Author: potus

SEATTLE — Three Democratic states sued the Trump administration on Friday over its order to ban federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under 19.Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown filed the federal lawsuit in the Western District of Washington. The attorneys general of Oregon and Minnesota, and three doctors, also joined as plaintiffs. The complaint argues that the order discriminates against transgender people.Trump signed an executive order last month directing federally run insurance programs, including Medicaid and TRICARE for military families, to exclude coverage for such care. It also calls on the Department of Justice to pursue litigation…

Samantha Power, the former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, warned that the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency, which provides international humanitarian aid, could bolster China’s global influence.“It’s no secret we’re in a period of intense strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China,” Power told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “The PRC has become more active over the last decade and a half through the Belt and Road initiative, but also through programs that mimic some of what USAID is doing. … They see the value of gaining this political capital and winning hearts and minds in this…

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is eying a committee vote next week to kickstart a massive multi-trillion-dollar package to advance President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. But first, Johnson needs to unify his small and fractious Republican majority before the House can even begin working on the bill.Johnson is eager to project imminent success as he faces pressure to get his ducks in a row from the GOP-controlled Senate, where the chamber’s budget committee plans to move forward next week with a dueling resolution that takes a different approach.But House Republicans are divided on the parameters of a party-line…

Montreal, Canada – Donald Trump has been in the White House for less than three weeks, but the United States president has already launched what many say is a concerted attack on the rights of migrants and refugees. The Republican leader has sent migrants to the notorious detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; pushed for more deportations; effectively banned asylum; and suspended the refugee resettlement programme. Trump has also used the threat of tariffs to pressure his country’s neighbours — Canada and Mexico — to enact harsher measures at their respective borders to stem irregular migration into the US. For Canadian…

President Donald Trump on Friday said he intended to fire some of the FBI personnel who worked on Capitol riot cases, asserting without providing evidence that some of them were “corrupt.””I will fire some of them,” Trump said, in answer to a reporter’s question at a news conference in Washington with the Japanese prime minister. He added: “We had some corrupt agents, and those people are gone or they will be gone, and it will be done quickly and very surgically.”No evidence has surfaced publicly of any misconduct by FBI personnel who investigated Jan. 6 cases, and the vast majority…

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said negotiating with the United States was “unwise, unintelligent, and not honorable,” just days after President Trump said he was willing to revive negotiations with Tehran.But Mr. Khamenei stopped short of ordering Iran’s government, which for months has sent signals that it is interested in negotiations, not to engage with Washington. And though Mr. Khamenei made an unusual gesture last year of openness to talks, he has generally taken a publicly hostile posture toward Washington even while quietly allowing Iranian officials to negotiate.In comments on Friday, Mr. Khamenei argued that Iran’s previous experiences negotiating…

(The Center Square) – Colorado is slowly phasing out the last of its coal-fueled electrical power plants, even though they still generated a third of the state’s total in-state energy generation in 2023.The Colorado Department of Labor and Energy reports that 10 coal-fired units remain operational throughout the state. One of those 10 is scheduled to close by the end of this year, with the remaining nine units all set to close by the end of 2031.The department reports that the plants are closing for a “variety of reasons.”“The era of coal in Colorado appears to be ending, and that poses…

Vice President JD Vance’s White House portfolio is coming into sharper focus.President Donald Trump has tapped Vance, along with National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, to oversee a deal to sell and save TikTok, the Chinese social media company facing a ban in the U.S., two people familiar with the arrangement told NBC News.The assignment, first reported by Punchbowl News, tops a longer list of tasks Vance is tackling.His week began in his native Ohio, where, on the second anniversary of the toxic East Palestine train derailment, he committed the administration to completing cleanup efforts and defended Trump’s call for tariffs on…

(The Center Square) – Conflict over budget priorities is already growing in Michigan, just two days after the State Budget Office presented Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive budget to a joint House and Senate Appropriations Committee.While Democrats are applauding the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget recommendations, Republicans want more money for roads and infrastructure.“While I share Gov. Whitmer’s priorities: making the cost of living more affordable, our schools better, and our communities safer, I am not convinced that her plan will bring us closer to any of these goals,” explained state Rep. Ron Robinson, R-Utica. “We do not need more bureaucrats, we…

Employees package and sort express parcels at an e-commerce company on Nov. 1, 2024, around the Double 11 Shopping Festival in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province of China.Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that puts a pause on his closing of the de minimis trade exemption, a provision commonly used by Chinese e-commerce companies Temu and Shein.The order states that de minimis will be restored for small packages shipped from China, “but shall cease to be available for such articles upon notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate…