Category Archives: Trump administration

Trump says US will impose new tariffs on heavy trucks, drugs and kitchen cabinets

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President announces 100% tariffs on imported branded drugs, 25% on heavy-duty trucks and 50% on cabinets

Donald Trump on Thursday announced a new round of punishing tariffs, saying the United States will impose a 100% tariffs on imported branded drugs, 25% tariff on imports of all heavy-duty trucks and 50% tariffs on kitchen cabinets.

The US president also said he would start charging a 50% tariff on bathroom vanities and a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture next week, with all the new duties to take effect from 1 October.

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Former FBI director James Comey indicted for making false statement to Congress and obstruction of justice

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Indictment comes after Trump instructed US attorney general to prosecute Comey and others he considers political foes

James Comey, the former FBI director and one of Donald Trump’s most frequent targets, was indicted on Thursday on one count of making a false statement to Congress and one count of obstruction of justice, according to a person familiar with the matter, in the latest move in the president’s expansive retribution campaign against his political adversaries.

“No one is above the law. Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case,” Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, tweeted on Thursday.

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White House tells agencies to prepare for firings if government shuts down

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Democrats accuse Trump of intimidation tactics after memo outlines much more aggressive step than previous shutdowns

The White House is telling federal agencies to prepare large-scale firings of workers if the government shuts down next week in a partisan fight over spending plans – prompting the Democrats to accuse Donald Trump of intimidation tactics.

In a memo released on Wednesday night, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week, is not otherwise funded and is “not consistent with the president’s priorities”.

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Lisa Cook urges supreme court to reject Trump’s bid to fire her from Fed board

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Cook’s lawyers say president’s unprecedented move would destroy Fed’s independence and disrupt financial markets

Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook urged the US supreme court on Thursday to reject Donald Trump’s attempt to fire her, telling the justices the Republican president’s unprecedented move would destroy the central bank’s independence and disrupt financial markets.

Lawyers for Cook filed a written response opposing the justice department’s 18 September emergency request to lift a federal judge’s order that blocked Trump from immediately removing Cook, an appointee of Democratic former president Joe Biden, while her legal challenge continues.

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Texas Ice facility shooting: Republicans blame ‘radical left’ as Democrats focus on victims and gun control

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Democrats say Trump allies are using incident for ‘political points’ against the left despite the victims being detainees

A deadly shooting at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) field office in Dallas has been met with markedly different reactions from the political right and left.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed shortly after the news broke that detainees were the victims of the sniper attack on the facility and that no federal agents had been injured. The president and his allies, however, were quick to frame the shooting as an attack on Ice and place blame on the “radical left”.

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Jimmy Kimmel comeback breaks his YouTube monologue views record

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Preliminary figures show 6.26 million broadcast viewers and more than 15m views on YouTube in first 16 hours

So much for low viewership: Jimmy Kimmel’s comeback monologue is now his most-viewed one on YouTube.

The nearly 30-minute segment, in which Kimmel acknowledged his suspension by ABC owner Disney under pressure from the Trump administration, clarified his remarks on the killing of Charlie Kirk and passionately defended free speech, racked up more than 15m views in 16 hours.

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Brazil’s president says in UN speech that democracy can prevail over ‘would-be autocrats’

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South American leftist Lula takes indirect swipes at Trump in speech and warns that global threat of ‘anti-democratic forces’ persists

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, has launched an impassioned defence of his country’s democracy, claiming the recent conviction of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, had shown the world how “would-be autocrats” could be brought to heel.

Speaking at the opening of the United Nations general assembly in New York, Lula hailed Brazil’s successful effort to repel “an unprecedented attack” from Bolsonaro’s extreme right movement. On 11 September, the former paratrooper was sentenced to 27 years in jail for trying to stage a military coup after he lost the 2022 election to Lula.

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Experts alarmed as Trump pushes unproven link between Tylenol and autism

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Doctors call president’s warning that pregnant women should limit use of acetaminophen – also known as paracetamol - ‘highly concerning’ and ‘irresponsible’

Medical experts are raising alarms after Donald Trump warned pregnant women to avoid taking Tylenol, baselessly linking the painkiller – also known as paracetamol - with a rise in autism among children.

From the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), doctors have endorsed the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy after Trump said pregnant women who can’t “tough it out” without the painkiller should limit their intake.

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Trump rails against Tylenol but autism claims not supported by science

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President’s announcement latest move in campaign that seeks to valorize the ‘natural’ – often at women’s expense

Donald Trump has, allegedly, found “the answer to autism”: Tylenol.

On Monday, Trump announced that pregnant women should dramatically limit their use of acetaminophen, known by the brand name Tylenol or internationally as paracetamol, because, he claimed, it raises the risk of autism.

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Ted Cruz urges Trump to back older retirement age for pilots

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Worker groups oppose move, citing studies finding health risks and decline in cognitive skills with increase in age

Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who heads the US Senate’s commerce committee, has urged Donald Trump to support international efforts by an airline trade group to raise the mandatory pilot retirement age to 67 – despite opposition from a pilots association, which says such a move could increase travel risks.

In a letter first reported by Reuters on Sunday, Cruz asked Trump to support efforts the upcoming opening of a United Nations aviation meeting in Montreal.

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Trump officials reportedly set to tie Tylenol to autism risk

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Washington Post says announcement imminent despite guidelines showing drug is safe for pregnant women to take

Donald Trump’s administration is expected to tie pregnant women’s use of the popular medicine known as Tylenol to a risk for autism, contrary to medical guidelines, the Washington Post has reported.

Trump officials on Monday are also expected to announce an effort to explore how the drug leucovorin could purportedly and potentially treat autism, according to the Post report published Sunday, which cited four sources with knowledge of the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made.

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Tulsi Gabbard did not alert White House before revoking 37 security clearances

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Exclusive: White House only realized afterwards that clearances at the CIA and in Congress had been rescinded

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, did not inform the White House that her office was revoking the security clearances of 37 people – including top deputies to the CIA director, John Ratcliffe – before it happened last month, according to three people familiar with matter.

The move caused consternation because it resulted in the White House not having an opportunity to closely vet the list before it became public and there appeared to be no paper trail from the president directing the effort, the people said.

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Pentagon demands journalists sign pledge not to gather certain information

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If they don’t agree to limits, including restricting movement within building, Pentagon press passes will be revoked

The US military has issued new media restrictions demanding that journalists pledge not to gather any information – including unclassified documents – that has not been authorized for release or else risk revocation of their press passes.

In a memo issued Thursday, the Pentagon stated that “it remains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust”. However, using an abbreviation for the recently rebranded Department of War headed by the Trump administration’s Pete Hegseth, the memo added: “DoW information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”

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US attorney tasked with inquiring into Trump critics resigns after president says ‘I want him out’

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Erik Siebert leaving after his investigation finds insufficient evidence to charge New York’s attorney general Letitia James with a crime

The federal prosecutor for the eastern district of Virginia resigned Friday under intense pressure from Donald Trump, after his office determined there wasn’t sufficient evidence to charge New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, a political rival of the president, with a crime.

Erik Siebert told colleagues he was resigning in a letter sent Friday, NBC News reported. Meanwhile, in an early Saturday post on his Truth Social platform, Trump maintained that Siebert didn’t quit – but rather: “I fired him!”

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Trump again asks supreme court to end protections for Venezuelans in US

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Justice department urges court to overturn ruling that Kristi Noem lacked authority to end TPS program

The Trump administration asked the US supreme court on Friday to intervene for the second time in a case involving its bid to end deportation protections the former president, Joe Biden, granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States.

The justice department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a federal judge’s ruling that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, lacked the authority to end the protections for Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program.

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Trump says Xi Jinping has agreed to approve TikTok deal, but details unclear

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Trump’s statement suggests preliminary agreement between leaders in the first direct contact between them since June

Donald Trump said on Friday that he and Xi Jinping had agreed to approve a deal over TikTok.

“He approved the TikTok deal,” Trump said about Xi to reporters in the Oval Office, suggesting the leaders signed off on a preliminary agreement. But Trump offered no details about the agreement or when it would be signed.

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Maria Ressa tells Jon Stewart Americans are ‘deer in the headlights’ in face of Trump assault on free speech

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Nobel prize-winner says US institutions have collapsed much quicker than expected under the Trump administration

The Nobel prize-winner Maria Ressa has said Americans are like “deer in the headlights” amid the collapse of US institutions and free speech under the Trump administration, particularly after Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension.

Speaking to Jon Stewart on the satirical news programme The Daily Show, the journalist and author of How to Stand Up to a Dictator, said the speed at which Donald Trump had “collapsed” US institutions happened much faster than she anticipated.

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For comedians around the world, the laughs often end as democracy fades

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Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel sets US on course similar to that charted by authoritarian regimes from Egypt to India

The exiled Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef has experienced firsthand how intolerant governments can silence political satire. And he had a short message this week for those living in an age of Donald Trump’s free speech clampdown: “My Fellow American Citizens,” he wrote on X. “Welcome to my world.”

In his attacks on the most prominent of American satirists, the US president has joined a cadre of illiberal and sensitive leaders around the world who will not tolerate a joke.

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Judges rule against Trump administration on deporting Guatemalan children and Venezuelans

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Double defeat protects Venezuelans with temporary protected status and Guatemalan minors

The Trump administration has been handed a double defeat by judges in immigration cases, barring the executive branch from deporting a group of Guatemalan children and from slashing protections for many Venezuelans in the US.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the administration to refrain from deporting Guatemalan unaccompanied immigrant children with active immigration cases while a legal challenge plays out.

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Chip giant Nvidia to take $5bn stake in Intel and collaborate on products

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Deal gives Intel a lifeline as firms team up on AI data centers and PC chips after Trump stake sparks market surge

Nvidia, the world’s leading chipmaker, announced plans to invest $5bn in Intel and collaborate with the struggling semiconductor company on products.

One month after the Trump administration confirmed it had taken a 10% stake in Intel – the latest extraordinary intervention by the White House in corporate America – Nvidia said it would team up with the firm to work on custom data centers that form the backbone of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, as well as personal computer products.

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