‘This administration wants this fight’: Maggie Haberman on Trump strategy over deportations
‘This administration wants this fight’: Maggie Haberman on Trump strategy over deportations
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• Meeting with Abrego Garcia: Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said tonight that he met with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongfully deported to El Salvador.
• Talks with Italy’s PM: During meetings with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House, President Donald Trump expressed confidence that the US would reach a trade deal with the EU before the end of his 90-day pause on tariffs.
• Feud with the Fed: Trump indicated that he believes he has the power to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after saying in a social media post earlier that his termination “cannot come fast enough,” following Powell’s stark warning about Trump’s tariffs.
Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.
A federal judge ruled tonight the Social Security Administration could not, for now, grant affiliates of the Department of Government Efficiency sweeping access to the sensitive records of Americans held by the agency.
The new preliminary injunction from US District Judge Ellen Hollander extends previous restrictions she placed on DOGE’s access to Social Security data in an earlier temporary restraining order.
Hollander wrote that the Trump administration had failed “to make clear why members of the DOGE Team need unfettered access to a wide variety of SSA systems of record that contain personal, sensitive, and private information of millions of Americans.”
Today’s ruling sets the stage for the case — one of several challenges to DOGE’s efforts to obtain the keys to closely-guarded data systems across the federal government — to be appealed.
An appeals court rejected an earlier administration request that it pause Hollander’s initial temporary restraining order, finding that it was procedurally premature to do.
In a thorough, 148-page opinion, Hollander said that the agency had not established a “need” for the DOGE affiliates to be granted sweeping access to the sensitive data, as required by the Privacy Act.
“The Privacy Act is not toothless. Defendants cannot flout the law,” wrote Hollander, an Obama-appointee who sits in Baltimore. “They are not exempt from a statute that Congress enacted to protect American citizens from overbroad and unnecessary access to their [personally identifiable information.]”
Hollander has asked the parties to file briefs on a Justice Department request that her new ruling be paused while it is appealed.
Veteran Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn asked crowd during a town hall in Summerton, South Carolina, tonight to pray that the US “will not allow itself to go the way of Germany in the 1930s.”
He read a famous quote by Martin Niemöller, a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany during World War II. Niemöller, initially a Nazi sympathizer, spent almost eight years in Nazi prisons and concentration camps after repeatedly criticizing Adolf Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church.
“And we remember what happened to the Jews,” Clyburn said, referencing the 6 million Jewish people who were murdered in the Holocaust. “So, we’re going to have to speak out. We’ve got to break our silence. And this is not about Democrats and Republicans. My parents were Republicans. My mother and father were Republicans. I love them. I don’t hate Republicans. I do hate liars.”
Throughout the evening, Clyburn emphasized that Democrats are limited in what they can do since they are in the minority in Congress, urging town hall attendees to speak out and vote to help tip the scales and the balance of power.
When asked why Congress wasn’t doing more to stop Trump from enacting the tariffs, Clyburn told the crowd that Democrats don’t have the numbers.
“People are going to have to speak out, because we don’t have 218 votes in the House,” the congressman said, acknowledging the Democrat minority in the House and Senate. “We need 218. We don’t have 60 votes in the Senate. We need 60 votes.”
CNN’s Sylvie Kirsch contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan argued tonight that the court order explicitly prohibiting the removal of a Maryland man to his home country of El Salvador is “meaningless” because the Trump administration has designated the MS-13 gang as a terrorist organization.
Homan repeatedly pushed questions to the Justice Department about why the administration has yet to provide evidence in court tying Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the MS-13 gang despite arguing in news conferences and television appearances that they have plenty of it.
“He’s a citizen of El Salvador, he’s in El Salvador, he’s home,” Homan told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “He’s an MS-13 member, which is now classified as a terrorist, so we removed the illegal alien MS-13 member who has a final order removal issued by an immigration judge to his homeland.
“The order withholding everybody keeps talking about — the order withholding — is set aside because he’s a designated terrorist, with which order withholding is meaningless,” Homan said, citing unnamed attorneys.
District Judge Paula Xinis has argued that the administration has not proven that, writing in a recent filing: “No evidence before the Court connects Abrego Garcia to MS-13 or any other criminal organization.”
Pressed on why the administration has not included evidence tying Abrego Garcia to MS-13 in a court filing, Homan referred questions to the Department of Justice.
“Admitting it in a court — that’s the job of the Department of Justice,” Homan told CNN. “I’m in Homeland Security, and I enforce immigration law, the Department of Justice litigates. So, if there’s something that needs to be, you know, given to the court as evidence to the court, then I leave it up to DOJ.”
Trump was in office when an immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia protected status in 2019. It was not contested then by the Department of Justice.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he met tonight with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongfully deported to El Salvador.
“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance,” Van Hollen said in a post on X with a photo of them sitting at a table.
“I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return. pic.twitter.com/U9y2gZpxCb
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 18, 2025
The Maryland Democrat traveled to El Salvador to meet Abrego Garcia but told reporters earlier in the day he had been “stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint about three kilometers” from the notorious CECOT prison where Abrego Garcia is being held.
Van Hollen declined to comment further to CNN about his meeting with Abrego Garcia, and said a full readout will be given tomorrow.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said Abrego Garcia is back in custody after the meeting.
“Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Bukele said on X.
The Salvadoran president posted several photos earlier of Van Hollen shaking hands with Abrego Garcia and the two seated alongside a third man.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” Bukele wrote on X in a swipe at US Democrats critical of Abrego Garcia’s incarceration in El Salvador’s maximum-security prison, CECOT.
This post was updated with details from President Bukele’s and Van Hollen’s statement.
Prime Minister Georgia Meloni visited the White House today, where she said that President Donald Trump has accepted her invitation to come to Italy for an official visit, adding that he would have the opportunity to meet with other European leaders as well.
This comes as the Trump administration is engaged in trade negotiations with the European Union and also ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine signed a memorandum with the US as a step toward a proposed minerals deal between the two countries, according to Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
Here’s what to know:
On trade deals: Trump told reporters that he thinks he can negotiate trade deals with every country, including China, “over the next three or four weeks.” He also expressed “100 percent” confidence that the US would reach a trade deal with the European Union before his 90-day pause on tariffs is over.
On federal spending cuts: President Donald Trump has extended the federal hiring freeze through July 15, White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields wrote in a post on X. Separately, the Trump administration announced today that it will look to sell the Washington, DC, headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Case of the mistakenly deported man: The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the Trump administration’s request that it halt the next steps that federal Judge Paula Xinis is seeking to take in the case concerning Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who wrongly deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration’s assertions in the case “should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear,” Judge Harvie Wilkinson said in the seven-page ruling.
Ending birthright citizenship case: Trump said he was “so happy” that the Supreme Court agreed today to hear oral arguments over his request to enforce a plan to end birthright citizenship against all but a handful of individuals, though it deferred a request from the administration that would have allowed it to implement its plan immediately. The high court will hear arguments in the case on May 15.
More than 1000 revoked student visas: More than 1,000 international students and recent graduates at more than 130 schools in the US have had their visas or statuses revoked in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System this year, according to university statements and spokespeople. Attorneys for more than 100 foreign students whose international visas have been revoked argued in federal court today to stop the process. The judge hearing the case did not immediately rule on the request, but did indicate she plans to grant some form of temporary relief.
The Trump administration is laying off most of the staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a move that has already prompted action in court.
About 1,500 out of 1,700 employees are being let go, according to the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents the agency’s staffers. Workers started receiving the reduction in force, or RIF, notices on Thursday.
The CFPB was an early target of the Trump administration’s downsizing efforts, but its undoing was largely blocked in federal court. However, a federal appeals court last week said the administration could further shrink the agency but not shutter it completely. The order made clear that the administration cannot trim the bureau down so much that it cannot carry out its statutory functions.
Already, the unions and other groups that initially sued have asked a judge to hold an emergency hearing on the sweeping layoffs, alleging that the mass terminations violated the court order. They argued that it was “unfathomable that cutting the Bureau’s staff by 90 percent in just 24 hours” wouldn’t interfere with its obligations to carry out the mandates set by Congress.
The NTEU said in a statement the appeals court required the agency to “make a ‘particularized assessment’ with respect to employees if it was going to carry out a reduction in force.” The union questioned whether that could have been done in less than four business days.
A RIF notice viewed by CNN said that the employee would retain access to the computer systems and work email until 6 p.m. Friday and then be put on administrative leave until mid-June.
“The RIF action is necessary to restructure the Bureau’s operations to better reflect the agency’s priorities and mission,” the notice read.
Harvard’s School of Public Health is taking steps to address its budget crisis after the Trump administration said it would freeze more than $2 billion in federal grants and contracts.
“School leadership is working with department chairs and administrative directors to identify strategic priorities and make sustainable budget cuts. We are working to minimize the impact on our outstanding workforce while protecting the heart of our research and educational missions,” Stephanie Simon, dean for communications and strategic initiatives, said in a statement.
The school had already made some layoffs in recent months due to other cuts in federal funding that aren’t related to the freeze announced this week, the statement said. And as part of cost-cutting initiatives, the school has been consolidating its footprint to the campus core, including winding down two leases outside that area.
Harvard’s School of Public Health has received three stop-work orders because of the funding freeze, according to the statement. This includes ending research projects on tuberculosis, the relationship between coffee intake and cancer and breast cancer tumor sequencing.
The school faculty has also had 19 grants for research terminated over the past few months because the work no longer aligns with administration priorities, Simon said in the statement.
The statement adds that federal funding makes up 46% of the Harvard Chan School budget, so in view of the policy changes being proposed at the federal level, the school has been working for months to make structural changes to align expenditures with revenue.
CNN’s Kara Scannell contributed to this report.
The Trump administration announced today that it will look to sell the Washington, DC, headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The move comes more than a month after the Trump administration said that it was considering selling off hundreds of “non-core” federal properties to ensure taxpayers “no longer pay for empty and underutilized federal office space.”
The building has been added to a list of federal buildings identified for “accelerated disposition,” in an effort “to engage the market and explore HUD’s relocation options,” the General Services Administration said in a news release. The Washington, DC, metropolitan area remains “a top priority,” the agency added.
“We’re committed to rightsizing government operations and ensuring our facilities support a culture of optimal performance and exceptional service as we collaborate with our partners at GSA to deliver results for the American people,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement.
HUD’s potential relocation also echoes promises President Donald Trump made during his 2024 campaign, where he vowed to move tens of thousands of federal jobs out of Washington, DC, and into “places filled with patriots who love America.”
A Justice Department attorney said today that Attorney General Pam Bondi could potentially take “criminal action” against states that count mail ballots that arrive at election offices after Election Day.
Michael Gates from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division said this in court while defending an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last month that attempts to unilaterally overhaul how elections are run, including with provisions targeting states with post-Election Day receipt deadlines for mail ballots.
One such provision is instructing the attorney general to “take all necessary action to enforce” an Election Day deadline for mail ballots. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly grilled Gates on how the attorney general might implement it.
Gates said Bondi could take any number of actions, including “criminal actions.” But, as Kollar-Kotelly pressed him for specifics, including the possibility Bondi would file lawsuits against states for their policies, the Justice Department lawyer suggested that the judge was asking him to look into a “crystal ball” by demanding that he predict what actions the attorney general might take.
Kollar-Kotelly did not issue a ruling from the bench today, but said she was hoping to issue her ruling by April 24 — a deadline requested by some of the challengers.
Some background: Roughly 20 states currently have laws for counting mail ballots received within a certain period after Election Day — and typically require a postmark or some other indication confirming the ballot was mailed by Election Day or earlier.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not respond to previous CNN inquiries about the instruction to the attorney general in question.
President Donald Trump has extended the federal hiring freeze through July 15, White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields wrote in a post on X.
The move is part of the president and Elon Musk’s aggressive efforts to cut spending within the federal government.
What the memo includes: The president signed the initial executive action implementing the hiring freeze on his first day in office. The original action dictated that no new federal civilian positions could be created and no vacant positions could be filled. It specifies that it does not prohibit hirings to “maintain essential services, and protect national security, homeland security, and public safety.”
Ukraine has signed a memorandum with the US as a step toward a proposed minerals deal between the two countries, according to Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
“We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” Svyrydenko said in a post on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that a memorandum related to the deal could be signed remotely today.
“This document is the result of the professional work of the negotiating teams, which recently completed another round of technical discussions in Washington,” Svyrydenko said. “Ahead is the finalization of the text of the agreement and its signing — and then, ratification by parliaments.”
“There is a lot to do, but the current pace and significant progress give reason to expect that the document will be very beneficial for both countries,” Svyrydenko concluded.
An earlier iteration of the minerals deal went unsigned following a public argument between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in February.
Details of the proposed deal have since been in flux, with Treasury officials meeting a Ukrainian delegation in Washington this week to hammer it out, sources told CNN.
CNN’s Elise Hammond contributed to this reporting.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that he wants to negotiate trade deals with every country, including China.
“We’re going to make a deal with everybody,” he said. “I would think over the next three or four weeks, I think maybe the whole thing could be concluded.”
Trump’s comments come a week after he enacted a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of nations, which now instead face a baseline 10% tariff. The big exception, however, is China, which faces a whopping 145% tariff. China’s responded with a 125% tariff on American goods, heightening tensions between the two largest economies in the world.
Trump compared the United States to “a big, beautiful department store before that business was destroyed by the internet.”
“Everybody wants a piece of that store,” Trump said, referring to other countries wanting to gain access to American markets to sell their products.
“At a certain point, if we don’t make a deal we’ll just set a limit, we’ll set a tariff … and we’ll say, ‘Come in and shop.’” If trading partners don’t like those tariffs, Trump said, they don’t have to “shop at the store of America.”
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he was invited by King Charles to visit the United Kingdom in September.
“It’s an honor to be, you know, a friend of Charles. I have great respect for King Charles and the family, William. We have just, really, just a great respect for the family,” the president said. “And I think they’re setting a date for September.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a letter from King Charles to Trump in February during a trip to the White House, inviting the president for a second state visit. Trump accepted and said he’d plan the trip soon.
Starmer told Trump in the Oval Office that two state visits for one world leader has “never happened before.”
President Donald Trump on Thursday called a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, that left two dead and five injured “a shame,” but said he was unlikely to seek changes to the nation’s gun laws.
“Look, I’m a big advocate of the Second Amendment, that happened from the beginning. I protected it, and these things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting, the people do,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when signing unrelated executive orders.
“As far as legislation is concerned, this has been going on for a long time. I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment, I ran on the Second Amendment, among many other things, and I will always protect the Second Amendment,” he said.
During his first term in office, Trump suggested he’d be open to expanding background checks for purchasing firearms but later seemed to walk back those comments after meeting with then-National Rifle Association chief executive Wayne LaPierre at the White House.
In remarks from the campaign trail, Trump told supporters in October 2024 the Second Amendment “is under siege,” touting his endorsement from the NRA.
President Donald Trump singed two executive orders Thursday related to opening up protected areas for fishing in the Pacific Ocean.
Mongabay, a conservationist news website, has previously reported that Amata Radewagen, a US delegate who represents American Samoa, had asked the Trump administration to “reopen … an enormous marine protected area in the Central Pacific Ocean to industrial fishing.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the move, which affects tuna fishing, “common sense.”
“We’re going to open all of these markets and we’re going to let our fishermen thrive and prosper. And we’re going to have lower cost fish, more of it, and the freshest fish in the world,” Lutnick said.
Peter Navarro, one of the president’s top advisers, told Trump during the signing that he would have a similar order related to Maine lobster on the president’s desk next week.
“It’s incredible,” Trump said. “Canada fishes there and we’re not allowed to … I did it last time and they undid it. That’s why we have to stay president for a long time.”
President Donald Trump on Thursday said his administration is speaking with Chinese officials in an effort to work on a trade deal.
This comes after he slapped a 145% tariff on China, prompting China to retaliate with a 125% tariff on American goods.
Trump declined to say if he’s spoken directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping but told reporters that government officials who report to Xi have reached out “a number of times.”
“I believe we’re going to have a deal with China,” Trump said after an executive order signing ceremony in the Oval Office.
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office said Thursday “Harvard is a disgrace” when asked why the Internal Revenue Service is making plans to rescind the tax-exempt status of the Ivy League university.
“Because I think Harvard’s a disgrace. I think what they did was a disgrace. They’re obviously antisemitic,” he said, citing former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s congressional testimony at a hearing focused on antisemitism on campus. “Tax-exempt status is a privilege, it’s really a privilege. And it’s been abused by a lot more than Harvard.”
While Trump said lawyers working on the matter haven’t made a final decision, he warned that schools must be careful.
President Donald Trump said he was “so happy” that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments over his day-one request to enforce a plan to end birthright citizenship.
The high court will hear arguments in the case on May 15.
Some background: Past presidents and courts for more than a century have read the 14th Amendment to guarantee citizenship to anyone “born or naturalized in the United States,” but Trump campaigned on ending it, and he signed an executive order that would have barred the government from issuing or accepting documents recognizing citizenship for people born in the US to foreign parents. It was subsequently wracked with lawsuits and sweeping injunctions.
Asked today about the Supreme Court agreeing to hear arguments, Trump claimed that birthright citizenship “is about slavery,” appearing to tie the constitutional right to its Civil War-era context. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868.
“If you look at it that way, the case is an easy case to win. And I hope the lawyers talk about birthright citizenship and slavery, because that’s what it was all about. And it was a very positive — it was meant to be positive, and they use it now instead, not for slavery. They use it for people that come into our country, and they walk in, and all of a sudden they become citizens,” he claimed.
CNN’s John Fritze contributed to this report.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had a tightrope to walk at the White House today — and it looks like she succeeded.
Meeting President Donald Trump at a time when the relationship between Europe and the US is at one of its lowest points in decades, Meloni needed to play into her good relationship with Trump while also standing up for European interests.
Trump has previously criticized Europe for “screwing” the US by running a trade surplus. The threat of Trump’s so-called “reciprocal tariffs” coming into effect has already caused havoc to the European economy, forcing the European Central Bank to cut interest rates earlier today.
Meloni opened today’s meeting by making it clear that she was on the same wavelength as Trump. She proclaimed that her goal was “to make the West great again,” and said she was in on Trump’s “fight against ‘woke’ and DEI ideology that would like to erase our history.”
The meeting progressed in a relaxed atmosphere, with Trump repeatedly praising Meloni as a “great” leader and a “friend” who is doing “fantastic job.”
While this was Meloni’s first meeting with Trump at the White House, the two share a warm relationship. Trump hosted her at Mar-a-Lago after his reelection and she was the sole European leader invited to his inauguration.
In the Oval Office, Meloni capitalized on her relationship with Trump while lobbying for Europe. She said she was in Washington to “help make a deal,” while Trump responded by saying he believed there was a “100%” chance of an EU tariff deal.
A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s request that it halt the next steps Judge Paula Xinis is seeking to take in the case concerning a migrant who was wrongly deported to El Salvador, with a strident warning about the rule of law and the possibility the dispute presented an “incipient crisis.”
The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals said in its seven-page ruling Thursday that the Trump administration’s assertions in the case “should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”
The unanimous ruling was written by Judge Harvie Wilkinson, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan. In it, he was extremely critical of the administration’s effort to undo some of Xinis’ recent orders in the case, sounding alarm bells about how its maneuverings in the matter have resulted in the two branches “grinding irrevocably against one another in a conflict that promises to diminish both.”
“The Judiciary will lose much from the constant intimations of its illegitimacy, to which by dent of custom and detachment we can only sparingly reply,” Wilkinson wrote. “The Executive will lose much from a public perception of its lawlessness and all of its attendant contagions. The Executive may succeed for a time in weakening the courts, but over time history will script the tragic gap between what was and all that might have been, and law in time will sign its epitaph.”
The appeals court used the order to weigh in on the broader atmosphere around President Trump’s conflict with the judiciary.
The Salvadoran government is “unfazed” by Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s attempt to visit deported Maryland resident Kilmar Armando Abrego García at the notorious CECOT prison, according to a high-level source close to the country’s president.
“Salvadoran officials are focused on formal diplomatic channels with US counterparts and not on public-facing pressure or unscheduled visits,” the source told CNN.
In a video released today, Van Hollen said he was blocked from entering the prison complex to visit Abrego García, one day after El Salvador’s vice president denied him access following an in-person meeting.
The Maryland senator told reporters in San Salvador that he was with the lawyer for his wife and mother, and their goal was “to check on the health and wellbeing of Kilmar,” said Van Hollen. Denying Abrego Garcia access to his lawyers “is a violation of international law,” he added, noting that Abrego Garcia’s wife and mother have also been unable to contact him in the prison.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele — who is out of the country — has no intention to return early or to meet with Van Hollen, the source said.
Nevertheless, the Salvadoran government is fully aware of the senator’s movements within the country, particularly when attempting to access highly sensitive or secure sites “as they would be with anyone approaching those locations,” the source said.
Salvadoran authorities have not formally charged Abrego Garcia, and are not bound by a strict timeline to do so, according to the source, under the country’s ongoing state of exception, which suspends certain constitutional rights.
More on the case: Abrego García’s family says that the Maryland man was never a gang member, and at least one US federal judge has expressed skepticism of the claim. The Supreme Court last week said President Donald Trump’s administration must “facilitate” the return of the Maryland man.
President Donald Trump responded to a report that he had waved Israel off of striking Iran’s nuclear facilities as the US continues nuclear talks with Iran.
“I wouldn’t say waved off,” he told reporters at the White House, but “I’m not in a rush to do it because I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death.”
“I’d like to see that, that’s my first option. If there’s a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran. And I think Iran is wanting to talk,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “I hope they want to talk, it’s going to be very good for them if they do, and I’d like to see Iran thrive in the future, do fantastically well.”
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Trump urged Israel not to strike Iran’s nuclear sites as soon as next month in order to let talks with Iran play out, which could impact planned engagements for Trump’s national security team in the coming days.
The report comes just days before Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to meet Saturday in Rome with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Today, the president suggested his focus was on preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, telling reporters:
“Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon, it’s pretty simple.”
“We’re not looking to take their industry, we’re not looking to take their land, we’re not — all we’re saying is … you can’t have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
CNN’s Kylie Atwood contributed reporting to this post.
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that the United States will be “hearing” from Russia “this week” on the US proposal for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
“We’re going to be hearing from them this week, very shortly, actually, and we’ll see. But we want it to stop. We want the death and the killing to stop,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff are meeting with Ukrainian officials in Paris at a summit Thursday aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defenses against Russia’s ongoing attacks.
The president was asked Thursday about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and again claimed that the war between Russia and Ukraine would not have started if he had been president.
“I don’t hold Zelensky responsible, but I’m not exactly thrilled with the fact that that war started. That was a war that would have never started if I were president,” Trump told reporters, adding that he’s not a “big fan” of Zelensky.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said today that US President Donald Trump has accepted her invitation to come to Italy for an official visit, adding that he would have the opportunity to meet with other European leaders as well.
Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Meloni, who leads Italy’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party, tapped into her political similarities with Trump, and also touched on the war in Ukraine, an issue that has caused rifts between the US and Europe.
“The goal for me is to make the West great again and I think together we can do that,” she said, pointing to Trump. “We can,” Trump responded.
Meloni said she also believed that the US and Europe could work together on achieving “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine.
“We have been defending the freedom of Ukraine together,” Meloni said. The Italian Prime Minister has a staunch supporter of Ukraine and its leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Supreme Court deferred a request from President Donald Trump that would have allowed him to immediately enforce a plan to end birthright citizenship against all but a handful of individuals, but it agreed to hear arguments about his request to limit lower court judges from handing down sweeping injunctions.
The high court will hear arguments in the case on May 15.
President Donald Trump indicated that he believes he has the power to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell from his position after slamming Powell in a post on social media earlier Thursday and saying his termination “cannot come fast enough.”
“Oh he’ll leave. If I ask him to, he’ll be out of there,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“I don’t think he’s doing the job. He’s too late, always too late. Little slow, and I’m not happy with him. I let him know it, and if I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast,” Trump said, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has not shared that view, sat just feet away. Earlier this week, Bessent told Bloomberg in an interview that “monetary policy is a jewel box that’s got to be preserved.”
Trump ignored a follow-up question on whether he is trying to remove Powell.
Trump later chastised Powell for not bringing interest rates down and “playing politics.” “Interest rates should be down now,” he said, calling members of the Federal Reserve “not very smart people.”
Trump’s comments come after Powell on Wednesday said at an economic event in Chicago that the Trump administration has brought “very fundamental policy changes,” including sweeping tariffs that are “significantly larger than anticipated.” He said such changes are unlike anything seen in modern history, putting the Fed in uncharted waters and on a path to confront a challenge it hasn’t seen in decades.
Powell has pointedly noted that removing a Fed chair is “not permitted under the law,” and has said he intends to serve out the remainder of his term.
CNN Business’ Allison Morrow provides more context on Trump’s threats to oust Powell in the video below:
@cnnPresident Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough!" Powell, who is a lawyer, says that it is not legal for Trump to fire him without cause. CNN Business' Allison Morrow breaks it down. #cnn #news #trump #powell #federalreserve
♬ original sound - CNN
CNN’s Bryan Mena contributed reporting to this post.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said government officials from South Korea are traveling to Washington next week to firm up a trade deal.
Bessent, speaking alongside President Donald Trump and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office on Thursday, did not specify who would be meeting with the administration.
The meeting comes after Trump and members of his administration have met with a string of foreign officials, including from the European Union and Japan, since the president’s 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs took effect last week.
Bessent also said negotiations with India are advancing “very quickly.”
President Donald Trump said today that he is not involved in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the US government.
“Well, I’m not involved in it,” he told reporters at the White House when asked if he will take steps to return Abrego Garcia if the court holds him in contempt.
He reiterated that he was elected to remove any criminals who are in the United States illegally. “I don’t see how judges can take that authority away from a president,” he added.
The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia, who has not been charged with or convicted of any crime, is a member of MS-13. However, his wife and lawyers dispute that claim.
President Donald Trump said the United States and Ukraine could sign a minerals deal as soon as next week.
In the Oval Office, the president said, “We have a minerals deal which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday.” He then clarified, “next Thursday, soon.”
“We have a deal on that,” Trump said.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “memorandum of intent” could be signed remotely later today, with a full agreement still being worked on.
Treasury officials have been working on the deal with a Ukrainian delegation visiting Washington this week, sources said. But the details of the minerals deal changed after that meeting and have been constantly shifting in recent weeks, according to the Ukrainians.
CNN’s Daria Tarasova-Markina, Victoria Butenko and Kylie Atwood contributed reporting to this post.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested today the Supreme Court could hold Cabinet secretaries in contempt if the Trump administration fails to adhere to the court’s order to “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
“The Supreme Court needs to take a close look at enforcing its orders, and that is generally going to involve not the president, of course, at this moment in time, but is going to involve Cabinet secretaries and other administration officials who are responsible for the actual execution of these orders or the non-compliance,” he told CNN.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that President Donald Trump’s administration must “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia but stopped short of requiring the government to return him to the United States.
A federal judge overseeing the case in Maryland said yesterday that she has not seen any evidence that the Trump administration is complying with the order.
Asked if the US was experiencing a “constitutional crisis,” which he previously said would occur if the Trump administration defied court orders, Jeffries responded, “We’re in a crisis across the board, right?”
“The White House is seeking a confrontation with the courts, then the courts need to lean into that we will have the back of the courts, and it needs to use all of the tools available to it,’” he said.
Watch some of Jeffries’ interview on CNN:
@cnnHouse Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) tells CNN's Dana Bash that the Supreme Court needs to "aggressively" enforce its orders against the Trump administration. The Supreme Court has ruled that President Trump's administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to a prison in El Salvador. #cnn #news
♬ original sound - CNN
Some organizations have started criticizing recent cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency to AmeriCorps members after volunteers who respond to disasters and help nonprofits were informed this week they would exit the program.
Gerry Seavo James, deputy director of Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign, said AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps has been “a critical pillar of national disaster relief, wildlife recovery, and community resilience efforts.”
“In a time when we face increasing climate change impacts and extreme weather, we should not be disinvesting in programs like these or our future generations,” James said in a news release today.
America’s Service Commissions, a non-profit representing state service commissions, said it is “alarmed” by the NCCC dismissals.
“This sudden freeze of AmeriCorps agency staff and the removal of NCCC members from service will have a detrimental impact on AmeriCorps members, volunteers, and our states and communities they serve,” the organization wrote on X.
AmeriCorps’ NCCC informed volunteers Tuesday that they would exit the program early “due to programmatic circumstances beyond your control,” according to an email obtained by The Associated Press.
US President Donald Trump has previously accused the European Union of “screwing” the US because it is running an overall trade surplus with the US.
But the issue is a bit more nuanced than that.
The US and the EU have the largest trading relationship in the world, having traded $1.4 trillion worth of goods and services in 2023 – roughly $5 billion a day – according to the latest available official data.
The US ran a relatively small overall trade deficit with the EU, importing some $125 billion worth of goods and services more than exporting to Europe.
That deficit was down to the US importing more goods from the EU than the EU imported from the US. The EU, however, ran a trade deficit in services, importing more services from the US than the US did from the EU.
Oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, aerospace and parts, business and financial services such as consulting and charges for intellectual property rights use made up most of US exports to Europe.
Meanwhile, the US imported pharmaceuticals and medicines, motor vehicles, machinery, business services and travel, which includes European visitors to the US.
President Donald Trump told reporters he’s not worried about US allies turning to China due to his tariffs.
“Nobody can compete with us,” Trump said at the White House. “Nobody.”
This comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping visits three Southeast Asian countries: Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. On a visit to Vietnam, Xi urged the country’s leaders to resist “unilateral bullying.”
Trump, who often touts his good relationship with the Chinese president, was asked why he doesn’t just pick up the phone and call him.
“We’re gonna make a deal. We’ll have a deal,” Trump said. “I think that you will see we’ll make a very good deal with China.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she wants to invite President Donald Trump to visit Italy ahead of a highly anticipated meeting between the two leaders today at the White House.
“I’m sure we can make a deal, and I’m here to help with that,” she told reporters in the Cabinet Room, as she and Trump are expected to talk about trade and tariffs.
Meloni said that she cannot make a deal on behalf of the European Union, but she suggested that she could serve as a key interlocutor between Trump and European nations. Senior Trump administration officials have said that they view Meloni, who shares Trump’s ideologies on issues like immigration, as a “valuable interlocutor.”
“My goal would be to invite President Trump to pay an official visit to Italy and understand if there’s a possibility when he comes to organize also such a meeting with Europe,” she said.
Meloni said she expected that the two leaders would “speak frankly about the needs that every one of us has and find the results in the middle.”
President Donald Trump expressed “100 percent” confidence that the United States would reach a trade deal with the European Union before his 90-day pause on tariffs is over.
“There’ll be a trade deal. 100 percent. Why you think there won’t be? Of course there’ll be a trade deal,” Trump told reporters at a bilateral lunch with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “They want to make one very, very much. We’re gonna make a trade deal. I fully expect it, but it will be a fair deal.”
Trump did not say if he plans to meet with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, but mentioned more broadly that they’ve had “many” meetings with countries, including Japan.
As negotiations continue this week, Trump said his administration is “in no rush” to announce deals with specific countries, but “at a certain point” announcements will come.
Correction: A previous version of this post misstated Ursula von der Leyen’s title.
President Donald Trump once called Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “a fantastic woman” who has “taken Europe by storm.”
She dined with him at Mar-a-Lago and was the only European leader who was invited to Trump’s inauguration in January.
Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party is politically aligned with Trump on many issues, but not the two that are currently on top of Europe’s mind: tariffs and Ukraine.
Meloni has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom she met more than dozen times since Russia’s invasion in 2022 – which could put her on a collision course with Trump who has been pushing for the war in Ukraine to end even if it means Ukraine giving up some territory.
Italy is also a member of the European Union, so while Meloni is visiting the White House in her role Italian Prime Minister, she is also informally represents the EU.
She’ll likely seek to strike the right balance between the two roles – taking advantage of her good relationship with Trump while making the case against tariffs on the EU.Meloni has previously called the levies Trump imposed on the EU “wrong” and called for negotiations.
Meetings between Ukraine and the United States on a potential rare-earth minerals deal have been hailed as “really productive” and “positive” by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A “memorandum of intent” could be signed remotely as early as today, the Ukrainian president said, with a full agreement still being worked on.
“The lawyers have to work to make it a success for both countries. That’s why the technical meeting of the teams was positive, because we see the parties moving towards each other,” Zelensky said.
“Our side said OK; now with the American side, I understand that they are now working with the deputy prime minister on the text. But honestly, I think this is a memorandum,” he added.
Treasury officials have been working on the deal with a Ukrainian delegation visiting Washington this week, sources said.
Remember: The deal comes as the administration has renewed efforts in the last week to secure a peace deal to end the Ukraine war.
President Donald Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, and top Trump administration officials met with Europeans and Ukrainians in Paris today to discuss driving an end to the ongoing conflict.
The deal was supposed to be signed last month when Zelensky visited Washington, but instead his Oval Office meeting turned into an explosive argument between the two sides which abruptly ended his visit.
Attorneys for more than 100 foreign students whose international visas have been revoked argued in federal court today to stop the process.
The judge hearing the case did not immediately rule on the request, but did indicate she plans to grant some form of temporary relief.
All 133 foreign students are part of a lawsuit filed last week by Kuck Baxter, an Atlanta-based immigration attorney.
“We don’t know why their visas were revoked. We’re basically guessing. But we don’t know and that is a problem,” Baxter said in court.
Students include citizens of India, China, Colombia, Mexico and Japan, according to the complaint.
“There is no doubt that what happened here today, is a microcosm of the greater movement within the immigration service nationally. There is no doubt that this administration wants foreign students outside the United States. Especially those from countries that it doesn’t seem desirable,” Baxter said at a news conference following the hearing.
The lawsuit names three Trump administration officials as defendants: US Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons.
The White House and DHS have not responded to CNN’s request for comment.
The government argued during the hearing that granting temporary relief would be harmful to “the executive branch’s ability to control immigration.”
The gallery was packed with college-age spectators, some who shook their heads during the government arguments.
CNN’s Rafael Romo & Chris Youd contributed to this report
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has arrived at the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump.
Asked by a reporter how confident he is in making a trade deal with Italy, Trump mouthed, “very confident,” to which Meloni laughed. Trump pointed at her and said, “great person,” before they entered the West Wing.
In a bilateral meeting, they are expected to talk about a variety of topics, as Trump administration officials said they see her as a “valuable interlocutor” with the European Union — including on trade, immigration and efforts to end the Ukraine war.
Meloni is expected to push Trump on trade and tariffs.
An official said Trump is “taking this very seriously” and that the White House is “ready to make deals.”
Iran has doubled down on its right to enrich uranium and accused the Trump administration of sending mixed signals following conflicting statements by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Iran’s enrichment (program) is a real and genuine matter, and we are ready to build trust regarding potential concerns, but the issue of enrichment is non-negotiable,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on Wednesday, state-run Press TV reported.
Witkoff appeared to flip flop on the US position this week. He told Fox News that Iran shouldn’t need to enrich uranium above 3.67% to run a civilian program, appearing to accept that Iran would maintain a nuclear program. Then on Tuesday he took a more maximalist position, posting on X that “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.”
“We have heard contradictory and conflicting positions, and Mr. Witkoff has spoken in several ways so far,” Araghchi said. “The real positions will be clarified at the negotiation table.”
Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei weighed in early Thursday on X, likening the shifting US position to “a professional foul and an unfair act in football.”
“In diplomacy any such shifting (pushed by hawks who fail to grasp the logic/art of commonsensical deal-making) could simply risk any overtures falling apart,” he wrote. “It could be perceived as lack of seriousness, let alone good faith… We’re still in testing mode.”
A second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the US are expected on Saturday.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Alex Marquardt contributed reporting.
CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman tells CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the Trump administration is angling for a legal showdown in the Supreme Court over deportations.
‘This administration wants this fight’: Maggie Haberman on Trump strategy over deportations
‘This administration wants this fight’: Maggie Haberman on Trump strategy over deportations
01:20
The Trump administration is pushing hard to scramble a federal judge’s decision to move ahead with expedited fact-finding to help her figure out whether the government is complying with her order that it “facilitate” the return of a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
The effort is unfolding in two different courts.
Justice Department attorneys have appealed US District Judge Paula Xinis’ order for discovery in Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s case to the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals. They’re asking the Richmond-based appeals court to wipe away her order and are also appealing another order the judge issued last week that requires the administration to “take all available steps to facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
The appeals court has asked attorneys for Abrego Garcia to respond to the request by 5 p.m. ET today.
At the same time, the Justice Department is also asking Xinis directly to pause both of her orders while their appeal before at 4th Circuit plays out.
Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, has not yet responded to that request.
Remember: The judge said earlier this week that she wants the discovery — which would include both depositions of federal officials and limited written discovery — because she’s unsatisfied with the information the administration has been providing her detailing what the government is doing to carry out her directives in the case.
“It’s going to be two weeks of intense discovery,” Xinis said during a hearing on Tuesday. “And once we have a record, we’ll take it from there.”
Ahead of President Donald Trump’s official visit with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, senior Trump administration officials said they see her as a “valuable interlocutor” with the European Union — including on trade, immigration and efforts to end the Ukraine war.
“President Trump won’t simply focus on how Italy’s marketplace can be opened up, but also how they can help us with the rest of Europe,” a senior Trump administration official said on a call previewing the visit.
Another senior official said the visit would also focus on “Meloni’s role as a key force in Europe and a voice that largely sees eye-to-eye with the president on a lot of issues like immigration and the need to end the war in Ukraine.”
“We certainly see her as a valuable interlocutor with the EU,” that official continued.
Trump and the right-wing Meloni fall on similar ideological lines and have a positive relationship — the president has praised Meloni publicly, and she was the only European leader invited to Trump’s second inauguration.
But the strength of their rapport may be tested today, as Meloni is expected to push Trump on trade and tariffs.
The second official said Trump is “taking this very seriously” and that the White House is “ready to make deals.”
In addition to trade, the senior officials said that the two leaders are expected to discuss defense, shipping, and Italy’s role in the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor (IMEC). They also want to discuss ways to increase space cooperation and Italy’s interest in unleashing “American energy exports to the rest of the world.”
The officials said that the meeting has long been in the “queue” and wasn’t scheduled in direct reaction the Trump’s tariffs.
The prospects for a number of global economies have turned sour because of the trade war instigated by President Donald Trump, according to the chief of the International Monetary Fund.
A new IMF report, which will be released next week, will include “notable markdowns” in economic growth forecasts, Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, said in a speech today, joining a chorus of warnings from economists and business leaders about economic damage from Trump’s tariffs.
The IMF does not see a recession — that is, a protracted economic contraction — but its report will include “markups to the inflation forecasts for some countries.”
Georgieva said countries were being tested by “the reboot of the global trading system.”
“Financial markets volatility is up. And trade policy uncertainty is literally off the charts,” she said.
That uncertainty is costly, according to the IMF chief.
“The cost of one item can be affected by tariffs in dozens of countries,” Georgieva said. “In a world of bilateral tariff rates, each of which may be moving up or down, planning becomes difficult.”
The result is businesses postponing investments and consumers saving more as a precaution, Georgieva said. Such actions drain economies of key sources of growth.
“The longer uncertainty persists, the larger the cost,” she said.
China is taking the trade war to a new battleground: America’s TikTok feeds.
Chinese suppliers have been flooding American social media this week, urging users to outflank President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs on Beijing by buying directly from their factories.
It’s highly improbable that these are real suppliers for brands like Lululemon and Chanel, multiple experts told CNN. Legitimate manufacturers usually sign non-disclosure agreements, so it’s unlikely that these creators are selling the real thing.
But the videos are highlighting not only the anxiety that the tariffs are causing consumers, they also reveal how much shoppers rely on China.
TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.
See more here:
@cnnChinese suppliers have been flooding American social media this week, urging users to avoid President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs on Beijing by buying directly from their factories, but some luxury companies have warned against misinformation and counterfeit goods. #china #manufacturers #tiktok #cnn #news
♬ original sound - CNN
President Donald Trump projected optimism today about his recent and upcoming trade talks with several countries, including Mexico and Japan, and stated that China is among those who want to meet with his administration.
“Had a very productive call with the President of Mexico yesterday. Likewise, I met with the highest level Japanese Trade Representatives. It was a very productive meeting. Every Nation, including China, wants to meet! Today, Italy!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
As CNN’s Steven Jiang reported Wednesday, China is open to trade negotiations with the United States but any talks should be based on “respect” and greater “consistency and reciprocity” from the Trump administration, according to a person familiar with the Chinese government’s thinking.
Mexico and Canada were exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, which Trump eventually paused, as he negotiates tailored trade agreements with countries.
However, the two nations are still subject to 25% tariffs outside of the US-Mexico trade agreement.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is visiting the White House later today.
The European Central Bank (ECB) cut its main interest rate to 2.25% from 2.5% today as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs loom large over the region’s economy.
The ECB sets the cost of borrowing for the 20 countries that use the euro. The cut, which was widely expected, is the seventh in the past year.
Inflation in the eurozone has tumbled from the record high reached in late 2022 to 2.2% year-over-year in March, coming within touching distance of the central bank’s 2% target.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s tariffs threaten to dampen economic growth around the world.
Last month, the ECB said the tariffs announced by that point had increased uncertainty over trade policy, leading it to pencil in lower growth in Europe for this year and next.
“The implementation of further tariffs by the US administration and the associated uncertainty pose risks to the economic outlook for the euro area,” the bank added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s message was delivered to President Donald Trump by the US president’s foreign envoy ahead of the Ukraine talks taking place in Paris, the Kremlin said Thursday.
Asked about Moscow’s expectations from the upcoming talks between the Ukrainian delegation and US representatives in France, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he hoped they will focus on finding a peaceful settlement.
“Our president recently had a very lengthy conversation with Mr. Witkoff. We know that the content of this conversation was reported to Trump,” Peskov told reporters.
“We would expect further demonstrations of orientation on the search for a peaceful settlement by Europeans and Ukrainians,” he said accusing Europe of focusing on continuing the war.
President Donald Trump tore into Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday, citing reports of how the European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates again and urging him to lower US rates now.
“The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete “mess!” Trump posted on Truth Social early Thursday morning.
Trump is slated to meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni later today.
“Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” Trump continued.
On Wednesday, after Powell warned that the effects of Trump’s tariffs “remain highly uncertain,” stocks took a drop.
Trump appointed Powell in 2018 and former President Joe Biden reappointed him to another four-year term.
Keep in mind: There are legal barriers for Trump, and any other president, to remove or fire a Fed chair. It requires what America’s central bank refers to as “for cause.”
Ultimately, the Supreme Court could have the final say on what merits a “for cause” firing of a Fed chair. But while that fight, which would probably be lengthy, plays out, Powell would likely still get to stay in his job until his term ends.
CNN’s Auzinea Bacon contributed reporting to this post.
Russia pounded several regions of Ukraine overnight into Thursday, hours ahead of a summit in Paris where Ukrainian officials are set to meet with a top delegation from the United States.
At least five people were killed and 66 others were injured in the strikes, which spanned from Sumy in the northeast to Kherson region in the south.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and at least 75 Shahed-type drones. It said its air defenses had shot down 25 of these Shahed drones and at least 30 “dummy” drones – drones that do not carry an explosive warhead but that are meant to overwhelm air defenses – had crashed “without negative consequences.”
In the southern Dnipropetrovsk region, at least three people were killed – including a child – and 30 others were injured, according to Serhiy Lysak, head of the region’s military administration.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine endured a “difficult night” of strikes launched by Russia.
“It was a difficult night in Dnipro – a strike by Russian drones,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram, saying Moscow had struck “ordinary houses, ordinary civilian infrastructure.”
A 17-year-old girl called Veronika was among the three people killed in the strike on Dnipro, Zelensky said.
“Every defense package for Ukraine from our partners, every form of support from the world for our resilience is literally about protecting lives. Russia uses every day and every night to kill. We must put pressure on the killers and help lives to end this war and guarantee a lasting peace,” Zelensky said.
Lysak said a dozen apartment buildings, a dozen private homes, a school and other buildings were damaged in the “massive” drone attack.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s claims that he could bring the war in Ukraine to a swift end, Russia has stepped up its strikes in recent weeks.
Former President Joe Biden lauded Harvard University for its firm stance against demands for policy changes by the Trump administration during a private seminar Wednesday at the Harvard Kennedy School, student newspaper The Harvard Crimson reported.
Speaking to a small group of students, Biden commended the university’s response as a powerful example of leadership during its escalating standoff with Washington.
“Harvard stepped up in a way no one else has,” Biden said, according to two students at the off-the-record event, the Crimson reported. “You should be really thankful.”
When asked by a Crimson reporter if Harvard should pursue legal action against the federal government, Biden reiterated his support for the university’s approach but stopped short of advocating a lawsuit. “I think Harvard should just do what it’s doing — lifting everybody up,” he told the Crimson.
A Harvard Kennedy School spokesperson declined the Crimson’s request comment on Biden’s remarks. A spokesperson for Biden also declined to comment, according to the newspaper.
The seminar was scheduled weeks before a funding standoff between Harvard and the Trump administration began.
After rejecting demands from the administration, including ending its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and turning over information on international students, the university is facing the potential loss of its tax-exempt status and a $2.2 billion funding freeze — a financial blow that has prompted disruptions and sparked concerns over staffing and ongoing projects.
Biden’s visit to Harvard marks a rare public appearance since he left office in January. On Tuesday, he made his first public remarks at a conference of disability advocates in Chicago.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, defense minister and a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Paris early Thursday to meet US officials in a European summit on ending the war in Ukraine — the highest-level talks in weeks.
“We are working on critical issues for the security of Ukraine and all of Europe,” Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office, wrote on X. Yermak said meetings are scheduled with the representatives of the US “currently present in France.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff are set to take part in Thursday’s talks.
Yermak said that Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will meet representatives from the “coalition of the willing” — a band of countries stepping in to support Ukraine’s war effort while the US winds down its military footprint in Europe.
The summit has been billed as Europe’s chance to gauge the Trump administration’s thinking on the war, following its direct negotiations with Moscow that have sidelined both Brussels and Kyiv.
Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg last week — his third meeting with the Russian president this year.
On the ground: Russia pounded several regions of Ukraine overnight into Thursday, hours ahead of the summit.
The strikes killed at least five people and wounded 66 others, and spanned from Sumy in the northeast to Kherson region in the south.
In the southern Dnipropetrovsk region, at least three people were killed – including a child – and 30 others were injured, according to Serhiy Lysak, head of the region’s military administration.
The Trump administration continues to test how far it can push its compliance with court orders it disagrees with.
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that “probable cause exists” to hold administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his order to halt the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to a Salvadoran mega-prison.
Here’s the latest on the immigration crackdown:
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