Author: potus

United States President Donald Trump has slapped 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports in his latest push to reshape an international trading order that he claims is unfairly stacked against US manufacturers and workers. Signing a series of executive orders to impose the tariffs on Monday, Trump said that US industry has been “pummelled by both friend and foe alike”. “Our nation requires steel and aluminium to be made in America, not in foreign lands. We need to create in order to protect our country’s future,” Trump said as he signed the orders. “It’s time for our…

Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove has ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a senior Justice Department official said Monday evening. The order is for all charges against Adams to be dismissed, and the dismissal is without prejudice, the official said, meaning charges could be refiled in the future.The charges have not yet been dismissed, and federal prosecutors in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night. A formal dismissal request would be filed in court by prosecutors overseen by Danielle R. Sassoon, the…

The United States military has announced it will no longer accept transgender people hoping to enlist, or facilitate gender affirmation procedures for active service members. The memo filed at the US District Court in Washington, DC, on Monday is the latest effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to roll back protections for transgender people. “Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in the memo, which was dated February 7. “All unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for…

A federal judge in Boston on Monday continued his pause of the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to get millions of federal workers to resign until he responds “to the issues presented.”U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. had temporarily halted the administration’s plan to offer mass buyouts to millions of federal workers on Thursday, just hours before a deadline to accept the offer. After a hearing Monday, he said the pause would continue until he rules on a preliminary injunction.Elena Goldstein, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said, “We ask for more weeks … while this court considers the merits.”Goldstein added,…

President Donald Trump on Monday imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to the United States.“This is a big deal,” Trump said while signing the proclamations in the Oval Office. “The beginning of making America rich again.”The proclamations impose a 25% tariff on steel imports on all countries, and raise his 2018 aluminum tariffs from 10% to 25%, without exceptions or exemptions.The tariffs come just a week after Trump promised to suspend tariffs on Canada and Mexico. They echo steel and aluminum tariffs Trump imposed during his first administration, though at that point those were imposed explicitly on…

Hamas said Monday it was suspending the upcoming hostage release in the Gaza Strip, blaming Israel for not following the terms of a ceasefire agreement that paused the 15-month war in the Palestinian enclave.Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, cited alleged Israeli violations of the deal over the past three weeks, including delaying the return of displaced people to northern Gaza, not allowing aid to enter the enclave, and shelling and gunfire in various areas of the strip.As a result, the handover of hostages scheduled for Saturday “will be postponed until further notice” and until Israel “commits to and compensates for…

President Trump said on Monday that he could cut aid to Jordan and Egypt if they refused his demand to permanently take in most Palestinians from Gaza, substantially increasing the pressure on key allies in the region to back his audacious proposal to relocate the entire population of the territory in order to redevelop it.“If they don’t agree, I would conceivably withhold aid,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office a day ahead of a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan.Both Jordan and Egypt have rejected any suggestion that Palestinians be relocated to their countries.Mr. Trump doubled down…

WASHINGTON — The GOP-controlled Senate on Monday voted to advance the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, putting her on a path to be confirmed this week.The party-line vote was 52-46, with all Republicans present voting in favor of Gabbard. Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., did not vote. Last week, Gabbard’s nomination as the nation’s top-ranking intelligence official squeaked through the Senate Intelligence Committee on a party-line 9-8 vote.“The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission, collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information,” Senate Majority Leader John…

The Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau risk leaving Americans’ nearly $18 trillion in consumer debt with less supervision or regulation.One CFPB staffer said Monday that every meeting and work item on their calendar, including reviewing investigative actions, had been deleted.“I think at some point, the machinery is going to start to jam up,” said the employee, who asked to speak anonymously out of fear of reprisal. “What is industry going to do on its own?”As of Monday evening, the CFPB’s homepage said “404: Page not found,” though other parts of the site appeared to be…

Bound. Starved. Wounded. Tortured. These are the conditions that some hostages being held in Gaza still face, according to information their families said they had received from Israeli military and security officials after Hamas released three captives on Saturday as part of a cease-fire agreement.The emaciated appearance of three hostages released in a ceremony in Gaza staged by Hamas last weekend — Eli Sharabi, 52; Or Levy, 34; and Ohad Ben-Ami, 56 — and the details of their captivity have relatives of the remaining captives sounding the alarm about the urgent need for the continuation of the phased cease-fire deal.…