Tag Archives: Trump administration

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. dollar is an early casualty of President Donald Trump’s us-against-the-world trade war. The dollar has lost almost 10 percent of its value since Inauguration Day with about half of that decline coming this month, after the president’s decision to lift taxes on imported goods to their highest level since 1909. The weaker dollar — …

Politico reports: The White House’s Department of Government Efficiency office has targeted a behavioral diversity program to be cut from Brookfield Zoo. Problem is, it has nothing to do with diversity, equity and inclusion in the traditional DEI sense. “It’s about bio-diversity and animal welfare,” said Brookfield Zoo Chicago Senior VP Andrea Rodgers. The funding cut wasn’t a complete surprise, …

Reuters reports: A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule capping credit card late fees at $8, after the agency agreed with opponents that the rule adopted during President Joe Biden’s administration was illegal. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth, Texas granted a joint request by the CFPB and a coalition of …

NPR reports: In the first days of March, a team of advisers from President Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency initiative arrived at the Southeast Washington, D.C., headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board. The small, independent federal agency investigates and adjudicates complaints about unfair labor practices. It stores reams of potentially sensitive data, from confidential information about employees who …

Politico Europe reports: There’s at least one mainstream European politician JD Vance is a fan of: iconic French postwar leader Charles de Gaulle. In an interview with British news and opinion website UnHerd, the U.S. vice president said that de Gaulle — who led the French World War II resistance against the Nazis and was president from 1959 to 1969 …

The Texas Tribune reports: President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday terminated a federal grant to help fund a long-sought high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston — saying that if the embattled project moves forward, it will have to do so without federal help at this stage. The U.S. Department of Transportation nixed a $63.9 million planning grant for the …

Mediaite reports: Pam Bondi refused to say on Monday whether Trump’s proposal to send American citizens to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison was “legal” after being pressed on the matter by Fox News host Jesse Watters. Watters asked, “The president was musing about sending some of the most horrible people in this country down to that mega-prison. You know, people that …

The Daily Beast reports: Media giant Warner Bros. Discovery was reportedly offered a way into President Donald Trump’s good graces: give his son Donald Trump Jr. his own show. Specifically, someone in the “Trump orbit” told the company that the first son would like to host a nature show on Discovery, according to a sprawling new profile of WBD’s CEO, …

The Washington Post reports: Harvard University officials on Monday rejected Trump administration demands that the school yield to extensive government oversight and make sweeping changes to governance, admissions and hiring practices, calling the directives unlawful and unconstitutional. The administration responded Monday night by saying it would freeze more than $2 billion in federal funding to the Ivy League school. The …

“I think this illegal alien is exactly where he belongs – home in El Salvador. He was in our country illegally. He’s from El Salvador, was born in El Salvador, and oh, the media forgot to mention he is an MS-13 gang member. The media would love for you to believe this is a media darling and that’s just a …

The Cornell Daily Sun reports: The University joined litigation against the U.S. Department of Energy and DOE Secretary Chris Wright, according to a Monday email from President Michael Kotlikoff and Provost Kavita Bala. The plaintiffs of the case are alleging that proposed immediate cuts to indirect costs for University research grants are unlawful by violating federal regulations. The lawsuit was …

Mediaite reports: Vice President JD Vance had a tough time holding the Ohio State’s national championship trophy when he fumbled it to the ground. Vance and President Donald Trump on Monday welcomed the Buckeyes to the White House. As photos of the moment were being taken, Vance motioned over to the trophy — seemingly requesting to include it in the …

The Hill reports: The White House is preparing a rescission package that will seek to have Congress claw back more than $9 billion in approved funding through cuts to public broadcasting, USAID and agencies Trump has sought to eliminate. That includes money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees PBS and NPR, money for USAID and agencies like the U.S. …

The New York Times reports: Harvard University said on Monday that it had rejected policy changes requested by the Trump administration that would have placed “unprecedented” demands on the institution, setting up a showdown between the administration and the nation’s wealthiest university. A letter to Harvard from the Trump administration on Friday demanded that the university reduce the power of …

The Daily Beast reports: U.S.-bound European Union executives will be given burner phones and laptops to mitigate the risk of espionage, a strategy usually reserved for officials headed to China and Eastern Europe. Ahead of important annual meetings next week in Washington, D.C., there is real fear that the U.S. government could infiltrate European Commission devices, according to sources who …

Politico reports: The proposal for fiscal 2026 would allocate $28.4 billion to State and USAID, down from $54.4 billion in the enacted fiscal 2025 budget. That includes cuts demanded by the White House Office of Management and Budget. The proposal would eliminate or substantially cut numerous programs, including ones that promote democracy, support educational and cultural exchanges, fight drug trafficking …

The Hill reports: A new lawsuit filed in federal court in D.C. accused the Trump administration of violating federal law last month when the online database overseen by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) “went dark, without explanation.” The lawsuit, brought by nonprofit Protect Democracy Project, names OMB and its director, Russell Vought, as defendants. “Congress mandated prompt transparency …

The Daily Beast reports: Trump’s personal attorney is the one who has negotiated almost $1 billion in free legal services from firms the president has targeted with executive orders as part of his revenge campaign. Instead of meeting with government attorneys, Big Law firms that the administration has targeted have hashed out deals with Boris Epshteyn, the lawyer who led …

Wired reports: Much of the IT and cybersecurity infrastructure underpinning the US health system is in danger of a possible collapse following a purge of IT staff and leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), four current and former agency workers tell WIRED. This could put vast troves of public health data, including the sensitive health records …

The Washington Post reports: DOGE Service employees have inserted themselves into the government’s long-established process to alert the public about potential federal grants and allow organizations to apply for funds, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive situation. The changes to the process — which will allow DOGE to review and approve …