second federal judge in two days has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle on Thursday decried what he described as the administration’s treatment of the Constitution and said Trump was trying to change it with an executive order.

The latest proceeding came just a day after a Maryland federal judge issued a nationwide pause in a separate but similar case involving immigrants' rights groups and pregnant women whose soon-to-born children could be affected.

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Trump's Gaza plan shocks the world but finds support in Israel

Displaced Palestinians walk on a road in central Gaza to...

Displaced Palestinians walk on a road in central Gaza to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Credit: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana

President Donald Trump’s plan to seek U.S. ownership of the Gaza Strip and move out its population infuriated the Arab world. It stunned American allies and other global powers and even flummoxed members of Trump’s own party. The reaction in Israel was starkly different.

The idea of removing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza — once relegated to the fringes of political discourse in the country — has found fertile ground in an Israeli public traumatized by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and grasping for ways to feel secure again after the deadliest assault in their country’s history.

Jewish Israeli politicians across the spectrum either embraced the idea wholeheartedly or expressed openness to it. Newspaper columns praised its audacity and TV commentators debated how the idea could practically be set in motion. The country’s defense minister ordered the military to plan for its eventual implementation.

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Judge temporarily blocks Trump plan offering incentives for federal workers to resign

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking...

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: AP/Kevin Lamarque

A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives.

The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the deferred resignation program, which has been commonly described as a buyout.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston did not express an opinion on the legality of the program. He scheduled a hearing for Monday at 2 p.m. EST.

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Trump meets with congressional Republicans as GOP lawmakers argue over tax and spending cuts

The White House, pictured here on Jan. 20, 2025.

The White House, pictured here on Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: AP/Mike Stewart

President Donald Trump is meeting privately with congressional Republicans at the White House on Thursday as his allies on Capitol Hill are arguing with themselves over the size, scope and details of his “big, beautiful bill” to cut taxes, regulations and government spending.

The House and Senate GOP leaders are looking to Trump for direction on how to proceed, but so far the president has been noncommittal about the details — only pushing Congress for results.

The standoff is creating frustration for Republicans as precious time is slipping and they fail to make progress on what has been their top priority with their party in control in Washington. At the same time, congressional phone lines are being swamped with callers protesting Trump's cost-cutting efforts led by billionaire Elon Musk against federal programs, services and operations.

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Trump blames 'obsolete' U.S. air traffic control system for the plane and chopper collision near D.C.

A crane offloads a piece of wreckage from a salvage...

A crane offloads a piece of wreckage from a salvage vessel onto a flatbed truck, near the wreckage site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Feb. 5 in Arlington, Va. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed last week's deadly collision of a passenger jet and Army helicopter on what he called an “obsolete” computer system used by U.S. air traffic controllers, and he vowed to replace it.

Trump said during an event that “a lot of mistakes happened” on Jan. 29 when an American Airlines flight out of Wichita, Kansas, collided with an Army helicopter as the plane was about to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, killing all 67 people on board the two aircraft.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Trump blamed diversity hiring programs for the crash. But on Thursday, he blamed the computer system used by the country's air traffic controllers.

“It’s amazing that it happened,” Trump said during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol. “And I think that’s going to be used for good. I think what is going to happen is we’re all going to sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers. Brand new — not pieced together, obsolete.”

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Musk uses his X ownership and White House position to push Trump priorities, intimidate detractors

Elon Musk reacts as President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a...

Elon Musk reacts as President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 19 in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — The emergence of X owner Elon Musk as the most influential figure around President Donald Trump has created an extraordinary dynamic — a White House adviser who's using one of the world’s most powerful information platforms to sell the government’s talking points while intimidating its detractors.

In recent days, Musk has used X to promote Trump's positions to his 215 million followers, attack an agency he's trying to shut down as “evil” and claim a Treasury employee who resigned under pressure over payment system access committed a crime.

His use of the social media platform he owns has become both a cudgel and a megaphone for the Republican administration at a time that his power to shape the electorate’s perspective is only growing, as more Americans turn to social media and influencers to get their news.

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Trump urges Americans to 'bring God back into our lives' in National Prayer Breakfast speech

President Donald Trump attends the National Prayer Breakfast on Capitol...

President Donald Trump attends the National Prayer Breakfast on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that his relationship with religion had “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year, as he advocated at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol for Americans to “bring God back" into their lives.

Trump joined a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship.

“I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief," Trump said at the Capitol. “Let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.”

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Trump's U.S. trade negotiator pick vows hardline policies

Jamieson Greer poses for a photo with Cabinet picks, other...

Jamieson Greer poses for a photo with Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments at the National Gallery of Art in Washington on Jan. 18. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

WASHINGTON — Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump's choice to be the top U.S. trade negotiator, promised to pursue the president's hardline trade policies.

Trump's protectionist approach to trade — involving the heavy use of taxes on foreign goods — will give Americans "the opportunity to work in good-paying jobs producing goods and services they can sell in this market and abroad to earn an honest living,'' Greer said in remarks prepared ahead of his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee.

As U.S. trade representative, Greer would have responsibility — along with Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick — for one of Trump's top policy priorities: waging or at least threatening trade war with countries around the world, America's friends and foes alike.

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Panama's president denies making a deal that U.S. ships can transit the canal for free

Cargo containers sit stacked as cranes load and unload containers...

Cargo containers sit stacked as cranes load and unload containers from cargo ships at the Cristobal port, operated by the Panama Ports Company, in Colon Tuesday. Credit: AP/Matias Delacroix

PANAMA CITY — Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied the U.S. State Department’s claim that his country had reached a deal allowing U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free.

Mulino said he had told U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday that he could neither set the fees to transit the canal nor exempt anyone from them and that he was surprised by the U.S. State Department’s statement suggesting otherwise late Wednesday.

“I completely reject that statement yesterday,” Mulino said during his weekly press conference, adding that he had asked Panama’s ambassador in Washington to dispute the State Department’s statement.

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Opposition lawmakers protest alleged mistreatment of Indian deportees by U.S.

India's opposition lawmakers, some of them wearing shackles, stage a...

India's opposition lawmakers, some of them wearing shackles, stage a protest outside the Parliament in New Delhi, to condemn the reported mistreatment of Indian immigrants during their deportation from the United States Thursday. The banners in Hindi language read "Indians in shackles, will not tolerate the insult." Credit: AP

NEW DELHI — India’s Parliament was disrupted on Thursday as opposition lawmakers protested the alleged mistreatment of 104 Indian immigrants deported by the United States.

A U.S. military plane carrying 104 deported Indian migrants arrived Wednesday in a northern Indian city, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by the Trump administration.

The lawmakers and media reports said the deportees’ arms and legs were shackled while on the aircraft. Parliament's proceedings were adjourned Thursday as the lawmakers chanted slogans and demanded a discussion about the deportation.

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A short honeymoon for Catholics in D.C. as Vice President Vance clashes with bishops on migration

Vice President JD Vance speaks before swearing in Secretary of...

Vice President JD Vance speaks before swearing in Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on Jan. 21. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

The sense of Catholic unity didn’t last long. Less than a week after Vice President JD Vance shared the inauguration stage with a senior Catholic cardinal, Vance picked a fight with the top American leaders of his church.

The new vice president, a Catholic convert, accused the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops of resettling “illegal immigrants” in order to get federal funding. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who gave the invocation shortly before Vance took his oath of office, denounced the remarks as “scurrilous” and “nasty.”

Vance has claimed that a concept from medieval Catholic theology — “ordo amoris” in Latin — justifies the Trump administration’s America-first immigration crackdown. He contended that the concept delineates a hierarchy of care — to family first, followed by neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those elsewhere.

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Is it real or is it a trick? Federal workers debate legitimacy of buyout offer as deadline nears

Elon Musk arrives to speak at an indoor Presidential Inauguration...

Elon Musk arrives to speak at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington on Jan. 20. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

WASHINGTON — Thousands of miles from Elon Musk’s office in the White House complex, a federal worker based in the Pacific Northwest is wondering whether to quit.

Musk, one of President Donald Trump’s most powerful advisers, has orchestrated an unprecedented financial incentive for people to leave their government jobs, promising several months of pay in return for their resignation. The worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, wants to take the money and move overseas.

But she’s worried. What if the offer is too good to be true? What if this is really a covert effort to make a list of disloyal government employees?

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Israel begins preparations for Gaza exodus as Egypt lobbies against Trump plan

A man sells bread under the destruction of his bakery...

A man sells bread under the destruction of his bakery destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. Credit: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana

CAIRO — Israel said on Thursday it has begun preparations for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in line with President Donald Trump's plan for the territory. Officials meanwhile said Egypt has launched an diplomatic blitz behind the scenes to try and head off the plan.

The Trump administration has already dialed back aspects of the proposal after it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. U.S. officials have provided few details about how or when the plan would be carried out.

In a social media post on Thursday, Trump said Israel would turn Gaza over to the United States after the war and that no U.S. soldiers would be needed for his plan to redevelop it.

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What to know about the court cases over President Trump's birthright citizenship order

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown departs a press availability after...

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown departs a press availability after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship in a case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon on Jan. 23 in Seattle. Credit: AP/Lindsey Wasson

SEATTLE — A federal judge who already questioned the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order is set to hear arguments Thursday over a longer-term pause of the directive, which aims to end citizenship for children born to parents not legally in the country.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle has scheduled a hearing involving lawyers from the Trump administration, four states suing to stop the order, and an immigrant rights organization, which is challenging it on behalf of a proposed class of expectant parents.

The latest proceeding comes just a day after a Maryland federal judge issued a nationwide pause in a separate but similar case involving immigrants' rights groups and pregnant women whose soon-to-born children could be affected.

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Long Islanders react to Trump's pitch for Gaza with bemusement, concern

Said Suha Syed, a student at SUNY Old Westbury, about...

Said Suha Syed, a student at SUNY Old Westbury, about President Donald Trump's comment that the U.S. "take over" Gaza: "I think there is very little empathy or consideration being made by these remarks from the president." Credit: Suha Syed

Long Islanders interviewed by Newsday on Wednesday expressed astonishment and ridicule but also concern over President Donald Trump’s proposal to force all Palestinians to permanently evacuate Gaza so the United States can "take over."

Speaking Tuesday at the White House, where he was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the United States would "take over" Gaza and permanently relocate the 1.8 million Palestinians living there to other countries.

The president didn't rule out sending in troops as part of his plan to create a "Riviera of the Middle East" in Gaza, which he said now looks like a "demolition site" after prolonged bombings by Israel in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.

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Pam Bondi is sworn in as attorney general as the Justice Department braces for major shakeup

Pam Bondi is sworn in as Attorney General by Supreme...

Pam Bondi is sworn in as Attorney General by Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, right, as President Donald Trump and John Wakefield look on in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday.  Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

Pam Bondi was sworn in Wednesday as attorney general, taking charge of the Justice Department as it braces for upheaval with President Donald Trump aiming to exert his will over an agency that has long provoked his ire.

The ceremony took place in the Oval Office and it was the first time that the Republican president had participated in a second-term swearing-in of a Cabinet member. It was further evidence of Trump’s intense personal interest in the operations of the department that investigated him during his first term and then brought two since-abandoned indictments after he left office in 2021.

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VA nurses are in short supply. Unions say Trump's deferred resignation plan could make things worse.

Doug Collins, President Donald Trump's pick to be Secretary of...

Doug Collins, President Donald Trump's pick to be Secretary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, appears at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, at the Capitol on Jan. 21, 2025. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

For the federal government's largest group of employees — nurses caring for military veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs — the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer and its looming Thursday deadline come amid longstanding staffing shortages, deemed severe at more than half of all facilities.

Unions are discouraging nurses from accepting the offer, and leaders say an exodus would directly and immediately affect the care of its 9.1 million enrolled veterans.

“We’re already facing a staffing crisis in our hospitals,” said Irma Westmoreland, a registered nurse who heads the Veterans Affairs unit for National Nurses United. “We cannot afford to lose any more staff.”

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Guatemala strikes deal with Rubio to accept migrants from other countries deported from the U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, shakes hands with...

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, shakes hands with Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Ramiro Martinez during a photo opportunity at the National Palace in Guatemala City on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

Guatemala’s president said Wednesday after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his country will accept migrants from other countries being deported from the United States.

Under the “safe third country” agreement announced by President Bernardo Arevalo, the deportees would then be returned to their home countries at U.S. expense.

Immigration, a Trump administration priority, has been the major focus of Rubio’s first foreign trip as America’s top diplomat, a five-country tour of Central America.

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Trump signs executive order intended to bar transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports

President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order barring...

President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women's or girls' sporting events, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women’s sports.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies, including the Justice and Education departments, wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said at a signing ceremony.

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CIA offers buyouts to staffers as new director looks to stamp Trump's imprint on the agency

John Ratcliffe listens before Vice President JD Vance swears him...

John Ratcliffe listens before Vice President JD Vance swears him in as CIA Director in the Vice Presidential ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on Jan. 23, 2025. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

The CIA confirmed on Wednesday that it has offered buyouts to employees who voluntarily resign, the latest group of workers targeted in President Donald Trump's push to transform the federal government.

A CIA spokesperson declined to say how many people received offers or whether they face any deadline to decide.

Trump's Office of Personnel Management already has offered millions of federal workers about eight months of salary if they agree by Thursday to leave their jobs. The CIA and other national security agencies were initially exempted, but the CIA offers suggest few corners of the government will escape Trump's overhaul.

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Trump's birthright citizenship order is put on hold by a second federal judge

In this Sept. 16, 2015, photo, a woman in Sullivan...

In this Sept. 16, 2015, photo, a woman in Sullivan City, Texas, who said she entered the country illegally, walks with her daughter who was born in the United States, but was denied a birth certificate. Credit: AP/Eric Gay

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a second nationwide pause on President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally, calling citizenship a “most precious right.”

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said no court in the country has endorsed the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“This court will not be the first,” she said.

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Trump and Musk's dismantling of government is shaking the foundations of U.S. democracy

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, claps as...

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, claps as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk prepares to depart after speaking at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, on Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — When Elon Musk debuted the Department of Government Efficiency recently at the Capitol, House Speaker Mike Johnson enthusiastically predicted the coming Trump administration would bring “a lot of change around here.”

Three weeks in, the change the Trump administration has brought is a disruption of the federal government on an unprecedented scale, dismantling longstanding programs, sparking widespread public outcry and challenging the very role of Congress to create the nation’s laws and pay its bills.

Government workers are being pushed to resign. Entire agencies are being shuttered. Federal funding to states and nonprofits was temporarily frozen. And the most sensitive Treasury Department information of countless Americans was opened to Musk’s DOGE team in an unprecedented breach of privacy and protocol.

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USAID is going away, and along with it cocaine-fighting efforts and Amazon rainforest protection

A man walks past boxes of USAID humanitarian aid at...

A man walks past boxes of USAID humanitarian aid at a warehouse at the Tienditas International Bridge on the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia on Feb. 21, 2019. Credit: AP/Fernando Vergara

BRASILANDIA, Brazil — The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development will deliver a major blow to efforts including humanitarian assistance in Colombia, conservation efforts in the Brazilian Amazon and coca eradication in Peru — South American countries that have been a priority for the support.

Even if some foreign aid resumes after the 90-day suspension ordered by President Donald Trump, many USAID-backed projects focus on areas he has derided as ideological: climate change, biodiversity and minority and women's rights, so several recipients fear their projects are now dead.

Colombia has long been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance in South America. Recent USAID money has supported emergency humanitarian aid to more than 2.8 million Venezuelans who fled economic crisis. In 2024 alone, the agency transferred some $45 million to the U.N. World Food Programme, mostly to assist them.

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South African president phones influential billionaire Musk after Trump's funding threat

Elon Musk arrives before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the...

Elon Musk arrives before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20. Credit: AP/Kevin Lamarque

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with Donald Trump's “influential” billionaire adviser Elon Musk a day after the new U.S. president promised to cut funding for South Africa over a land expropriation law, Ramaphosa's spokesperson said Wednesday.

Ramaphosa’s conversation with Musk was “logical,” spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said, because the South African-born Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur has held previous investment-related discussions with Ramaphosa and is a Trump ally.

The land law, which was signed by Ramaphosa last month, is contentious because it gives the government scope to expropriate land from private parties.

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USPS lifts suspension of parcels from Hong Kong and China, reversing decision from a day earlier

A U.S. Postal Service employee loads parcels outside a post...

A U.S. Postal Service employee loads parcels outside a post office in Wheeling, Ill., on Jan. 29. Credit: AP/Nam Y. Huh

HONG KONG — The U.S. Postal Service reversed course Wednesday, saying it would continue to accept all inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong. One day earlier, the USPS said it wouldn't be accepting parcels from the China and Hong Kong after the U.S. imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods and ended a customs exception that allowed small value parcels to enter the U.S. without paying tax. The USPS said Wednesday that it was working with Customs and Border Protection to implement a collection process for the new China tariffs to avoid delivery disruptions.

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More than 100 Indian migrants deported by the U.S. arrive home

A US military plane which carried deported Indian immigrants is...

A US military plane which carried deported Indian immigrants is parked at the international airport in Amritsar, India, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. Credit: AP/Prabhjot Gill

AMRITSAR, India — A U.S. military plane carrying 104 deported Indian migrants arrived in a northern Indian city on Wednesday, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by the Trump administration, airport officials said.

The Indians who returned home had illegally entered the United States over the years and came from various Indian states.

The move came ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington, which is expected next week. U.S. President Donald Trump and Modi discussed immigration in a phone call last week and Trump stressed the importance of India buying more American-made security equipment and fair bilateral trade.

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Trump to sign executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israeli...

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday designed to prevent people who were biologically assigned male at birth from participating in women’s or girls' sporting events.

The order, which Trump is expected to sign at an afternoon ceremony, marks another aggressive shift by the president's second administration in the way the federal government deals with transgender people and their rights.

The president put out a sweeping order on his first day in office last month that called for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents such as passports and in policies such as federal prison assignments.

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Protests against Trump and Project 2025 are planned in cities across the U.S.

Police stand during an immigrant rights protest Monday in Los Angeles.

Police stand during an immigrant rights protest Monday in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes

A movement to oppose the early actions of President Donald Trump’s administration is taking off online, with plans to protest across the U.S. on Wednesday.

The movement has organized under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day. Many of the protests are planned at state capitols, with some in other cities.

The movement has websites and accounts across social media. Flyers circulating online decry Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society, and include messages such as “reject fascism” and “defend our democracy.” In a coffee shop just a block from Michigan’s Capitol, organizers of a planned action there Wednesday pushed together tables, spreading out poster boards to write messages that read “No Deportations Ever!” and “Workers Unite!”

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Trump's suggestion the US 'take over' the Gaza Strip is rejected by allies and adversaries alike

Palestinians carry defaced pictures of U.S. President Donald Trump while...

Palestinians carry defaced pictures of U.S. President Donald Trump while protesting against his latest statements regarding the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Nasser Nasser

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Donald Trump's proposal that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle its Palestinian residents was swiftly rejected and denounced on Wednesday by American allies and adversaries alike.

Trump's suggestion came at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who smiled several times as the president detailed a plan to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and for the U.S. to take “ownership” in redeveloping the war-torn territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said. “We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.”

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Stony Brook Medicine: ICE agents need court order

Stony Brook Medicine has directed faculty and staff to only...

Stony Brook Medicine has directed faculty and staff to only allow ICE agents facility access after the health system’s legal counsel has validated their warrant or subpoena.  Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara

Stony Brook Medicine has directed faculty and staff to only allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents facility access after the health system’s legal counsel has validated their warrant or subpoena.

The move comes in response to President Donald Trump's efforts since his return to the White House to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally. In doing so, Trump has reversed policies that had for years restricted enforcement in locations like hospitals, churches and schools.

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Trump's Jan. 6 pardons spark dueling resolutions in North Hempstead

Demonstrators gather on the steps of North Hempstead Town Hall...

Demonstrators gather on the steps of North Hempstead Town Hall on Tuesday night in support of a councilmember's call for official condemnation of President Donald Trump's pardon of Jan. 6 rioters and in opposition to a resolution to prohibit town actions on issues outside its jurisdiction. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara

The national conversation surrounding President Donald Trump’s pardons of about 1,500 people convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol reached the front steps of North Hempstead Town Hall on Tuesday night.

A group of about 50 people gathered in the cold before the monthly town board meeting to protest a resolution put forth by Supervisor Jennifer DeSena amending the town board’s rules of procedure to preclude resolutions "on matters and issues outside the jurisdiction of the Town."

DeSena, a registered Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, put forth the resolution after Democratic Councilmember Mariann Dalimonte had proposed a resolution officially condemning Trump's Jan. 20 pardons.

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USAID direct hires put on leave worldwide, except those deemed essential

Solar panels system funded by United States Agency for International...

Solar panels system funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are seen in the Lebanese-Syrian border town of Majdal Anjar, eastern Bekaa valley, Lebanon, Nov. 9, 2022. Credit: AP/Bilal Hussein

The Trump administration is placing U.S. Agency for International Development direct-hire staffers around the world on leave except those deemed essential, upending the aid agency’s six-decade mission overseas.

A notice posted online Tuesday gives the workers 30 days to return home. The move had been rumored for several days and was the most extreme of several proposals considered for consolidating the agency into the State Department. Other options had included closures of smaller USAID missions and partial closures of larger ones.

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Senate confirms Pam Bondi as US attorney general, putting Trump ally at Justice Department's helm

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice...

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

The Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general Tuesday evening, putting a longtime ally of Donald Trump at the helm of a Justice Department that has already been rattled by the firings of career employees seen as disloyal to the Republican president.

The vote fell almost entirely along party lines, with only Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, joining with all Republicans to pass her confirmation 54-46.

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Trump wants US to take ownership of Gaza and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants the U.S. to take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere.

“We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” Trump said a start of a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump added the U.S. would level destroyed buildings and “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.

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Trump administration will consider redrawing boundaries of national monuments as part of energy push

FILE- The undated file photo shows the Upper Gulch section...

FILE- The undated file photo shows the Upper Gulch section of the Escalante Canyons within Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument features sheer sandstone walls, broken occasionally by tributary canyons. Credit: AP/Douglas C. Pizac

As part of the Trump administration’s push to expand U.S. energy production, federal officials will review and consider redrawing the boundaries of national monuments created under previous presidents to protect unique landscapes and cultural resources.

The review — laid out in a Monday order from new Interior Secretary Doug Burgum — is raising alarms among conservation groups concerned that President Donald Trump will shrink or eliminate monuments established by his predecessors, including Democrat Joe Biden.

Burgum gave agency officials until Feb. 18 to submit plans on how to comply with his order.

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Trump picks former chief entangled in 'Sharpiegate' to lead NOAA

Neil Jacobs, assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and...

Neil Jacobs, assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, stands next to a chart during a briefing with President Donald Trump on the 2020 hurricane season in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 28, 2020. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has nominated Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, turning to the man who was his acting NOAA chief in 2019 when Trump altered an expected hurricane impact map in what became known as the “Sharpiegate” scandal.

After Alabama meteorologists had contradicted an earlier Trump tweet warning of Alabama being in a storm's path, the Jacobs-led agency chastised them. That eventually drew criticism of Jacobs and his political higher-ups in a Department of Commerce inspector general's report on Sharpiegate.

NOAA oversees the National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Ocean Service and other offices. Along with many other federal agencies, NOAA was targeted in Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for change in a second Trump administration. That document called to “break up NOAA," criticizing the agency as “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

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Treasury tells Congress that DOGE had 'Read Only' access to payment systems

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking...

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: AP/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON — A Treasury Department official wrote a letter Tuesday to federal lawmakers saying that a tech executive working with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency will have “read-only access” to the government's payment system.

The official sent the letter out of concerns from members of Congress that DOGE's involvement with the payment system for the federal government could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

DOGE, a Trump administration task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, has raised concerns about its intentions and overruling of career officials at multiple agencies. Democratic lawmakers have voiced frustration over the lack of transparency and public accountability, saying that Musk's people might illegally withhold payments to suit their political agenda.

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Trump suggests displaced Palestinians in Gaza be 'permanently' resettled outside war-torn territory

President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be “permanently” resettled outside the war-torn territory.

Trump made the provocative comments at the start of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, where the two leaders are expected to discuss the fragile ceasefire and hostage deal in Israeli-Hamas conflict.

“I don’t think people should be going back," Trump said. “You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy."

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Trump says he's given advisers instructions for Iran to be 'obliterated' if it assassinates him

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he's given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him.

“If they did that they would be obliterated,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters while signing an executive order calling for the U.S. government to impose maximum pressure on Tehran. "I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”

The Justice Department announced in federal charges in November that an Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election had been thwarted.

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What did US get from deals to pause tariffs on Canada and Mexico? Not that much, observers say

Mexican National Guards prepare to board an aircraft at the...

Mexican National Guards prepare to board an aircraft at the International Airport in Merida, Mexico Tuesday to travel north to reinforce the country's border with the United States. Credit: AP/Martin Zetina

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico — now on hold for a month — risked blowing up North America’s economy. What did the United States get out of his deals to pause the import taxes against the two nations?

Not all that much, according to people outside the administration looking at the agreements.

The U.S. president has been openly pugnacious with America's two largest trade partners. His orders to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and on most imports from Canada, with a lesser 10% tax on its energy products, created a sudden political and economic firestorm. Separately, 10% tariffs went into effect on China on Tuesday.

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Trump and Musk demand termination of federal office leases through General Services Administration

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, claps as...

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, claps as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk prepares to depart after speaking at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, on Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

One of the next moves in President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's sweeping effort to fire government employees and curtail operations is using the agency that manages thousands of federal employee worksites around the country to cut down on office space.

Last week, regional managers for the General Services Administration, or GSA, received a message from the agency's Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, according to an email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee.

The order seems to contradict Trump’s own return-to-office mandate for federal employees, adding confusion to what was already a scramble by the GSA to find workspace, internet connections and office building security credentials for employees who had been working remotely for years.

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First military flight to send migrants to Guantanamo Bay is set to depart, official says

In this April 17, 2019, photo, reviewed by U.S. military...

In this April 17, 2019, photo, reviewed by U.S. military officials, the control tower is seen through the razor wire inside the Camp VI detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — The first U.S. military flight to deport migrants from the United States to Guantanamo Bay was set to depart Tuesday, a U.S. official said. It is the first step in what is expected to be a surge in the number of migrants held at the Navy base in Cuba, which for decades was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

President Donald Trump has eyed the facility as a holding center and said it has the capacity to hold as many as 30,000.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was assigned to Guantanamo Bay when he was on active duty, has called it a “perfect place” to house migrants. Additional U.S. troops have arrived at the facility in the past few days to help prepare the site.

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Families and doctors sue over Trump's order to halt funding for gender-affirming care

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

A group of families with transgender children filed a lawsuit Tuesday over President Donald Trump's executive order to halt federal support for gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19.

PFLAG, a national group for family of LGBTQ+ people; and GLMA, a doctors organization, are also plaintiffs in the court challenge in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

It comes one week after Trump signed an order calling for the federal government to stop funding the medical care through federal government-run health insurance programs including Medicaid and TRICARE.

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Trump envoy calls Gaza rebuilding timeline in Israel-Hamas truce 'preposterous'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Donald Trump...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Donald Trump stand as they prepare to depart after the Abraham Accords signing ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House on Sept. 15, 2020. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy said Tuesday that a three to five year timeline for reconstruction of Gaza, as set out in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable as the U.S. administration reiterated its call for Arab nations to temporarily relocate displaced Palestinians in the war-torn territory.

“To me, it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years,” Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters. “That’s just preposterous.”

The renewed call by the Trump administration on Arab nations to relocate displaced Palestinians comes as Trump is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House later Tuesday.

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FBI agents sue over Justice Dept. effort to ID employees involved in Trump-related investigations

FBI headquarters is seen in Washington on Dec. 7, 2024.

FBI headquarters is seen in Washington on Dec. 7, 2024. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

WASHINGTON — FBI agents who participated in investigations related to President Donald Trump have sued over Justice Department efforts to develop a list of employees involved in those inquiries that they fear could be a precursor to mass firings.

The class-action complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, seeks an immediate halt to the Justice Development's plans to compile a list of investigators who participated in probes of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol as well as Trump's hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The lawsuit notes that Trump on the campaign trail “repeatedly stated that he would personify ‘the vengeance’ or ‘the retribution,’ for those whom he called ‘political hostages,’ for their actions during the Jan. 6 attack.”

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China counters with tariffs on U.S. products

Traditional Russian wooden dolls called Matryoshka depicting China's President Xi...

Traditional Russian wooden dolls called Matryoshka depicting China's President Xi Jinping, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump are on sale at a souvenir shop in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Nov. 21, 2024. Credit: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky

China countered President Donald Trump's across-the-board tariffs on Chinese products with tariffs on select U.S. imports Tuesday, as well as announcing an antitrust investigation into Google and other trade measures.

U.S. tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico were also set to go into effect Tuesday before Trump agreed to a 30-day pause as the two countries acted to appease his concerns about border security and drug trafficking. Trump planned to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next few days.

The Chinese response was “measured,” said John Gong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. “I don’t think they want the trade war escalating," he said. "And they see this example from Canada and Mexico and probably they are hoping for the same thing.”

This isn't the first round of tit-for-tat actions between the two countries. China and the U.S. had engaged in a trade war in 2018 when Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods and China responded in kind.

This time, analysts said, China is much better prepared to counter, with the government announcing a slew of measures that cut across different sectors of the economy, from energy to individual U.S. companies.

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Trump agrees to pause tariffs on Canada and Mexico after they pledge to boost border enforcement

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters next to Air Force...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters next to Air Force One after arriving back at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Sunday. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

President Donald Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada as America's two largest trading partners took steps to appease his concerns about border security and drug trafficking.

The pauses provide a cool-down period after a tumultuous few days that put North America on the cusp of a trade war that risked crushing economic growth, causing prices to soar and ending two of the United States' most critical partnerships.

“I am very pleased with this initial outcome, and the Tariffs announced on Saturday will be paused for a 30 day period to see whether or not a final Economic deal with Canada can be structured,” Trump posted on social media. “FAIRNESS FOR ALL!”

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Democrats push back after USAID and workers are kept out

WASHINGTON — Democrats have delivered a strong rebuke against the Trump administration’s attempt to gut an agency that provides crucial aid overseas to fund education and fight starvation and disease, calling it illegal, vowing a court fight and lambasting billionaire Elon Musk for wielding so much power in Washington.

Staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters, and officers blocked the lawmakers from entering the lobby after Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency.

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ACLU sues over Trump shutting down asylum access at the southern border

President Donald Trump listens after signing executive orders in the...

President Donald Trump listens after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

Immigration advocacy groups on Monday sued the Trump administration over its ban on asylum access at the southern border, saying the sweeping restrictions illegally put people who are fleeing war and persecution in harm's way.

The decision outlined in one of President Donald Trump’s immigration-related executive orders is “as unlawful as it is unprecedented,” the groups — led by the American Civil Liberties Union — said in the complaint, filed in a Washington federal court.

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Dozens of Education Department workers are put on leave over Trump's anti-DEI order

President Donald Trump walks from Marine One upon arrival on...

President Donald Trump walks from Marine One upon arrival on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington Sunday. Credit: AP/Rod Lamkey

WASHINGTON — Dozens of employees at the U.S. Education Department were put on paid administrative leave in response to President Donald Trump’s order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, according to a labor union that represents hundreds of workers in the agency.

It's unclear how many workers were put on leave or for what reasons, said Sheria Smith, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252. The majority of employees placed on leave do not work in DEI initiatives and span all branches of the agency, she said, from an office that sends billions of dollars to K-12 schools to an investigative office that enforces civil rights laws.

The shakeup comes as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, pushes to cut programs and federal workers at departments across the government, including the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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Senate confirms fossil fuel CEO Chris Wright as energy secretary

Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of...

Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Energy, testifies during a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill on Jan. 15. Credit: AP/Rod Lamkey

The Senate on Monday confirmed fossil fuel executive Chris Wright to serve as energy secretary, a key post to promote President Donald Trump’s efforts to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.

Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. He says more fossil fuel production can lift people out of poverty around the globe and has promised to help Trump “unleash energy security and prosperity.”

The Senate approved his nomination, 59-38. Eight Democrats — including both senators from Wright's home state of Colorado — voted in favor.

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Musk is a 'special government employee,' the White House confirms

Elon Musk arrives on stage to speak at an indoor...

Elon Musk arrives on stage to speak at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington on Jan. 20. Credit: AP/Susan Walsh

WASHINGTON — Elon Musk is working for President Donald Trump as a “special government employee," according to a White House official, solidifying his controversial role in the administration but sidestepping some disclosure rules that are typical of federal workers.

The official, speaking Monday on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that Musk has a government email address and office space in the White House complex.

Musk, the world's richest man, has been granted broad latitude by Trump to reduce the size of the federal government. On Monday morning, the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development was abruptly shut down. Musk's team, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, also has received access to sensitive payment systems at the U.S. Treasury Department.

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Rubio views a deportation flight in Panama as Trump prioritizes an immigration crackdown

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, Frank Alexis Abrego, Panama's...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, Frank Alexis Abrego, Panama's Minister of Public Security, center, and Panama's Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha, watch as people board a repatriation flight bound for Colombia at Albrook Airport in Panama City on Monday.  Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio viewed a deportation flight carrying 43 migrants before it took off from Panama on Monday as President Donald Trump’s administration prioritizes stopping people from making the journey to the United States.

On his second and final day in Panama City on a five-nation trip to Central America, Rubio turned his focus from the Panama Canal and Chinese influence to the issue the Republican president has championed most: immigration.

The flight was carrying 32 men and 11 women back to Colombia after they had crossed the Darien Gap and were stopped in Panama. Some of the migrants filed into the plane before Rubio arrived. He viewed the plane and then left the tarmac to give comments in a nearby building. It's unusual for a secretary of state to personally witness such a law enforcement operation, especially in front of cameras.

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USAID staffers are instructed to stay out of the agency's Washington headquarters

USAID humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela is displayed for the...

USAID humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela is displayed for the media at a warehouse next to the Tienditas International Bridge on the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia on Feb. 19, 2019. Credit: AP/Fernando Vergara

Staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters on Monday, according to a notice distributed to them, after billionaire Elon Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency.

USAID staffers said they tracked 600 employees who reported being locked out of the agency’s computer systems overnight. Those still in the system received emails in the agency system saying that “at the direction of Agency leadership” the headquarters building “will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, Feb. 3.”

The developments come after Musk, who's leading an extraordinary civilian review of the federal government with the Republican president's agreement, said early Monday that he had spoken with Trump about the six-decade U.S. aid and development agency and “he agreed we should shut it down.”

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China renews threat to retaliate against U.S. tariffs

Traditional Russian wooden dolls called Matryoshka depicting China's President Xi...

Traditional Russian wooden dolls called Matryoshka depicting China's President Xi Jinping, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump are on sale at a souvenir shop in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Nov. 21, 2024. Credit: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky

U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada, Mexico and China is ramping up over the production and importation of the opiate fentanyl, along with trade surpluses and illegal border crossings by migrants from across the globe.

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Rubio says Panama must reduce Chinese influence around the canal or face possible US action

Panama's President Jose Mulino, left, and U.S. Secretary of State...

Panama's President Jose Mulino, left, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrive for a meeting at presidential palace in Panama City, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio brought a warning to Panamanian leader José Raúl Mulino on Sunday: Immediately reduce what President Donald Trump says is Chinese influence over the Panama Canal area or face potential retaliation from the United States.

Rubio, traveling to the Central American country and touring the Panama Canal on his first foreign trip as top U.S. diplomat, held face-to-face talks with Mulino, who has resisted pressure from the new U.S. government over management of a waterway that is vital to global trade.

Mulino told reporters after the meeting that Rubio made “no real threat of retaking the canal or the use of force.”

Speaking on behalf of Trump, who has demanded that the canal be returned to U.S. control, Rubio told Mulino that Trump believed that China’s presence in the canal area may violate a treaty that led the United States to turn the waterway over to Panama in 1999. That treaty calls for the permanent neutrality of the American-built canal.

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Trump plans to cut U.S. funding to South Africa over contentious land law

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters next to Air Force...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters next to Air Force One after arriving back at Joint Base Andrews, Md. on Sunday. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will cut all funding to South Africa and has launched an investigation into the country's polices, claiming a “massive" human rights violation is happening over a new land expropriation law.

Trump made the pledge to stop all future funding on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, writing: “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY."

In South Africa, Trump wrote, a ”massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”

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DHS to end temporary protection for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to employees at the...

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to employees at the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem has decided to end temporary humanitarian protections for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans who sought refuge in the United States in the last few years, putting them at imminent risk of being forced to return to the autocratic regime they left behind in South America.

Noem wrote that conditions in Venezuela “no longer” met the criteria for its citizens to qualify for temporary protected status, which was set to expire in April for those who received the protection in 2023, according to a copy of the unpublished notice DHS released Sunday.

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Trump says Americans could feel 'some pain' from his new tariffs that are triggering a trade war

President Donald Trump in the James Brady Press Briefing Room...

President Donald Trump in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Jan. 30, 2025. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

President Donald Trump said Sunday that Americans could feel “some pain” from the emerging trade war triggered by his tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China, and claimed that Canada would “cease to exist” without its trade surplus with the United States.

The trade penalties that Trump signed Saturday at his Florida resort caused a mix of panic, anger and uncertainty, and threatened to rupture a decades-old partnership on trade in North America while further straining relations with China. But by following through on a campaign pledge, Trump may have simultaneously broken his promise to voters in last year's election that his administration could quickly reduce inflation.

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Rubio is holding talks in Panama as Trump demands canal control and pressures U.S. neighbors

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, is received by Panamanian...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, is received by Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha, center, and John Barrett, Chargé d'affaires, at the Panama Pacific International Airport in Panama City on Saturday. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

PANAMA CITY — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting Panama’s president Sunday on the opening stop of his first foreign trip as America's top diplomat as President Donald Trump increases the pressure on Washington's neighbors and allies, including a demand for the Panama Canal to be returned to the United States.

A day after Trump announced he was imposing major tariffs on Canada and Mexico, prompting retaliation from those countries, Rubio was set for perhaps a less confrontational and more diplomatic approach. After talks with President José Raúl Mulino, Rubio planned to tour an energy facility and then the canal, the object of Trump’s intense interest.

Mulino has said there will be no negotiation with the U.S. over ownership of the canal, and some Panamanians have staged protests over Trump's plans. Mulino said he hoped Rubio’s visit would focus on shared interests such as migration and combating drug trafficking.

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FBI employees who worked Jan. 6 cases told to describe what they did

The FBI headquarters in D.C. 

The FBI headquarters in D.C.  Credit: For The Washington Post/Michael A. McCoy

FBI officials sent out a questionnaire over the weekend to determine the involvement of thousands of FBI personnel in cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to multiple people who reviewed the document and spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

The online questionnaire landed in inboxes a day after the FBI’s acting director said the bureau would conduct a sweeping examination, at the request of the Justice Department, of anyone who touched the sprawling Jan. 6. investigation.

It is the latest sign that the Trump administration aims to deliver on its promises to make dramatic changes in the law enforcement agency and root out people who Trump or his allies claim acted inappropriately. On Friday, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove asked for a list by Tuesday of all current and former FBI personnel assigned to investigations and prosecutions related to the Capitol attack and a separate terrorism case.

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USAID security leaders on leave after trying to keep Musk's DOGE from classified info, officials say

USAID humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela is displayed for the...

USAID humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela is displayed for the media at a warehouse next to the Tienditas International Bridge on the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia, Feb. 19, 2019. Credit: AP/Fernando Vergara

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has placed two top security chiefs at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Elon Musk's government-inspection teams, a current and a former U.S. official told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Members of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, eventually did gain access Saturday to the aid agency's classified information, which includes intelligence reports, the former official said.

Musk's DOGE crew lacked high-enough security clearance to access that information, so the two USAID security officials — John Vorhees and deputy Brian McGill — were legally obligated to deny access.

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Trump's second week in office delivers jolts and chaotic orders with a mix of politics and tragedy

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 31, 2025. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump's second week in office seemed to deliver a daily dose of deliberate jolts for the country.

There were chaotic reminders of his first term. The White House found itself backtracking on its directive to freeze federal spending on grants and loans. And the Republican president indulged unsupported accusations after a deadly plane crash near Washington.

Trump also escalated his moves against the institutions that he was elected to lead. His administration ousted prosecutors who worked on Capitol riot cases and laid the groundwork for purging FBI agents. Elon Musk, Trump's billionaire ally, began efforts to dramatically downsize the federal workforce.

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Trump wants to undo diversity programs. Some agencies react by scrubbing U.S. history and culture

Cadets at the Basic and Advanced Flying School for Negro...

Cadets at the Basic and Advanced Flying School for Negro Air Corps Cadets are shown, Jan. 23, 1942, lined up for review with Major James A. Ellison, who is returning the salute of Mac Ross of Dayton, Ohio, as he inspects the cadets. Credit: AP

The tails of the Alabama Air National Guard’s F-35 Lightnings are painted red, like those of the Guard's F-16s before them. It's an homage to the famed Alabama-based unit of the Tuskegee Airmen, who flew red-tailed P-51 Mustangs during World War II.

The squadron, which trained in the state, was the nation’s first to be comprised of Black military pilots, shattering racial barriers and racist beliefs about the capabilities of Black pilots. Their success in combat paved the way for the desegregation of the U.S. military, a story that is interwoven in state and U.S. history. Yet for a moment after President Donald Trump took office, that history was almost scrubbed by the Air Force.

The service removed training videos of the Tuskegee Airmen along with ones showing the World War II contributions of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, at its basic training base in San Antonio, where airmen have passed through for generations.

Although the move was swiftly rescinded after a bipartisan outcry, the fact that it happened even momentarily is evidence of the confusion resulting from the avalanche of executive orders and other actions from Trump since he began his second term in the White House. The administration has been forced to walk back some actions that have caused widespread chaos, such as a memorandum freezing federal grants and loans.

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U.S. businesses brace for Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China to drive up costs

National flags representing the United States, Canada, and Mexico fly...

National flags representing the United States, Canada, and Mexico fly in the breeze in New Orleans where leaders of the North American Free Trade Agreement met on April 21, 2008. Credit: AP/Judi Bottoni

From an ice cream parlor in California to a medical supply business in North Carolina to a T-shirt vendor outside Detroit, U.S. businesses are bracing to take a hit from the taxes President Donald Trump imposed Saturday on imports from Canada, Mexico and China — America’s three biggest trading partners.

The levies of 25% on Canadian and Mexican and 10% on Chinese goods will take effect Tuesday. Canadian energy, including oil, natural gas and electricity, will be taxed at a lower 10% rate.

Mexico’s president immediately ordered retaliatory tariffs and Canada’s prime minister said the country would put matching 25% tariffs on up to $155 billion in U.S. imports.

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Trump tariffs: Long Islanders react to new import taxes on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese goods

Maryanne and Ed Snyder of East Meadow weigh in on...

Maryanne and Ed Snyder of East Meadow weigh in on the tariffs imposed Saturday. Credit: Howard Simmons

The tariffs imposed on Chinese, Mexican and Canadian goods by President Donald Trump could hike the prices of consumer products such as cars, tequila and avocados — but on Long Island, some felt the pain would be temporary.

"It's a negotiation tool," said Ed Snyder, 66, who was out Saturday shopping with his wife, Maryanne, at the East Meadow Stew Leonard’s grocery store. "It makes prices go up, but it brings other governments to heel."

Trump signed executive orders Saturday imposing an import tax on products coming from Mexico, Canada and China. While China was hit with a 10% tariff, the other countries will have to pay a 25% tax on all the goods they send into the United States — except for Canadian energy, which will get a 10% tariff.

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Trump's antisemitism order draws concern for free speech, immigrants at some LI universities

Police warn students of their impending arrests during a pro-Palestinian...

Police warn students of their impending arrests during a pro-Palestinian protest at Stony Brook University in May 2024. Credit: Barry Sloan

A White House executive order that calls for a crackdown on antisemitism on college campuses — including by deporting foreign student protestors — has some students and staff at Long Island colleges worried it would target immigrants and stifle free speech.

“One result of this document is to put international students in our universities on notice that they need to stay away from protesting,” said Carolyn Eisenberg, a Hofstra University history professor who specializes in 20th-century U.S. history and foreign policy. More broadly, “It is an effort to prevent debate or protest about U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine.”

She called the order "the most serious effort to crush dissent on college campuses since the McCarthy era."

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Colleges returning to sexual assault rules created during 1st Trump term

Then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks at the Phoenix International...

Then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks at the Phoenix International Academy in Phoenix on Oct. 15, 2020. Credit: AP / Matt York/Matt York

Schools and universities responding to complaints of sexual misconduct must return to policies created during President Donald Trump's first term, with requirements for live hearings and more protections for accused students, according to new guidance issued Friday by the Education Department.

In a memo to education institutions across the nation, the agency clarified that Title IX, a 1972 law barring discrimination based on sex, will be enforced according to a set of rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The rules govern how complaints of misconduct are investigated and how to settle cases where students present differing accounts.

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Trump fires the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

FILE - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, speaks...

FILE - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, speaks from the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) Credit: AP

President Donald Trump has fired the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, in the latest purge of a Biden administration holdover.

Chopra was one of the more important regulators from the previous Democratic administration who was still on the job since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Chopra's tenure saw the removal of medical debt from credit reports and limits on overdrafts penalties, all based on the premise that the financial system could be fairer and more competitive in ways that helped consumers. But many in the financial industry viewed his actions as regulatory overreach.

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Trump's spending moves test authority of Congress

Mandatory Credit: Photo by BONNIE CASH/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (15126698w) US President Donald...

Mandatory Credit: Photo by BONNIE CASH/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (15126698w) US President Donald Trump signs two executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 30 January 2025. The first order formally commissioned Christopher Rocheleau as deputy administrator of the FAA white the second ordered an immediate assessment of aviation safety. President Trump signs two executive orders after Reagan Airport crash, Washington, USA - 30 Jan 2025 Credit: BONNIE CASH/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutter/BONNIE CASH/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

President Donald Trump is moving quickly in his second term to expand his presidential reach, insisting that he has the authority to freeze and determine federal spending, an assertion Democrats called a "power grab" to erode Congress’ power of the purse.

A sweeping freeze on federal grants and spending the White House budget office issued Monday evening has since been rescinded amid public uproar. But Trump's early actions nonetheless have set up the latest legal fight with his opponents over the limits of his presidential authority.

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Justice Department official orders firing some of some prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters is seen in...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters is seen in Washington, Dec. 7, 2024. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

A top Justice Department official ordered the firing Friday of some prosecutors who were hired to work on cases against rioters charged in the U.S. Capitol riot, according to memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove directed the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., to fire them days after Trump's sweeping clemency order benefiting more than 1,500 people charged with federal crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. It was not immediately clear how many prosecutors were affected. A spokesperson for the D.C. U.S. attorney's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Health data, entire pages wiped from federal websites as Trump officials target 'gender ideology'

Demonstrators against transgenders rights protest during a rally outside of...

Demonstrators against transgenders rights protest during a rally outside of the Supreme Court, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington, as arguments begin in a case regarding a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

Public health data disappeared from websites, entire webpages went blank and employees erased pronouns from email signatures Friday as federal agencies scrambled to comply with a directive tied to President Donald Trump's order rolling back protections for transgender people.

The Office of Personnel Management directed agency heads to strip “gender ideology” from websites, contracts and emails in a memo sent Wednesday, with changes ordered to be instituted by 5 p.m. Friday. It also directed agencies to disband employee resource groups, terminate grants and contracts related to the issue, and replace the term “gender” with “sex” on government forms.

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White House says Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will come Saturday. No word on exemptions

President Donald Trump listens to a question as he signs...

President Donald Trump listens to a question as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said, but it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in swift price increases to U.S. consumers.

Trump had been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater cooperation from the countries on stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl, but he has also pledged to use tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing and raise revenues for the federal government.

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White House stenographers struggling to keep up with Trump

President Donald Trump takes reporters' questions at the White House...

President Donald Trump takes reporters' questions at the White House on Thursday.  Credit: For The Washington Post/Kent Nishimura

The White House stenographers have a problem. Donald Trump is talking so much, the people responsible for transcribing his public remarks are struggling to keep up with all the words.

There were more than 22,000 on Inauguration Day, then another 17,000 when Trump visited disaster sites in North Carolina and California. It’s enough to strain the ears and fingers of even the most dedicated stenographer, especially after four years of Joe Biden's relative quiet.

Now there are discussions about hiring additional staff to keep up with the workload, according to people with knowledge of the conversations who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal matters.

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Trump's FBI chief pick, Kash Patel, insists he has no 'enemies list' and won't seek retribution

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of...

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, insisted to deeply skeptical Democrats on Thursday that he did not have an “enemies list" and that the bureau under his leadership would not seek retribution against the president's adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes.

“I have no interest nor desire and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,” Patel told a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing at which support for the nominee broke along starkly partisan lines. “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by the FBI.”

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Pentagon agency pauses celebrations for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month and more

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives at the Pentagon, Monday, Jan....

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives at the Pentagon, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025 in Washington. Credit: AP/Kevin Wolf

The Defense Department's intelligence agency has paused observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance and other cultural or historical annual events in response to President Donald Trump’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal workplace.

The instructions were published Tuesday in a Defense Intelligence Agency memo obtained by The Associated Press and affect 11 annual events, including Black History Month, which begins Saturday, and National Hispanic Heritage Month.

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Trump was challenged after blaming DEI for the DC plane crash. Here's what he said

President Donald Trump takes questions while speaking with reporters in...

President Donald Trump takes questions while speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

President Donald Trump began his White House briefing Thursday with a moment of silence and a prayer for victims of Wednesday's crash at Reagan National Airport. But his remarks quickly became a diatribe against diversity hiring and his allegation — so far without evidence — that lowered standards were to blame for the crash.

Trump on Thursday variously pointed the finger at the helicopter’s pilot, air traffic control, his predecessor, Joe Biden, and other Democrats including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom he labeled a “disaster.” Buttigieg responded by calling Trump “despicable.”

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RFK Jr. is on the defensive over his vaccine views as a key confirmation vote hangs in the balance

Trump Cabinet Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s long record of doubting the safety of childhood vaccinations persisted as a flash point for him Thursday in a confirmation hearing where senators, including a key Republican, shared intensely personal details about the impact vaccine skepticism had on their lives.

In one response, Kennedy refused to flatly reject a long-discredited theory that vaccines cause autism, despite years of studies and research that have found they do not.

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Senate confirms Doug Burgum as interior secretary after Trump tasked him to boost drilling

Former Gov. Doug Burgum, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead...

Former Gov. Doug Burgum, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the the Interior Department as Secretary of the Interior, testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

The Senate confirmed Doug Burgum as interior secretary late Thursday after President Donald Trump tapped the North Dakota billionaire to spearhead the Republican administration's ambitions to boost fossil fuel production.

The vote was 79-18. More than half of Senate Democrats joined all 53 Republicans in voting for Burgum.

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Trump administration tells federal workers on Long Island: return to office or submit resignation

Some federal employees work at the Alfonse M. D'Amato U.S....

Some federal employees work at the Alfonse M. D'Amato U.S. Courthouse in Central Islip. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas

President Donald Trump’s order requiring the federal government’s more than 2 million civilian employees to return in-person full time — or opt by next week to quit — will impact thousands who work on Long Island, particularly those who have been doing at least some work from home since the COVID-19 pandemic.

And the order has the potential to reshape the agencies themselves nationwide and on the Island.

There are about 17,000 federal civilian jobs on Long Island, according to the state Department of Labor, and roughly 28,000 Long Islanders who are federal workers anywhere.

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Panama's president says there will be no negotiation about ownership of canal

Cargo ships wait to transit the Panama Canal in Panama...

Cargo ships wait to transit the Panama Canal in Panama City, on June 28, 2024. Credit: AP/Matias Delacroix

Panama President José Raúl Mulino said Thursday there will be no negotiation with the United States over ownership of the Panama Canal, and he hopes U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s upcoming visit will allow them to focus on shared interests including migration and combating drug trafficking.

Being the destination for the first overseas visit by the top U.S. diplomat would have been big for Panama in any case, but Rubio comes as the emissary of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly suggested the U.S. retake the Panama Canal.

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Trump says tariffs on Canada and Mexico coming Saturday, and he's deciding whether to tax their oil

President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he signs executive...

President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump said his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are coming on Saturday, but he’s still considering whether to include oil from those countries as part of his import taxes.

“We may or may not,” Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office about tariffing oil from Canada and Mexico. “We’re going to make that determination probably tonight.”

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Gabbard, Trump's pick to oversee U.S. spy agencies, faces sharp questions during confirmation hearing

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's choice to be the Director...

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's choice to be the Director of National Intelligence, appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Credit: AP/John McDonnell

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike Thursday during a fiery confirmation hearing focused on her past comments sympathetic to Russia, her meeting with Syria's now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden.

Gabbard started her hearing by telling lawmakers that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America’s intelligence service. She said too often intelligence has been false or politicized, leading to wars, foreign policy failures and the misuse of espionage. And she said those lapses have continued as the U.S. faces renewed threats from Russia and China.

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Big Oil wants a lot from Trump. It has an ally in Doug Burgum, the president's Interior pick.

Donald Trump listens as former Republican presidential candidate, North Dakota...

Donald Trump listens as former Republican presidential candidate, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, speaks on stage during a campaign event in Laconia, N.H. on Jan. 22, 2024. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

When North Dakota's petroleum association was going to hold a banquet honoring top fracking executives last year, it turned to Gov. Doug Burgum. The two-term Republican, now President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Interior Department, co-hosted the event — at the governor's mansion.

And when energy industry lobbyists were looking for help taking on Biden administration greenhouse gas rules, they also turned to Burgum. In an email to Burgum's office seeking the legal heft the state could provide, an industry lobbyist argued that “combating” such regulations required “a one-two punch" from industry and government.

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President Trump sounds the same. His White House — so far — couldn't be more different

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters as he signs...

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters as he signs an executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

The marathon Q&A sessions are back, along with the cream Oval Office rug and the Diet Coke button on the Resolute Desk. So, too, are the late-night social media posts that ricochet across the globe and the barrage of executive orders.

But in 10 days, Donald Trump has frozen federal spending and hiring, offered buyouts to more than two million government workers, and ended federal diversity and transgender-rights efforts. He’s fired nearly two dozen independent inspectors general, rewritten American maps, pardoned Jan. 6 protesters who assaulted police, announced plans to detain migrants at Guantánamo Bay, and undone years of his predecessors' actions with the stroke of his Sharpie pen.

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Freeze on federal money for LI nonprofits: Chaos reigns over Trump order

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

Long Island’s not-for-profit leaders — operators of food pantries and domestic violence shelters, providers of services to veterans, seniors and people with substance use disorders — were whipsawed Wednesday as the White House budget office rescinded a memo freezing some federal grants, a major source of operating funds for many charitable groups.

The retraction was a relief to many who had interpreted the initial notice as potentially impacting trillions of dollars in federal funding. Then the White House appeared to qualify the retraction, saying, while the memo was rescinded, Trump’s underlying executive orders targeting federal spending in areas like diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change remained in place.

"This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a social media post. The freeze had been stayed by a federal judge until at least Monday after an emergency hearing requested by nonprofit groups that receive federal grants, and an additional lawsuit by Democratic state attorneys general was pending.

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Trump's funding freeze memo sparked concern, confusion for LI colleges and universities

Nassau Community College in Garden City.

Nassau Community College in Garden City. Credit: Howard Schnapp

Officials at Long Island colleges and universities were left scrambling this week, as they struggled to determine what a White House-ordered pause on federal funding for grants and loans could mean for educational programs ranging from scientific research to tutoring.

The original order came in a memo Monday evening from the White House Office of Management and Budget. It announced a temporary freeze of federal dollars to align spending with President Donald Trump’s priorities.

A federal judge on Tuesday delayed the freeze from going into effect until Feb. 3. Then on Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget rescinded its memo "in an effort to alleviate confusion," the White House said in an email.

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Trump directing the opening of Guantanamo Bay detention center to hold migrants in U.S. illegally

President Donald Trump speaks before signing the Laken Riley Act...

President Donald Trump speaks before signing the Laken Riley Act in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is directing the opening of a detention center at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 migrants who are living illegally in the United States.

Trump made the announcement right before he signed the Laken Riley Act into law as his administration’s first piece of legislation. The bipartisan measure means that people who are in the U.S. illegally and are accused of theft and violent crimes would have to be detained and potentially deported even before a conviction.

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Trump White House rescinds order freezing federal grants after widespread confusion

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's budget office on Wednesday rescinded an order freezing spending on federal grants, less than two days after it sparked widespread confusion and legal challenges across the country, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The Monday evening order from the White House Office of Management and Budget sparked uncertainty over a crucial financial lifeline for states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington and left the White House scrambling to explain what would and wouldn't be subject to a pause in funding.

The people, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal guidance, confirmed that the OMB pulled the order Wednesday in a two sentence notice to agencies and departments.

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Justice Dept. abandons criminal proceedings against 2 Trump co-defendants in classified records case

Walt Nauta watches as President Donald Trump signs executive orders...

Walt Nauta watches as President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23 in Washington. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Wednesday abandoned all criminal proceedings against the two co-defendants of President Donald Trump in the Florida classified documents case, wiping out any legal peril the pair could have faced.

Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira were charged with conspiring with Trump to obstruct an FBI investigation into the hoarding of classified documents that the Republican took with him when he left the White House after his first term.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case, in July, saying that the prosecutor who brought it, special counsel Jack Smith, had been illegally appointed by the Justice Department. Smith’s team ended its case against Trump after his November election win, citing longstanding department policy that says sitting presidents cannot be indicted.

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Senate confirms former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin to lead Environmental Protection Agency

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin at his Senate Environment and Public Works...

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin at his Senate Environment and Public Works confirmation hearing Jan. 16 on Capitol Hill in Washington. Credit: Getty Images/Anna Moneymaker

The Senate voted largely along party lines Wednesday to confirm former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, which he promised lawmakers to make more business friendly.

All 53 Republicans and three Democrats voted for Zeldin to lead the independent agency, which has a $9 billion budget and more than 15,000 employees who are charged with protecting the environment, despite his limited experience in that science-laden field.

Zeldin, of Shirley, who turns 45 Thursday, will lead an agency that President Donald Trump has ordered to streamline regulations for oil drilling and whose administration has ousted members of the EPA’s scientific panels while staffing the EPA with oil and business lobbyists.

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Meta agrees to pay $25 million to settle lawsuit from Trump after Jan. 6 suspension

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, makes a point...

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, makes a point during an appearance at SIGGRAPH 2024, the premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, Monday, July 29, 2024, in the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski

Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against the company after it suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to three people familiar with the matter.

It's the latest instance of a large corporation settling litigation with the president, who has threatened retribution on his critics and rivals, and comes as Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have joined other large technology companies in trying to ingratiate themselves with the new Trump administration.

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President Donald Trump's potential freeze of federally funded programs alarms many on Long Island

The White House said direct payments to individuals would continue...

The White House said direct payments to individuals would continue while it assesses grants to a wide range of organizations. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost

Long Island nonprofits, social service groups and other recipients of federal funds responded with alarm and confusion Tuesday to a Trump administration memo that sought to impose a freeze on targeted federally funded programs.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday halted the memo’s orders until Feb. 3, moments before it was to take effect at 5 p.m., to consider its complicated ramifications.

The memo issued Monday night by the Office of Management and Budget put a "temporary pause" on federal grants and loans to align spending with President Donald Trump’s priorities and to eliminate "Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal" policies.

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What Long Island immigrants say about Trump deportation order

Immigrants from several Latin American countries Sunday at St. John...

Immigrants from several Latin American countries Sunday at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Riverhead. Credit: Morgan Campbell

Fear and uncertainty, but also an invincible devotion to God, permeated a Roman Catholic Church in Riverhead where hundreds of immigrants gathered for Sunday Mass despite President Donald Trump’s order that federal agents can enter houses of worship to arrest people in the country illegally.

Some immigrants, who acknowledged they were living here without documentation, said they came to pray anyway at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church since their faith and belief in God was stronger than any threat Trump might level.

"We are afraid but we have confidence in God," one immigrant, a landscaper who is in the country illegally, said in Spanish.

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Republicans crafting Trump's big bill hit a familiar roadblock: How to pay for it

House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., speaks before President Donald...

House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., speaks before President Donald Trump at the 2025 House Republican Members Conference Dinner at Trump National Doral Miami in Doral, Fla., Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

After fours years of criticizing growing government deficits under Joe Biden, Republicans now have a math problem of their own — how to offset the multitrillion-dollar cost of extending and expanding the tax cuts they passed in President Donald Trump’s first term.

House Republicans attending their annual retreat at a Trump-owned golf resort here this week put up a united front, insisting they are moving quickly toward House votes in the coming weeks to kickstart work on Trump’s tax cut and border security package.

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While signing Laken Riley Act, Trump says he'll send 'worst' criminal migrants to Guantanamo

President Donald Trump signs the Laken Riley Act during an...

President Donald Trump signs the Laken Riley Act during an event in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed the Laken Riley Act into law, giving federal authorities broader power to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally who have been accused of crimes. He also announced at the ceremony that his administration planned to send the “worst criminal aliens” to a detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The bipartisan act, the first piece of legislation approved during Trump’s second term, was named for Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was slain last year by a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally.

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Trump's orders take aim at critical race theory and antisemitism on college campuses

President Donald Trump speaks before signing the Laken Riley Act...

President Donald Trump speaks before signing the Laken Riley Act in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump is ordering U.S. schools to stop teaching what he views as “critical race theory” and other material dealing with race and sexuality or risk losing their federal money.

A separate plan announced Wednesday calls for aggressive action to fight antisemitism on college campuses, promising to prosecute offenders and revoke visas for international students found to be “Hamas sympathizers.”

Both plans were outlined in executive orders to be signed by Trump on Wednesday. The measures seek to fulfill some of the Republican president's core campaign promises around education, though it's unclear how much power he has to enact the proposals.

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Trump administration revokes deportation protections for 600,000 Venezuelans

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to employees at the...

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to employees at the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the Trump administration has revoked a decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation.

On “Fox and Friends," Noem said that she reversed the decision made by her successor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in the waning days of the Biden administration that extended Temporary Protected Status.

“Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are on temporary protected status, which meant that they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months," Noem said. “We stopped that.”

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Trump makes plans to mark the nation's 250th anniversary celebration and recognize 'American heroes'

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Miami to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

President Donald Trump is making plans to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence with an “extraordinary celebration” and a new national monument.

Trump is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday establishing a task force to coordinate and plan the event, according to a White House document shared with The Associated Press. The United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary — also known as the semiquincentennial — on July 4, 2026.

The order is also expected to revive Trump's plans to build a “ National Garden of American Heroes ” with statues memorializing 250 historical figures and to commission artists for the first 100.

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Trump offers all federal workers a buyout with 8 months' pay in effort to shrink size of government

The White House on Tuesday began offering buyouts worth seven months of salary to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by Feb. 6 — part of President Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the U.S. government.

A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government's human resources agency, lists four directives that it says Trump is mandating for the federal workforce, including that most workers return to their offices full-time.

It includes a “deferred resignation letter” for federal employees wishing to participate.

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Trump plans to sign the Laken Riley Act into law as his administration's first piece of legislation

A supporter holds a poster with a photo of Laken...

A supporter holds a poster with a photo of Laken Riley before Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Rome, Ga. last year. Credit: AP/Mike Stewart

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday will sign the Laken Riley Act into law as his administration's first piece of legislation. It mandates the detention and potential deportation of people in the U.S. illegally who are accused of theft and violent crimes before they've actually been convicted.

The measure swiftly passed the Republican-controlled Congress with some Democratic support, despite immigrants rights advocates decrying it as extreme enough to possibly trigger mass roundups of people for offenses as minor as shoplifting.

Trump has made a promised crackdown on illegal immigration unprecedented in the nation's history a centerpiece of his political career, however, and is now suggesting the law might only be the beginning.

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Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Miami to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives.

The Trump administration plan plunged the U.S. government into panic and confusion and set the stage for a constitutional clash over control of taxpayer money.

The order from U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan came minutes before the funding freeze was scheduled to go into effect. It lasts until Monday afternoon and applies only to existing programs.

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Trump signs executive order aimed at curtailing gender transitions for everyone under 19

President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the economy during...

President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at curtailing gender transitions for people under age 19.

“It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures,” Trump said in a statement.

It’s the latest push by Trump to reverse policies set by the Biden administration to protect transgender people and their care. On Monday, Trump directed the Pentagon to conduct a review that is likely to lead to them being barred from military service.

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Israel's prime minister says Trump has invited him to the White House on Feb. 4

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake...

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, May 23, 2017. Credit: AP/Sebastian Scheiner

WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip — U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Feb. 4 as the first foreign leader to visit in Trump's second term, Netanhayu and the White House said Tuesday.

The announcement came as the United States pressures Israel and Hamas to continue a ceasefire that has paused a devastating 15-month war in Gaza. Talks about the ceasefire's more difficult second phase, which aims to end the war, begin on Feb. 3.

The White House letter shared by Netanyahu's office, dated Tuesday, said “I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries.”

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Six active duty service members file first lawsuit challenging Trump's transgender troop ban

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Miami to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

WASHINGTON — Six transgender active duty service members and two former service members who seek re-enlistment on Tuesday filed the first lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that calls for revising policy on transgender troops and probably sets the stage for banning them in the armed forces.

Trump’s order, signed Monday, claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle” and is harmful to military readiness. It requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue a revised policy.

Army Capt. Gordon Herrero, one of the six active duty plaintiffs, said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit: “There’s nothing about being transgender that makes me better or worse than any other soldier I serve alongside. We are all here because we are committed to our country, and we are passionate, willing, and able to serve effectively."

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Voting rights groups are concerned about priorities shifting under Trump's Justice Department

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice...

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department as attorney general, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

ATLANTA — The Justice Department appears poised to take a very different approach to investigating voting and elections.

Conservative calls to overhaul the department by removing career employees, increasing federal voter fraud cases and investigating the 2020 election are raising concerns among voting rights groups about the future of the agency under Pam Bondi, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump who will face a confirmation vote later this week.

Bondi supported Trump's legal efforts to overturn the 2020 Pennsylvania election results, has reiterated his false claims about his loss that year and during her Senate confirmation hearing refused to directly state that former President Joe Biden won, saying only that she accepted the results. She pledged to remain independent.

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Sean Duffy is confirmed by the Senate to lead the Transportation Department

Former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., testifies before the Senate...

Former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., testifies before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 15. Credit: AP/Susan Walsh

Sean Duffy was confirmed Tuesday as transportation secretary, giving him a key role in helping President Donald Trump cut regulations and fix the nation's infrastructure.

The former Wisconsin congressman has promised safer Boeing planes, less regulation and help for U.S. companies developing self-driving cars -- while not giving any breaks to Elon Musk, a key player in that technology.

Duffy, a 53-year-old former reality TV star, was approved with bipartisan support on a 77-22 vote in the Senate.

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Trump fills his government with billionaires after running on a working-class message

Elon Musk reacts as President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a...

Elon Musk reacts as President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump’s brash populism has always involved incongruence: the billionaire businessman-politician stirring the passions of millions who, regardless of the U.S. economy’s trajectory, could never afford to live in his Manhattan skyscraper or visit his club in south Florida.

His second White House is looking a lot like the inside of Mar-a-Lago, with extremely wealthy Americans taking key roles in his administration.

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is overseeing a new Department of Government Efficiency. Billionaires or mega-millionaires are lined up to run the treasury, commerce, interior and education departments, NASA and the Small Business Administration, and fill key foreign posts.

“He’s bringing in folks who have had great success in the private sector,” said Debbie Dooley, an early 2015 Trump supporter and onetime national organizer in the anti-establishment Tea Party movement. “If you need to have brain surgery, you want the proven brain surgeons.”

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Trump is pausing federal loans and grants as his administration reviews spending

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Miami to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

The White House is pausing federal grants and loans starting on Tuesday as President Donald Trump's administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending.

The decision by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

"The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve," said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

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Trump signs order that likely sets in motion a future ban on transgender troops

Pete Hegseth speaks after being sworn in as Secretary of...

Pete Hegseth speaks after being sworn in as Secretary of Defense by Vice President JD Vance in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington. Credit: AP/Rod Lamkey

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, likely setting in motion a future ban on their military service.

He also ordered troops to be reinstated who had left voluntarily or been booted for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, outlined new rollbacks in diversity programs and provided for the deployment of a space-based missile defense shield for the U.S. — all on Hegseth 's first day.

A transgender ban had been widely expected, and Trump's order largely sets the stage for a future ban — but directs Hegseth to come up with how that would be implemented in policy.

In his order, Trump claimed that service by troops who identify as a gender other than their biological one “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness, requiring a revised policy to address the matter.

Trump had tried to ban transgender troops during his first term, but it was tangled up in the courts for years before being overturned by then-President Joe Biden shortly after he took office.

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Trump Justice Department says it has fired employees involved in prosecutions of the president

The logo for the Justice Department is seen before a...

The logo for the Justice Department is seen before a news conference at the Department of Justice, Aug. 23, 2024, in Washington. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Monday that it had fired more than a dozen employees who worked on criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump, moving rapidly to pursue retribution against lawyers involved in the investigations and signaling an early willingness to take action favorable to the president's personal interests.

The abrupt termination targeting career prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's team is the latest sign of upheaval inside the Justice Department and is consistent with the administration's determination to purge the government of workers it perceives as disloyal to the president.

The norm-shattering move, which follows the reassignment of multiple senior career officials across divisions, was made even though rank-and-file prosecutors by tradition remain with the department across presidential administrations and are not punished by virtue of their involvement in sensitive investigations. The firings are effective immediately.

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Scott Bessent confirmed as treasury secretary

Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of...

Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of the Treasury, appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 16. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate confirmed billionaire investor Scott Bessent on Monday to serve as President Donald Trump's treasury secretary, giving him the delicate balancing act of cutting taxes and curbing deficits while putting forward a plan on tariffs that doesn't jeopardize growth.

The South Carolina resident will be the first openly gay individual in the role, a historic first as Trump seeks novel ways to implement a policy agenda driven by both billionaire business leaders with concerns over regulations and a populist base that wants government leaders to fight for them.

Bessent, a past supporter of Democrats who once worked for George Soros, has become an enthusiastic supporter of Trump.

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In the early going, Trump 2.0 approach on foreign policy is to talk loudly and carry a big stick

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One...

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One en route to Florida at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Saturday. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump in his first week back in the White House has offered an early preview to his second-term foreign policy approach: Talk loudly and wield a big stick.

Over the weekend, Trump threatened to levy massive tariffs on Colombia after the country’s leftist president refused to allow a U.S. military plane returning deported migrants from the South American nation to land in the country.

He’s needled the Ukrainian president for “talking so brave” instead of negotiating with Russia. He’s flummoxed even Republican allies with his calls on Mideast nations to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza, potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate.

Through economic coercion and sharp rhetoric, Trump is signaling that he intends to be a bull in the China shop in hopes of extracting what he wants from allies and adversaries alike.

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CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of an extended withdrawal

President Donald Trump signs an executive order withdrawing the U.S....

President Donald Trump signs an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 20. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all agency staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and “await further guidance.”

Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing threats from around the world. It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock.

The Associated Press viewed a copy of Nkengasong's memo, which said the stop-work policy applied to “all CDC staff engaging with WHO through technical working groups, coordinating centers, advisory boards, cooperative agreements or other means — in person or virtual.” It also says CDC staff are not allowed to visit WHO offices.

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Federal Reserve expected to stand pat on rates even as Trump demands cuts

In this file photo Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during...

In this file photo Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington. Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is nearly certain to keep its key interest rate unchanged at its policy meeting this week, just a few days after President Donald Trump said he would soon demand lower rates.

Fed officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, have cut their rate for three meetings in a row, to about 4.3%, from a two-decade high of 5.3%. Yet with several recent economic reports showing healthy hiring and some progress on inflation, policymakers have said that the pace of rate cuts will slow this year. Some have suggested that few reductions are needed at all.

While the two-day meeting that ends Wednesday may be uneventful, it nevertheless kicks off what is likely to be a turbulent year for the Fed. Trump, last Thursday, made clear he expects to comment on interest-rate policy and said, “I know interest rates much better than they do."

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Trump officials issue quotas to ICE officers to ramp up arrests

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building is seen Tuesday in...

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building is seen Tuesday in downtown Chicago. Credit: AP/Erin Hooley

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been directed by Trump officials to aggressively ramp up the number of people they arrest, from a few hundred per day to at least 1,200 to 1,500, because the president has been disappointed with the results of his mass deportation campaign so far, according to four people with knowledge of the briefings.

The quotas were outlined Saturday in a call with senior ICE officials, who were told that each of the agency’s field offices should make 75 arrests per day and managers would be held accountable for missing those targets. The four people spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal briefings.

The orders significantly increase the chance that officers will engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics or face accusations of civil rights violations as they strain to meet quotas, according to current and former ICE officials.

White House “border czar” Tom Homan has said for weeks that ICE would not conduct mass roundups and its officers would prioritize immigrants with criminal records and who are gang members. But the quotas issued this weekend would place ICE officers under more pressure to seize a wider range of potential deportees to avoid reprimand, including immigrants who have not committed crimes.

White House says Colombia agrees to take deported migrants after Trump tariff showdown

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro arrives at the opening ceremony of...

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro arrives at the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Oct. 20, 2024. Credit: AP/Fernando Vergara

The White House claimed victory in a showdown with Colombia over accepting flights of deported migrants from the U.S. on Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on imports and other sanctions on the longtime U.S. partner.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a late Sunday statement that the “Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”

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Top Trump administration officials in Chicago for start of immigration enforcement crackdown

Emil Bove, attorney for former US President Donald Trump, sits...

Emil Bove, attorney for former US President Donald Trump, sits Manhattan criminal court during Trump's sentencing in the hush money case in New York, Jan. 10, 2025. Credit: AP/JEENAH MOON

Top Trump administration officials, including “border czar” Tom Homan and the acting deputy attorney general, visited Chicago on Sunday to witness the start of ramped-up immigration enforcement in the nation’s third-largest city.

Few details of the operation were immediately made public, including the number of arrests. But the sheer number of federal agencies involved showed President Donald Trump's willingness to use federal law enforcement beyond the Department of Homeland Security to carry out his long-promised mass deportations.

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Trump should rethink revoking former officials' security details, Tom Cotton says

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., attends a hearing on Capitol Hill in...

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., attends a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

DES MOINES, Iowa — President Donald Trump should rethink his decision to remove security details from three former senior national security officials, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday.

That protection is not just for them, but also the public, said Sen. Tom Cotton, a Trump loyalist who nonetheless is pushing back against the president’s targeting of those he perceived as adversaries. Cotton said a president needs to keep qualified individuals interested in serving the White House and that may sometimes require enhanced security for officials.

The Arkansas senator said he would encourage Trump “to revisit the decision for those people” — former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook, a former senior policy adviser to Pompeo. All were involved in planning and discussions of the deadly drone strike on Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

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Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally, says pardoning Capitol attackers sends 'the wrong signal'

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., arrives for a hearing in Washington.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., arrives for a hearing in Washington. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

DORAL, Fla. — A key ally of President Donald Trump said the White House pardoning rioters who fought with police while storming the U.S. Capitol in 2021 is “sending the wrong signal” and expressed concern about the future ramifications of issuing sweeping clemencies.

“I have always said that, I think, when you pardon people who attack police officers, you’re sending the wrong signal to the public at large," Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is close to Trump, told CNN on Sunday. "It's not what you want to do to protect cops.”

Within hours of taking office last week, Trump issued a sweeping clemency order covering around 1,500 rioters for their role on the Capitol attack that attempted to block congressional certification of Joe Biden 's 2020 election victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

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Trump orders tariffs, visa restrictions on Colombia over rejection of deportation flights

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One...

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travels from Las Vegas to Miami on Saturday. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

BOGOTA, Colombia — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was ordering tariffs, visa restrictions and other retaliatory measures to be taken against Colombia after its government rejected two flights carrying migrants.

Trump said the measures were necessary, because the decision of Colombian President Gustavo Petro “jeopardized” national security in the U.S.

“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States.”

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Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more refugees and floats plan to 'just clean out' Gaza

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One...

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One en route to Florida at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create virtual clean slate.

During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said he discussed his vision on a call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.

“I’d like him to take people. I’d like Egypt to take people,” said Trump. “You’re talking about, probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know it’s, over.’”

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Trump's memo on deportations prompts fear in LI's Haitian community

Migrants arriving earlier this month at the Roosevelt Hotel in...

Migrants arriving earlier this month at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.

Fear has risen among the Haitian community on Long Island after a Department of Homeland Security memo gave immigration enforcement agents the power to quickly deport migrants who have been allowed into the country temporarily.

The memo issued late Thursday outlines ways agents can expel migrants who were let into the country under two programs instituted by President Joe Biden, including one that allowed thousands of Haitians to flee their country’s chaos and move temporarily to New York, Florida and other states.

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Trump uses mass firing to remove independent inspectors general at a series of agencies

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Harry...

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas late Friday. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

The Trump administration has fired about 17 independent inspectors general at government agencies, a sweeping action to remove oversight of his new administration that some members of Congress are suggesting violated federal oversight laws.

The dismissals began Friday night and were effective immediately, according to two people familiar with the actions. They spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public. Neither confirmed the exact number of firings, but an email sent by one of the fired inspectors general said “roughly 17” inspectors general had been removed.

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Hegseth confirmed as Trump's defense secretary in tie-breaking vote despite turmoil over his conduct

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense secretary,...

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense secretary, gives a thumbs up while leaving after his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Credit: AP

The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the nation's defense secretary Friday in a dramatic late-night vote, swatting back questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon amid allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior toward women.

Rarely has a Cabinet nominee faced such wide-ranging concerns about his experience and behavior as Hegseth, particularly for such a high-profile role atop the U.S. military. But the Republican-led Senate was determined to confirm Hegseth, a former Fox News host and combat veteran who has vowed to bring a “warrior culture” to the Pentagon, rounding out President Donald Trump's top national security Cabinet officials.

Vice President JD Vance was on hand to cast a tie-breaking vote, unusual in the Senate for Cabinet nominees, who typically win wider support. Hegseth himself was at the Capitol with his family.

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Senate confirms Noem as Trump's homeland security secretary

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to...

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Homeland Security, appears before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Credit: AP

The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Saturday, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Donald Trump's plans to clamp down on illegal immigration.

Republicans kept the Senate working Saturday to install the latest member of Trump's national security team. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was confirmed in a dramatic tie-breaking vote Friday night, joining Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The Senate will next vote Monday evening on Scott Bessent's confirmation as treasury secretary.

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Trump orders release of JFK, RFK and MLK assassination records

President Donald Trump talks with White House staff secretary Will...

President Donald Trump talks with White House staff secretary Will Scharf as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Ben Curtis

DALLAS — President Donald Trump has ordered the release of thousands of classified governmental documents about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which has fueled conspiracy theories for decades.

The executive order Trump signed Thursday also aims to declassify the remaining federal records relating to the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The order is among a flurry of executive actions Trump has quickly taken the first week of his second term.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said, “everything will be revealed.”

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Trump proposes 'getting rid of FEMA' while visiting disaster zones

President Donald Trump is briefed on the effects of Hurricane...

President Donald Trump is briefed on the effects of Hurricane Helene at Asheville Regional Airport in Fletcher, N.C., Friday. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

President Donald Trump is heading to hurricane-battered western North Carolina and wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles on Friday, using the first trip of his second administration to tour areas where politics has clouded the response to deadly disasters.

Trump is also considering overhauling the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some of his conservative allies have proposed reducing how much the agency reimburses states for handling floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and other calamities.

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The Senate confirms John Ratcliffe to lead the CIA, giving Trump his second Cabinet member

John Ratcliffe, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be the Director...

John Ratcliffe, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. Credit: AP/John McDonnell

The Senate has confirmed Donald Trump's pick to lead the CIA. 

Senate advances Pete Hegseth as Trump's defense secretary, despite allegations against him

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense Secretary,...

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense Secretary, poses for a photo with Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Thursday that she will vote against confirming Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, becoming the first Republican to oppose one of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks ahead of a crucial test vote.

Murkowski, of Alaska, said in a lengthy statement that allegations of excessive drinking and aggressive actions toward women, which Hegseth has denied, show that his behaviors “starkly contrast” with what is expected of the U.S. military. She also noted his past statements that women should not fill military combat roles.

“I remain concerned about the message that confirming Mr. Hegseth sends to women currently serving and those aspiring to join,” Murkowski wrote on social media.

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Trump revokes protections for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and top Iran aide

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the Conservative...

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md. in 2023. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has revoked government security protection for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his top aide, Brian Hook, who have faced threats from Iran since they took hard-line stances on the Islamic Republic during Trump's first administration.

A congressional staffer and a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personal security details, confirmed the change, but neither could offer an explanation. They said that Pompeo and Hook were told of the loss of protection on Wednesday and that it took effect at 11 p.m. that night.

It's another sign of steps Trump is taking just days into his return to the White House to target those he has perceived as adversaries.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski to vote against Hegseth, first Republican to oppose a Trump Cabinet pick

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense Secretary,...

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense Secretary, poses for a photo with Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Credit: AP

Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Thursday that she will vote against confirming Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, becoming the first Republican to oppose one of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks ahead of a crucial test vote.

Murkowski, of Alaska, said in a lengthy statement that allegations of excessive drinking and aggressive actions toward women, which Hegseth has denied, show that his behaviors “starkly contrast” with what is expected of the U.S. military. She also noted his past statements that women should not fill military combat roles.

“I remain concerned about the message that confirming Mr. Hegseth sends to women currently serving and those aspiring to join,” Murkowski wrote on social media.

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Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of the parents’ immigration status.

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour ruled in the case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, which argue the 14th Amendment and Supreme Court case law have cemented birthright citizenship.

The case is one of five lawsuits being brought by 22 states and a number of immigrants rights groups across the country. The suits include personal testimonies from attorneys general who are U.S. citizens by birthright, and names pregnant women who are afraid their children won’t become U.S. citizens.

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Trump tells Davos elite to invest in U.S. or face tariffs

US President Donald J. Trump is shown on screens as...

US President Donald J. Trump is shown on screens as he addresses via remote connection a plenary session in the Congress Hall, during the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. Credit: AP/Michael Buholzer

President Donald Trump used an address Thursday to the World Economic Forum to promise global elites lower taxes if they bring manufacturing to the U.S. and threatened to impose tariffs if they don’t.

Speaking by video from the White House to the annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, on his third full day in office, Trump ran through his flurry of executive actions since his swearing-in and claimed that he had a “massive mandate” from the American people to bring change. He laid out a carrot-and-stick approach for private investment in the U.S.

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A bid to block Trump's cancellation of birthright citizenship is in federal court

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

A federal judge in Seattle is set to hear the first arguments Thursday in a multi-state lawsuit seeking to block President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of the parents' immigration status.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour scheduled the session to consider the request from Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. The case is one of five lawsuits being brought by 22 states and a number of immigrants rights groups across the country. The suits include personal testimonies from attorneys general who are U.S. citizens by birthright, and names pregnant women who are afraid their children won't become U.S. citizens.

The order, signed by Trump on Inauguration Day, is slated to take effect on Feb. 19. It could impact hundreds of thousands of people born in the country, according to one of the lawsuits. In 2022, there were about 255,000 births of citizen children to mothers living in the country illegally and about 153,000 births to two such parents, according to the four-state suit filed in Seattle.

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Trump heads back to Davos, this time virtually, for elite World Economic Forum gathering

The mountains above the village of Davos, where the annual...

The mountains above the village of Davos, where the annual meeting of World Economic Forum will take place, are covered with snow, in Davos, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2024. Credit: AP/Markus Schreiber

Donald Trump is coming back to Davos. This time, virtually.

The freshly reinaugurated U.S. president is to speak Thursday to an international audience for the first time after returning to the White House three days earlier, with a speech and question-and-answer by video conference at the World Economic Forum's annual event.

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Trump's perceived enemies worry about losing pensions, getting audited and paying steep legal bills

National security adviser John Bolton, left, listens to President Donald...

National security adviser John Bolton, left, listens to President Donald Trump, far right, speak during a working lunch with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Trump' s private Mar-a-Lago club, April 18, 2018 in Palm Beach, Fla. Credit: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

It’s not just criminal prosecutions that worry those who have crossed President Donald Trump. There are more prosaic kinds of retaliation: having difficulty renewing passports, getting audited by the IRS and losing federal pensions.

For the many people who have made an enemy of Trump, his return to the presidency this week sparked anxiety. Some are concerned they could go bankrupt trying to clear their names.

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Everything Trump did in the first executive orders and actions of his presidency

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump started his second administration with a blitz of policy actions to reorient the U.S. government.

His executive orders cover issues that range from trade, immigration and U.S. foreign aid to demographic diversity, civil rights and the hiring of federal workers. Some have an immediate policy impact. Others are more symbolic. And some already are being challenged by federal lawsuits.

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Trump made DOGE part of the government. Here's what that might mean

Elon Musk, right, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrive before...

Elon Musk, right, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: AP/Kevin Lamarque

he new Department of Government Efficiency, President Donald Trump ’s special commission tasked with slashing federal spending, has formally joined the government whose size it is supposed to help shrink.

The parade of executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office included one renaming the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service. It further directed that DOGE be established within the Executive Office of the President.

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Trump move allows immigration agents to enter houses of worship and other 'sensitive' locations

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland...

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Manhattan on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Seth Wenig

Faith leaders and advocates on Wednesday lambasted President Donald Trump's move to allow immigration agents to enter houses of worship and other "sensitive" locations, including schools and hospitals, to arrest people in the country illegally.

The move, which overturns decades of U.S. policy and was made through an executive order signed by Trump on Monday shortly after his inauguration, also provoked criticism from school leaders. They said it could lead to attendance issues, dropouts, or a decline in academic performance among migrant families.

"Schools are places where our kids come to learn, not to be interrogated about their status, not a place to be arrested," said Dafny Irizarry, president of the Long Island Latino Teachers Association.

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Trump administration freezes many health agency reports and posts

President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the...

President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Tuesday. Credit: AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

The Trump administration has put a freeze on many federal health agency communications with the public through at least the end of the month.

In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dorothy Fink told agency staff leaders Tuesday that an “immediate pause” had been ordered on — among other things — regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts until such communications had been approved by a political appointee.

The pause also applies to anything intended to be published in the Federal Register, where the executive branch communicates rules and regulations, and the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientific publication.

White House sidelines staffers detailed to National Security Council, aligning team to Trump agenda

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., speaks during a hearing of the...

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Capitol Hill, Feb. 29, 2024, in Washington. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump 's national security adviser is sidelining roughly 160 career government employees on temporary duty at the White House National Security Council, telling them to work from home for the time-being as the administration reviews staffing for the White House arm that provides national security and foreign policy advice to the president, Trump administration officials told The Associated Press

The career employees, commonly referred to as detailees, were summoned on Wednesday to an all-staff meeting in which were to be told that they'll be expected to be available to the NSC's senior directors but would not need to report to the White House, the officials said.

Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, had signaled before Inauguration Day that he would look to move holdover civil servants that served in the NSC during President Joe Biden's administration back to their home agencies. The move is meant to ensure the council is staffed by those who support Trump's agenda.

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Trump administration cancels travel for refugees already cleared to resettle in the U.S.

Refugees who had been approved to travel to the United States before a Jan. 27 deadline suspending America's refugee resettlement program have had their travel plans canceled by the Trump administration.

Thousands of refugees are now stranded at various locations around the globe.

The suspension was in an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. It left open the possibility that people who had undergone the lengthy process to be approved as refugees and permitted to come to the U.S., and had flights booked before that deadline, might still be able to get in under the wire.

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Trump administration directs all federal DEI staff to be put on leave

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

Trump’s administration is directing that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave, and that agencies develop plans to lay them off, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management.

Tuesday’s memo follows an executive order that Trump signed his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs that could include anti-bias training and funding for minority farmers and homeowners.

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Rubio kicks off Trump foreign policy engagements in meetings with Indo-Pacific 'Quad'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks after being sworn in...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks after being sworn in by Vice President JD Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Tuesday with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan as the Trump administration kicked off its formal foreign policy engagements in discussions with the Indo-Pacific “Quad.”

The grouping of the four countries has been seen by many as an initiative to counter or at least slow China’s increasing assertiveness and aggressiveness in the region, something over which President Donald Trump and his predecessors have all expressed deep concern.

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President Trump wants to make showerheads and toilets flow greatly again, but so may utility bills

A toilet is displayed for sale that uses less water,...

A toilet is displayed for sale that uses less water, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Cincinnati. Credit: AP/Joshua A. Bickel

President Donald Trump once expressed concern with how low showerhead flow affected his “perfect” hair. Now back in the White House, he's again taking aim at some high-efficiency household items — and that may mean higher water and electric bills in your home.

One of Trump’s several dozen first-day executive orders promises to “unleash American energy,” including a pledge to ease efficiency standards for household appliances and fixtures.

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Trump's executive order gives TikTok a reprieve. What happens next?

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sits before the 60th Presidential...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sits before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: AP/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump has directed his Justice Department to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban until early April, but a host of questions remain - including whether Trump has the authority to issue such an order and if TikTok’s China-based parent would be amenable to selling the popular social media platform.

In an executive order signed on Monday, Trump instructed the U.S. attorney general to not enforce the ban for 75 days while his administration determines “the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown” of TikTok.

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NY, 21 other states sue Trump over birthright citizenship, calling executive order unconstitutional

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday. Credit: AP / Evan Vucci

New York and 21 other states have sued to stop President Donald Trump from ending birthright citizenship — a day after he signed an executive order attempting to gut what has been recognized as a constitutional right for more than 125 years.

The suit in which New York is a plaintiff, filed at U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, asks that enforcement of the order immediately be halted, stopped permanently, and declared unconstitutional and unlawful, according to the office of New York's attorney general Letitia James.

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Trump's first full day back in White House includes firings and an infrastructure announcement

President Donald Trump attends the national prayer service at the...

President Donald Trump attends the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump is spending his first full day back in the White House meeting with congressional leaders, making an infrastructure announcement and demonstrating one of his favored expressions of power: firing people.

The new president posted on his Truth social media network early Tuesday that he would fire more than 1,000 presidential appointees “who are not aligned with our vision," including some high-profile names.

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Trump signed an order to end birthright citizenship. What is it and what does that mean?

A young man reacts to information on how to prepare...

A young man reacts to information on how to prepare for the upcoming changes to undocumented families living in the U.S., Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Miami. Credit: AP/Marta Lavandier

President Donald Trump moved to end a decades-old immigration policy known as birthright citizenship when he ordered the cancellation of the constitutional guarantee that U.S.-born children are citizens regardless of their parents’ status.

Trump's roughly 700-word executive order, issued late Monday, amounts to a fulfillment of something he's talked about during the presidential campaign. But whether it succeeds is far from certain as immigration advocates file lawsuits to block the president.

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Trump pardons upend massive Jan. 6 prosecution by freeing rioters and dismissing cases

Supporters of President Donald Trump, Kevin Loftus, left and William...

Supporters of President Donald Trump, Kevin Loftus, left and William Sarsfield III, who were convicted for participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, talk to reporters after being pardoned and released in the early morning hours from the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center before traveling to Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

Rioters locked up for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack were released while judges began dismissing dozens of pending cases Tuesday after President Donald Trump’s sweeping grant of clemency to all 1,500-plus people charged in the insurrection that shook the foundation of American democracy.

With the stroke of a pen on his first day back in the White House, Trump’s order upended the largest prosecution in Justice Department history, freeing from prison people caught on camera viciously attacking police as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after his 2020 election loss.

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Suspected settlers attacked Palestinian villages hours before Trump rescinded Biden sanctions

A Palestinian stands beside a torched car in the aftermath...

A Palestinian stands beside a torched car in the aftermath of an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Jinsafut, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. Credit: AP/Majdi Mohammed

Shortly after suspected Jewish settlers stormed Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late Monday, setting cars and property ablaze, U.S. President Donald Trump canceled sanctions against Israelis accused of violence in the territory.

The reversal of the Biden administration's sanctions, which were meant to punish radical settlers, could set the tone for a presidency that is expected to be more tolerant of Israel's expansion of settlements and of violence toward Palestinians. In Trump's previous term he lavished support on Israel, and he has once again surrounded himself with aides who back the settlers.

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5 takeaways from the second inauguration of President Donald Trump

Donald Trump takes the oath of office as his son...

Donald Trump takes the oath of office as his son Barron Trump and wife, Melania Trump, look on during inauguration ceremonies in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday. Credit: Getty Images/Pool

President Donald Trump delivered an inaugural speech Monday that his supporters and anyone who has listened to his exhortations at his rallies would recognize: attacks on his opponents, praise for his own plans, some humor and a few surprises.

In a half-hour address, Trump painted a bleak picture of the United States under his Democratic opponents in terms that echoed his description of the "carnage" at his inauguration eight years ago, but this time mixed with superlatives about his ambitious plans.

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Trump seeks to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office...

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday saying the United States would designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in a move that could push a militarized agenda for the border and Latin America.

The order highlighted Mexican drug cartels and other Latin American criminal groups like Venezuela gang Tren de Aragua and Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), which it said “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”

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Marco Rubio has been sworn in as America's chief diplomat

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., attends the 60th Presidential Inauguration in...

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., attends the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday. Credit: AP/Kevin Lamarque

Vice President JD Vance has sworn in Rubio as Secretary of State, the first of Trump’s Cabinet nominees to take the job.

Rubio said Trump’s primary priority will be furthering the United States’ interests and that anything the government and State Department do must make the country stronger, safer or more prosperous.

“If it doesn’t do one of those three things, we will not do it,” Rubio said.

Vance, who served as a senator alongside Rubio, called him a “bipartisan solutions seeker.”

Trump suspends U.S. foreign assistance for 90 days pending reviews

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday temporarily suspending all U.S. foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.

It was not immediately clear how much assistance would initially be affected by the order as funding for many programs has already been appropriated by Congress and is obligated to be spent, if not already spent.

The order, among many Trump signed on his first day back in office, said the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and “serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”

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Trump signs death penalty order directing attorney general to help states get lethal injection drugs

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a sweeping execution order on the death penalty Monday, directing the attorney general to “take all necessary and lawful action” to ensure that states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions.

In the order signed in the first hours of his return to the White House, Trump said “politicians and judges who oppose capital punishment have defied and subverted the laws of our country.”

A moratorium on federal executions had been in place since 2021, and only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.

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Trump suspends TikTok ban

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sits before the 60th Presidential...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sits before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday. Credit: AP/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to keep TikTok operating for 75 days, a relief to the social media platform’s users even as national security questions persist.

TikTok’s China-based parent ByteDance was supposed to find a U.S. buyer or be banned on Jan. 19. Trump’s order could give ByteDance more time to find a buyer.

“I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok,” Trump said.

Trump has amassed nearly 15 million followers on TikTok since he joined last year, and he has credited the trendsetting platform with helping him gain traction among young voters. Yet its 170 million U.S. users could not access TikTok for more than 12 hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

The platform went offline before the ban approved by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court took effect on Sunday. After Trump promised to pause the ban on Monday, TikTok restored access for existing users. Google and Apple, however, still have not reinstated TikTok to their app stores.

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President Trump pardons 1,500 people convicted in Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol

President Donald Trump issued a mass pardon to nearly all of the Jan. 6 defendants, including some Long Islanders, in connection with the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"We hope they come out tonight frankly," said Trump, as he signed the pardons in the Oval Office Monday night.

Trump used his clemency powers in the first hours of his presidency, issuing pardons to about 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants. Trump commuted the sentences of 14 of the defendants, saying their cases needed to be studied further. It was not immediately clear which defendants received commutations.

The move to grant mass clemency to those who have been arrested and charged in connection with the insurrection fulfills one of Trump's campaign promises.

Several Jan. 6 defendants from Long Island are among those who were granted clemency by Trump. It is not clear if any of the Long Island defendants had their sentences commuted.

Peter Moloney, a former co-owner of the Suffolk County-based Moloney Family Funeral Homes, has pleaded guilty to assault charges for physically attacking police officers and two people he believed were members of the media. He had been scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 11.

Prosecutors have alleged Moloney sprayed four Capitol police officers with a can of Black Flag Wasp, Hornet & Yellow Jacket Killer.

Matthew Schmitz, of Lindenhurst, a member of the Long Island chapter of the white supremacist group known as the Proud Boys, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in September in connection with the attack. He admitting he "overwhelmed a police line" and broke a window before he entered the Capitol and disrupted the proceeding of Congress certifying the election results. Schmitz was sentenced to three years of probation.

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Executive orders on immigration will trigger fear, legal challenges

Migrants walk through Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Monday, in an...

Migrants walk through Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Monday, in an attempt to reach the U.S. border. Credit: AP/Edgar H. Clemente

Long Island immigration advocates said they're concerned about a flurry of executive orders President Donald Trump has vowed to sign, including pledging to end birthright citizenship — a tenet enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

They said the moves could send desperate families into hiding or force others who have made a law-abiding life for themselves in the U.S. to return to home countries wracked by poverty or violence.

Only hours after taking the Oath of Office as the nation's 47th president, Trump was expected to sign 10 executive orders he pledged to enact related to immigration policy.

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Capping rally style address, Trump signs slew of orders rescinding Biden policies

WASHINGTON — Hours after delivering his inauguration address Monday, President Donald Trump switched gears to deliver a campaign-rally style speech at the Capital One Arena — where some 20,000 supporters gathered in lieu of a traditional parade — and signed numerous orders aimed at rolling back the policies of his predecessor.

Trump gave a nod to the NYPD early in his remarks saying: “I grew up with New York's Finest, and we got to give them their authority back. You won't have any crime. There'll be no crime.”

He then sat at a desk on the stage and signed nine executive orders to undo actions by former President Joe Biden. Read more about what these orders are about here.

They included undoing 78 prior executive orders issued by Biden; a hiring freeze on federal employees; a demand to get federal workers back to work in person; a directive to all federal agencies to address the cost of living in America; exiting the Paris climate accord; and a directive against the weaponization of government of political adversaries of the previous administration.

"Could you imagine Biden doing this? I don't think so," Trump said as he signed a stack of the leather bound documents.

Although he didn't actually sign the order Monday, Trump said he would also pardon many of those charged for non-violent offenses connected to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The president said he wanted to talk about his release of non-violent Jan. 6 defendants at during his formal inaugural address earlier in the day, but was advised against it.

"So I said, 'all right, I won't put it in my speech, but you know what, I'm speaking in front of a hell of a lot of people at a place called Capital One arena, and I'll tell them there," Trump said Monday night.

Trump in his speech also promised to “liberate our economy” by focusing on increasing oil drilling and limiting “big, ugly windmills.”

Trump rally features family of slain Israeli soldier from Plainview

WASHINGTON — The family of Omer Neutra, an Israeli soldier from Plainview killed during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, was featured at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration rally.

Orna and Ronen Neutra were among the relatives of American hostages held by Hamas who walked onto the stage at Capital One Arena, at the invitation of Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East Steven Witkoff.

The couple and their surviving son shook hands with Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, and Orna could be seen talking to Trump.

Trump, without naming the Neutras, noted that several hostage families have urged the incoming administration to aide with the release of the bodies of slain hostages.

“Some of them are just saying, ‘My son is gone, but please just bring home his body,’” Trump said.

Officials said last month that Neutra is believed to have died in the Oct. 7 attack.

Trump pledges pardons for 'a lot of people' including those involved in Jan. 6 

President Trump plans on issuing pardons to "a lot of people," including those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol, calling the convicts "hostages." 

Trump made the remarks at the Capital One Arena, just over six hours after being sworn into office. He was flanked by supporters and the families of those held hostage by Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. 

LI native and new Middle East envoy introduces Trump at inaugural rally

Steve Witkoff speaks at an indoor presidential inauguration parade event...

Steve Witkoff speaks at an indoor presidential inauguration parade event in Washington on Monday. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

WASHINGTON – Steven Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East with Long Island roots, was the first administration official to speak at Trump’s inauguration rally at the Capital One Arena.

Witkoff, a real estate mogul who also served as co-chairman of Trump’s inauguration committee, lauded the cease-fire deal reached between Israel and Hamas that led to the release of three Israeli hostages on Sunday.

“My responsibility is to implement his vision, engaging with leaders across the region to find pathways towards sustainable peace and stability,” Witkoff said of his role. “And let me tell you, having Donald Trump as a boss makes this task not only possible, but far more effective.”

Witkoff, who grew up in Old Westbury, told rallygoers: “A stable and prosperous Middle East, is not an unattainable dream. It isn't it is. It is a goal within our reach, made possible by strong leadership and unwavering commitment.”

Read more on Witkoff’s Long Island roots.

Trump arrives at Capital One Arena for inaugural parade

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for...

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington Monday. Credit: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

Trump entered the arena via stairs in the stands that had him walking past his supporters, who were close enough to touch him and pat him on the shoulder.

It was a marked contrast from the Republican National Convention, when Secret Service agents kept a wide aisle between Trump and Republican officials amid heightened security following his near-assassination.

The indoor parade — attended by regular supporters — serves as a visual contrast to the events at the Capitol, where Trump was surrounded by lawmakers and many of the country’s richest men.

Trump took a red, white and blue stage, placing a binder on a podium to raucous cheers from the crowd.

Trump then stood and smiled, pumping his fist as sustained cheers continued.

LIRR commuters see different directions for new Trump term

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At the Hicksville LIRR station Monday, a pair of young commuters had divergent takes on the inauguration of President Donald Trump more than 200 miles away.

Hernan Payan Molina, 18, stood at the station waiting for his train home to Valley Stream.

"I have high hopes ... Not even 24 hours before he came to office, TikTok came back," he said, a reference to the platform restoring service Sunday after briefly going dark in the United States.

Molina, who emigrated from Columbia at age 10, said he hoped Trump will lower gas and food prices.

But Andrew Benson, 24, also of Valley Stream had a different take.

"It has emboldened a lot of people, made people feel like it’s okay to be discriminatory,” Benson said of Trump's second election to the White House.

On his walk to the Hicksville train station on Monday afternoon, Benson, who is originally from Canarsie, Brooklyn and works as a machinist, said a woman honked at him from her car, waving her American flag out the window.

“The people who vote for him are looking at immigration," said Benson, who voted for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. 

He said Trump supporters should take a more critical look at his economic policies. 

"They don’t understand society beyond the suburbs.”

Vivek Ramaswamy will not serve in Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, the White House says

The Department of Government Efficiency’s first order of business was itself: It is now down to one member.

Vivek Ramaswamy will no longer serve in the nongovernmental agency alongside Elon Musk, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed Monday. Ramaswamy has signaled plans to run for governor of Ohio.

“Vivek Ramaswamy played a critical role in helping us create DOGE,” spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “He intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE, based on the structure that we announced today. We thank him immensely for his contributions over the last 2 months and expect him to play a vital role in making America great again.”

Trump heads to Capital One Arena

Trump is now leaving the Capitol. He’s expected to head next to the inaugural parade at Capital One Arena.

Supporters have been there all day, watching video of the swearing-in and other events.

'A new direction': LI's congressional delegation reacts to Trump inauguration

Reps. Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota at the 2024 Republican...

Reps. Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 17. Credit: Newsday/William Perlman

WASHINGTON — Long Island Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R- Bayport), Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), and Tom Suozzi (D- Glen Cove) were among the 600 dignitaries seated in the Rotunda for Trump’s ceremony.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) issued a statement saying she could not attend because weather-related flight cancellations after attending a relative’s funeral this weekend kept her from arriving in time to D.C.

“The President certainly has a love for our country and wants us to succeed, and it sounds like he's going to spend the next four years doing that,” Garbarino told Newsday after the ceremony.

LaLota, in a social media post, said of Trump’s swearing-in : “A new direction is on the horizon—one that prioritizes securing our border, revitalizing the economy, and restoring American strength on the world stage.”

Suozzi, in a social media post, said “While there were many parts of President Trump’s speech that I disagreed with or found to be inappropriate, I am focused on where we can work together and find common ground.”

Gillen, while not in attendance, said she looked “forward to working with the President and his Administration on bipartisan results” for her constituents.

A wave of Trump-demanded departures hits senior leadership at the State Department

A large number of senior career diplomats who served in politically appointed leadership positions at the State Department have left their posts at the demand of the incoming Trump administration, which plans to install its own people in those positions, according to current and outgoing U.S. officials.

Personnel changes in the senior ranks of the department, like those at all federal agencies, are not uncommon after a presidential election, and career officials serving in those roles are required, just as non-career political appointees, to submit letters of resignation before an incoming administration takes office.

In the past, some of those resignations have not been accepted, allowing career officials to remain in their posts at least temporarily until the new president can make nominations. That offers some degree of continuity in the day-to-day running of the bureaucracy.

Trump said to plan blanket pardons for Jan. 6 defendants on Day 1

President Donald Trump is poised to pardon all nonviolent Jan. 6 defendants and commute the sentences of most or all of those convicted of the most serious charges, according to people briefed on the plans. The plans could change before the pardons are announced.

Declining a case-by-case review sought by some top advisers, Trump would grant some form of clemency to virtually everyone prosecuted by the Justice Department, from the plotters imprisoned for seditious conspiracy and felons convicted of assaulting police officers to those who merely trespassed on the restricted grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.

The department would also dismiss cases about 300 cases that have not yet gone to trial, including people charged with violent assaults, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss pending plans.

Trump had repeatedly promised the pardons before and after voters returned him to office in November, as early as “the first nine minutes” of taking office, he told Time magazine.

Overall, more than 1,580 defendants have been charged and more than 1,270 convicted in the Capitol riot investigation, on charges ranging from misdemeanor parading to seditious conspiracy. More than 700 of 1,100 people sentenced so far have received no prison time or have completed their sentence, and would receive limited immediate impact from a Trump pardon.

Get your Trump hats, shirts — even stuffed animals

Shawn Emmons, of Nashua, New Hampshire, said Trump caps were...

Shawn Emmons, of Nashua, New Hampshire, said Trump caps were top sellers Credit: Newsday/Nicholas Spangler

Memorabilia vendors did brisk business on the streets around Trump inaugural festivities Monday.

At 13th and F streets, along the parade route, Shawn Emmons, of Nashua, New Hampshire, said he’d made about 150 sales: “hats, shirts, Trump stuffed animals.”

The $15 Trump inauguration stocking cap was his top seller, he noted.

Outside Capitol One Arena, where Trump gave his inaugural address, vendors hustled to tried to sell their last souvenirs.

At 4 p.m. Monday, the once-crowded area — where people had lined up for hours — slowly emptied out as cleaning crews went to work.

Folding chairs and bags left behind were piled on the street outside the venue. Due to changes in bag allowances, many people just threw their bags outside the arena in order to go in.

As a result, scavengers could be seen looking through many of them for money, before work crews could reach them.

Now a private citizen, Biden urges backers to 'stay with it'

Former President Joe Biden thanked supporters before he headed to California for a vacation, his first as a private citizen.

"There are up and downs, but we have to stay with it," Biden told staffers. "My dad taught me that a measure of a person -- you heard me say this before -- is how quickly they get back up when they get knocked down."

Biden also gestured the sign of the cross when referencing Trump's Inauguration Day speech, drawing laughs.

A look at false and misleading claims Trump made during his inaugural address

President Donald Trump speaks from Emancipation Hall as House Speaker...

President Donald Trump speaks from Emancipation Hall as House Speaker Mike Johnson, from left, his wife Kelly Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and his wife Jennifer Scalise, listen after the 60th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol. Credit: AP/Jasper Colt

In his first address after being sworn in on Monday, President Donald Trump repeated several false and misleading statements that he made during his campaign. They included claims about immigration, the economy, electric vehicles and the Panama Canal. Here’s a look at the facts.

Trump repeats unfounded claim about immigrants

CLAIM: Trump, a Republican, said that the U.S. government "fails to protect our magnificent, law-abiding American citizens but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world.”

THE FACTS: There is no evidence other countries are sending their criminals or mentally ill across the border.

Read more here

Suozzi says Trump's immigration remarks should be 'shared priorities'

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) said after attending President Donald Trump's inauguration Monday that while he disagreed with "many" parts of Trump's speech, he approved of his key remarks about immigration.

"I agree with the President's emphasis on stopping illegal immigration, deporting criminals and targeting the cartels and organized crime profiting from human exploitation at the southern border," Suozzi wrote in an X post. "These should be shared priorities for our nation."

Suozzi, a moderate Democrat beginning his fourth full term in the House, was one of the first members of his party to forcefully speak out against former President Joe Biden's handling of the southern border. Running in an early 2024 special election to reclaim his old seat, Suozzi was successful by creating space between his immigration policies and those of the Biden administration.

Suozzi last year completed the remaining term of ex-GOP Rep. George Santos before being elected again in November.

Supporters react to Trump's gender declaration, mission to Mars pledge

Mario Laboy, 80, of the Bronx.

Mario Laboy, 80, of the Bronx. Credit: Newsday/John Asbury

Among President Donald Trump's upcoming executive orders is the United States' official recognition of two genders, male and female, a rebuke on the transgender movement. 

Holly Brown, a patron at Shanahan's Bar & Grill in Kings Park, said the United States should recognize two genders only. 

“You could ask my professor, ‘How many genders are there?’ and she wouldn’t even tell you a number because to her, it’s a spectrum," Brown said. "But then today [Trump] is making a new policy that there’s two genders.”

Brown described the dissonance between her college and the White House as "difficult," keeping her views on gender to herself — even in her gender studies class.

“I’m doing assignments and essays and I know in the back of my head that if I talk about my actual opinion, my professor has a different one and she’s gonna have that in her head when she’s grading me," Brown said.“I care more about my grades, and I know that whatever I write isn’t going to change her opinion.”

At a party in Trump Tower, Mario Laboy, 80, of the Bronx, praised Trump’s speech, even though he didn’t think he could follow through with all his promises.

“It was a great speech, stating directly what his options are and what he's going to do for America,” Laboy said. “He said the previous administration destroyed this country.”

He said the thought Trump’s promise of going to Mars was a bit too far fetched. “It's too far away and I don't think he's going to do it,” Laboy said. “At this time, it’s impossible.”

Trump is holding off on tariffs but betting Day 1 moves can cut energy prices and tame inflation

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump speaks at...

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds, Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pa., as moderator South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem listens. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is holding off on tariffs during his first day and placing a big bet that his executive actions can cut energy prices and tame inflation. But it's unclear whether his orders will be enough to move the U.S. economy as he promised.

Orders coming Monday, including one tied to Alaska, are meant to ease the regulatory burdens on oil and natural gas production. He also intends to declare a national energy emergency in hopes of jumpstarting more electricity production in the competition with China to build out technologies such as artificial intelligence that rely on data centers using massive amounts of energy.

Trump plans to sign a presidential memorandum seeking a broad-based government approach to bringing down inflation.

Read more here

Trump appears at luncheon after taking part in a formal signing ceremony at the Capitol

President Donald Trump is at a luncheon hosted by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies luncheon. 

Before that, he took part in a formal signing ceremony at the Capitol. Flanked by members of Congress from both parties, Trump sat in a high-backed red chair at an ornate desk and began affixing his signature to documents. One act was related to Cabinet duties while another directed that U.S. flags be flown at full staff on Inauguration Day.

Trump had bristled at the idea of flags flying at half-staff, as directed by Biden, for 30 days to honor the death of former President Jimmy Carter.

Carter died late last month.

In NYC, anti-Trump protesters hit streets

Marc Leavitt, an attorney from Sunnyside, Queens, was the lone...

Marc Leavitt, an attorney from Sunnyside, Queens, was the lone protester at Trump Tower on Monday. He played songs including "The Star Spangled Banner" on his flute. Credit: Newsday/John Asbury

Several anti-Trump protesters took to the streets in New York City on Inauguration Day. Lone protester Marc Leavitt, an attorney from Sunnyside, Queens, was surrounded by police outside Trump Tower who initially told him to leave. He played several songs including "The Star Spangled Banner" on the flute. Police eventually backed off as he continued to play.

“Democracy is important and unfortunately we’re inaugurating our 'embarrasser-in-chief,' ” Leavitt said. “People can protest in various ways, and many still are.”

At Washington Square Park, Kathleen Sullivan, 57, of Brooklyn, was once again protesting Trump, this time on his second Inauguration Day. She brought back her “RESIST” pin she had retired in 2020. Sullivan said she’s even more worried about Trump’s second term than she was for the first.

“Trump has been given immunity from the Supreme Court. So he's coming in with a lot more testosterone and a lot more power, so it's a scary time," Sullivan said. “He's not a nice man, and he's going to be going after people who have legitimate rights to be here under our Constitution. He's going to rule under a fist of fear, and it's doesn't look good for our country."

Elon Musk's DOGE sued minutes after Trump inauguration

Elon Musk arrives before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the...

Elon Musk arrives before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Monday. Credit: AP/Chip Somodevilla

A lawsuit claiming billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” violates federal transparency rules was filed within minutes of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday, kicking off a legal battle over a key aspect of the incoming administration’s agenda.

In a 30-page complaint obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its filing, the public interest law firm National Security Counselors says that the nongovernmental DOGE panel is breaking a 1972 law that requires advisory committees to the executive branch to follow certain rules on disclosure, hiring and other practices.

Shortly after the election, Trump tapped Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead DOGE in identifying government regulations and spending programs for the White House to cut. The group has already hired dozens of staffers as it works out of the Washington offices of Musk’s company SpaceX, sending emissaries across U.S. agencies to put together a list of recommendations to execute in tandem with the administration and often communicating on the encrypted messaging app Signal. (Ramaswamy, however, is now leaving the DOGE panel to run for governor of Ohio.)

The lawsuit alleges that DOGE meets the requirements to be considered a “federal advisory committee,” a class of legal entity regulated to ensure the government receives transparent and balanced advice. These groups, known as FACAs, are required by law to have “fairly balanced” representation, keep regular minutes of meetings, allow the public to attend, file a charter with Congress and more - all steps that DOGE does not appear to have taken.

LI supporters press for lower gas prices, immigration response in new Trump tenure

Stacey Brown, left, and her niece Holly Brown at at Shanhans Bar and Grill...

Stacey Brown, left, and her niece Holly Brown at at Shanhans Bar and Grill in Kings Park. Credit: Newsday/Bahar Ostadan

After Trump’s speech, Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim climbed on top of a table to rally an emotional crowd gathered at a celebration at Shanhans Bar and Grill in Kings Park.

“Today is more exciting than the day I got married,” said Stacey Brown, of Smithtown.

Cracking down on immigration was at the top of Brown’s list of hopes for Trump’s second stint in the White House. Shopping at Costco, where Brown says she sees more customers who don’t speak English, makes her “angry.”

“I would rather take care of our veterans," she said. "Why are we taking care of people who are here illegally?”

Brown’s brother Donny, who organized the Kings Park event on Monday, said Trump appeals to a broad swath of Long Islanders.

“I really do believe that he cares about the average Joe … It’s not about the wealthy people,” he said.

Brown, who grew up in Smithtown and is a former Marine and police officer, owns several restaurants in the area. He says he hopes Trump will help lower gas prices so people have more expendable income.

“You make these investments [in restaurants], and then consumers don’t have money to spend,” Brown said.

Ming Chiang, 60, a Woodbury businessman visiting Washington, said he hoped Trump would extend the ban on TikTok, a social media app he blamed for contributing to social distancing. “Kids don't interact with us anymore,” he said. “There’s been a disconnect from more immediate social bonds.”He also hoped Trump would end the war in Ukraine, take on the “threat” of China and “return the world to normalcy.”

Trump ends CBP One

The Trump administration Monday ended use of a border app called CBP One that has allowed nearly 1 million people to legally enter the United States with eligibility to work.

A notice on the website of Customs and Border Protection on Monday just after Trump was sworn in let users know that the app that had been used to allow migrants to schedule appointments at eight southwest border ports of entry is no longer available. The notice said that existing appointments have been canceled.

The move adheres to a promise Trump made during his campaign and will please critics who say it was an overly generous magnet for more people to come to Mexico’s border with the United States.

The CBP One app had been wildly popular.

It is an online lottery system to give appointments to 1,450 people a day at eight border crossings. They enter on immigration “parole,” a presidential authority that Joe Biden used more than any other president since it was introduced in 1952.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman praises Trump's speech

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman praised President Trump's inaugural speech, declaring it the "most uplifting and powerful Inaugural speech since George Washington." 

"Simply fabulous!" Blakeman tweeted on X. 

Trump held a campaign rally in September at Nassau Coliseum. 

Watch: LI native Christopher Macchio sings at Inauguration Day

Christopher Macchio, a Holbrook native known as America's Tenor, took center stage to sing at the Capitol building during President-elect Donald Trump's ceremony to sing the national anthem and "Oh, America." Credit: AP

Biden leaves Capitol on Marine One chopper 

Former President Joe Biden departs the Capitol as President Trump moves swiftly to implement his new agenda. Trump, alongside first lady Melania Trump, accompanied the Bidens to the Marine One chopper. Biden left the Capitol just after 1 p.m. 

NY GOP lauds Trump's speech, chants 'hey, hey goodbye' to Biden

At the New York GOP watch party, chants of “hey, hey hey, goodbye” could be heard as Biden appeared on television screens.

Mike LiPetri, 34, of Farmingdale, former candidate for 3rd District and a state assemblyman, said Trump had given listeners “a vision for our future” that focused on “creating safe and affordable communities.”

LiPetri said Long Islanders in his district had suffered at the hands of undocumented immigrants, including members of a Chilean gang who had burglarized houses in the area. He said a “mass exodus” of Long Islanders over the last four years was proof that Biden’s economic policies had failed.

Trump gives longer Inauguration Day speech than his first

President Donald Trump's Inauguration Day speech appeared to be nearly twice as long as his first, clocking in at just under 30 minutes. His speech for his first term was around 16 minutes.

Supporters encouraged by Trump's speech 

Vistors to Trump Tower in Manhattan watch as Donald Trump is...

Vistors to Trump Tower in Manhattan watch as Donald Trump is sworn in as president in Washington. Credit: Newsday/John Asbury

Michel Gustafsson, 39, of Sweden, watched from Trump Tower and said he was encouraged by Trump's speech. He thought the new administration could bring more freedom to Europe.

"We believe Europe needs to stand on its own feet — we either have been influenced by Russia or the U.S.," Gustafsson said. "Most of his policies are quite reasonable with energy and inflation. The U.S. has honestly been too generous and there's been too much fluff going on. They've lost focus of what matters."

He said he wasn't concerned by Trump's foreign policy statements on Greenland or Panama.

"It's a distraction," Gustafsson said. "There's not much he can do in four years. His focus will be on immigration."

In Washington, D.C., Assemblymember Robert Smullen, representing the 128th District in the Mohawk Valley, said he was inspired by Trump’s talk of the “spirit of American innovation” and prosperity.

Smullen said his district had suffered economically over the last four years, especially from inflation. “It was caused by the policies of the Biden administration and it will be solved by the economic policies of the Trump administration,” he said.

Crowds of people, some of whom failed to get access to the Capital One Arena, gathered along Pennsylvania Avenue to catch a glimpse of the president and continue the festivities.

People had their cellphones out and were playing Trump’s speech and someone played it on a speaker, with crowds cheering as he spoke.

Trump pledges to bring astronauts to Mars 

President Trump, in his Inauguration Day speech, said he plans on bringing astronauts to the planet Mars, among one of his more key ambitions he announced in his address to supporters. 

Trump ticks off list of executive order priorities, including on gender and free speech, in Inauguration Day address

Trump, speaking from inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, in an inauguration ceremony reconfigured due to the cold, railed against what he called the “weaponization” of the Justice Department, and touched on surviving two assassination attempts.

“I was saved by God to make America great again,” Trump said. The president ticked off a list of executive orders he planned on signing — several touching on hot button social issues. He asserted that “the official policy of the United States government” will be “that there are only two genders, male and female.”

He promised to reinstate U.S. servicemembers who were expelled from the military after they declined to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Trump says he will reinstate 'Remain in Mexico' policy

In his Inauguration Day speech, President Trump said he will reinstate the "Remain in Mexico" policy, a response to the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

He's expected to write an executive order to begin the process of returning undocumented immigrants to the Mexico border.

He also will sign an executive order designating drug cartels as terrorists. 

Trump supporters pack Shanahan's bar in Kings Park, cheering as Trump sworn in

About a hundred people gathered to celebrate at Shanahan’s Bar & Grill in Kings Park.

Most wore Trump sweatshirts, hats, visors, cowboy hats, even a pair of American flag flare denim. One man wore a cut-out of the president’s face. Pasquale De Franco was one of many who boo-ed New York Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as they appeared on the screen.

“When [Democrats] speak, they’re never trying to solve people’s problems. You can make talking points all you want … It just looks fancy on TV, it doesn’t translate into real life,” Pasquale said.

Pasquale and his wife Jessica of Hauppauge said they were excited and “relieved” to see Trump take his oath. They hope he will crack down on immigration and lower gas and food prices.

“Prices have doubled. Everything’s tough now. It’s impossible,” said Pasquale, who grew up in Astoria, Queens. The crowd shushed one another as Trump took the stage. “The golden age of America begins right now … I will, very simply, put America first,” he said as the crowd erupted into cheers.

Trump, in inauguration speech, says the 'golden age of America starts right now'

In his opening remarks, President Trump said the "golden age of America begins right now," saying the country will be stronger and exceptional than ever before. 

"Sunlight is pouring over the entire world and America has the chance to seize this opportunity than ever before," Trump said, added that trust in government has eroded. 

Trump also took digs at the Biden administration's record, particularly on immigration.

Trump takes oath of office as nation's 47th president

Donald Trump took the oath of office as the nation's 47th president, marking another return to the White House after losing the election in 2020. Trump placed his hand on a Bible, taking the oath of office before Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, mirroring the first time Trump was sworn in, in January 2017. 

Trump, a Republican, beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the White House in a historic election that saw Joe Biden step down as the Democratic Party's nominee following a debate performance that worried supporters. Unlike 2016 and 2020, Trump won the popular vote in a race where the economy and border security were marquee issues. 

Trump is expected to speak momentarily. 

Biden pardons family members in final act in office

President Joe Biden arrives for the 60th Presidential Inauguration in...

President Joe Biden arrives for the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Monday. Credit: AP/Kenny Holston

President Joe Biden, in his final act in office, has issued pardons to his family members, due to "unrelenting attacks" from Trump and allies.

Here is Biden's statement, issued by the White House:

"My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.

I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances.

That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden. The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense."

Cheers, jeers at inauguration watch party at Trump Tower

The crowd at Trump Tower roared at Trump's introduction and booed Joe Biden. The event was a mixture of red hats and evening gowns.
Jennifer Lafferty, of Queens wore both, with a pair of flag-adorned high heels.

She, and Blanca Roman of Manhattan, were attending with hope that Trump's new presidency would bring changes for New York.
"I'm excited for the changes taking place and I'm feeling optimistic," Roman said. "I think it's important to support the president."
"New York seemed so much safer during Trump's first term and had one of its lowest crime rates," Roman said. "I'm hoping to see more changes on the subway. New York is not what it used to be."

LI native Christopher Macchio, 'America's Tenor,' sings at Trump inauguration

Christopher Macchio, a Holbrook native known as America's Tenor, took center stage to sing at the Capitol building during President-elect Donald Trump's ceremony to sing the national anthem and "Oh, America." Credit: AP

Christopher Macchio, a Holbrook native known as America's Tenor, took center stage to sing at the Capitol building during President-elect Donald Trump's ceremony.

Trump and Macchio have known each other for more than a decade, and Macchio has performed at several of Trump's events. 

Macchio belted out tunes in July at the Republican National Convention and in October at Trump’s return rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after Trump's first rally there was marred by an assassination attempt. He also sang at Trump's October Madison Square Garden rally.

With AP

Attendees escape the cold for inauguration watch parties in Washington

“A lot of us feel it’s a new day," said...

“A lot of us feel it’s a new day," said Patrick Reilly, a native Long Islander attending an inauguration watch party in Washington on Monday. Credit: Newsday/Nicholas Spangler

Inauguration viewing parties have sprung up in restaurants, coffee shops and even hotel bars surrounding the Capital One Arena as Trump supporters seek shelter from the frigid weather.

More than a hundred people gathered at the Westin, grabbing coffee and food as they watched the inauguration on TV.

Over at The Capital Grille, the meeting spot for New York State Republicans not attending the swearing-in ceremony, the spread included prime rib and shrimp and oysters chilled on a giant block of ice carved in the shape of an elephant.

At the bar, Patrick Reilly, 55, a telecommunications executive from Massapequa Park who lives in Rochester, was feeling buoyant.

“A lot of us feel it’s a new day," Reilly said. "We’ve been heard and our guy's back.”

He said he hoped Trump would act fast on campaign promises on “the border, taxes, crime,” perhaps sending the military to the border under an executive order. “We’ve got to stop illegal immigration, bring them in under a legal process,” Reilly said.

Former senate candidate Mike Sapraicone, 68, of North Hills, said that Trump, hours away from being sworn in as the 47th President, looked “enthusiastic, pumped up, ready to hit the ground running.”
Sapraicone said that Trump would address issues important to Long Islanders like crime, economy and illegal immigration. “People are tired of feeling unsafe in their homes and on the subway,” he said. They’re of footing the bill for people who come into this country illegally.”

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar stresses unity as she opens inauguration ceremony

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Inauguration Day, opens the ceremony with a message for unity. She quoted from President Abraham Lincoln who reminded attendees his message that leaders do not seek malice. 

Her remarks were followed by Republican Sen. Deb Fischer, the co-chair of the inauguration committee and a brief prayer from New York Cardinal Tim Bishop and Rev. Franklin Graham. He says that when Trump's enemies saw him down, God stood by him.

Spirits high at America First Warehouse in Ronkonkoma

Ginny and Thomas Maurici celebrated with other Trump fans at...

Ginny and Thomas Maurici celebrated with other Trump fans at a watch party at the America First Warehouse in Ronkonkoma on Monday. Credit: Newsday/Bahar Ostadan

Around two dozen people lined up in the frigid parking lot of the America First Warehouse hours before the inauguration was set to begin.

Decked out in Trump hats and draped in American flags, some attendees said they purchased tickets for the watch party back in November after Trump was elected.

“How’s everybody doing today?" one organizer shouted to the cheering crowd. "Look at these good-looking Trump people. We won baby!”

Wearing red and blue head-to-toe down to her cowboy hat, Smithtown resident Ginny Maurici stood in line with her husband, Thomas.

“He’s going to be the best president that America ever had,” she said.

Maurici is most excited for Trump to “get the Democrats out,” secure the border and “drill, baby, drill,” she said. As for local issues, she hopes Trump will bring back the SALT tax deduction and ban transgender girls and women from playing on women’s sports teams.

“We could’ve lived with it, but we couldn’t allow the way it was going for our children and our grandchildren,” Thomas Maurici said of Biden’s presidency.

Trump, Vance, familiar NY faces arrive at Capitol building

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives during the 60th...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives during the 60th presidential inauguration in Emancipation Hall of the US Capitol Monday.  Credit: Al Drago/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

President-elect Donald Trump arrived to the Capitol alongside Vice President-elect JD Vance in advance of their inauguration. 

Some New York faces have started to make their way inside of the U.S. Capitol building for President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, joined other members of Trump's proposed Cabinet on the inauguration stage set up inside of the U.S. Capitol rotunda.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), upon entering the Capitol told reporters on hand that he feels "great about the Bills." He appeared to be holding a blue Buffalo Bills cap.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was also spotted making the rounds in an overflow room in Emancipation Hall.

A number of Trump VIPs have also started to gather including Elon Musk, Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, and influential podcaster Joe Rogan.

Attendees line Pennsylvania Avenue ahead of parade

Security is tight along Pennsylvania Avenue for the parade Monday.

Security is tight along Pennsylvania Avenue for the parade Monday. Credit: Newsday/Nicholas Spangler

People are lining the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route, many wearing Trump caps, with helicopters circling overhead and police vehicles speeding down the empty road.

Julian Silverman, 21, of Manhattan, studying politics for a semester at a Washington college, said he came to the inauguration to take photos. Silverman said he’s a street and documentary photographer who voted for Harris.

“It’s fascinating to see so many Trump supporters in one place. Being from the Upper West Side, I’ve never been in an environment like this, so it’s pretty fascinating.”

On the streets near the Capitol, Brian Jenks, dressed as Abraham Lincoln, drew frequent selfie requests and was greeted as "Mr. President." Jenks, 64, an internet marketer and Lincoln interpreter from Orem, Utah, said he saw parallels between the 16th president and the man who will be the 47th. “Lincoln in his day had those who loved him and those in opposition who hated him," he said.

Biden and Trump depart White House, head to Rotunda

President Joe Biden accompanied his successor, President-elect Donald Trump, as they both rode to the U.S. Capitol, less than 90 minutes before Trump takes the oath of office.

The two met inside the White House for customary tea as part of the ceremonial peaceful transfer of power. 

First Lady Jill Biden met with Melania Trump and then they were driven to the Rotunda ahead of Biden and Trump. 

Attendees flock to Trump Tower in NYC 

Mother and daughter Hannah and Vera Pritchard took in the...

Mother and daughter Hannah and Vera Pritchard took in the atmosphere at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Monday. Credit: Newsday/John Asbury

Trump Tower opened at 10 a.m. to a few curious onlookers and attendees of a private party who entered the lobby. Escalators leading up and down from the lobby were roped off for private guests.

The lobby was decorated with red, white and blue balloons while merchandise lined the walls in glass cases, including golf pro wear and Trump sneakers.

Hannah Pritchard, 35, and her daughter Vera, 11, wandered in from the cold.

“It’s a very special day to be here on a big day in history,” Hannah Pritchard said. “We wanted to see what’s happening. It feels really cool and peaceful and calm.”

They said they were visiting New York for the long weekend.

“We also came for Martin Luther King Day, so we’re celebrating a lot,” Pritchard said.

Former VP Mike Pence attending Trump's swearing-in

Vice President Mike Pence is attending today’s inauguration ceremony.

“This is a day when every American does well to celebrate our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution of the United States,” the former vice president wrote in a post on the social platform X.

“We encourage all our fellow Americans to join us praying for President Trump and Vice President Vance as they assume the awesome responsibility of leading this great Nation,” he added.

Trump and Pence once had a close relationship, but had a falling out when Pence refused to go along with Trump’s unconstitutional scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Pence ran against Trump in the GOP primary but dropped his bid before any votes were cast.

He has been critical of several of Trump’s proposals for a second term, with a group he runs urging Republican senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Biden wrote a letter to Trump 

Biden says he wrote a letter to Trump.

It’s become tradition for the outgoing president to write a letter to his successor and leave it in the drawer of the Oval Office desk for the new president to find.

Biden declined to say what he said in the note. Trump wrote Biden a note four years ago.

Attendees worry about capacity as long lines snake around arena

It didn't look like John and Lisa DiCarlo, of Ohio, would...

It didn't look like John and Lisa DiCarlo, of Ohio, would be able to get into Capital One Arena for Inauguration Day events. Credit: Newsday/Keshia Clukey

John and Lisa DiCarlo, both 67, of Ohio, have tickets to the Inauguration Day event inside the Capital One Arena. But the line is too long to get inside, John said.

“There’s not enough capacity to hold everyone that’s here,” he said. “We don’t have great hopes to get in, but it’s kind of nice being around everything and everybody anyway.”

The couple waited five hours to get into the Trump rally yesterday and couldn’t get in either, they said. You need expedited tickets to get in today, Lisa said.

John said he’s looking for a message of “hope” from the President-elect today.

“We could have a little more unity in the country," he said. "There’s too much hatred there’s too much separation…that’s a tall task, but who knows."

'Welcome home': Biden greets Trump at White House 

President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump are greeted by President...

President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump are greeted by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, upon their arrival at the White House, Monday, in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greeted President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the White House two hours before Trump is expected to once again take the oath of office. Amid heavy security, the Bidens ushered Trump inside the White House for customary tea. 

This marks the second time Trump stopped by the White House since winning the presidency in November and came several hours after Biden pardoned members and staff of the January 6 committee, a move that pre-empts any prosecutions filed by the Trump administration.

Biden told Trump "welcome home" after the incoming president stepped out of his SUV.

The two are expected to depart to the Rotunda shortly.

Biafra gets a voice at inauguration from Long Islander

Former Stony Brook University researcher Bryson Okeoma serves as Biafra’s...

Former Stony Brook University researcher Bryson Okeoma serves as Biafra’s foreign affairs minister, Credit: Newsday/Nicolas Spangler

WASHINGTON — Outside a Union Station coffee shop Monday morning, the government in exile of Biafra, a secessionist state in Nigeria, gathered with an Eritrean dissident and the lobbyist they shared for what they hoped would be a full day of meetings with American officials and a visit to the inauguration ceremony.

“We are here in support of the new administration and hoping that [Trump] will be in support of us,” said Bryson Okeoma, a former Stony Brook University researcher who lives in Stony Brook and works at New York Medical College in Valhalla. Okeoma, who serves as Biafra’s foreign affairs minister, said many Biafrans were disappointed when, under President Joe Biden, he said the United States eased scrutiny of Nigeria, despite what he said was a steady drumbeat of persecution and killings of Biafrans.

“We felt betrayed,” he said. “We are at a point, if we don’t do anything, in a few years our people will be wiped out.” Ogechukwu Nkere, Biafra’s acting prime minister, said he had met Republican leaders including Speaker Mike Johnson and attended a Trump rally in Palm Beach, Florida. “We believe that when America leads, the rest of the world will follow, “ he said.

Biden pardons Fauci and Milley in an effort to guard against potential 'revenge' by Trump

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in an extraordinary use of the powers of the presidency in his final hours to guard against potential “revenge” by the incoming Trump administration.

The decision by Biden comes after Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has selected Cabinet nominees who backed his election lies and who have pledged to punish those involved in efforts to investigate him.

“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”

Trump supporter travels from Cleveland for 'historic' inauguration

Kevin Kabasan, 71, a retired precious metals dealer from Cleveland,...

Kevin Kabasan, 71, a retired precious metals dealer from Cleveland, said he had come to Washington for his second Trump inauguration. Credit: Newsday/Nicholas Spangler

In Union Station Monday morning Kevin Kabasan, 71, a retired precious metals dealer from Cleveland, said he had come for his second Trump inauguration. This one would be “historic,” he said.

“He got the popular vote, the Electoral College, the swing states, Congress, and he’s got a bang up crew that’s going to help America out.”

Kabasan said he hoped the first order of business would be to “close the border. I’m not against immigration, but come here legally.”

NYC Mayor Adams to attend inauguration

WASHINGTON — New York City Mayor Eric Adams will be among those attending President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration, according to an updated schedule released by Adams' office Monday morning.

"On Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams will travel to Washington D.C. to attend the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump," the mayor's office said in a statement. The mayor was scheduled to attend a number of Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in New York City, but those appearances were since scrapped, according to the revised schedule.

Adams, who is facing federal corruption charges, flew to Mar-a-Lago and met with Trump on Friday, but he has said the meeting was to discuss opportunities to work with the incoming president on New York City issues. He has said the meeting was not to discuss a potential presidential pardon from Trump.

Inauguration festivities to start at St. John's Episcopal Church

President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arrive for church...

President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arrive for church service at St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House in Washington on Monday. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump, who overcame impeachments, criminal indictments and a pair of assassination attempts to win another term in the White House, is set to be sworn in as the 47th U.S. president.

He is taking charge as Republicans claim unified control of Washington and set out to reshape the country’s institutions.

Trump’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday will begin at noon. It was moved indoors due to intense cold. Festivities will start earlier when the incoming president arrives for service at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Do US adults support Trump's agenda? AP-NORC poll shows he lacks broad support for some top priorities

Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump breach the Capitol in...

Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump breach the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. Credit: AP/John Minchillo

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump will start implementing a far-reaching agenda when he takes office for the second time on Monday, but a poll finds that despite his claims of an “unprecedented and powerful mandate,” the incoming Republican president lacks broad support for some of his top priorities.

Just over half of US adults favor eliminating taxes on earnings from tips, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, but some of his other pledges — like pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, increasing oil drilling on federal lands and imposing new tariffs — are less widely favored.

There is room for opinion to shift on many of the proposals, since a sizable share of Americans hold a neutral view. But some are more clearly unpopular. A majority of U.S. adults, for instance, oppose pardoning most people who participated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, indicating that one of the actions Trump has promised to undertake quickly will likely be unwelcome to many Americans.

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Trump returning to power after unprecedented comeback, emboldened to reshape American institutions

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally ahead of the...

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Sunday, in Washington. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

Donald Trump, who overcame impeachments, criminal indictments and a pair of assassination attempts to win another term in the White House, will be sworn in as the 47th president on Monday, taking charge as Republicans assume unified control of Washington and set out to reshape the country's institutions.

Trump is expected to act swiftly after the ceremony, with executive orders already prepared for his signature to jumpstart deportations, increase fossil fuel development and reduce civil service protections for government workers, promising that his term will bring about “a brand new day of American strength and prosperity, dignity and pride.”

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Trump set to take oath of office at noon

President-elect Donald Trump is set to take the oath of office at a ceremony at noon, just over two months after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the White House amid a series of legal troubles. With temperatures plunging to the mid-20s, organizers moved the event indoors, including to the Capital One Arena. The ceremony usually takes place on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol before spectators and members of the Legislative and Judiciary branches. 

Trump's victory marks his return to the country's highest office after losing to Joe Biden in 2020. He will be the second president in U.S. history to make a nonconsecutive return to the White House, a distinction first held by Grover Cleveland. Trump, 78, is also among the handful of presidents to replace his vice president. That role will be filled by Vice President-elect JD Vance, who replaces Mike Pence.

Trump is expected to appear at a number of events before and after he is sworn into office as the nation's 47th president, including an indoor parade that usually takes place on Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Newsday is providing team coverage throughout the day, with reporters fanning across the nation's capital and Long Island. Check back for live blog updates on all the key moments happening throughout the day. 

Eight years ago, stars avoided Trump's inauguration. This time it's different

President-elect Donald Trump dances with The Village People at a...

President-elect Donald Trump dances with The Village People at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Sunday, in Washington. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci

Carrie Underwood might not be Beyoncé or Garth Brooks in the celebrity superstar ecosystem. But the singer’s participation in President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration is nevertheless a sign of the changing tides, where mainstream entertainers, from Nelly to The Village People are more publicly and more enthusiastically associating with the new administration.

Eight years ago, Trump reportedly struggled to enlist stars to be part of the swearing-in and the various glitzy balls that follow. The concurrent protest marches around the nation had more famous entertainers than the swearing-in, which stood in stark contrast to someone like Barack Obama, whose second inaugural ceremony had performances from Beyoncé, James Taylor and Kelly Clarkson and a series of starry onlookers.

There were always some celebrity Trump supporters, like Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan, Jon Voight, Rosanne Barr, Mike Tyson, Sylvester Stallone and Dennis Rodman, to name a few. But Trump’s victory this time around was decisive and while Hollywood may always skew largely liberal, the slate of names participating in his inauguration weekend events has improved.

Kid Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, The Village People and Lee Greenwood all performed at a MAGA style rally Sunday. Those performing at inaugural balls include the rapper Nelly, country music band Rascal Flatts, country singer Jason Aldean and singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw.

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New York GOP gathers for Donald Trump's inauguration, with an eye toward 2026 election

Former Long Island Rep. Peter King and New York GOP Chairman Ed...

Former Long Island Rep. Peter King and New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox of Westhampton Beach catch up at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/Laura Figueroa Hernandez

WASHINGTON — New York Republicans gathered in the nation's capital Sunday to celebrate President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

At a breakfast, speakers including former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman set their sights on 2026, when congressional seats and the governorship will be on the ballot.

"In 2026, we have an opportunity to continue this trend, there's no reason for the pendulum to swing back," Zeldin said, touting Republican gains in New York over the past four years.

Zeldin, who is Trump's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, told the gathering of state Republicans at The Mayflower Hotel that "the next two years that are ahead of us as New Yorkers is going to require us to recruit the best possible candidates we can up and down this ballot, and it starts with the local elections."

Blakeman, noting Trump's victory in Nassau after losing the county in 2016 and 2020, urged the group to focus on making inroads locally.

"We can't rest on our laurels, we’ve got to take our state back, and the way to do that is county by county," Blakeman said in a speech that drew loud applause.

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Trump inauguration and MLK Day: How social justice activists plan to remember the civil rights icon this year

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a rally in...

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a rally in Lakeview in 1965.  Credit: Newsday/Alan Raia

To some Long Island social justice and civil rights advocates, having Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday take place the same day as Donald Trump's inauguration is a vivid reminder that more work needs to be done.

They told Newsday it was the perfect time to focus on King's unifying legacy; the duality of the two historic moments highlights the need to keep up the fight to eradicate barriers to equality they said still exist for many marginalized people.

Sister Janet Kinney, director of the Long Island Immigration Clinic at the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, was hopeful at how the two celebrations might intersect.

"I just think it's kind of a happy coincidence," Kinney said. "I just want to live in hope that some of the ideals of the late Dr. King might flow over into this new administration ... I would hope there might be some inspiration that comes out of it."

She added, "It's a wait-and-see right now."

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What to watch at Trump's inauguration: Big Tech CEOs, Carrie Underwood and foreign leaders

Technicians set up the presidential lectern as organizers work to...

Technicians set up the presidential lectern as organizers work to move the Inauguration Day swearing-in ceremony into the Capitol Rotunda due to expected frigid weather in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Donald Trump's inauguration as the country’s 47th president was expected to be an extravagant break from tradition — before it got moved indoors due to cold weather.

There will still be well-known performers, influential billionaires as guests and foreign heads of state. Unlike his first inauguration eight years ago, Trump will be welcomed back to office by business titans and global leaders, groups that often shunned him in his first term.

Here are some things to look out for during Trump’s inauguration.

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Trump's swearing-in will move inside the Capitol Rotunda because of intense cold

A worker sets up chairs for Monday’s presidential inauguration in...

A worker sets up chairs for Monday’s presidential inauguration in Washington. MUST CREDIT: Matt McClain/The Washington Post Credit: The Washington Post/Matt McClain

The Rotunda is prepared as an alternative for each inauguration in the event of inclement weather. The swearing-in was last moved indoors in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan began his second term. Monday’s forecast calls for the lowest Inauguration Day temperatures since that day.

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Schedule of inauguration events

The pageantry and parties surrounding President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration kick off this weekend with fireworks and a rally before Monday's inaugural ceremony, parade and balls.

A look at the lineup of official inaugural events for the four days surrounding Trump's second inauguration as president. It's unclear how the decision to move Trump's swearing-in indoors to the Capitol Rotunda might affect the scheduled lineup for the ceremony.

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Trump is planning 100 executive orders starting Day 1 on border, deportations and other priorities

President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters after a meeting with...

President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters after a meeting with Republican leadership at the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Washington.  Credit: AP

President-elect Donald Trump is preparing more than 100 executive orders starting Day One of the new White House, in what amounts to a shock-and-awe campaign on border security, deportations and a rush of other policy priorities.

Trump told Republican senators about the onslaught ahead during a private meeting on Capitol Hill. Many of the actions are expected to launch on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, when he takes office. Trump top adviser Stephen Miller outlined for the GOP senators the border security and immigration enforcement measures that are likely to launch soonest. Axios first reported on Trump and his team's presentation.

“There will be a substantial number,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.

Allies of the president-elect have been preparing a stack of executive orders that Trump could sign quickly on a wide range of topics – from the U.S.-Mexico border clampdown to energy development to federal Schedule F workforce rules, school gender policies and vaccine mandates, among other day-one promises made during his campaign.

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What to know if you're heading to see the Donald Trump inauguration in person

The sun rises as a rehearsal begins for President-elect Donald...

The sun rises as a rehearsal begins for President-elect Donald Trump's upcoming inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Jon Elswick

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will take the oath of office at a noon ceremony on the west front of the U.S. Capitol, facing the National Mall and Washington Monument. The swearing-in ceremony will be followed by an inaugural luncheon with members of Congress inside the Capitol building and a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

More than 220,000 tickets for the public are being distributed through congressional offices, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers that organizes the quadrennial event.

Here’s what you need to know if you're planning to attend the inauguration.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will send a special representative to Trump's inauguration

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attend a meeting with Britain's...

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attend a meeting with Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Saturday, Jan. 11.  Credit: AP/Florence Lo

WASHINGTON — Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, but he is sending Vice President Han Zheng as his special representative.

The decision, announced Friday in China by the foreign ministry, came more than a month after Trump extended the unusual invitation to Xi, a break from tradition since no heads of state have previously made an official visit to the U.S. for the inauguration.

“We stand ready to work with the new U.S. government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relations and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other," the ministry's spokesperson said when announcing the decision.

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Mark Zuckerberg will cohost reception with Republican billionaires for Trump inauguration

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, makes a point...

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, makes a point during an appearance at SIGGRAPH 2024, the premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, Monday, July 29, 2024, in the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski

WASHINGTON — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is cohosting a reception with billionaire Republican donors next week for Donald Trump’s inauguration, the latest sign of the Facebook founder's embrace of the president-elect.

The reception cohosted by Zuckerberg is set for Monday evening, shortly before the inaugural balls, according to two people familiar with the private plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss them.

The other cohosts are Miriam Adelson, the Dallas Mavericks owner and widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson; Tilman Fertitta, casino magnate, Houston Rockets owner and Trump's pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to Italy; Todd Ricketts, the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs; and Ricketts' wife, Sylvie Légère.

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Michelle Obama will skip Trump inauguration, but ex-Presidents Obama, Clinton and Bush will be there

Former first lady Michelle Obama speaks at a campaign rally...

Former first lady Michelle Obama speaks at a campaign rally for democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the Wings Event Center, in Kalamazoo, Mich., Oct. 26, 2024. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former first lady Michelle Obama will skip the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, the second time in two weeks that she is not attending a gathering of former U.S. leaders and their spouses, but former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will be there.

Laura Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will join their husbands for the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol, representatives said.

“Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration,” said a statement from the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama that was shared with The Associated Press.

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Carrie Underwood, Village People to perform at Trump's inauguration events

Carrie Underwood will perform "America the Beautiful" at next Monday's...

Carrie Underwood will perform "America the Beautiful" at next Monday's inauguration. Credit: AP/Charles Sykes

Country music star Carrie Underwood will perform “America the Beautiful” at Donald Trump's inauguration next week and the 1970s hitmakers Village People will perform at two inaugural events.

Read more here.

Hempstead SD considering staff cuts, school closure ... Beetle blamed for tree removal in Dix Hillls ... Romantic winter spas Credit: Newsday

Missing girl suspects due in court ... Hempstead SD weighs staff cuts, school closure ... Trump buyout offer ends ... What's Up on LI

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