Category Archives: US Politics

Trump pick to head CDC sparks Maga backlash among conspiracy theorists

Posted on by

Firestorm from science deniers of anti-vaccine set shows splits in Trump world and forced RFK Jr to defend hire

Donald Trump’s appointment of a career health researcher to head the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provoked a serious rightwing backlash for the new administration.

Dozens of Maga influencers, along with many rank-and-file Trump supporters, have taken to social media to denounce Susan Monarez to spin false conspiracy theories about her connections to the CIA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa).

Continue reading...

Donald Trump moves to end union rights for many government agency employees – US politics live

Posted on by

White House signs executive order limiting numerous federal workers from unionising

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration would boost military ties with the Philippines to strengthen deterrence against “threats from the communist Chinese” and ensure freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea.

Hegseth spoke on Friday during a meeting with president Ferdinand Marcos Jr in the Philippines, his first stop in his first trip to Asia, to reaffirm Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to the region under Trump.

Continue reading...

The Signal fiasco is a political gift to Democrats but their power is limited

Posted on by

The ball now appears to be in the Republicans’ court, where there have been some signs of diverging from Trump

For beleaguered and divided congressional Democrats desperate to find an effective line of attack against Donald Trump, news that the US president’s national security team discussed plans to bomb Yemen on a widely available messaging app in the presence of a journalist came at just the right time.

The leak has put the White House and the Republicans on the defensive, generated multiple days of aggressive media coverage and forced top officials to publicly twist themselves in knots as they seek to explain – or downplay – the blunder.

Continue reading...

End of an era for Canada-US ties, says Carney, as allies worldwide decry Trump’s car tariffs

Posted on by

Canadian PM says Donald Trump has permanently altered relations, as countries around the globe insist import taxes are harmful to all, including Washington

Canada’s prime minister has said the era of deep ties with the US “is over”, as governments from Tokyo to Berlin to Paris sharply criticised Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on car imports, with some threatening retaliatory action.

Mark Carney warned Canadians that Trump had permanently altered relations and that, regardless of any future trade deals, there would be “no turning back”.

Continue reading...

Flight bookings between Canada and US down 70% amid Trump tariff war

Posted on by

Airline capacity between two countries reduced through October 2025 as high-profile incidents of Ice arrests on rise

Airline travel between Canada and the US is “collapsing” amid Donald Trump’s tariff war, with flight bookings between the two countries down by over 70%, newly released data suggests.

According to data from the aviation analytics company OAG, airline capacity between Canada and the US has been reduced through October 2025, with the biggest cuts occurring between the months of July and August, which is considered peak travel season. Passenger bookings on Canada to US routes are currently down by over 70% compared to the same period last year.

Continue reading...

US House Democrat backing El Salvador’s strongman president

Posted on by

Vicente Gonzalez tirelessly promoting Nayib Bukele, including reposting calls to ‘impeach corrupt judges’

A Texas Democrat is co-chair of a congressional caucus that has tirelessly promoted El Salvador’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, including on the caucus’s X account by reposting calls to “impeach the corrupt judges” who impede the actions of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Bukeke is also currently at the center of a scandal in the US involving the transport of hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they have entered the country’s notorious prisons for gang members – despite clear evidence that some of them have no gang links.

Continue reading...

US immigration officials detain doctoral student at University of Alabama

Posted on by

Justification for arrest not clear as Trump administration increasingly targets students for arrest and deportation

US immigration authorities have detained a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, campus officials confirmed on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the state’s flagship university said in a brief statement that a student was arrested “off campus” by federal immigration officials, but declined to comment further, citing privacy laws.

Continue reading...

Private data of Trump officials in Signal scandal accessible online: report

Posted on by

Der Spiegel reports that in some cases it found password details for Mike Waltz, Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard via hacked data dumps and commercial providers

The private data of top security advisers to US President Donald Trump can be accessed online, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday, adding to the fallout from the officials’ use of a Signal group chat to plan airstrikes on Yemen.

Mobile phone numbers, email addresses and in some cases passwords used by national security adviser Mike Waltz, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard can be found via commercial data-search services and hacked data dumped online, it reported. It is not clear in all cases how recent the details are.

Continue reading...

Judge at centre of row with Trump over Venezuela deportations will hear Signal lawsuit

Posted on by

US president had previously called for the impeachment of James Boasberg after the judge blocked his deportation flights

The US judge set to hear a new lawsuit over the Signal fiasco is the same judge whom Donald Trump has argued should be impeached for blocking him from using wartime powers to deport Venezuelan migrants.

James Boasberg, a district judge in Washington, was assigned on Wednesday to a lawsuit alleging Trump officials violated federal record-keeping laws by using a Signal group chat to discuss looming military action against Yemen’s Houthis.

Continue reading...

Canada’s ex-spy chief says White House response to Signal leak threatens ‘Five Eyes’ security

Posted on by

Former intelligence head said leak and White House response was ‘very worrying’ to allies of the US

Canada’s former spy chief has said the Trump administration’s attempts to downplay the leak of top-secret attack plans is a “very worrying” development, with implications for broader intelligence sharing among US allies.

On Wednesday, the Atlantic magazine published new and detailed messages from a group chat, including plans for US bombings, drone launches and targeting information of the assault, including descriptions of weather conditions. Among the recipients of the messages was a prominent journalist, who was inadvertently added to the group.

Continue reading...

Intelligence chiefs deny they discussed war plans on Signal in House hearing

Posted on by

National intelligence head Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe argue ‘no classified information’ was leaked

US intelligence chiefs on Wednesday denied breaking the law or revealing classified information in a group chat where they discussed details of air strikes on Yemen in the presence of a journalist, despite allegations from Democrats that the leak was reckless and possibly illegal.

The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA director, John Ratcliffe, were giving their second day of congressional testimony on global threats facing the United States, which Democratic lawmakers seized on to condemn their use of the Signal app to discuss arrangements to bomb the Houthis in a group that included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic.

Continue reading...

Trump officials pause some green card applications in immigration crackdown

Posted on by

Approved refugees reportedly affected by freeze on processing after Trump demands more aggressive vetting

The Trump administration has paused the processing of certain green card applications as the US government continues to implement a hardline immigration agenda.

CBS News reported that approved refugees are part of the processing freeze, as the White House enacts an effort to more aggressively vet immigrants to the US.

Continue reading...

Newly shared Signal messages show Trump advisers discussed Yemen attack plans

Posted on by

The Atlantic releases more text from chat after Trump officials claimed none of it was ‘classified information’

The Atlantic magazine has published fresh messages from a group chat including top US officials where they discuss operational details of plans to bomb Yemen.

The initial revelations by the magazine and its editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was accidentally added to the chat on the messaging app Signal, have sparked a huge outcry in the US, with the Trump administration facing withering attacks over the disastrous leak of sensitive information.

Continue reading...

Trump outburst prompts removal of his ‘distorted’ portrait from Colorado capitol

Posted on by

Painting of Trump was commissioned by Republicans, though president blamed Colorado’s Democratic governor

A portrait of Donald Trump that was commissioned by fellow Republicans – but which he evidently came to believe had been “purposefully distorted” – was removed from a wall at the Colorado state capitol where it had been since 2019.

After Trump posted complaints about the painting on his Truth Social platform, Colorado’s senate minority leader, Paul Lundeen, a Republican, asked that it be taken down and replaced with one that “depicts his contemporary likeness”. Colorado Republicans had raised more than $10,000 to commission the oil painting that was the target of the president’s ire.

Continue reading...

Rising fears of Trump tariffs pummel US consumer confidence to four-year low

Posted on by

Tariffs panned by economists for sowing uncertainty that they said made it challenging for businesses to plan ahead

US consumer confidence plunged to the lowest level in more than four years in March, with households fearing a recession in the future and higher inflation because of tariffs.

The Conference Board said on Tuesday that write-in responses to the survey showed “worries about the impact of trade policies and tariffs in particular are on the rise”, adding: “There were also more references than usual to economic and policy uncertainty.”

Continue reading...

Trump dismisses Signal security failure as ‘the only glitch in two months’

Posted on by

President says national security adviser Mike Waltz, suspected of adding journalist to chat, ‘has learned a lesson’

Donald Trump defended his embattled national security adviser on Tuesday and said the leak of highly classified military plans was “the only glitch in two months”, as scrutiny intensified into how top US officials shared operational details for bombing Yemen in a group chat.

In an interview with NBC, the president said, “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” as Democrats called for an investigation into the sharing of the plans for this month’s major airstrikes in Yemen on the Signal app. Later on Tuesday, during a meeting with ambassadors, Trump said his administration would investigate the incident but claimed “there was no classified information” shared on Signal.

Continue reading...

Danish PM accuses US of ‘unacceptable pressure’ as JD Vance says he will join Greenland visit

Posted on by

US vice-president says he will join unsolicited visit to Arctic island, which Mette Frederiksen says is ‘not what Greenland needs or wants’

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, has accused the US of putting “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland – which she has vowed to resist – before an unsolicited visit to the Arctic island by members of the Trump administration.

Later, just hours after her comments, the White House sprang a fresh surprise, as the US vice-president, JD Vance, announced he would join his wife on a trip to the territory this week.

Continue reading...

US postmaster general resigns with immediate effect

Posted on by

Louis DeJoy led dramatic effort to restructure the US postal service over past five years

The US postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, who said earlier this month that he had asked the government efficiency team led by Elon Musk for assistance with a number of issues, is resigning effective on Monday, the agency said.

DeJoy, who has headed the agency since 2020, in February said he had asked the US Postal Service (USPS) governing board to identify his successor but had given no indication in recent days that he planned to step down abruptly.

Continue reading...

Trump’s shuttering of global media agency endangers reporters, staff say

Posted on by

Employees who may have to return home risk death or imprisonment at hands of authoritarian governments

Foreign workers at US government-backed media outlets being cut by the Trump administration say they face deportation to their home countries, where some risk imprisonment or death at the hands of authoritarian governments.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration moved to defund the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America (VoA), the US’s largest and oldest international broadcaster, and provides grants to Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other news agencies. The agency had around 3,500 employees with an annual budget of $886m in 2024.

Continue reading...

US and Russia begin talks in Saudi Arabia on Ukraine ceasefire

Posted on by

Uncertainty remains over how and when 30-day halt on energy strikes would take effect amid a gulf on expectations

US and Russian officials have begun talks in Saudi Arabia as Donald Trump pushes to broker a limited ceasefire that Washington hopes will mark the first step toward lasting peace in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia have agreed in principle to a one-month halt on strikes on energy infrastructure after Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders last week. But uncertainty remains over how and when the partial ceasefire would take effect – and whether its scope would extend beyond energy infrastructure to include other critical sites, such as hospitals, bridges, and vital utilities.

Continue reading...