Tag Archives: White House

Daily Beast: Trump Hit With Fresh Court Blow After Revenge Firing

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The Federal Reserve governor’s job is safe for now.

Donald Trump was hit with a legal smackdown after trying to remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.

Cook can stay in her job, a federal judge ruled in Washington, D.C., blocking Trump’s unprecedented attempt to boot her using allegations of mortgage fraud.

She will now be present at the Fed’s Sept. 16 meeting, but Cook’s trouble with Trump is not yet over.

“President Trump has not identified anything related to Cook’s conduct or job performance as a board member that would indicate that she is harming the board or the public interest by executing her duties unfaithfully or ineffectively,” U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb said after issuing a preliminary injunction.

The judge also ruled that removing Cook caused her “irreparable harm” and that the president had likely violated her procedural right to due process by posting his letter to her on social media.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Federal Reserve for comment.

Trump posted a public termination letter on his Truth Social account last month, addressed to Cook, who was confirmed by the Senate in 2022 as the first Black woman to serve as a Federal Reserve governor.

His post contained allegations that Cook had committed mortgage fraud, claims that predated her time on the board, and said she was being removed from her position “effective immediately.”

At the time, Cook released her own statement, claiming Trump had “no authority” to fire her. She added, “I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

Cook hired lawyer Abbe Lowell, who said in a statement last month that Trump’s “demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority” and they would take whatever actions were necessary to prevent “his attempted illegal action.”

Governors can only be removed by a president with a valid reason for termination, known as “for cause.” Otherwise, they serve in long, fixed roles to add to financial stability. Cook, who was nominated to the post by Joe Biden, is not due to finish her current term until 2038.

The preliminary injunction Judge Cobb granted on Tuesday also found that Trump had likely violated the Federal Reserve Act by using social media to air his allegations about her mortgage fraud and also to fire her in public.

“The court is highly doubtful that Cook should have been required to piece together the evidentiary basis for a ‘for cause’ removal from a scattered assortment of social media posts and news articles,” Cobb wrote. “Even if the notice provided had been sufficient, Cook’s due process rights were nevertheless likely violated because she was not given a ‘meaningful opportunity’ to be heard.”

Cobb also barred Reserve Chair Jerome Powell or Fed officials from carrying out Trump’s wishes of firing Cook.

“This ruling recognizes and reaffirms the importance of safeguarding the independence of the Federal Reserve from illegal political interference,” Cook’s counsel Lowell said in a statement.

“Allowing the president to unlawfully remove Governor Cook on unsubstantiated and vague allegations would endanger the stability of our financial system and undermine the rule of law.”

He added, “Governor Cook will continue to carry out her sworn duties as a Senate-confirmed Board Governor.”

Trump did not answer a reporter’s question about a court overruling his firing when he was leaving a seafood dinner on Tuesday.

However, White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai told Politico that Trump’s firing of Cook was “lawful” and boosted accountability for the body that sets interest rates.

“The president determined there was cause to remove a governor who was credibly accused of lying in financial documents from a highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions,” Desai said.

“The removal of a governor for cause improves the Federal Reserve board’s accountability and credibility for both the markets and American people.”

Judge Cobb’s ruling said this was the first purported “for cause” removal of a governor in the 111-year history of the Federal Reserve.

In her finding, Cobb said Trump’s attempt to remove Cook “was done in violation” of the “for cause” provision.

She said the best reading of that provision was that it was limited to “actions relating to that governor’s ‘behavior in office.’” And because the allegations of mortgage fraud occurred before Cook’s role as governor, Cobb said that “for cause” did “not contemplate removing an individual purely for conduct that occurred before they began in office.”

Trump has also attempted to fire Powell this year, unhappy with his refusal to cut interest rates.

Trump Hit With Fresh Court Blow After Revenge Firing
The Federal Reserve governor’s job is safe for now.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hit-with-fresh-court-blow-after-revenge-firing

Fox News: Federal agents forced to retreat on slashed tires after immigration raid confrontation in sanctuary city

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More than 100 demonstrators surround ICE vehicles as roofers refuse to come down from rooftop

A dramatic standoff in upstate New York between immigration agents, roofers and protesters ended with officials leaving the scene with slashed tires Tuesday.

The confrontation happened at a residential job site where one worker was detained and others refused to come down from a rooftop in Rochester’s Park Avenue area.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agencies arrived at the sanctuary city home to carry out a removal operation of the suspected illegal immigrants. 

One roofer was taken into custody, while others stayed on the rooftop, WXXI News reported.

The incident escalated quickly when more than 100 protesters gathered at the scene, according to the NPR radio station. 

Some were heard chanting “shame” and called the agents “gestapo,” according to the outlet.

At one point, a CBP vehicle, the station reported, was allegedly forced to retreat on four slashed tires as the crowd clapped. A few blocks away from the scene, the SUV was towed, WHAM reported.

The four-hour standoff saw federal agents abandon their attempts to detain other workers.

Late last month, the Rochester City Council voted unanimously to codify the city’s sanctuary policy.

The Western New York Coalition of Farmworker Serving Agencies helped mediate the standoff, according to WXXI.

“The coalition is committed to standing alongside farmworkers, immigrants, and migrants to ensure dignity, fairness, and access to justice,” coalition Executive Director Irene Sanchez said in a news release.

The incident came as the Trump administration has increased immigration enforcement across the country.

“President Trump’s been clear we’re going to prioritize public safety threats and national security threats, and data shows that’s exactly what we’re doing,” White House border czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday. “But if you want me to sit here and bless someone being here illegally, I’m not going to do that because they cheated the system.”

CBP and ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Awesome crowd! Keep it up!

Federal agents forced to retreat on slashed tires after immigration raid confrontation in sanctuary city
Federal immigration agents retreated from an upstate New York neighborhood after protesters intervened to stop the detention of workers at a roofing job site.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/federal-agents-forced-retreat-slashed-tires-immigration-raid-confrontation-sanctuary-city

CNN: Trump’s credibility challenged in Qatar and Poland

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Assuming President Donald Trump’s claim that he couldn’t stop Israel’s strike on Hamas officials in a Qatar residential district is true, he’s just suffered another devastating blow to his international credibility.

Trump hurriedly made clear that Tuesday’s raid, which killed five Hamas members but not the top team negotiating a new US ceasefire plan for Gaza, was not his decision and that he’d rushed to inform Qatar when he learned of it.

“I’m not thrilled about the whole situation,” Trump said as he went for dinner at a Washington, DC, steakhouse. “It’s not a good situation … we are not thrilled about the way that went down.”

That seemed a rare Trumpian understatement.

The strike — in which Israel ignored profound implications for vital American interests — is a new embarrassment for Trump at a time when he’s also being taken for a ride by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who grinned through their summit in Alaska, then escalated attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Poland said early Wednesday that it had shot down drones that violated its airspace during a Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the violation of Poland’s airspace was “absolutely reckless” and not an “isolated incident.” NATO, Rutte said, will defend “every inch” of its territory.

Trump, meanwhile, seems sincere in his desire to be a global peacemaker. If he succeeds, he could save many lives and leave a valuable legacy. He returned to the White House in January insisting he’d quickly end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. But eight months later, both are even more bloody. And Putin, China’s leader Xi Jinping and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly defy him.

Events in the Middle East are unlikely to do much to hurt Trump’s political fortunes at home, as his crime crackdown plays out amid worries about a slowing economy. But Israel’s attack in broad daylight in Doha — just like Putin’s violations — could be ruinous to his self-image as a hard-power-wielding strongman who is feared abroad.

That’s because the strike flagrantly trampled the sovereignty of a vital US ally that hosts the largest US base in the Middle East and was negotiating with Hamas at the behest of the White House on a plan Trump predicted would soon yield a deal.

Not only was this a personal affront to Trump, but it also puts Netanyahu’s goals over the critical security priorities of the United States — even after the last two US administrations rushed to defend Israel from two sets of attacks by Iran. CNN reported that some White House officials were furious that it took place after one of Netanyahu’s advisers, Ron Dermer, on Monday met Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff but made no mention of an operation sure to humiliate the US president.

“The attacks take place at a very sensitive moment in the ceasefire negotiations where the Trump administration, the president, and his envoy Witkoff have made clear that the president is looking for a comprehensive ceasefire, the release of all hostages, prisoner exchange and moving forward and ending the war in Gaza,” former US ambassador to Israel Edward Djerejian told Richard Quest on CNN International.

“Israel is not obviously paying much attention to US national security interests,” said Djerejian, who served in eight administrations, starting with that of President John F. Kennedy and ending with that of President Bill Clinton.

Huge ramifications for US foreign policy

The reverberations of the strike seem certain to end any hope of a negotiated peace to end Israel’s war in Gaza — one reason why it may have recommended itself to Netanyahu. There may be horrific ramifications for the remaining Israeli hostages who are still alive after nearly two years of torment in tunnels under Gaza.

It’s also the latest evidence that the Israeli prime minister places more importance on the total eradication of Hamas — a potentially impossible task — than the hostages’ return. And the almost certain result is an intensification of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and alienated most of Israel’s foreign allies.

For the United States, there are also serious ramifications.

► The fallout could sour the relationship between the US president and the Israeli prime minister and sow distrust between Israel and its vital ally the United States.

► It will shatter any credibility that the Trump had in posing as a distant mediator between Israel and Hamas and may cause Qatar to pull out of peace talks. The emirate’s prime minister accused Israel of conducting “state terrorism.”

► Some US observers accuse Qatar of playing a double game by hosting Hamas leaders. But Doha will see the attack by America’s closest Middle East ally as a betrayal after its years working to advance US diplomatic priorities, not just in the Middle East, but in hostage release deals beyond the Middle East as far away as Afghanistan and Venezuela.

► There could also be adverse consequences for Trump’s personal and political interests in the wider Arab world, which he energetically pursued during the first Gulf trip of his second term, including a lavish welcome in Qatar.

► And the administration’s hoped-for expansion of the first-term Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and some Arab states — and which is key to Trump’s push for a Nobel Peace Prize — is now more distant than ever.

► Leaders of other states in the Gulf, a thriving business and leisure hub, will wonder — if Israel can strike with impunity at Qatar, under the noses of the US garrison — whether they will be next.

“It’s a pretty big bill for the Israelis to have conducted this strike,” retired Admiral James Stavridis, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, told CNN’s Kasie Hunt. He added that Netanyahu has “been in power forever by US standards. And over time, he’s gotten very comfortable in doing exactly what he wants to do.”

Israel insists it acted alone

Many US analysts will interpret Israel’s attempt to kill negotiators considering a US peace plan a day after they met with Qatari government officials as new proof that Netanyahu wants to prolong the war. The prime minister has succeeded in postponing inevitable investigations into the security lapses after the October 7 attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas in 2023. And his personal legal woes can be kept off the boil as long as he stays in power atop his far-right coalition.

Israel’s justification for the strikes was that it will pursue terrorist leaders wherever they are. Netanyahu has waged war on multiple fronts throughout the region, and conducted devastating strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon; Houthis in Yemen; and Iran. He said Tuesday that the “days when the heads of terror enjoyed immunity anywhere are over.”

Many Israelis viewed the Hamas attacks nearly two years ago not just as a strike against Israel but also as the most heinous attempt to wipe out Jews since the Nazi Holocaust. Yet many also now oppose the total warfare on Gaza waged by Netanyahu and are desperate to see the return of the hostages after a negotiated settlement.

Netanyahu was quick to make clear that the attack on Doha was a “wholly independent Israeli operation,” seeking to offer Trump some diplomatic cover. But the Middle East loves conspiracy theories. And the US faces a hard sell over its claim that it knew nothing as Israel got 10 fighter jets and their munitions — possibly American-made F-35 planes — within range of the target.

Some will suspect that Trump gave a green light, or at least tacitly condoned the attacks. The White House, however, said that the US military in Qatar alerted Trump, and he ordered Witkoff to tip off the Qataris. But the government in Doha said it only got a heads-up when the attack, which caused panic in the capital, was already over.

The White House damage-control effort does seem to bolster Trump’s claim that he couldn’t do anything to halt the strike.

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard in bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

It was exceedingly rare criticism of Israel from the Trump administration. The president later said on Truth Social that “this was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me.” Trump also said he’d ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to finalize a defense cooperation pact with Qatar.

How Trump’s new Air Force One complicates his response

There are geopolitical reasons to take the president’s comments at face value. But there is a complication. Trump earlier this year accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar to serve as a new Air Force One in violation of any previous understanding of presidential ethics. How can Americans therefore be convinced that he’s acting on his perception of their vital security interests on this matter — and not his own desire to pay back Qatar for the personal gift of a jet worth hundreds of millions of dollars?

That aside, Trump’s credibility with Qatar will need serious repair work.

What of the US security umbrella supposed to be provided by its vast Al Udeid Air Base in the desert outside Doha? It didn’t prevent a deeply humiliating violation of Qatari sovereignty by an enemy the US would like them to engage. By extension, how can other Gulf states and other US allies worldwide be sure that Trump’s security guarantees will be any more airtight than they were for Qatar?

The attack on Qatar will also cement an already widespread belief throughout the Middle East that Trump lacks any influence over Netanyahu despite the leverage of US defense sales to Israel and its vital role in the Jewish state’s defense. There was no public talk from the White House on Tuesday about consequences for the Israeli leader.

The loss of Trump’s credibility is especially critical since the new US peace plan envisages the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas in Gaza in return for a ceasefire. Trump would then guarantee to Hamas that Israel would stick to the deal while negotiations continue. Tuesday’s attacks in broad daylight in Doha suggest that’s an empty promise.

So yet again, Trump’s self-proclaimed role as the president of peace is thrown into question. And his foreign policy team’s understanding of ruthless global strongmen was left badly exposed.

And our Grifter-in-Chief is badly compromised by having accepted the gift of a free 747 from Qatar!

Analysis: Trump’s credibility challenged in Qatar and Poland | CNN Politics
Assuming President Donald Trump’s claim that he couldn’t stop Israel’s strike on Hamas officials in a Qatar residential district is true, he’s just suffered another devastating blow to his international credibility.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/politics/trump-israel-qatar-airstrikes-hamas-analysis

Reuters: US employment growth through March revised sharply lower

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  • Revision estimate comes days after weak August nonfarm payrolls
  • Job growth was stalling before Trump’s tariffs, estimate shows
  • BLS revision estimate linked to birth-death model problems

The U.S. economy likely created 911,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March than previously estimated, the government said on Tuesday, suggesting that job growth was already stalling before President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs on imports.

The preliminary annual benchmark revision estimate to the closely watched payrolls data from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) followed on the heels of news last Friday that job growth almost stalled in August and the economy shed jobs in June for the first time in four and a half years.

The revision estimate is equivalent to 76,000 fewer jobs per month. It implied that nonfarm payroll gains averaged about 71,000 per month, instead of 147,000. Economists had expected the estimated revision to be between 400,000 and 1 million jobs.

“This means labor market momentum is being lost from an even weaker position than originally thought,” said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING.

In addition to being hobbled by uncertainty stemming from trade policy, the labor market has also been pressured by the White House’s immigration crackdown, which has undercut labor supply. A shift by businesses to artificial intelligence tools and automation also is curbing demand for workers.

Once a year, the BLS compares its nonfarm payrolls data, based on monthly surveys of a sample of employers, with a much more complete database of unemployment insurance tax records, the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data.

A final benchmark revision will be released in February along with the BLS’ employment report for January. Government statisticians will use the final benchmark count to revise payroll data for the months prior to and after March.

Economists have attributed the revisions to the “birth-and-death” model, a method the BLS uses to try to estimate how many jobs were gained or lost because of companies opening or closing in a given month. These companies are not initially available for sampling.

Though economists at Goldman Sachs agreed the labor market had softened materially, they cautioned the revision estimate was too excessive. They noted the QCEW was prone to upward revisions and might have difficulties accounting for unauthorized immigrants.

“Our own model of net job gains from firm births and deaths, one of the key points of uncertainty in monthly payrolls growth that the benchmarking process corrects for, suggests a downward revision of around 550,000, or 45,000 per month, via that channel,” they wrote in a note.

“While the BLS’ birth-death adjustment for nonfarm payrolls was probably too generous in second half of 2024, we estimate that the overstatement has since narrowed to around 10,000 jobs per month, cautioning against extrapolating too much from the benchmark revision.”

Last year, the preliminary estimate was for payrolls to be revised down by 818,000 jobs in the 12 months through March 2024. Payrolls were in the end only downgraded by 598,000.

‘ACCURATE, INDEPENDENT AND TRUSTED’

Leisure and hospitality employment was estimated to be revised down by 176,000 jobs over the 12 months through March. Trade, transportation, and utilities payrolls could be slashed by 226,000 positions, while professional and business services employment was projected to be reduced by 158,000 jobs.

Manufacturing employment could be lowered by 95,000 jobs. Government employment was estimated to be cut by 31,000 positions. Modest upgrades were estimated for only the transportation and warehousing, and utilities industries.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the report.

Economists continued to expect the Federal Reserve would resume cutting interest rates next Wednesday, with a quarter-point reduction, after pausing its easing cycle in January because of uncertainty over the impact of tariffs.

With the consumer price data on Thursday expected to show inflation pressures building in August, the estimated revisions could fan fears of stagflation.

The monthly employment report is based on data derived from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, which surveys about 121,000 businesses and government agencies, representing about 631,000 individual worksites. The QCEW data is derived from reports by employers to the state unemployment insurance programs, and represents about 95% of total employment.

Sharp downgrades last month to May and June employment figures totaling 258,000 jobs angered Trump, who fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, accusing her, without evidence, of faking the employment data. Trump has nominated E.J. Antoni to replace McEntarfer.

Antoni, who has penned opinion pieces critical of the BLS and even suggested suspending the monthly employment report, is viewed as unqualified by economists across the political spectrum. The National Association for Business Economics on Monday urged “policymakers, business leaders, and the economics community to stand with BLS and ensure that America’s statistics remain accurate, independent, and trusted worldwide.”

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer blamed the estimated revision on what she said was a failure by leaders at the statistical agency “to improve their practices” during former President Joe Biden’s administration, “utilizing outdated methods that rendered a once-reliable system completely ineffective.”

But the BLS, like other statistical agencies, has suffered from years of inadequate funding under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

“Any political retaliation due to today’s release will harm the ability for BLS to provide timely and unbiased statistics,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

US employment growth through March revised sharply lower

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-payrolls-benchmark-revision-estimate-suggests-labor-market-weaker-than-2025-09-09

Raw Story: Bipartisan fury spreads after ‘evil’ Trump treats domestic violence as ‘no biggie’

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President Donald Trump downplayed domestic violence in a Monday speech as part of his White House Religious Liberty Commission — and was hit by swift condemnation.

Not only were onlookers outraged by the president’s dismissal of spousal abuse, some also called out Trump’s own long history with women. The so-called “Access Hollywood” tape, for example, recorded Trump bragging that he can grab women’s genitals without consent.

Trump had been complaining that domestic crimes were being counted in Washington, DC — which, he said, was diminishing the success of him sending in troops to tackle crime.

“If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say, this was a crime, see?” he added. “So now I can’t claim 100%.”

His comment was made on the same day that an appeals court ruled unanimously against Trump’s appeal of a defamation case in which he relentlessly attacked E. Jean Carroll publicly, claiming she was lying when she claimed he sexually assaulted her in a department store.

It also happens while Trump is being criticized for his administration working to conceal the files around the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself after being arrested for sex trafficking and child molestation.

“Just the president Benedict Donald co-signing that your husband beating you or forcing you to have sex against your will is ‘like no biggie,'” wrote actor Rachel True on X.

The Voter Protection Project account on X characterized it, “Donald Trump just said domestic violence shouldn’t be a crime.” The group noted it was “curious to see how MAGA will try to spin this.”

Politico columnist Jonathan Martin expected the upcoming spin would be, “Look, he was on the Old Testament section of the speech.”

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) posted a screen capture of a reporter in which biographer Harry Hurt III said that he acquired Ivana Trump’s divorce deposition in which she alleged that Trump raped her.”

Republican and Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell called it, “Just a casual dismissal of domestic violence as a crime.”

Professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, Justin Wolfers, posted, “Let me say what the President won’t: Domestic violence is not okay. It’s immoral, illegal and abusive, and no real man is okay would do it, approve of it, or minimize it.”

“Utah is one of the worst states in the nation for women’s equality. Republicans here will defend against those claims forcefully, but they won’t back away from their support of a president that endorses domestic violence. Their claims are hollow,” wrote Utah state Sen. Nate Blouin.

Lawyer Mark Ramos called the comment, “Grossly irresponsible. And un-Christian. Yet *that’s who he is* – zero change from his entitled, amoral, “grab ’em” bully mindset. If you supported him before for whatever policy or party loyalty or false promises, it’s not too late to stop ignoring his vile idiocy. Your choice.”

“That ‘see’ at the end is as evil as the statement because it frames bs as empirical evidence. Smh,” said college faculty member Antoine Hardy.

Analyst Julie Roginsky wrote on X, “Of course the man whose wife accused him or rape and tearing out chunks of her hair would say this.”

Researcher Will Stancil called on officials to say something. “Every single Democrat should instantly condemn him for this and demand a retraction and apology. They should demand Republicans condemn it too, although they’ll be too cowardly to do it. Blow it up. He’s supporting domestic violence – it’s grotesque and nightmarish,” he wrote on X.

Bipartisan fury spreads after ‘evil’ Trump treats domestic violence as ‘no biggie’

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-domestic-violence-2673970568

CNN: Epstein survivor who invited Trump to meet with her says she’s heard ‘crickets’ in response

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Epstein survivor who invited Trump to meet with her says she’s heard ‘crickets’ in response
Haley Robson, who says she was assaulted by Jeffrey Epstein when she was 16, tells CNN’s Pamela Brown that she has yet to hear from the White House after she directly invited Trump to sit down with her to prove that calls for transparency are “not a hoax.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/epstein-survivor-who-invited-trump-to-meet-with-her-says-she-s-heard-crickets-in-response/vi-AA1M8zQ4

Slingshot News: ‘I Think We Should Get Some Credit’: Trump Prioritizes Ego Over Country, Whines About Not Receiving Credit During Bill Signing Event

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‘I Think We Should Get Some Credit’: Trump Prioritizes Ego Over Country, Whines About Not Receiving Credit During Bill Signing Event
During his remarks at a bill signing event at the White House in June, President Trump whined about not receiving credit for ending hostilities between India and Pakistan. Trump stated, “I think we should get some credit.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/i-think-we-should-get-some-credit-trump-prioritizes-ego-over-country-whines-about-not-receiving-credit-during-bill-signing-event/vi-AA1M8BQ3?

Reuters: Trump administration says it launched ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ in Chicago

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  • DHS says operation targets ‘criminal illegal aliens’ in Chicago
  • Illinois governor say no advance notice or coordination provided
  • Critics decry ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ as political theater
  • Local officials say ICE sweep terrorizes Latino communities

After weeks of vowing to deploy National Guard troops to fight crime in Chicago, the Trump administration said on Monday it had launched a deportation crackdown in Illinois targeting hardened criminals among immigrants in the U.S. without legal status.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in an online statement that “Operation Midway Blitz” was being conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, but details about its scope and nature were not immediately made clear.

It remained to be seen whether President Donald Trump would send National Guard soldiers into Chicago to accompany ICE and other federal law enforcement officers, as he has in and around Los Angeles and the District of Columbia.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democrats, each said their offices had received no official notice from federal authorities about the operation, which they decried as a political stunt designed to intimidate.

Trump has been ramping up his rhetoric about expanding federal law enforcement and National Guard presence in Democratic-led cities and states, casting the use of presidential power as an urgent effort to confront crime even as local officials cite declines in homicides and other violent offenses.

DHS said its latest ICE operation was necessary because of city and state “sanctuary” laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the crackdown was aimed at convicted gang members, rapists, kidnappers and drug traffickers who she called “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago.”

The press release cited 11 cases of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, most from Mexico and Venezuela, who DHS said had records of arrest or convictions for serious crimes and were released from local jails rather than turned over to federal immigration officials.

City Alderwoman Jeylu Gutierrez, who represents the predominantly Hispanic 14th Ward on Chicago’s southwest side, said at least five members of her community had been detained in what she called a “federal assault.”

Among those arrested, Gutierrez said, was a flower vendor taken into custody on the job, while others were detained as they waited for a bus or walked on the sidewalk.

‘THIS ISN’T ABOUT FIGHTING CRIME’

“This was never about arresting the worst of the worst, this is about terrorizing our communities,” Gutierrez, a Mexican immigrant, told a press conference.

Pritzker, widely seen as a potential 2028 candidate for the White House, also disputed the crime-fighting rationale that Trump voiced last Tuesday when he said he would send National Guard troops to Chicago, the nation’s third most populous city and a Democratic stronghold.

“This isn’t about fighting crime,” Pritzker said on social media platform X on Monday. “That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks.”

Pritzker has suggested Trump’s National Guard deployments might be a dress rehearsal for using the military to manipulate the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

Johnson said he was concerned about “potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process,” citing “ICE’s track record of detaining and deporting American citizens and violating the human rights of hundreds of detainees.”

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump cited recent murders and shootings in Chicago and blamed Pritzker for making no requests for assistance from the Trump administration.

“I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them,” Trump wrote. “Only the Criminals will be hurt! We can move fast and stop this madness.”

In a separate post on Saturday, Trump posted a meme based on the 1979 Vietnam War movie “Apocalypse Now” that showed an image of the Chicago skyline with flames and helicopters, reminiscent of the deadly helicopter attack on a Vietnamese village in the film.

The Trump administration launched a parallel immigration enforcement operation in Boston in recent days, an ICE official confirmed on Monday.

ICE also said on Monday that its Houston-based agents had arrested 822 “criminal aliens, transnational gang members, child predators, foreign fugitives and other egregious offenders” during a week-long operation last month in southeastern Texas.

Previously, DHS said ICE had arrested nearly 1,500 immigration offenders during a month-long enforcement surge in Massachusetts in May and early June.

The latest ICE operation in Chicago was announced the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision allowing federal agents in Southern California to proceed with immigration raids that detain people on the basis of their race, ethnicity, language or accent, even without “reasonable suspicion” that they are in the country illegally.

Trump administration says it launches ICE crackdown in Illinois
After weeks of vowing to deploy National Guard troops to fight crime in Chicago, the Trump administration said on Monday it had launched a deportation crackdown in Illinois targeting hardened criminals among immigrants in the U.S. without legal status.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-says-it-launches-ice-crackdown-illinois-2025-09-08

Raw Story: ‘I’m gonna punch you!’ Top Trump officials pulled apart as threats hurled at swanky dinner

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Rumble!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Why the f— are you talking to the president about me? F— you,” and declaring, “I’m gonna punch you in your f—ing face.”

A private dinner for Donald Trump administration officials erupted when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, threatening physical violence during the exclusive Georgetown event, Politico reported Monday.

The Wednesday evening gathering at Executive Branch, a club for Trump’s inner circle, was intended to celebrate the club’s inaugural dinner along with podcaster Chamath Palihapitiya’s birthday. Approximately 30 high-ranking officials were present, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and other prominent administration members.

During the cocktail hour, Bessent launched into an aggressive confrontation with Pulte, claiming the housing official had been speaking negatively about him to Trump. Witnesses reported Bessent’s explosive verbal assault, with him demanding, “Why the f— are you talking to the president about me? F— you,” and declaring, “I’m gonna punch you in your f—ing face.”

Club co-owner Omeed Malik intervened to prevent escalation. Bessent insisted on Pulte’s removal, declaring, “It’s either me or him,” and challenging Pulte to go outside. When Pulte asked if they could “talk,” Bessent responded he intended to “beat your a–,” according to the Politico report.

Malik ultimately separated the men, moving Bessent to another part of the club. During the seated dinner, Bessent and Pulte were strategically placed at opposite ends of the table, and the event proceeded without further incident, the report stated.

The confrontation highlighted underlying tensions between two top economic officials working on sensitive financial matters. Trump had previously tasked Bessent, Lutnick, and Pulte with collaborating on a plan to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Behind the scenes, the two men had been engaged in a power struggle. Bessent believed Pulte was overstepping into his jurisdiction, while Pulte resented feeling marginalized. Their conflicting approaches were further complicated by their different relationships with Trump and competing visions for economic policy.

Bessent, known as a soft-spoken market strategist, has been viewed as a stabilizing force in the administration. Pulte, by contrast, has taken a more aggressive approach, quickly firing more than 100 Fannie and Freddie staffers and using his position to launch investigations targeting the president’s critics.

The incident was not unprecedented for Bessent, who had previously confronted other administration figures, including a notable altercation with Elon Musk over IRS commissioner appointments earlier in the year.

Neither Bessent, Pulte, Malik, nor the White House provided official comment to Politico on the encounter.

The bully boy misfits can’t even be nice to each other!

https://www.rawstory.com/bessent-trump

Wall Street Journal: Did a Boat Strike in Caribbean Exceed Trump’s Authority to Use Military Force?

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President Trump was operating within his constitutional powers as commander in chief when he ordered the U.S. military to destroy a vessel in the Caribbean, administration officials said, describing the drugs it was allegedly smuggling as an imminent national security threat.

But that claim was sharply disputed by legal experts and some lawmakers, who said that Trump exceeded his legal authority by using lethal military force against a target that posed no direct danger to the U.S. and doing so without congressional authorization.

The disagreement since Trump announced the deadly attack Tuesday underscored how much of a departure it represents from decades of U.S. counternarcotics operations—and raised questions about whether drug smugglers can be treated as legitimate military targets.

“Every boatload of any form of drug that poisons the American people is an imminent threat. And at the DOD, our job is to defeat imminent threats,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Thursday during a visit to an Army base in Georgia. “A drug cartel is no different than al Qaeda, and they will be treated as such.”

Trump administration officials said Tuesday’s strike, which killed 11 people on the boat, was just the opening salvo in an expanded campaign to dismantle the drug cartels they say pose a major threat to Americans.

But in importing tactics from the post-9/11 war against terrorist groups to use against drug cartels, some former officials said, Trump is trampling on longstanding limits on presidential use of force and asserting legal authorities that don’t exist.

The casualties “weren’t engaged in anything like a direct attack on the United States” and weren’t afforded a trial to determine their guilt, said Frank Kendall, who served as the secretary of the Air Force during the Biden administration and holds a law degree. “Frankly, I can’t see how this can be considered anything other than a nonjudicial killing outside the boundaries of domestic and international law.”

Unlike the interdictions which are usually conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard, the strike was carried out without warning shots, and no effort was made to detain the ship, apprehend its crew, or confirm the drugs on board. “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders they blew it up,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Mexico City on Wednesday.

Trump said U.S. forces “positively identified” the crew before the attack as members of Venezuelan crime syndicate Tren de Aragua, calling them “narcoterrorists.” Tren de Aragua is among the Latin American cartels and gangs that Trump has designated as foreign terrorist organizations since February.

The White House has provided no further information on the operation against the boat or detailed the legal arguments that it claims support it. Nor have officials disclosed where the strike took place, the identities of the casualties or the weapons used.

Some Trump administration officials suggest that by designating the drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, the Pentagon has the leeway to treat the groups as it would foreign terrorists. As commander in chief, Trump has the power to order military action against imminent threats without congressional authorization, they said.

The strike “was taken in defense of vital U.S. national interests and in the collective self-defense of other nations,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, adding that the strike occurred in international waters and “was fully consistent with the law of armed conflict.”

But Geoffrey Corn, a retired lieutenant colonel who was the Army’s senior adviser on the law of war, said: “I don’t think there is any way to legitimately characterize a drug ship heading from Venezuela, arguably to Trinidad, as an actual or imminent armed attack against the United States, justifying this military response.”

Corn, a law professor at Texas Tech University, noted that critics have condemned U.S. drone strikes since 2001 against militants in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries as extrajudicial killings, but those strikes were legitimate, he said, because the U.S. was engaged in an armed conflict under the laws of war against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who is now at the International Crisis Group, said that designation of drug cartels as terrorist groups doesn’t authorize the use of military force against them. Rather it enables the U.S. to levy sanctions and pursue criminal prosecutions against individuals who support the groups.

Nor can military action be justified under the law Congress passed authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda and related terrorist groups following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, experts said.

For the military to use force, “there needs to be a legitimate claim of self-defense in international waters, an action that is necessary and proportional in response to an armed attack or imminent armed attack,” said Juan Gonzalez, who served as the National Security Council’s senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs during the Biden administration. “That clearly didn’t happen.”

The attack was the U.S. military’s first publicly acknowledged airstrike in Central or South America since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. The White House released a grainy black-and-white video that showed the destruction of a small boat, which it celebrated as a blunt warning for drug traffickers throughout the region.

Trump administration officials have offered conflicting accounts of the episode. On Tuesday, Rubio said the drugs the vessel was carrying “were probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean” and could “contribute to the instability these countries are facing,” differing from Trump’s statement that the vessel was “heading to the United States.” On Wednesday, Rubio suggested that the shipment was “eventually” headed to the U.S.

No state in the region has publicly appealed for the U.S. to take military action against the cartels as an act of collective self-defense, Corn said.

On Thursday, two Venezuelan F-16 jet fighters flew near one of the U.S. Navy warships that have been positioned near the county. The Pentagon criticized the apparent show of force as a “highly provocative move” and warned Venezuela not to interfere with its “counter narco-terror operations.”

In the past, some U.S. counternarcotics strikes have ended in tragedy. In 2001, Peruvian and U.S. counterdrug agents mistook a small plane carrying American missionaries over the Peruvian Amazon as belonging to drug traffickers. The Peruvian Air Force shot down the plane, killing a 35-year-old woman and her infant daughter.

The U.S. has limited intelligence on small drug boats leaving Venezuela, from which the Drug Enforcement Administration was expelled in 2005 under then-President Hugo Chávez, said Mike Vigil, a former DEA director of international operations.

“The United States doesn’t really have the capability to develop good intelligence about these embarkations,” he said. “You don’t just send a missile and destroy a boat. It is the equivalent of a police officer walking up to a drug trafficker on the street and shooting him.”

In Quito, Ecuador, on Thursday, Rubio announced the designation of two more criminal groups—the Ecuadorean Los Choneros and Los Lobos—as foreign terrorist organizations. He said U.S. partners in the region would participate in operations to use lethal force against drug cartels.

A senior Mexican naval officer with decades of service and experience boarding drug vessels said actions like the one taken Tuesday by the U.S. would never be allowed by its Mexican counterpart, which has been trained in interdiction procedures by the U.S. Coast Guard.

“There is never a direct attack unless you are attacked,” he said. “As commander of the ship, I would get into serious trouble. I could be accused of murder.”

Did a Boat Strike in Caribbean Exceed Trump’s Authority to Use Military Force?
Legal experts said the president exceeded his legal authority by using lethal military force against a target that posed no direct danger to the U.S.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/did-a-boat-strike-in-caribbean-exceed-trump-s-authority-to-use-military-force/ar-AA1LU02a