Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

Independent: White House backed down on China’s tariff after president was told they would hurt ‘Trump’s people’ the most

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Several White House staffers had to warn the president that his tariffs would impact ‘Trump’s people.’

The White House eased tariffs imposed on China after several staffers were forced to warn President Donald Trump that his penalties would cause his supporters – or “Trump’s people,” – to suffer economically, according to a report.

While Trump was reluctant to lower tariffs against Beijing too quickly, several White House staffers – including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other aides – warned him the penalties were placing his own supporters in danger, sources told the Washington Post.

…

“The key argument was that this was beginning to hurt Trump’s supporters – Trump’s people,” one person briefed on the talks said. “It gave Susie a key window.”

White House eases China’s tariff after learning it would hurt ‘Trump’s people’ most
Several White House staffers had to warn the president that his tariffs would impact ‘Trump’s people.’

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/china-tariffs-trade-trump-friends-b2751003.html

Raw Story: Judge hits Trump admin with sharply worded threat over ‘intentional refusal to comply’

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The Trump Department of Justice faces a new legal deadline after a federal judge warned that its failure to comply with a court order could be treated as an “intentional refusal” to follow the law.

In a sharply worded one-page order, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said the Justice Department missed a key deadline to produce a privilege log tied to its claims of the state secrets privilege in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national wrongfully deported to the country in March.

“Evidently missing from the defendants’ filing is the privilege log that this court ordered to be produced,” Xinis wrote in the document posted by Politico’s Kyle Cheney. The judge gave the government a Tuesday afternoon deadline to file the log and delivered a warning.

“Failure to file the privilege log or otherwise respond will be construed as an intentional refusal to comply with this court’s orders,” according to the order. The dispute bubbled up last week after the Trump administration invoked the state secrets privilege to shield details surrounding Abrego Garcia’s case, according to a report in Politico.

The judge set the next in-person hearing for Friday.

https://www.rawstory.com/kilmar-abrego-garcia-2671999899

Vox.com: The first federal court hearing on Trump’s tariffs did not go so well for Trump

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A federal court held the very first hearing on President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging, so-called Liberation Day tariffs on Tuesday, offering the earliest window into whether those tariffs — and potentially all of the shifting tariffs Trump has imposed since he retook office — will be struck down. The case is V.O.S. Selections v. Trump.

It is unclear how the three-judge panel that heard the case will rule, but it appears somewhat more likely than not that they will rule that the tariffs are unlawful. All three of the judges, who sit on the US Court of International Trade, appeared troubled by the Trump administration’s claim that the judiciary may not review the legality of the tariffs at all. But Jeffrey Schwab, the lawyer representing several small businesses challenging the tariffs, also faced an array of skeptical questions.

The first federal court hearing on Trump’s tariffs did not go so well for Trump
Much of the hearing focused on whether Richard Nixon can save Trump’s tariffs.

https://www.vox.com/economy/412966/supreme-court-tariffs-donald-trump-trade-vos-selections

Washington Post: Gabbard fires leaders of intelligence group that wrote Venezuela assessment

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The director of national intelligence fired top officials weeks after their group authored an assessment contradicting President Donald Trump’s legal rationale for deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top two officials at the National Intelligence Council, weeks after the council wrote an assessment that contradicted President Donald Trump’s rationale for invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process.

Gabbard removed Michael Collins, the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, as well as his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, according to a spokesperson for Gabbard’s office.

The actions are the latest purge by Gabbard, who has said she is fighting politicization of the intelligence community but has removed or sidelined officials perceived to not support Trump’s political agenda.

Fighting politicization? It’s Trump and his band of sycophants who are politicizing everything.

In any case, Trump doesn’t dare keep people like Michael Collins and Maria Langan-Riekhof around. People who tell & write the truth are so inconvenient.

Gabbard fires leaders of intelligence group that wrote Venezuela assessment
The director of national intelligence fired officials weeks after their group wrote an assessment contradicting Trump’s rationale for deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/05/14/gabbard-intelligence-venezuela-tren-de-aragua

National Security Journal: NATO Is Now Dead

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NATO, in its current form, is depicted as a “corpse,” its strategic effectiveness undermined by decades of European defense underfunding (“free-riding”) and US strategic overstretch.

-Most member states fail to meet spending commitments, rendering the alliance a hollow shell, a reality starkly exposed by the war in Ukraine where the US carries the primary burden.

-President Trump’s approach is seen not as the cause of NATO’s decline but as a catalyst for a necessary reckoning, forcing Europe to confront its defense responsibilities.

-A fundamental reset towards a European-led security framework, with US support rather than dominance, is essential for future relevance.

NATO Is Now Dead
President Trump’s approach is seen not as the cause of NATO’s decline but as a catalyst for a necessary reckoning, forcing Europe to confront its defense responsibilities.
NATO Is Now Dead

MSNBC: Trump administration suspended clearances of lawyers from targeted firm

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President Donald Trump’s administration is still working to exact his vengeance against at least one of the law firms he has targeted, even as several firms are fighting back in court — largely successfully so far.

The latest evidence of the administration’s efforts comes from a court filing Tuesday to the judge handling the case of WilmerHale, one of the firms that sued instead of settling or preemptively cutting a deal with Trump. The firm told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon that two WilmerHale lawyers received letters from a government agency telling them their security clearances have been suspended.

“This development underscores that the Executive Branch stands ready and willing to implement the Executive Order absent judicial intervention,” wrote attorney Paul Clement, who’s representing the firm. He didn’t specify which agency sent the letters but said he would provide them under seal to the court if the judge asked to see them.

Trump administration suspended clearances of lawyers from targeted firm
It shows the government’s willingness to implement Trump’s order “absent judicial intervention,” WilmerHale told the judge.

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/trump-wilmerhale-security-clearances-suspended-rcna206730

Mediaite: Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal

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President Donald Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times White House reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.

Trump is currently on a four-day swing through the Persian Gulf region with stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which has been dogged by the controversy over his eager acceptance of a $400 million “flying palace” from Qatar to serve as Air Force One.

The trip has also drawn attention to Trump’s family businesses, including the cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial.

That company’s USD1 currency was selected by state-owned UAE firm MGX to pay for a $2 billion investment in Binance earlier this month. The deal was announced by WLF co-founder Zach Witkoff, son of Trump Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump plays dumb:

JONATHAN SWAN: An Emirati government-backed firm did a $2 billion deal using the Trump digital coins. How did that deal come about?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know anything about it. I really don’t know anything about it. But I’m a big crypto fan, I will tell you. I’ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign. I’m a believer in crypto.

Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal
Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.
Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal

Raw Story: ‘Unfit to serve’: Trump DOJ official dragged after unveiling ‘name and shame’ crusade

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As the Department of Justice becomes the Department of Revenge:

Outgoing acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin is moving to a new Justice Department effort named the “Weaponization Working Group,” and he’s already issuing threats, NBC News reported on Tuesday. However, legal experts have their own comments, and one has citations.

Martin, a defense attorney who represented several Jan. 6 defendants, could not garner support from a top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the U.S. attorney post. So, he has been shifted to the Justice Department for the working group that aims to investigate anyone involved in the probes into President Donald Trump and his allies, NBC said.

In a news conference on Tuesday, Martin told reporters, “There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. And that’s a fact. That’s the way things work. And so that’s, that’s how I believe the job operates.”

It’s a move that side-steps long-standing Justice Department protocols, NBC News said, and legal experts caution that it could lead to lawsuits.

“I mean, if the government wants a slew of Privacy Act lawsuits, I guess that’s their business,” said national security lawyer Bradley P. Moss on Bluesky.

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Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who serves as the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, called for Martin to be pulled from working anywhere in government.

“Ed Martin is unfit to serve in the federal government. His ties to Nazi sympathizers and antisemitic extremists make American Jews feel less safe. Trump must rescind this dangerous appointment immediately and never allow Ed Martin to serve in any position in the United States government,” he wrote on X, while also sharing a letter also signed by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Brad Schneider (D-IL).

A past precedent:

Semafor reporter David Weigel pointed to a key quote in the report by Ryan Reilly: “The justification given for Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey was that Comey had given a press conference in which he released ‘derogatory information’ about then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.”

https://www.rawstory.com/department-of-justice-2672000423

And here’s a U.S. Senator who is less than enchanted with Trump’s nomination of Ed Martin to be the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.:

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/ed-martin-2671901204

But King Donald keeps supporting his favorite hater:

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-ed-martin

Mirror: CNN abruptly halts broadcast for breaking news about Trump’s ‘wrong’ gift from Saudi Arabia

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Nonetheless, [Erin] Burnett on CNN assailed the act as blatantly inappropriate, likening it to the “modern definition of a Trojan horse.”

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Lambasting Trump’s choice to take the plane, the news anchor declared: “Let’s be honest here, the President of the United States has no business accepting a plane for anything and from anyone. It is not political.”

She went on to argue that this situation was evidently black-and-white, concluding boldly: “Because this is something that is actually an easy call. It’s wrong. But Trump’s team will circle the wagons, it seems, on pretty much anything.“

CNN quickly halts show for breaking news about Trump’s ‘wrong’ Saudi Arabia gift
CNN host Erin Burnett was left fuming as she reported that American President Donald Trump had been gifted a $400 million jet by officials in Qatar – and he accepted it

https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/cnn-abruptly-halts-broadcast-breaking-1150472