Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will not attend what may be the first direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in three years, scheduled for Thursday, Reuters reports. Instead, the Kremlin will send a team of technocrats. A US official said the US president would not attend, despite earlier comments suggesting he was considering the trip.
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr described the downsizing of his department as necessary cost-cutting measures as he defended his spending plans under Donald Trump’s budget proposal. The plans include an $18bn cut to National Institutes of Health funding and $3.6bn from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kennedy’s back-to-back testimonies before House and Senate committees were his first appearances before lawmakers since his confirmation in February.
Protesters interrupted Robert F Kennedy Jr’s opening remarks before the Senate health committee this afternoon, shouting: “RFK kills people with Aids!” The health secretary was visibly startled and jumped from his chair when protesters began shouting, before being removed by Capitol police.
Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, has fired the two highest-ranking officials at the National Intelligence Council just weeks after the council released an assessment that contradicted Donald Trump’s justification for using the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process. Mike Collins was serving as acting chair of the National Intelligence Council before he was dismissed alongside his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof. They each had more than 25 years of intelligence experience.
A Russian-born researcher at Harvard University who has been held for weeks in an immigration detention center in Louisiana has been criminally charged with attempting to smuggle frog embryo samples into the US. Federal prosecutors in Boston announced the smuggling charge against Kseniia Petrova, 31, hours after a federal judge in Vermont heard arguments in a lawsuit she filed that argues the Trump administration has been unlawfully detaining her.
The Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and his family have had extensive business interests linked to El Salvador, whose authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has grown close to the White House and who has courted controversy by imprisoning people deported from the US in an aggressive immigration crackdown. El Salvador also plays host to a booming cryptocurrency and new media industry, which has numerous ties to Donald Trump allies who are seeking to make money from various ventures which have sometimes drawn the attention of authorities or ethics watchdogs.
Donald Trump has doubled down on why he wants to accept a luxury Boeing 747 from Qatar, a country where he traveled to today to negotiate business deals, with the US president portraying the $400m aircraft as an opportunity too valuable to refuse. “The plane that you’re on is almost 40 years old,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an Air Force One interview on the Middle East trip, where he is also visiting Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Congressional Republicans advanced elements of Donald Trump’s sweeping budget package on Wednesday after a debate that lasted through the night, as a key committee voted along party lines to approve tax cuts that would add trillions of dollars to the national debt. The 26-19 vote by the tax-writing House ways and means committee amounts to an initial victory for Republicans, who still have many hurdles to clear before they can get the sprawling package of tax cuts, spending hikes and safety-net reductions to Trump’s desk to sign into law.
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A Russian scientist held in Ice jail was charged with smuggling frog embryos into US.
Cy Neff brings us the full story on the Harvard scientist facing smuggling charges and the possibility of being deported:
A Harvard scientist who has been held in US immigration detention for months was charged on Wednesday with smuggling frog embryos into the United States, and likely faces deportation.
Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist and research associate working at Harvard University, was originally detained by immigration officials in February after attempting to enter the United States at Boston Logan international airport.
In a 14 May press release, the US district attorney’s Massachusetts office said smuggling charges can bring sentences of up to 20 years and fines up to $250,000. The press releases alleges that Petrova’s text messages show she knew of the requirement to declare the embryos before entering the United States. Petrova has spent the last three months in a Louisiana detention facility.
Petrova’s lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, called the case “meritless” and questioned the timing of her being transferred into criminal custody, saying it happened after the judge in her lawsuit set a 28 May bail hearing to consider releasing her.
“The charge, filed three months after the alleged customs violation, is clearly intended to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify their efforts to deport her,” he said in a statement.
Petrova detailed her research and detention experience in a New York Times op-ed this week. Petrova said that she left Russia after being arrested for protesting against the Ukraine war, and found “a paradise for science” at the Harvard Medical School in 2023. Petrova, who also shared Facebook posts supporting the impeachment of Russian president Vladimir Putin, said that she fears deportation to Russia due to her political stances.
Read the full story here:
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Avelo Airlines, a budget carrier based in Texas, is under fire from both customers and employees for its new contract with the Trump administration to operate deportation flights, Reuters reports.
As part of his immigration crackdown, Donald Trump has ordered the deportation of Venezuelan migrants – whom he accuses of gang affiliation – to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Avelo, which has been struggling financially, signed a contract with the US Department of Homeland Security last month to transport migrants to detention centers inside and outside the US.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents Avelo’s crew, has urged the company to reconsider its decision, which it said would be “bad for the airline”.
“Having an entire flight of people handcuffed and shackled would hinder any evacuation and risk injury or death,” the union said. “We cannot do our jobs in these conditions.”
Anne Watkins, a New Haven, Connecticut, resident, said she has stopped flying with Avelo. She launched an online petition urging travelers to boycott the airline until it ends its Ice flight operations. The petition has garnered more than 38,000 signatures.
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California governor seeks to exclude undocumented from Medicaid program
The California governor, Gavin Newsom, wants his state to stop enrolling more low-income immigrants without legal status in a state-funded healthcare program starting in 2026 and begin charging a monthly premium the following year to those already enrolled.
It is one of several measures proposed by Newsom on Wednesday to help close an additional $12bn deficit, a budget shortcoming the Democratic governor squarely placed on the shoulders of the “Trump slump”.
The decision to cut in the state insurance program is driven by a higher-than-expected price tag on the program and economic uncertainty from federal tariff policies, Newsom said in a Wednesday announcement. The Democratic governor’s move highlights his struggle to protect his liberal policy priorities amid budget challenges in his final years on the job.
California was among one of the first states to extend free healthcare benefits to all poor adults regardless of their immigration status last year, an ambitious plan touted by Newsom to help the nation’s most populous state inch closer to a goal of universal healthcare. But the cost for such expansion ran $2.7bn more than the administration had anticipated.
Here’s more on the measure proposed by the California governor:
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RFK Jr orders a mifepristone review as anti-abortion groups push for a ban.
Robert F Kennedy Jr said on Wednesday that he had directed the FDA to review the regulations around the abortion pill mifepristone.
The review, he said, was necessary due to “new data” – data that emerged from a flawed analysis that top US anti-abortion groups are now using to pressure the Trump administration to reimpose restrictions on the abortion pill, if not pull it from the market entirely.
“It’s alarming,” Kennedy told the Missouri senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, during a congressional hearing. “Clearly, it indicates that, at very least, the label should be changed.”
The analysis, which has not been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal, came after the Food and Drug Administration commissioner said he was open to reviewing new safety data on the pills, which are used in nearly two-thirds of abortions nationwide.
The conservative organizations are rallying behind a paper published on 28 April by a rightwing thinktank, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which claims there are higher complication rates from taking mifepristone than previously known.
The paper has attracted scrutiny for appearing to dramatically overstate what it characterizes as “serious adverse effects” associated with the pill, according to medical experts. For example, it counts ectopic pregnancies – when an embryo implants somewhere other than the uterine lining – as a serious complication.
Read the full story by Susan Rinkunas here:
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Donald Trump and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa are scheduled to meet at the White House on 21 May, following the US president’s allegations – denied by South Africa – that white farmers are facing “genocide” in the country.
The meeting, announced on Wednesday by the South African government, comes shortly after the US granted refugee status to 59 white South Africans, part of what the Trump administration describes as a broader resettlement effort for minority Afrikaner farmers it says are being persecuted.
South African officials reject the allegations, saying white citizens are not being targeted.
Ramaphosa will be in the US from Monday through Thursday, with the White House visit scheduled for Wednesday. His office said the trip aims to “reset the strategic relationship” between the two countries.
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Trump, Putin to skip Ukraine's peace talks that Russian leader proposed, Reuters reports
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will not attend what may be the first direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in three years, scheduled for Thursday, Reuters reports.
Instead, the Kremlin will send a team of technocrats.
The Russian president had proposed the talks in Istanbul “without any preconditions” but, as of late Wednesday, confirmed he would send presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky and deputy defense minister, Alexander Fomin, to lead the Russian delegation.
A US official later said the US president would not attend, despite earlier comments suggesting he was considering the trip.
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Missouri lawmakers have approved a referendum seeking to repeal an abortion-rights amendment passed by voters six months ago.
The newly proposed constitutional amendment would go back to voters in November 2026, or sooner, if Republican governor Mike Kehoe calls a special election before then.
Republican senators used a series of rare procedural moves to cut off discussion by opposing Democrats before passing the proposed abortion-rights revision by a 21-11 vote. The measure passed the Republican-led House last month.
Immediately after vote, protestors erupted with chants of “Stop the ban!” and were ushered out of the Senate chamber.
Director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the two highest-ranking officials at the National Intelligence Council, just weeks after the council released an assessment that contradicted President Donald Trump’s justification for using the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process.
Gabbard fired Mike Collins, the acting chair, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, on Tuesday, CNN reported.
The dismissals come after the NIC authored an assessment that found it unlikely that Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president, is helping the criminal activities of Tren de Aragua in the US.
The latest round of intelligence firings comes as Gabbard and her team aim to eliminate what they view as bias and inefficiency within the intelligence community. On X, Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, Alexa Henning, said the NIC officials, whom she referred to as “Biden holdovers”, were removed for “politicizing intelligence.”
Indian academic held over pro-Palestinian views released from Ice jail
The Georgetown academic Badar Khan Suri was released from Ice detention hours after after a Virginia federal judge’s order on Wednesday.
Khan Suri was among several individuals legally studying in the US who have been targeted by the Trump administration for their pro-Palestinian activism. He has spent two months in detention.
US district judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, said that the ruling was effective immediately with no conditions and no bond. She added that Khan Suri’s release was “in the public interest to disrupt the chilling effect on protected speech” during the hearing. The judge explained in her ruling how the government did not submit sufficient evidence on several of its claims.
A large crowd of demonstrators outside the courthouse reportedly cheered upon hearing the news of the ruling.
Badar Khan Suri will go home to his family in Virginia while he awaits the outcome of his petition against the Trump administration for wrongful arrest and detention in violation of the first amendment and other constitutional rights.
He is also facing deportation proceedings in an immigration court in Texas.
Read the full story by Marina Dunbar:
Elon Musk shows he still has the White House’s ear on Trump’s Middle East trip
Over the course of an eight-minute interview, Elon Musk touted his numerous businesses and vision of a “Star Trek future” while telling the crowd that his Tesla Optimus robots had performed a dance for Donald Trump and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, to the tune of YMCA. He also announced that Starlink, his satellite internet company, had struck a deal for use in Saudi Arabia for maritime and aviation usage; looking to the near future, he expressed his desire to bring Tesla’s self-driving robotaxis to the country.
“We could not be more appreciative of having a lifetime partner and a friend like you, Elon, to the Kingdom,” Saudi Arabia’s minister of communications and IT, Abdullah Alswaha, told Musk.
Although Musk has pivoted away from his role as de facto leader of the so-called “department of government efficiency” and moved out of the White House, the Saudi summit showed how he is still retaining his proximity to the US president and international influence. As Musk returns to his businesses as his primary focus, he is still primed to reap the rewards of his connections and political sway over Trump.
Starlink diplomacy
Musk’s Starlink announcement comes after a spate of countries have agreed to allow the satellite communications service to operate within their borders. Several countries that have approved Starlink did so after US state department officials mentioned the company by name or pushed for increased satellite services in negotiations over Trump’s sweeping tariffs, according to internal memos obtained by the Washington Post.
Concerns over whether Musk and the Trump administration are leveraging their power to force countries into adopting Starlink has prompted calls for a state department inspector general investigation into whether there is undue influence at play in these agreements. On Wednesday, a group of Democratic senators issued a letter requesting a broad review of the state department’s alleged efforts to assist Starlink.
Read the full analysis by The Guardian’s Nick Robins-Early here:
US prosecutors charge detained Harvard scientist from Russia with smuggling offense
A Russian-born researcher at Harvard University who has been held for weeks in an immigration detention center in Louisiana has been criminally charged with attempting to smuggle frog embryo samples into the United States, Reuters reports.
Federal prosecutors in Boston announced the smuggling charge against Kseniia Petrova, 31, hours after a federal judge in Vermont heard arguments in a lawsuit she filed that argues the Trump administration has been unlawfully detaining her.
The Trump administration intends to deport Petrova back to Russia, a country she fled in 2022, despite her fear that she will be arrested there over her protest of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the New York Times reports.
About a dozen labor unions have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in an effort to overturn sweeping cuts to the nation’s occupational health agency.
The suit was brought by the United Mine Workers of America, the American Federation of Teachers, National Nurses United and 10 other unions.
The case centers on the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which was massively downsized this year following layoffs that eliminated about 850 of its 1,000 employees, according to the Associated Press.
At a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Robert F Kennedy Jr said he is reversing the firing of about 330 Niosh workers. But the lawsuit seeks to reinstate all Niosh staff and functions, arguing that the cuts flouted express directives from Congress and are illegal.
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Republicans have propose prohibiting US states from regulating AI for 10 years.
Republicans in US Congress are trying to bar states from being able to introduce or enforce laws that would create guardrails for artificial intelligence or automated decision-making systems for 10 years.
A provision in the proposed budgetary bill now before the House of Representatives would prohibit any state or local governing body from pursuing “any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems” unless the purpose of the law is to “remove legal impediments to, or facilitate the deployment or operation of” these systems.
The provision was a last-minute addition by House Republicans to the bill just two nights before it was due to be marked up on Tuesday. The House energy and commerce committee voted to advance the reconciliation package on Wednesday morning.
The bill defines AI systems and models broadly, with anything from facial recognition systems to generative AI qualifying. The proposed law would also apply to systems that use algorithms or AI to make decisions including for hiring, housing and whether someone qualifies for public benefits.
Many of these automated decision-making systems have recently come under fire. The deregulatory proposal comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by several state attorneys general against the property management software RealPage, which the lawsuit alleges colluded with landlords to raise rents based on the company’s algorithmic recommendations. Another company, SafeRent, recently settled a class-action lawsuit filed by Black and Hispanic renters who say they were denied apartments based on an opaque score the company gave them.
Read the full story here:
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Harvard to allocate $250m of its own funds to support research impacted by the Trump administration
Harvard University announced that it will allocate $250 million of its own funds to support researchers after the Trump administration froze nearly $3 billion in federal grants and contracts in recent weeks, the Harvard Crimson reports.
The elite Ivy League institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has become a frequent target of President Donald Trump, who has launched an aggressive campaign to reshape private colleges and universities across the country. He accuses them of promoting anti-American, Marxist, and “radical left” ideologies.
“We understand the uncertainty that these times have brought and the burden our community faces,” Harvard President Alan M. Garber wrote. “We are here to support you.”
Still, Garber acknowledged that the university would not be able to fully absorb the cost of the suspended or canceled federal awards. He warned that the funding freeze could disrupt long-running projects, delay scientific progress, and force unpopular decisions across Harvard’s schools, according to the student-run outlet.
“While there will undoubtedly be difficult decisions and sacrifices ahead, we know that, together, we will chart a path forward to sustain and advance Harvard’s vital research mission,” he wrote.
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Robert F Kennedy Jr said that the “central focus” of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be on studying ultra-processed foods, sugars and food additives.
“The central focus of NIH, is going to be looking at – and FDA – looking at ultra-processed foods, and sugars, and the 10,000 additives that are in our food,” Kennedy said during a Senate committee on health, education, labor & pensions hearing.
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Among those interrupting Robert F Kennedy’s testimony at the Senate hearing were Aids activists, protesting mass terminations and cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. The reductions have gutted programs that focus on child support services and international HIV treatment initiatives.
In a statement, Asia Russell of Health Gap said:
Kennedy and Trump are massacring America’s global and domestic HIV responses … People will die as a result of their senseless decisions. Congress has a duty to intervene now and reject Kennedy’s deadly budget proposal, and work urgently to reinstate what he is demolishing.
All federal experts on HIV prevention in children overseas were fired last month as part of the reduction in force. At least $759m worth of federal grants for HIV research have been cancelled so far.
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House Republicans are proposing lowering the SNAP dependent exemption age from 18 to 7, NOTUS reports.
Under current SNAP rules, adults caring for children under 18 are exempt from work requirements. House Republicans are proposing to lower that age limit to 7, meaning caregivers of children aged 8 or older would no longer qualify for the exemption.
The proposed change, part of the agriculture section in the reconciliation bill, drew outrage from Democrats on the Agriculture Committee.
“In the absence of a hearing or serious explanation, I suggest we give our 8-year-olds little tiny boots with little tiny bootstraps,” said Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia.
A judge has temporarily blocked the justice department from cancelling $3.2m in grants to the American Bar Association (ABA) to train lawyers to represent victims of domestic and sexual violence.
The ABA sued the justice department in April, claiming it illegally terminated federal grants in retaliation for the organization’s public criticism of the Trump administration.
US district judge Christopher Cooper granted the ABA’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop the government from terminating the grants as the case moves forward.
“The first amendment injury is concrete and ongoing,” Cooper wrote in his opinion on Wednesday.
The ABA regularly engages in protected expressive activity, and DOJ’s termination of its grants directly punishes that activity.
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Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, has warned that the Medicaid cuts Congress is considering would mean billions of dollars in lost federal aid to the state.
Hundreds of thousands of people could lose access to Medicaid, Shapiro told WILK-FM radio on Wednesday. He said:
I just need to stress: there is no back-filling at the state level. There are no dollars available at the state level to make up for these cuts at the federal level. So if they cut someone off Medicaid, they’re off. We will not be able to fix that for them.
Billions of dollars in funding cuts would also accelerate the shuttering of rural hospitals “which are teetering on the brink of closure”, he added.
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RFK Jr defends downsizing health department as part of Trump budget plan
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr described the downsizing of his department as necessary cost-cutting measures as he defended his spending plans under Donald Trump’s budget proposal.
The plans include an $18bn cut to National Institutes of Health funding and $3.6bn from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kennedy, appearing before the House appropriations committee this morning, argued the proposed cuts would save taxpayers $1.8bn per year and make the department more efficient. He said in his opening statement:
Our reductions have focused on aligning HHS staffing levels to reflect the size of HHS prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw around a 15% increase in the number of employees.
Asked about Elon Musk’s involvement in the cuts and firings at his department, Kennedy said:
Ultimately, we executed the decisions, but Elon Musk gave us help in trying and figuring out where there was fraud and abuse in the department. But it was up to me to make the decision, and there are many instances where I pushed back.
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Protesters disrupt Kennedy at Senate hearing
Protesters interrupted Robert F Kennedy Jr’s opening remarks before the Senate health committee this afternoon, shouting: “RFK kills people with Aids!”
The health secretary was visibly startled and jumped from his chair when protesters began shouting, before being removed by Capitol police.
“That was a made for C-Span moment,” said senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the committee.
Dozens of federal health workers and offices dedicated to HIV/Aids research have been shuttered under Kennedy’s watch.
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RFK Jr defends staff cuts, funding freezes and drastic policy changes
Robert F Kennedy Jr has spent the day defending deep staffing cuts, research funding freezes and drastic policy changes in his department during his first appearance on Capitol Hill as health secretary.
Kennedy appeared at a House appropriations hearing earlier this morning to defend the White House’s requested budget for his agency, including a $500m boost for his “make America healthy again” initiative.
Since his confirmation, Kennedy has slashed 10,000 jobs including at the country’s top food and drugs regulator, public health agency and biomedical research institute.
Asked if he would give his children the measles vaccine today, Kennedy sidestepped the question. He said:
Measles? Probably for measles. What I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant. I don’t think people should be taking advice, medical advice, from me.
Asked if he would vaccinate his kids today against chickenpox and polio, Kennedy refused to answer, only saying: “I don’t want to give advice.”
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Republicans’ newest tax bill threatens to exclude millions of families from a tax credit meant to ease household financial burdens, even as conservatives are increasingly claiming to tout policies designed to entice families to have more babies.
One provision in the bill, which runs nearly 400 pages, seeks to raise the child tax credit from the current $2,000 level to $2,500 per child – but an estimated 17 million children would be ineligible to receive the full credit because their parents do not make enough to qualify, according to a congressional estimate.
Another provision of the bill would require a US citizen child’s parent or guardian to possess a social security number in order to claim the credit; if the child’s parents are married and file their taxes together, both parents would need social security numbers.
This requirement would make undocumented immigrants and other immigrants who lack work authorization ineligible to claim the credit on behalf of children who are US citizens or legal permanent residents, stripping the benefit from a number of families who would otherwise receive it.
Under current requirements, families of children with social security numbers are eligible regardless of the parents’ status.
Here are some more photos from Donald Trump’s visit to Qatar where he is attending a state dinner at Lusail Palace. He will no doubt have been pleased by the abundance of marble and camels.
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US secretary of state Marco Rubio has left Doha and is en route to Antalya, Turkey, where he will meet Nato foreign ministers on Thursday.
It comes ahead of his planned travel onwards to Istanbul on Friday, where the state department says he will attend talks with European counterparts to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Judge orders immediate release of Indian academic detained by Ice over pro-Palestinian views
A Virginia federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Georgetown academic Badar Khan Suri from Ice detention during a hearing on Wednesday.
Khan Suri was among several individuals legally studying in the US who have been targeted by the Trump administration for their pro-Palestinian activism. He has spent two months in detention.
US district judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, said that the ruling is effective immediately with no conditions and no bond.
The Trump administration had ordered the detention of Khan Suri, a citizen of India, on 17 March. He was previously being held at an immigration prison in Alvarado, Texas.
Immigration officials revoked his J-1 student visa, alleging his father-in-law was an adviser to Hamas officials more than a decade ago in addition to claims that he was “deportable” because of his posts on social media in support of Palestine.
Khan Suri, who is married to a Palestinian-American US citizen, Mapheze Saleh, is a senior postdoctoral fellow at the institution’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU). Many students and alumni of the institution signed a letter opposing his detention by Ice.
Giles prohibited federal officials in March from deporting the postdoctoral fellow after his wife filed an emergency court request to prevent deportation.
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According to Boeing, the 747-8 can travel the length of “three FIFA soccer fields” in one second. It has a tail as tall as an average six-storey city building, is the “world’s fastest commercial jet” and is capable, theoretically, of transporting 10,767 solid gold bars from Fort Knox.
What Boeing’s marketing spiel doesn’t mention is that the 747-8 is also capable of serving as a giant flying metaphor for corruption, after it emerged that Qatar planned to gift one of the $400m planes to the Trump administration, with Donald Trump planning to use it as Air Force One before handing it over to his presidential library.
Amid criticism, the president initially defended the move as a money-saving effort. But in the days following it has become clear that another thing was on his mind: that other people have big planes, and he wants one too.
The transaction actually makes little sense financially. Experts told NBC News that converting the 747 into Air Force One would cost more than $1bn and take “years” to complete – potentially not even being ready by the end of Trump’s term.
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Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick's links to El Salvador crypto firm under scrutiny
The Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and his family have had extensive business interests linked to El Salvador, whose authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has grown close to the White House and who has courted controversy by imprisoning people deported from the US in an aggressive immigration crackdown.
El Salvador also plays host to a booming cryptocurrency and new media industry, which has numerous ties to Donald Trump allies who are seeking to make money from various ventures which have sometimes drawn the attention of authorities or ethics watchdogs.
Securities and Exchange Commission and Office of Government Ethics (OGE) filings, along with public records in the US and El Salvador, indicate that Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm Lutnick headed until weeks ago before handing off to a management team including two of his sons, holds an effective 5% stake in the cryptocurrency firm Tether, has negotiated several investments on behalf of the highly profitable company, and is custodian of the US treasury holdings from which those profits arise.
Trump doubles down on luxury $400m plane gift from Qatar
Donald Trump has doubled down on why he wants to accept a luxury Boeing 747 from Qatar, a country where he traveled to today to negotiate business deals, with the US president portraying the $400m aircraft as an opportunity too valuable to refuse.
“The plane that you’re on is almost 40 years old,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an Air Force One interview on the Middle East trip, where he is also visiting Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
When you land and you see Saudi Arabia, you see UAE and you see Qatar, and they have these brand-new Boeing 747s, mostly. You see ours next to it – this is like a totally different plane.
Clearly irritated by questions about the ethical criticism of accepting such a lavish gift as president, Trump insisted American prestige was at stake.
We’re the United States of America. I believe we should have the most impressive plane.
The timing of Trump’s visit has raised eyebrows, coming just weeks after the Trump Organization secured a deal with Qatar for a luxury resort and golf course development outside the capital, Doha, called Trump International Golf Club & Villas.
“My attitude is why wouldn’t I accept a gift?” Trump continued. “We’re giving to everybody else, why wouldn’t I accept a gift? Because it’s going to be a couple years until the Boeings are finished.”
Trump was referring to the incoming Air Force One fleet, a $3.9bn contract given to Boeing in 2018 with an original timetable of 2024 that has since been delayed by a number of years.
The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, who worked as a lobbyist for Qatar while at her previous employer Ballard Partners, has reportedly declared accepting the aircraft “legally permissible”.
Toddler left behind in US last year after parents deported arrives in Venezuela
A Venezuelan toddler who was separated from her parents when they crossed the US-Mexico border a year ago and who remained in the US when they were deported arrived in Venezuela on a removal flight on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Major figures in Venezuela’s government, which is under extensive US sanctions, had repeatedly called for Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, aged 2, to be returned to her mother, Yorely Bernal, who was deported back to Venezuela in April. Last month the foreign ministry went as far as accusing the US of “kidnapping” the child.
Images on state television showed first lady Cilia Flores holding the child in her arms at the international airport near Caracas.
The toddler’s return has been “a battle every day and today we have a great victory,” said interior minister Diosdado Cabello, who was also at the airport.
Her parents had entered the US in May 2024 seeking asylum, and had been in immigrant detention during their entire stay in the country after turning themselves in at the border. Meanwhile their little girl was placed in the care of a foster family via the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the US.
The baby’s father, Maiker Espinoza, 25, was sent to Cecot, the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has sent at least 137 Venezuelans under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, in March.
The department of homeland security (DHS) denied that it had kidnapped the child and said she was removed from the deportation flight list “for her safety and welfare”, claiming without evidence in late-April that Espinoza is a member the Venezuela gang Tren De Aragua.
Espinoza’s family roundly denied the claim to Reuters. “At no time has my son been involved with [Tren de Aragua],” his mother, Maria Escalona, told Reuters this month. “I think this is political - they are using the case of my son to cover up the horror that is being committed against all these innocents.”
DHS said the child’s mother Bernal recruited young women for drug smuggling and sex work, though it also provided no evidence. The family has also denied the claim. She was deported without her child – it is unclear if Bernal was given the choice to be deported with her daughter.
The White House has published a “fact sheet” detailing the agreements signed by Donald Trump and Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on Wednesday.
The agreements will “generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion,” it claims.
They include a $96bn agreement with Qatar Airways to buy up to 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X planes, as well as a statement of intent that could lead to $38bn in investments at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base and other air defense and maritime security capabilities. The fact sheet writes:
The landmark deals celebrated today will drive innovation and prosperity for generations, bolster American manufacturing and technological leadership, and put America on the path to a new Golden Age.
Qatar’s central bank governor, Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al Thani, met with Elon Musk in Doha on Wednesday to discuss developments in global finance and investment, the bank said.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of Donald Trump’s visit to Qatar.
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson declined to weigh in on Donald Trump’s plans to accept a luxury Boeing 747 from Qatar.
“It’s not my lane,” Johnson said during a press conference on Wednesday.
He added that he’s “not following all of the twists and turns” of the case as he focuses on passing a budget reconciliation bill.
The idea of accepting a plane from Qatar has triggered alarm across the political spectrum, including even staunch Trump allies.
Texas senator Ted Cruz warned that the aircraft deal “poses significant espionage and surveillance problems”, while the West Virginia senator Shelley Moore Capito said bluntly she’d “be checking for bugs”. Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, called the acceptance of foreign gifts “never a good practice” that “threatens intelligence and national security”.
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires from Qatar, where its emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomed Donald Trump for his latest stage of his Middle East tour.
The two leaders signed a number of economic and defense agreements, including an order from Qatar for 160 Boeing jets worth more than $200bn.
Non-profit groups are sounding the alarm over an attempt by Republican lawmakers to insert a provision allowing the government to cancel the tax-exempt status of organizations it deems “terrorist supporting” in a massive bill under negotiation in the House of Representatives.
The provision’s potential inclusion in the spending and taxation legislation that Donald Trump and his allies refer to as “one big, beautiful bill” has sparked fears that the administration will wield it against groups who file lawsuits or organize voters against his policies.
Lia Holland, campaigns and communications director at tech policy non-profit Fight for the Future, described the provision as “a five-alarm fire for non-profits nationwide”.
“Any organization with goals that do not line up with Maga can be destroyed with a wink from Trump to the treasury”, likely those that oppose his policies towards Israel, or advocate for causes like racial justice and the environment, they said.
Trump had made plain his desire for revenge against his enemies, and since taking office has sought to deport foreign students who engaged in pro-Palestinian activism, blacklisted law firms who have worked for his political opponents and backed the arrest of a county judge on charges of obstructing immigration authorities.
Republicans advance Trump's tax cut plan after all-night debate
Back in the US, Reuters reports that congressional Republicans advanced elements of Donald Trump’s sweeping budget package on Wednesday after a debate that lasted through the night, as a key committee voted along party lines to approve tax cuts that would add trillions of dollars to the national debt.
The 26-19 vote by the tax-writing House ways and means committee amounts to an initial victory for Republicans, who still have many hurdles to clear before they can get the sprawling package of tax cuts, spending hikes and safety-net reductions to Trump’s desk to sign into law. The vote came after an all-night debate that saw at least one lawmaker fall asleep at his post.
Republicans rejected a series of proposed changes by opposition Democrats, who blasted the bill as a wasteful giveaway to the wealthy that would shred health and food benefits for the poor and worsen the nation’s financial standing.
A separate House committee was still debating a GOP proposal to tighten eligibility for the Medicaid health plan, which covers 71 million low-income Americans, with a vote expected later in the day. That would save the federal government $715bn and kick 7.7 million people off the program, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Police escorted out at least five protesters, including three who were in wheelchairs, at the outset of that debate on Tuesday.
A third panel was due to resume debate on a proposal to require some people who receive Snap food benefits to get a job and shift some costs to states.
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would add trillions of dollars to the nation’s debt load, which at $36.2tn now equals 127% of GDP. The package calls for $4tn in additional borrowing, though the total cost is uncertain at this point.
Republicans will need to stay united to pass the bill out of the House, where they hold a narrow 220-213 majority. The proposal will also need to clear the Senate, which Republicans control 53-47.
The country’s looming debt ceiling deadline this summer is also pushing Republicans to work fast. The package would raise the debt limit by $4tn and treasury secretary Scott Bessent has urged lawmakers to act by mid-July to avoid a default that would upend the global economy.
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Looking around the room, Trump compliments the marble again: “It’s the real deal, it’s very hard to buy.”
And that’s it, the ceremony is over.
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'We just like each other,' Trump says of Qatar's emir
Trump says the US has a “very special relationship” with Qatar, and then oddly compares the emir to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman saying they’re both “tall handsome guys that happen to be very smart”. He spoke similarly of Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa earlier.
He thanks the emir for their friendship: “We just like each other.”
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Trump says Qatar $200bn agreement is 'largest order of jets' in history of Boeing
Trump says the two leaders have discussed Russia and Ukraine, as well as Iran, which he says Qatar has been “a great help” with. He says he believes the Iran situation “will work out”.
He then says the Boeing agreement is the “largest order of jets” in the history of the company.
He says the deal is worth $200bn and includes 160 jets.
He says tomorrow there will be “sort of an air fair” that will show the “latest” planes.
The leaders also signed a number of agreements in the field of defense, including a statement of intent on military cooperation between the US and Qatar.
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The emir says that with the signing of these documents, the two countries’ relationship is reaching “another level” and thanks Trump for his “historic” visit.
They are now signing a joint declaration of cooperation between the two countries. Trump’s pen appeared to run out of ink and he was swiftly offered a fresh one from the emir.
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They are now signing a number of agreements in the field of defense, including a statement of intent on military cooperation between the US and Qatar.
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The leaders have arrived now for the signing ceremony relating to the purchase of aircraft from Boeing.
Donald Trump and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani are expected to make statements shortly. I’ll bring you the key lines when they do.
'Something wrong with him': Trump attacks Schumer for obstructing justice department picks over Qatar jet gift
Earlier Donald Trump said that there’s “something wrong” with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, in response to the senator placing a blanket hold on all justice department political nominees until the White House provides answers about plans to accept a $4oom luxury jet from Qatar for presidential use, CNN reports.
The New York senator declared the hold amid growing controversy over the constitutional and security implications of accepting a foreign government’s offer to provide what would become the new Air Force One.
During a gaggle on Air Force One en route to Doha, Trump said:
Something wrong with him, I don’t know. I’ve known him a long time and there’s something wrong. He’s lost his confidence totally. And there’s something wrong with him. I don’t know what it is with Schumer.
Though the procedural maneuver cannot completely block nominees, it forces Senate Republicans to use valuable floor time to overcome Democratic opposition through individual confirmation votes.
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Here’s a shot of the camels Donald Trump was so impressed by earlier, via White House aide Margot Martin.
Scene in Qatar from President Trump’s motorcade! 🐪 pic.twitter.com/20I4DEQuZ6
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) May 14, 2025
The foreign ministers of Turkey, the United States and Syria will meet in southern Turkey on Thursday to discuss details of Donald Trump’s pledge to lift sanctions on Syria, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan has said.
Speaking to state broadcaster TRT Haber ahead of an informal Nato foreign ministers’ meeting in the southern Turkish province of Antalya, Fidan said the leaders’ meeting on Wednesday was of “historic importance”. He said the lifting of sanctions would enable financial flows, investment and infrastructure development in Syria, which was politically fractured and left in widespread ruins by the 14-year-long civil war.
“Now tomorrow, we, as the three foreign ministers - Mr [Marco] Rubio, Mr [Assad] Al-Shibani, and myself - will come together after the Nato meeting in Antalya and we will work on how to carry forward the details of the agreement that the leaders set the framework for and agreed upon,” Fidan said.
“Of course, there is a [congressional] leg to this matter in the United States, there is an administration leg, but there is a will that Mr Trump has put forth from the start,” he added. “Within the framework of this will, and the work we will do, we hope the majority of these sanctions will be lifted as soon as possible.”
Removing US sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organisations working in the country, easing foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds.
Here is the clip from Donald Trump’s meeting with Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who said the agenda for the president’s visit will focus on investments, energy, military cooperation and security, as well as bringing peace to the region.
'Perfecto' marble: Trump impressed with Qatari palace interiors
As Trump arrived in Doha earlier, a lavish welcome reception and brief remarks with the Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani followed, according to a pool report.
Military officers were called into formation and a band played the Star-Spangled Banner, to which the US president stood in a salute.
The leaders then walked into a luxurious, incense-scented room, and the emir spoke about investments and cooperation between the two countries.
We are very excited. Mr President, I’ve known you for many year. I know that you are a man of peace. I know that you want to bring peace to this region. I hope that this time we can do the right thing and bring peace here in the region.
He mentioned the US hosting the World Cup (“football. As you guys call it, soccer”) and how Qatar hosted it previously. “There wasn’t one incident here,” he said of their event in 2022. “You did a great job,” Trump responded.
“We’ve liked each other and worked with each other,” Trump said. “And now we can work in the highest capacity.” He said he appreciated their cooperation, including with Russia and Ukraine.
We’ll bring peace, not only here, but I know you’re very much involved in helping us in other regions like what’s happening with Russia-Ukraine etc. And I think we’re having some pretty good news coming out of there today and maybe tomorrow and maybe Friday frankly. But we’ll see about that.
He paused and looked around, marveling at the architecture.
The job you’ve done is second to none. You look at this, it’s so beautiful. As a construction person, I’m seeing perfect marble. This is what they call perfecto.
Trump also remarked about the camels he saw upon arrival.
We appreciate those camels. I haven’t seen camels like that in a long time. And it was some greeting, we appreciate it very much.
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Trump says he's still open to attending talks on Ukraine, but unsure about whether Putin will go
While en route to Qatar, Donald Trump also told reporters aboard Air Force One he was still considering whether to attend talks on the war in Ukraine planned for Thursday in Turkey but he does not know whether Russian president Vladimir Putin will go.
[Putin would] like me to be there, and that’s a possibility ... I don’t know that he would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out.
Trump has said he may visit Turkey for the talks as part of his trip to the Middle East this week. He cited his next stop to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
“We have a very full situation. Now that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives and come back,” Trump said, according to a pool report from the Washington Post.
Yesterday Trump announced that secretary of state Marco Rubio would be attending Thursday’s talks in Istanbul.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said he would only attend if Putin was also there. On Wednesday, the Kremlin said it would send a delegation to Istanbul but did not say who would be representing Moscow.
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'Young, attractive guy, tough guy': Trump praises Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa
Before touching down in Qatar a little while ago, Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One that his brief meeting with the Syrian president in Saudi Arabia this morning went “great”, saying of Ahmed al-Sharaa:
Young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.
Trump added:
He’s got a real shot at holding it together. I spoke with President Erdoğan, who is very friendly with him. He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn-up country.
The US president said he thought Syria would join the Abraham Accords at some point, to normalise relations with Israel.
I think they have to get themselves straightened up. I told him: ‘I hope you’re going to join when it’s straightened out.’
He said: ‘Yes.’ But they have a lot of work to do.
Here’s the clip.
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Trump touches down in Qatar for day two in Middle East amid furore back home over gift of $400m luxury jet
Here are some photos from Trump’s arrival in Qatar, the second stop on his three-day tour of the Middle East aimed at drumming up investment and economic deals.
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And, for those interested in revisiting just why Donald Trump’s acceptance of the Qatari plane has proved so controversial, here is Ed Pilkington’s analysis of the scandal.
Accepting a “gift” of a luxury jet from Qatar is just the most eye-catching of the president’s ethically questionable acts, he writes.
See the full piece here:
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With Donald Trump in Doha for his Qatari state visit, attention will turn to his acceptance of a $400m ‘palace in the sky’ airplane.
The gift has proven highly controversial not just among his political opponents – the Democrats are flying a protest banner over Mar-a-Lago today – but also his Maga allies.
Ben Shapiro, the prominent rightwing commentator, led the charge on his daily podcast. “President Trump promised to drain the swamp – this is not, in fact, draining the swamp,” he said.
Linking Qatar to the militant Palestinian group Hamas and Al Jazeera, the media network that is widely detested on the right and is partly funded by the Qatari government, he added: “Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, all the rest, that’s not America First … If you want President Trump to succeed this kind of skeezy stuff would be stopped.”
The planned gift of the 13-year-old Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet, which Trump would inherit personally after he leaves the White House, has achieved the seemingly impossible: it has united the president’s most fervent fans with his most ardent opponents. Laura Loomer, the far-right Maga activist, warned that the proposed gift would put “such a stain on the administration”.
Loomer said she loved Trump and would “take a bullet for him. But I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400m ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits.”
The conservative New York Post, meanwhile, published an editorial headlined: “Qatar’s ‘Palace in the Sky’ jet is NOT a ‘free gift’ – and Trump shouldn’t accept it as one.”
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Justice department officials have asked civil rights division attorneys to reconsider their decision to leave the department in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign that the agency may have been caught off-guard by the wave of personnel leaving.
Officials have also asked attorneys, including career managers, who were involuntarily detailed to low-level offices last month, if they would consider returning to their sections to handle civil rights work, the people said. The attorneys were removed in late April in what was widely understood as an effort to force them to accept a paid offer to leave the department.
Leadership had also encouraged employees to accept the paid offer to leave. As a 28 April deadline approached for accepting the paid leave offer, Michael Gates, a political appointee in the civil rights division, told section chiefs there would be a “tightening of the belt” moving forward, a person familiar with the matter said.
More than 250 civil rights division attorneys have left since January or are planning to leave, an approximate 70% reduction in the division’s personnel.
It’s unclear how many attorneys were asked to stay and how many, if any, accepted. The Guardian has confirmed that the request was made at least of attorneys in the educational opportunities section, which enforces anti-discrimination law in schools. Many of the Trump administration’s priorities, including challenging DEI programs, investigating allegations of antisemitism on campuses and limiting the rights of transgender people, fall under the purview of the section.
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President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Israel was not sidelined by his trip to the Gulf and that good US relations with those countries is good for Israel.
“This is good for Israel,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One. “Having a relationship like I have with these countries … I think it’s very good for Israel.”
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The Syrian foreign minister said in a statement on Wednesday that the meeting between Donald Trump and the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, included discussions about combating terrorism and cooperation in eliminating the influence of non-state actors and armed groups that threaten Syrian stability, including the Islamic State.
This meeting will be followed by another between the Syrian foreign minister and his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, Reuters reported.
In a statement, the foreign ministry said the meeting also addressed ways to “enhance Syrian-American partnership in the field of counter-terrorism and cooperation in eliminating the influence of non-state actors and non-Syrian armed groups that hinder stability, including Islamic State and other threats”.
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Democrats fly 'Qatar-a-Lago' banner over Trump's Florida resort
With president Donald Trump looking to accept a $4o0 million luxury plane for his personal use from the Qatari government, the Democrats are planning a protest today.
Democrats have arranged to fly a sky banner over Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida that reads: ‘Qatar-a-Lago’.
DNC chair Ken Martin said:
Donald Trump is using the presidency to personally enrich himself while he bankrupts working families. His corruption is a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who are struggling to get by and put food on the table.
Today, the DNC is highlighting what foreign autocracies around the world already know: Trump has no loyalty to the American people, national security, or the constitution – his only allegiance is to his bank account and his billionaire buddies.
Whether it’s billionaires at home or governments abroad, Trump won’t hesitate to sell out America’s working families to the highest bidder.
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he does not know if Russian president Vladimir Putin will show up for talks on the war in Ukraine planned for Thursday in Turkey.
“He’d like me to be there, and that’s a possibility … I don’t know that he would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out,” Trump told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One en route to Qatar.
He has said he may visit Turkey for the talks as part of his trip to the Middle East this week.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday expressed his thanks to US president Donald Trump for the US announcement that it would lift all sanctions on the Syrian government.
In a speech to lawmakers from his AK Party in parliament, Erdogan also said he had trust in the support of “my friend Trump” for Turkey’s efforts to end the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza.
Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said there will be many investment opportunities in Syria after the US lifts sanctions, a day after a surprise US announcement it would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government.
Bin Farhan added that there will be a breakthrough in the kingdom’s support to Syria after the lifting of US sanctions.
Americans worry about president Donald Trump’s administration’s ability to contain an ongoing outbreak of measles, while the vast majority of them believe that vaccines for the disease are safe, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Just 31% of respondents in the two-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, agreed with a statement that the current administration is handling the measles outbreak responsibly, while 40% disagreed and the rest were unsure or did not answer the question.
The US is now facing its largest single outbreak of measles in 25 years, with the number of cases crossing the 1,000 mark last week, Reuters reports.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine prevents 97% of cases after two doses and high adoption of the MMR vaccine resulted in the disease being declared eliminated in 2000 by the World Health Organization. Nonetheless, vaccination rates among US children have fallen in recent years, which experts attribute to vaccine skepticism and misinformation.
The vast majority of Americans still see the MMR vaccine as safe. Some 86% of respondents in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll said it was safe for children, a marginally higher share than the 84% who said the same in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May 2020, in the early months of the COVID pandemic. Some 13% of respondents in the latest poll said the vaccine was not safe for kids, up marginally from 10% five years earlier.
The latest poll, which surveyed 1,163 US adults nationwide, had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Brooke Rollins, US agriculture secretary, has been visiting London to finalise the details of the US-UK trade deal agreed last week.
She told reporters, as she visited the new Whole Foods supermarket in Chelsea, that she had convinced energy Secretary Ed Miliband to take more wood pellets from America.
These are used to power the Drax power station, which environmental experts have said is unsustainable because burning wood emits carbon and the pellets used to power it are shipped across the ocean.
The drax plant accounts for about 6% of the UK’s electricity supply but it had its subsidies halved last year, and was directed by government to only use sustainable wood.
Last year, Drax was forced to pay £25m to the energy regulator Ofgem after it was found to have submitted inaccurate data on the sourcing of its wood pellets. There have been reports some of the pellets used in the power station have been from rare forests.
Rollins said:
We are 100% confident that [the wood pellets] does meet your sustainability requirements here in this country yesterday, that was one of the key things that I spoke to, Secretary Miliband and Under Secretary [Michael] Shanks about, is the one who’s leading that specific issue for the Energy Department here.
And they agreed, I don’t want to get ahead of them, but in that meeting, they felt fully assured that what we are doing in America does meet your sustainability requirements, and in fact, we could potentially be opening up more markets for our wood pellets into the UK, as other countries that you’re importing here into this country are clearly not meeting those marks.
What are the Abraham Accords Trump has urged Syria to agree?
It was reported earlier today that Donald Trump urged Syria to sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel (see post here).
The Abraham Accords are bilateral agreements that established formal diplomatic relations between Israel and two Arab nations – the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – both of which officially recognized Israel’s sovereignty as part of the accords.
These agreements were signed on 15 September 2020, and were mediated by the United States.
The first deal, announced on 13 August 2020, involved Israel and the UAE, followed by a similar agreement with Bahrain on 11 September 2020.
The accord with the UAE marked the first time Israel had normalized relations with an Arab country since the 1994 peace treaty with Jordan.
The name ‘Abraham Accords’ was chosen to reflect the shared religious heritage of Judaism and Islam through the figure of the prophet Abraham.
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Trump on way to Qatar amid controversy over $400m plane gift
President Donald Trump continues his visit to the Middle East with a Qatari state visit later today.
According to a schedule released by the White House, the president will arrive at Doha’s Hamad International Airport within the next hour, before stopping off to visit Amiri Diwan.
He will then arrive at St Regis Doha for the state visit shortly before 4pm local time.
Trump is also scheduled to attend a state dinner at the Lusail Palace this evening at 8pm.
The visit comes amid growing controversy over Trump’s plans to accept a luxury $400m aircraft from Qatar for presidential use.
Democrats and Republicans have criticized the US president accepting the gift amid concerns over the security implications and ethics of the deal.
Chuck Schumer, Senate Democrat leader, has called the proposed arrangement “not just naked corruption”, likening it to something so corrupt “that even [Russian president Vladimir] Putin would give a double take”.
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In pictures: Trump’s meeting with Gulf leaders
The meeting between Donald Trump and Syria’s president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in Saudi Arabia was the culmination of months of diplomacy by the Syrians, as well as their Turkish and Saudi allies, who believed face time with Trump would help end Syria’s international isolation, writes William Christou.
Damascus had prepared a pitch to Trump that included access to Syrian oil, reassurances of Israel’s security and a proposal to build a Trump tower in Damascus.
A meeting with Trump was seen as a key step towards recognition of the legitimacy of the new authority in Damascus after Bashar al-Assad was ousted as Syria’s president in December.
The Trump administration had previously been wary of engaging with Sharaa, a former leader of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Though sanctions were originally imposed on Assad after his bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters in 2011, the US and other countries retained their economic embargo on Syria as they evaluated the new Islamist-led government in Damascus.
The US state department had handed the Syrians an extensive list of conditions to end sanctions and were in the process of negotiating when Trump suddenly announced the lifting of US sanctions on Tuesday night.
At the end of his speech to the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, Trump told leaders in the region that he wants them to forge a Middle East that is “thriving” and the “geographic centre of the world”. He said the “whole world is talking about what you are doing”.
He added that it had been a pleasure to spend time with Mohammed bin Salman before he criticised the “fake news” media.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has told Donald Trump that Arab Gulf states were seeking to work with the US to de-escalate tensions in the region, as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza continues to drag on and destabilise the Middle East.
According to a White House spokesperson, Donald Trump called on Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa to '“deport Palestinian terrorists” and to help the US to prevent the resurgence of Islamic State. He urged Syria to sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel.
Al-Sharaa invited American companies to invest in Syrian oil and gas.
During Trump’s speech to Arab leaders, he said he wants a future of “safety and dignity” for Palestinians but warned that was impossible if leaders in Gaza continued down a path of violence.
He praised the “constructive role that the leaders in this room have taken trying to bring this conflict to an end”.
He also thanked those involved in helping secure the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander.
Lifting sanctions on Syria 'gives them a chance of greatness', Donald Trump says
Donald Trump has said that lifting sanctions on Syria “gives them a chance of greatness”.
“The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful,” he added. He said the US will drop “all of the sanctions on Syria, which I think will be a good thing.”
He said that he is looking to normalise relations with Syria.
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Trump wants to make deal with Iran but tells them to 'stop sponsoring terror'
Donald Trump has said he wants to make a deal with Iran, but it can only go ahead if the regime stops “supporting terror” and abandons its nuclear plans.
“Many are watching with envy,” Trump told assembled Arab leaders during a speech and said there “are incredible deals within reach for this region”.
He accused the Biden administration of “creating bedlam by being incompetent”.
The US president says “people at this table know where my loyalties lie”.
In related news, Iran’s deputy foreign minister will meet with European diplomats for nuclear talks in Istanbul on Friday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Iran would hold talks on the now moribund 2015 nuclear deal with European parties, which include France, Britain and Germany.
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Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Donald Turmp’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria is of historic importance, Turkish state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.
Erdoğan met online with Donald Trump, Mohammed bin Salman and Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Speaking at an investment forum on Tuesday, Trump said that he planned to lift sanctions on Syria after holding talks with Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said.
Ahmed al-Sharaa’s pitch to woo the US president offered access to Syrian oil, reconstruction contracts and to build a Trump Tower in Damascus in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions on Syria.
Though the details of the sanctions relief were still unclear, Sharaa’s team in Damascus was celebrating, writes William Christou in Beirut.
“This is amazing, it worked,” said Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian writer and activist who is close to the Syrian president. He shared a picture of an initial mockup of Trump Tower Damascus. “This is how you win his heart and mind,” he said, noting that Sharaa would probably show Trump the design during their meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Donald Trump meets Syrian president in Saudi Arabia before Gulf tour resumes
Donald Trump has met Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia after agreeing to lift sanctions on Syria.
Despite concerns within sectors of his administration over the Syria’s leaders’ former ties to Al Qaeda, Trump said on Tuesday during a speech in Riyadh he would lift sanctions on Syria. The onetime insurgent leader spent years imprisoned by US forces after being captured in Iraq.
The White House says Trump agreed to “say hello” to al-Sharaa before the US leader wraps up his visit to Saudi Arabia and moves on to Qatar.
Trump is also scheduled to attend a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the grouping of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. He then sets off for Qatar, the second stop in his Gulf tour. Trump will be honored with a state dinner in Qatar.
Al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, stormed Damascus and ended the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
Trump said he decided to meet with al-Sharaa after being encouraged to do so by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The president also pledged to lift years-long sanctions on Syria.
“There is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,” Trump said in a wide-ranging foreign policy address Tuesday in which he announced he was lifting the sanctions that have been in place in Syria since 2011. “That’s what we want to see in Syria.”
Trump also urged Iran to take a “new and a better path” as he pushes for a new nuclear deal and said he wanted to avoid conflict with Tehran.
The United States and Saudi Arabia signed a $142bn arms deal touted by the White House as the “largest defence sales agreement in history” in the first stop of Donald Trump’s four-day diplomatic tour to the Gulf states aimed at securing big deals and spotlighting the benefits of Trump’s transactional foreign policy.
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