Closing summary
The time has come to end another day chronicling the second Trump administration. The blog will be closing now, but will revive on Tuesday morning. Here are a few of the day’s developments:
Donald Trump said he didn’t think Pope Leo XIV’s involvement in Russia-Ukraine peace talks meant the US would play a smaller role. He liked the idea of holding negotiations at the Vatican. “I think it would be great to have it at the Vatican,” Trump said. “Maybe it would have some extra significance … I think it would be maybe helpful. There’s tremendous bitterness, anger, and I think maybe that could help with some of that anger. So having it in the Vatican would be – in Rome – would be a great, I think it’d be great idea.”
At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the United States legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute, a libertarian thinktank. The report, published today, analyzed available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported, and focuses on the cases where records could be found.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer introduced new legislation that would ban the US from using a foreign plane as Air Force One. Schumer is introducing the bill in an effort to prevent Trump from accepting a new $400m plane from Qatar.
Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law, making it a federal crime to “knowingly publish” or threaten to publish intimate images without a person’s consent, including AI-created “deepfakes”. The bipartisan legislation – supported by first lady Melania Trump – passed the Senate in February and cleared the House last month.
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have held a rare phone call, which the US leader described as “excellent”, but the Kremlin refused to agree to a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, despite pressure from Washington and European allies. The Russian leader declined to support the US-proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire, which Ukraine had already agreed to – and which Washington had framed as the call’s primary objective. Putin also suggested his country’s maximalist objectives in the war with Ukraine were unchanged.
A federal judge in Washington ruled that the Trump administration illegally ousted leaders of the US Institute of Peace, calling the effort a “gross usurpation of power”. In her decision, US district judge Beryl Howell said Trump overstepped his power when his administration removed five board members without cause from the non-profit organization, which is funded by the Congress.
The supreme court allowed the Trump administration to strip about 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US of a temporary protected status given under Joe Biden. The court granted the justice department’s request to lift San Francisco-based US district judge Edward Chen’s order that had halted homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate the deportation protection conferred to Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program.
Wendy McMahon, the president and CEO of CBS News, will step down from her position due to the company and her have differing views on the path forward. McMahon, president and CEO of Paramount Global-owned CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures since 2023, said in a memo: “It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.” Her decision to step down comes during an ongoing legal battle between CBS and Trump after the president filed a lawsuit concerning an interview the show did with Kamala Harris during the presidential campaign.
Lawyers for a Guatemalan man who says he was deported to Mexico despite his fears he would be persecuted there have asked a judge to order the Trump administration to immediately facilitate his return after immigration officials acknowledged making a mistake in his case.
Joe Biden made his first public remarks this morning about his cancer diagnosis, an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. The former president, 82, wrote on social media: “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.” Biden and his family are reviewing treatment options. The cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, allowing for effective treatment, according to his office.
JD Vance considered traveling to Israel tomorrow but opted not to due to the expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza. While the US vice-president cited “logistical” reasons for canceling the trip, a US official suggested to Axios that he actually canceled so as to avoid any suggestion that the White House endorsed Israel’s expanding ground operations in Gaza at a time when the US is pushing for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
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The Senate has confirmed Charles Kushner, the father of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.
The real estate developer Charles Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
Prosecutors alleged that he hatched a scheme for revenge and intimidation after discovering his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities in an investigation, hiring a prostitute and arranging to have the encounter recorded with a hidden camera and sent to his own sister, the man’s wife.
Charles Kushner will head to France as the relationship between the two traditional allies, and between the US and the rest of Europe, has been strained over Trump’s trade policies and the US role in the Ukraine war.
At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Kushner said he would work closely with France to “bring greater balance to our important economic relationship” and also encourage France to “invest more in its defense capabilities, as well as lead the EU to align with the US vision of increased European commitments to security”.
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As key Israel allies threaten action over mounting Gaza catastrophe, Washington is largely unmoved.
As Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate Khan Younis in advance of what it calls an “unprecedented attack” on Gaza, much of Washington remains largely unmoved, even as Canada and European countries threaten “concrete actions” if Israel does not scale back its offensive.
Despite reports of growing pressure from the Trump administration to increase aid into Gaza, where widespread famine looms, the White House continues to publicly back Israel. National security council spokesperson James Hewitt told the Guardian in an email: “Hamas has rejected repeated ceasefire proposals, and therefore bears sole responsibility for this conflict,” maintaining the policy stance inherited from the previous Biden administration despite mounting evidence of humanitarian catastrophe.
The Israeli military on Monday instructed residents of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis to “evacuate immediately” as it prepares to “destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations” – signalling plans for intensified bombardment in a war that has already claimed more than 53,000 Palestinian lives, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Despite Israeli promises to “flatten” Gaza, opposition from Congress – and mainstream Democrats more broadly – has been largely muted. While the besieged territory faces what the World Health Organization (Who) calls “one of the world’s worst hunger crises”, more than three dozen members of Congress from both parties recently appeared in an American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) video in celebration of Israel’s 77th birthday. In New York, leading mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo held up an Israeli flag in the city’s annual Israel Day Parade on Sunday.
Read the full analysis by the Guardian’s Joseph Gedeon here:
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Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center’s interim director appointed by Donald Trump, claimed that the Kennedy Center board found $26mi in phantom revenue through the 2024 and 2025 budgets.
“It’s criminal,” Grenell said. “We’re going to refer this to the US attorney’s office here.”
Grenell said that attorney general Pam Bondi, who also serves on the board of trustees for the Kennedy Center, already “heard the details”.
“This is unacceptable in America, to have a fake revenue of $26m fraud on previous donors,” Grenell said.
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The former FBI director went for a walk on the beach with his wife when they stumbled on a message in the sand: 8647.
According to James Comey, his wife wondered if it was an address. They stood over the seashells, trying to decipher meaning. His wife, according to Comey’s account, recalled her days as a server, and said 86 was the term used to remove an item from the menu. Comey chimed in that when he was a kid, “86” meant “to ditch a place”.
“I said: ‘That’s really clever,’” Comey recounted in a Monday interview on MSNBC, describing the events that led him to post a photo of the seashells on Instagram, leading to a firestorm of accusations from Donald Trump allies that he was calling for violence against the 47th president of the United States.
“I posted it on my Instagram account and thought nothing more of it, until I heard through her that people were saying it was some sort of a call for assassination, which is crazy. But I took it down. Even if I think it’s crazy, I don’t want to be associated with violence of any kind,” he said.
Comey was hoping for a buzz around his forthcoming legal thriller, FDR Drive: A Crime Novel. Instead he got a call from the Secret Service.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in his first term, appeared voluntarily at the Washington field office for an interview, after the US president insisted there was no innocent reading of the message. “He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant,” Trump said. “If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear.”
Comey appeared nonplussed by the investigation – “it’s not my first rodeo,” he said, noting his tempestuous relationship with Trump which Comey said deteriorated after he rebuffed Trump’s early attempts to secure a pledge of loyalty from the then-FBI director. The agency is now led by Kash Patel, whose abiding loyalty has raised urgent questions about the FBI’s independence.
But Comey warned that the episode pointed to a more worrying trend by this administration: “The use of power to aim at individuals, eroding the rule of law.”
His advice to others who may find themselves on the receiving end of Trump’s retribution?
“The rule of law is still our saving grace,” Comey said. “We have a judiciary in this country that will support the truth. Take solace in that. Take prudent steps, but don’t freak out. These people are not good enough for you to be freaked out about. Protect yourself, be measured about the effect the threat has on you, and know that you’re going to be OK.”
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Donald Trump is delivering a speech at the Kennedy Center board dinner about three months after he seized control of the entity and immediately terminated multiple people from the board of trustees, making himself the chair of a new board.
On Monday, he took a moment to criticize the center’s layout.
“The importance of the building is phenomenal,” he said. “I always thought they should have built a beautiful performing center, open air, facing out over the Potomac. They didn’t do that. They built these crazy rooms underneath. They built three tiny little stages, very expensive. Someday, maybe somebody will occupy one.”
The Kennedy Center is the country’s national cultural center and is run through a public-private partnership. The center is known for hosting music, theater, dance, artwork and performance art, and has hosted acts ranging from Tina Turner to Led Zeppelin.
Trump’s move to take control made performers cancel shows, donors question their support and audience members threaten to boycott.
The new board is stocked with loyalists, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; attorney general Pam Bondi; Usha Vance, the wife of JD Vance; and Lee Greenwood, whose song God Bless the USA,” plays at Trump rallies as well as many official events, including during his trip to the Middle East last week.
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The Department of Homeland Security conducted its first charter flight for migrants who opted to “self-deport” to their home countries, flying 64 Colombians and Hondurans home.
The department paid them a $1,000 stipend each.
“This was a voluntary charter flight, not an ICE enforcement operation,” DHS said in a press release, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it would begin offering travel assistance and a stipend for those registering to self-deport through the CBP Home App. That is a version of the app devised in the Biden administration called CBPOne that gave people approaching the US-Mexico border without official arrangements a strictly limited channel to request asylum in the US and enter legally when issued an appointment.
Donald Trump shut that down upon inauguration, as vowed, stranding many, and later changed its name and function so that CBP Home is a tool to exit the US, not enter.
In Colombia, 26 people arrived to their families and representatives of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Migration Colombia, according to officials. In Honduras, 38 people were received by government officials and family members.
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Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who was detained by federal immigration authorities last month over his pro-Palestinian activism, crossed the graduation stage on Monday.
Several students cheered for Mahdawi as he walked across the stage. He blew a kiss and bowed, one video showed.
Mahdawi was arrested by Ice in Colchester, Vermont, while attending a naturalization interview. He was detained and ordered deported by the Trump administration on 14 April despite not being charged with a crime.
He is one of several international students who have been detained in recent months for their advocacy on behalf of Palestinians.
The Trump administration is attempting to deport them using an obscure statute that gives the secretary of state the right to revoke the legal status of people in the country deemed a threat to foreign policy.
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Donald Trump said on Monday that he was surprised the public wasn’t notified sooner about former president Joe Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis.
“I think it’s very sad,” the US president said. “I’m surprised that it wasn’t notified a long time ago. Because to get to stage nine, it’s a long time.”
Biden disclosed on Sunday he was diagnosed with prostate cancer with metastasis to the bone, and he and his family are reviewing treatment options.
Trump then said he just had his physical and said he was “proud to announce I aced” the cognitive tests, saying: “I got them all right.”
“I think, frankly, anybody running for president should, you know, take a cognitive test,” he said.
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Trump endorses Ukraine-Russia peace talks taking place at Vatican
Donald Trump said he didn’t think Pope Leo XIV’s involvement in Russia-Ukraine peace talks meant the US would play a smaller role. He liked the idea of holding negotiations at the Vatican.
“I think it would be great to have it at the Vatican,” Trump said. “Maybe it would have some extra significance … I think it would be maybe helpful. There’s tremendous bitterness, anger, and I think maybe that could help with some of that anger. So having it in the Vatican would be – in Rome – would be a great, I think it’d be great idea.”
Trump said he asked Russian president Vladimir Putin to meet with him.
“I said: ‘When are we going to end this bloodshed, this bloodbath. It’s a bloodbath.’ And I do believe he wants to end it.”
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At least 50 migrants sent to El Salvador prison entered US legally, report finds
At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the United States legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute, a libertarian thinktank.
The report, published today, analyzed available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported, and focuses on the cases where records could be found.
“The government calls them all ‘illegal aliens.’ But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced US government permission, at an official border crossing point,” Cato said in its report.
This number aligns with broader trends among Venezuelan migrants, many of whom entered the country either as refugees or through a Biden-era parole program that granted two-year work permits to those with US-based sponsors.
“The proportion isn’t what matters the most: the astounding absolute numbers are,” reads the report. “Dozens of legal immigrants were stripped of their status and imprisoned in El Salvador.”
Cato’s analysis goes against the Trump administration’s justification for sending the men to El Salvador, saying that only undocumented immigrants were deported.
The report says that 21 men were admitted after presenting themselves at a port of entry, 24 were granted parole, four were resettled as refugees, and one entered the US on a tourist visa.
To date, the Trump administration has not released complete records for the more than 200 Venezuelans transferred to El Salvador. Cato’s review includes information for 174 men whose cases have some degree of public documentation.
The Trump administration has accused many of the deported Venezuelan men of gang involvement, but in many cases, those claims appear to hinge largely on their tattoos.
Many of the tattoos cited as evidence have no connection to gang activity. The markings reflect, in many cases, personal or cultural references.
Cato uses the example of Andry José Hernández Romero, a makeup artist, who has crown tattoos on his arms that reference the Three Kings Day celebrations in his Venezuelan hometown.
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The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into a recent security breach at Coinbase Global, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bloomberg reports.
Coinbase itself is not the subject of the justice department’s investigation, which is focused on the people behind the attack.
“We have notified and are working with the DOJ and other US and international law enforcement agencies and welcome law enforcement’s pursuit of criminal charges against these bad actors,” Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, told Reuters.
Last week, Coinbase disclosed that on 11 May it received an email from an unidentified threat actor claiming to have information on certain customer accounts and internal documents.
The company estimates potential losses from the incident to range between $180m and $400m.
While the attackers stole some data including names, addresses and emails, they did not get access to login credentials or passwords. It will, however, reimburse the customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attackers.
Here’s more information on the cyber-attack:
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An anonymous source told the AP that President Donald Trump is slated to visit House Republicans during their weekly conference meeting on Tuesday as he looks to build momentum for his tax cut and immigration bill.
The legislation Republicans are hoping to pass this summer faces a critical test in the House this week with Speaker Mike Johnson seeking a vote before Memorial Day, even though GOP lawmakers still have some differences on the bill.
Johnson is working to hold his narrow House majority together to pass the president’s top domestic priority of extending the tax breaks while pumping in money for border security and deportations.
Senate Democratic leader introduces bill that would ban Qatar-made Air Force One
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer introduced new legislation that would ban the United States from using a foreign plane as Air Force One.
Schumer is introducing the bill in an effort to prevent President Donald Trump from accepting a new $400 million plane from Qatar.
“Retrofitting the Qatari plane would cost billions and could never even truly eliminate all catastrophic risks,” Schumer said on X.
White House Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the aircraft “will be accepted according to all legal and ethical obligations.”
The bill would prevent the US from spending taxpayer dollars to retrofit a foreign-owned plane for presidential use.
“There’s absolutely no amount of modifications that can guarantee it will be secure,” Schumer said.
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Speaking in the White House Rose Garden on Monday, Trump said: “We just spent two and a half hours talking to Vladimir Putin and I think some progress has been made. It’s a terrible situation going on over there. Five thousand young people every single week are being killed so hopefully we did something.
“We also spoke to the heads of most of the European nations and we’re trying to get that whole thing wrapped up. What a shame that it ever started in the first place.”
The president was about to sign a bill that addresses the rise of “revenge porn” and deepfake images and was joined by first lady Melania Trump, who has campaigned on the issue. Trump quipped: “Putin just said, they respect your wife a lot. I said, what about me? They like Melania better. That wasn’t good; I don’t know if that was good. I’m OK with it. I’m OK.”
Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, compared federal immigration enforcement under Donald Trump with Nazi-era police tactics during a commencement address over the weekend.
“Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz said on Saturday during the University of Minnesota Law School graduation.
Walz, who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee last fall, added:
“They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons, no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”
Walz’s remarks referred to the Trump administration’s expedited deportations of migrants and pro-Palestinian student activists on college campuses, largely carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Since Trump took office, several videos have surfaced online showing officers conducting ambush-style arrests.
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Trump officials reportedly reach a $5m settlement in January 6 wrongful death suit.
The Trump administration has reportedly reached an agreement to pay nearly $5m to the family of the woman who was fatally shot by police while participating in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol carried out by the president’s supporters.
Citing multiple sources, the Washington Post reported on Monday that the Trump administration had agreed to pay the family of Ashli Babbitt to settle the wrongful death lawsuit they filed after the attack.
Babbitt was attempting to force her way into the lobby of the US House speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi, when the Trump supporter was shot dead by a Capitol police officer. The payment of about $5m at the center of the settlement is meant to resolve the litigation from Babbitt’s estate, which initially sought $30m in damages.
Attorneys for both Babbitt’s family and the federal government each informed a judge earlier in May that they had agreed to settle the case in principle. The case was scheduled to be tried in July 2026.
Read the full story by the Guardian’s Marina Dunbar:
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Trump signs bill criminalizing deepfake and revenge porn
Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law, making it a federal crime to “knowingly publish” or threaten to publish intimate images without a person’s consent, including AI-created “deepfakes”.
The bipartisan legislation – supported by first lady Melania Trump – passed the Senate in February and cleared the House last month.
The first lady made a rare public appearance at the Capitol in March to advocate for the bill.
Today, she spoke before the president signed legislation targeting “revenge porn”.
She said that artificial intelligence is “digital candy” for the next generation, “but unlike sugar this new technology can be weaponized”.
Trump spoke after his wife, saying it is “so horrible what takes place”.
After Trump finished signing the legislation, he passed the document and the marker to his wife. “She deserves to sign it,” he said.
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The day so far
A two-hour-long phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin got a warm and rosy write-up from both sides, with Trump saying Russia was ready to “immediately” begin negotiations with Ukraine towards a ceasefire and Putin concurring: “We’re generally on the right track.”
But there seemed to be little of substance to come out of the conversation, with Putin refusing to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, which had been the aim of Trump’s call. The Russian president showed no signs of backing down from his maximalist demands towards Ukraine, saying that for Russia an end to the war depended on its “root causes” being addressed. As my colleague Pjotr Sauer notes, these demands remain forcing Ukraine to demilitarise, cutting back its armed forces, barring it from receiving western military support, and imposing sweeping limits on its sovereignty. And despite Trump’s claim of Russia’s readiness to begin peace talks, the Kremlin later said no timeline for negotiations had been discussed.
Nonetheless European leaders welcomed Trump debriefing them following the call, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying a high-level meeting between Ukraine, Russia, the US, EU and UK was under consideration, and the Vatican being floated as a potential venue for Ukraine-Russia peace talks. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen welcomed Trump’s efforts and – in light of JD Vance’s earlier warning that the US was “more than open to walking away” from talks if significant progress isn’t made soon – stressed the importance of the US “staying engaged” on Ukraine.
Elsewhere:
Putin and Trump also discussed what the US president called “impressive” prospects for ties between their two countries in their phone call, the Kremlin said, adding that Russia and the US are working on a new prisoner swap. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the two countries were working out details of an exchange of prisoners jailed in Russia and the United States involving nine people on each side, although he did not say when it might take place.
A federal judge in Washington ruled that the Trump administration illegally ousted leaders of the US Institute of Peace, calling the effort a “gross usurpation of power”. In her decision, US district judge Beryl Howell said Trump overstepped his power when his administration removed five board members without cause from the non-profit organization, which is funded by the Congress.
The supreme court allowed the Trump administration to strip about 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US of a temporary protected status given under Joe Biden. The court granted the justice department’s request to lift San Francisco-based US district judge Edward Chen’s order that had halted homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate the deportation protection conferred to Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program.
Lawyers for a Guatemalan man who says he was deported to Mexico despite his fears he would be persecuted there have asked a judge to order the Trump administration to immediately facilitate his return after immigration officials acknowledged making a mistake in his case.
Wendy McMahon, the president and CEO of CBS News, will step down from her position due to the company and her have differing views on the path forward. McMahon, president and CEO of Paramount Global-owned CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures since 2023, said in a memo: “It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.” Her decision to step down comes during an ongoing legal battle between CBS and Trump after the president filed a lawsuit concerning an interview the show did with Kamala Harris during the presidential campaign.
Joe Biden made his first public remarks this morning about his cancer diagnosis, an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. The former president, 82, wrote on social media: “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.” Biden and his family are reviewing treatment options. The cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, allowing for effective treatment, according to his office.
JD Vance considered traveling to Israel tomorrow but opted not to due to the expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza. While the US vice-president cited “logistical” reasons for canceling the trip, a US official suggested to Axios that he actually canceled so asto avoid any suggestion that the White House endorsed Israel’s expanding ground operations in Gaza at a time when the US is pushing for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Vance also extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States during a meeting at the Vatican today. Vance gave the first American pope a letter from Trump and the first lady inviting him. The Chicago-born pope took the letter and put it on his desk and was heard saying “at some point”, in the video footage of the meeting provided by Vatican Media. “There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” according to a Vatican statement after their meeting.
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He says he’s spoken to European leaders “to try to get that whole thing [Russia’s war in Ukraine] wrapped up”.
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Trump says he thinks some progress has been made in his 2.5-hour phone call with Putin.
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Donald Trump was due to appear at a White House Rose Garden event at 3pm ET but seems to be running late. He will probably take questions from the media (and no doubt face questions about his earlier two-hour-long phone call with Putin).
I’ll bring you all the key lines when he starts speaking.
'Gross usurpation of power': US judge rules Trump unlawfully ousted board members of Institute of Peace
A federal judge in Washington ruled on Monday that the Trump administration illegally ousted leaders of the US Institute of Peace, calling the effort a “gross usurpation of power”.
In her decision, US district judge Beryl Howell said Donald Trump overstepped his power when his administration removed five board members without cause from the non-profit organization, which is funded by the Congress.
The administration’s efforts to control the direction of the Institute of Peace became a public standoff in March, when some staff of the organization locked the building’s doors to bar members of Trump’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) from entering.
Local police were called and subsequently expelled the organization’s leadership, including its president.
The White House and justice department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment, and neither did lawyers for the board members who sued.
Howell said the administration’s move to control the group “by acts of force and threat using local and federal law enforcement officers, represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better”.
The justice department, which had argued the board members were lawfully removed, can appeal Howell’s order to the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit.
Howell in March ruled against the Institute’s request for a temporary, emergency order to stop the Trump administration from controlling the organization.
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Putin and Trump discussed 'impressive' prospects for US-Russia ties, Kremlin says, and are both in favor of meeting in person
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed what the US president called “impressive” prospects for ties between their two countries in their phone call earlier, the Kremlin said, adding that Russia and the United States are working on a new prisoner swap.
Reuters quotes Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov as saying:
The presidents also spoke in some detail about the future of our relations, and President Trump, I can say, spoke quite emotionally about the prospects for these relations.
He specifically emphasized that the prospects for bilateral relations after the Ukrainian conflict is resolved look impressive, and that as the president of the United States, he sees Russia as one of America’s most important partners in trade and economic matters.
Ushakov said the two countries were working out details of an exchange of prisoners jailed in Russia and the United States involving nine people on each side, although he did not say when it might take place.
Trump and Putin are both in favour of meeting in person and will assign their teams to work on preparing a meeting, Ushakov said, but no venue has been agreed.
Asked if the lifting of US sanctions had been discussed, Ushakov said: “You know, Trump mentioned that the Senate, in principle, has a bill ready regarding new sanctions. But he himself is not a supporter of sanctions, but rather of reaching some agreements.”
Ushakov stressed the warm nature of the conversation, saying the two men addressed each other by their first names and Putin congratulated Trump on the birth of his latest grandson.
Trump said: “Vladimir, you can pick up the phone at any time, I will be happy to answer, I will be happy to talk to you.”
European and US leaders have welcomed Pope Leo XIV’s readiness to host Russia-Ukraine talks at the Vatican, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said on Monday.
Meloni’s office confirmed that European leaders, including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz, spoke to Donald Trump after he his call with Vladimir Putin.
Meloni’s office said in a statement:
Work is underway to immediately start negotiations between the parties that can lead to a ceasefire as soon as possible and build the conditions for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
In this regard, the Holy Father’s willingness to host the talks at the Vatican was considered positive. Italy is ready to do its part to facilitate contacts and work for peace.
Zelenskyy says high-level meeting between Ukraine, Russia, US, EU and UK under consideration
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Kyiv and its partners were considering setting up a meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, the United States, European Union countries and Britain as part of a push to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv after holding two phone calls on Monday with Donald Trump, the Ukrainian leader said he hoped the meeting could happen as soon as possible and that it could be hosted by Turkey, the Vatican or Switzerland.
“We are considering a meeting of all teams at a high level,” Zelenskyy told reports in Kyiv.
“I am very focused, it is a challenging time for us now,” he added.
Ukraine and Russia held (ultimately fruitless) direct negotiations in Istanbul last week at the behest of the United States. The talks highlighted how far apart they are on their vision for ending the war, which is now grinding through its fourth year.
Zelenskyy said he expected Europe to announce a “strong” new package of sanctions on Russia, though he did not elaborate. He called on the United States to sanction Russia’s banking and energy sectors to reduce the revenue for its military needs.
He said he hoped that a major prisoner swap agreed in principle at the talks in Istanbul would happen in either days or weeks.
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Vladimir Putin welcomed progress in talks between the US and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear program during his call with Donald Trump, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, and offered Russia’s help.
Ushakov said Putin also welcomed the results of Trump’s visit to the Middle East last week.
'It's important that US stays engaged' on Ukraine, says EU's Ursula von der Leyen welcoming Trump debrief of Putin call
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she had a “good call” with Trump as he debriefed European leaders on his conversation with Putin.
In a post on X, von der Leyen thanked Trump “for his tireless efforts to bring a ceasefire to Ukraine”. “It’s important that the US stays engaged,” she said.
Good call with President @realDonaldTrump together with President @EmmanuelMacron, Prime Minister @GiorgiaMeloni and President @alexstubb, Chancellor @_FriedrichMerz and President @ZelenskyyUa to get debriefed from his call with President Putin. I want to thank President Trump for his tireless efforts to bring a ceasefire to Ukraine. It’s important that the US stays engaged. We will continue to support Volodymyr Zelenskyy to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine.
It comes as US vice-president JD Vance said before the call this morning that the US is “more than open to walking away” from talks if significant progress isn’t made soon. “The United States is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes,” he told reporters.
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Putin and Trump didn't discuss timeline for Ukraine ceasefire, Kremlin aide says
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump didn’t discuss a timeline for a ceasefire in Ukraine during their two-hour phone call, but Trump stressed his interest in reaching agreements quickly, the Kremlin has said. Trump had earlier said peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine would begin ‘“immediately”.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov also told reporters the two leaders talked about trading nine Russians for nine Americans in a prisoner swap as part of a discussion about improving bilateral relations.
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Donald Trump is going to appear at a White House Rose Garden event at 3pm ET where he will probably take questions from the media (and no doubt face questions about his call with Putin). I’ll bring you all the key lines from that later on.
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Trump says call with Putin went 'very well' and Russia and Ukraine to start ceasefire negotiations immediately
Donald Trump has said his call with Vladimir Putin “went very well” and Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire”.
In a post on Truth Social moments ago, Trump added that the Vatican had expressed interest in hosting the negotiations.
He then went on to say that Russia “wants to do large scale trade” with the US once the war is over, and that Ukraine could also benefit greatly from trade.
Trump also said he had informed Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, as well as the leaders of the EU, France, Italy, Germany and Finland, immediately after the call with Putin.
Here’s the full post:
Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of. The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent. If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later. Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic “bloodbath” is over, and I agree. There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED. Likewise, Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on Trade, in the process of rebuilding its Country. Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately. I have so informed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, President Emmanuel Macron, of France, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of Germany, and President Alexander Stubb, of Finland, during a call with me, immediately after the call with President Putin. The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!
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Putin refuses to agree to ceasefire during call with Trump
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held a rare phone call on Monday, but the Kremlin refused to agree to a ceasefire, despite mounting pressure from Washington.
Speaking to reporters in Sochi after the two-hour conversation, Putin described the call as “very meaningful and frank”, and said he was prepared to work with Ukraine on drafting a memorandum for future peace talks.
However, the Russian leader declined to endorse the proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire, which US officials had said was the main aim of the call.
Putin claimed Russia supported a halt to hostilities, but insisted it was necessary to “develop the most effective paths toward peace”.
Crucially, Putin repeated his longstanding refrain that the “root causes” of the war must be addressed – a reference to Russia’s maximalist demands that would undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty.
These demands include forcing Ukraine to “de-Nazify” and demilitarise, cutting back its armed forces, barring it from receiving western military support, and imposing sweeping limits on its sovereignty.
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Putin claims Russia ready to work on 'memorandum' with Ukraine but says root causes of crisis 'need to be eliminated'
Following his call with Donald Trump earlier, Vladimir Putin has said that efforts to end the war in Ukraine are “on the right track” and that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum about future peace accord.
Putin thanked Trump for supporting the resumption of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv, and said that Trump noted Russia’s support for peace, though the key question was how to move towards peace.
“We have agreed with the president of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord, defining a number of positions, such as, for example, the principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement,” Putin told reporters near the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
If appropriate agreements are reached, then there could be a ceasefire, Putin said, adding that direct talks between Russia and Ukraine “gives reason to believe that we are generally on the right track”.
I would like to note that, on the whole, Russia’s position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis. We just need to determine the most effective ways to move towards peace.
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'We're generally on the right track', Russian state media quote Putin as saying following call with Trump
We’re getting lines now from Russian state media that the call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has concluded.
The call lasted more than two hours and was “very informative and helpful”, according to RIA. It cites Putin as saying:
We’re generally on the right track.
Tass reports that Putin said Russia and Ukraine must agree on “compromises that suit both sides” before a ceasefire can be reached.
It also said the Russian president favors a “peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis” and is ready to work with Kyiv on a memorandum on future peace talks.
According to IFX, Putin also said the root causes of the crisis should be eliminated.
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Supreme court allows Trump to end deportation protection for Venezuelans
The supreme court has allowed the Trump administration to strip about 350,000 Venezuelans living in the US of a temporary protected status given under Joe Biden, Reuters reports.
The court granted the justice department’s request to lift San Francisco-based US district judge Edward Chen’s order that had halted homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate the deportation protection conferred to Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program.
Chen acted in a legal challenge by plaintiffs including some of the TPS recipients and the National TPS Alliance advocacy group, who said Venezuela remains an unsafe country.
The TPS program is a humanitarian designation under US law for countries stricken by war, natural disaster or other catastrophe, giving recipients living in the United States deportation protection and access to work permits. The designation can be renewed by the homeland security secretary.
The federal government under Biden twice designated Venezuela for TPS, in 2021 and 2023. In January, days before Trump returned to office, the Biden administration announced an extension of the programs to 2026.
Noem rescinded the extension and moved to end the TPS designation for a subset of Venezuelans who benefited from the 2023 designation. The Department of Homeland Security said about 348,202 Venezuelans were registered under that 2023 designation.
Chen ruled that Noem violated a federal law that governs the actions of agencies. The judge also said the revocation of the TPS status appeared to have been predicated on “negative stereotypes” by insinuating the Venezuelan migrants were criminals. He wrote:
Generalization of criminality to the Venezuelan TPS population as a whole is baseless and smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes.
The judge added that Venezuelan TPS holders were more likely to hold bachelor’s degrees than American citizens and less likely to commit crimes than the general US population.
The San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals on 18 April declined the administration’s request to pause the judge’s order.
Justice department lawyers in their supreme court filing said Chen had “wrested control of the nation’s immigration policy” away from the government’s executive branch, headed by Trump. They wrote:
The court’s order contravenes fundamental Executive Branch prerogatives and indefinitely delays sensitive policy decisions in an area of immigration policy that Congress recognized must be flexible, fast-paced, and discretionary.
The plaintiffs told the supreme court that granting the administration’s request “would strip work authorization from nearly 350,000 people living in the US, expose them to deportation to an unsafe country and cost billions in economic losses nationwide”.
The Trump administration in April also terminated TPS for thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians in the US. Those actions are not part of the current case.
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Trump spoke to Zelenskyy 'for a few minutes' before call with Putin – Reuters
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke briefly by phone with Donald Trump earlier today before the US president’s call with Vladimir Putin, a source familiar with the matter has told Reuters.
Trump called Zelenskyy “for a few minutes” before his call with the Kremlin leader, the source said.
The Ukrainian president’s office did not immediately comment when asked by Reuters about the call.
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Lawyers seek to force Trump to return Guatemalan deportee from Mexico after justice department admits error
Lawyers for a Guatemalan man who says he was deported to Mexico despite his fears he would be persecuted there have asked a judge to order the Trump administration to immediately facilitate his return after immigration officials acknowledged making a mistake in his case.
Reuters reports the attorneys made the request on Sunday after the justice department notified a federal judge in Boston that its claim that the man had expressly stated he was not afraid of being sent to Mexico was based on erroneous information.
The justice department in a filing on Friday said that upon further investigation, officials had been unable to identify any officer with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) who actually asked the man about fears he had for his safety.
Lawyers for the man, identified in court papers only as “O.C.G.”, told US district judge Brian Murphy that despite admitting to that error, the administration was refusing to commit to allowing the man to immediately return to the US.
They urged the judge to order the government to do so, given that Murphy in a class action lawsuit OCG and other migrants filed has already blocked the administration from swiftly deporting migrants to countries other than their own without first hearing their concerns about their safety.
Lawyers for OCG say that once he was in Mexico, OCG had to choose between waiting months in detention to apply for asylum in Mexico or returning to Guatemala. He ultimately opted to go back to Guatemala, where he is in hiding, his lawyers say.
“Defendants’ admitted failure to provide O.C.G. even an oral opportunity to assert his fear is flatly contrary to their own repeated representations to the supreme court regarding what due process requires in a situation like this,” the lawyers wrote.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Ice, and the justice department did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
It is the latest instance of the government acknowledging an error in the case of a migrant swept up in Donald Trump’s efforts to rapidly carry out mass deportations as part of his hardline immigration agenda.
Such an error occurred with Maryland resident Kilmar Ábrego García, who was deported to El Salvador in March despite an order protecting him from removal. He remains there, despite the supreme court ordering the administration to facilitate his return.
According to his lawyers, OCG is a gay man who fled Guatemala in 2024 after facing death threats based on his sexuality. He entered the United States through Mexico in May 2024.
An immigration judge in February granted him protection from being deported to Guatemala after an asylum officer found he had a reasonable fear of persecution there. Yet immigration officials then swiftly deported him to Mexico instead.
His lawyers say immigration officials sent OCG to Mexico without giving him an opportunity to express his fear of being sent there, where he likewise feared persecution after previously being kidnapped and raped in Mexico.
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President Trump has accused Beyoncé and a handful of other celebrities of “an illegal election scam” for their endorsement of Kamala Harris in a social media post. Trump wrote on Truth Social:
“According to news reports, Beyoncé was paid $11,000,000 to walk onto a stage, quickly ENDORSE KAMALA, and walk off to loud booing for never having performed, NOT EVEN ONE SONG! Remember, the Democrats and Kamala illegally paid her millions of Dollars for doing nothing other than giving Kamala a full throated ENDORSEMENT. THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ELECTION SCAM AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL! IT IS AN ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION! BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, OPRAH, BONO AND, PERHAPS, MANY OTHERS, HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!!”
President of CBS News to step down amid network feud with Trump
Wendy McMahon, the president and CEO of CBS News, will step down from her position due to the company and her have differing views on the path forward, Reuters reports.
McMahon, president and CEO of Paramount Global-owned CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures since 2023, said in a memo that the last few months have been challenging.
“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership,” McMahon said.
McMahon’s decision to step down comes during an ongoing legal battle between CBS and Donald Trump after the president filed a lawsuit concerning an interview the show did with Kamala Harris during the presidential campaign.
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Trump ally and de facto head of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) Elon Musk appeared to endorse a conspiracy theory about former President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis in a post on X.
Clint Russell, host of the rightwing podcast Liberty Lockdown, accused the Democrats of planning to get Biden elected into office and then have him drop out because of his diagnosis in order to have Kamala Harris step in.
“So the plan was to run Biden, lie about his cancer and dementia, get him back in the WH, and then have him immediately step aside so Kamala’s reign of terror could begin. All while trying to jail or kill DJT. Just making sure we’re all on the same page, here. These people are evil,” Russell wrote on X.
Musk posted a “bullseye” emoji in response to someone reposting the claim, appearing to endorse the conspiracy theory.
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An appeals court has allowed President Trump’s executive order aimed at ending collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees to stand while a lawsuit plays out, reports the Associated Press.
The ruling came after the Trump administration asked for an emergency pause on a judge’s order blocking enforcement at roughly three dozen agencies and departments. The court ruled on technical grounds, finding that the unions don’t have the legal right to sue because Trump hasn’t ended any collective bargaining agreements yet.
The administration says the president needs the EO so he can cut the federal workforce to ensure “strong national security”. Union leaders have argued that the order is designed to facilitate mass federal firings and exact “political vengeance” against unions.
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Trump-Putin call under way, White House says
The call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is under way, the White House has confirmed, as the US president tries once again to bring Russia’s war in Ukraine to an end.
Trump, who will speak to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his call with Putin, sounded optimistic when posting on social media about the call on Saturday, saying: “Hopefully it will be a very productive day.”
But, Politico writes this morning:
The million-ruble question remains: How will Trump react if there’s no real progress (again) today? There are concerns inside Europe he’ll either try to force through a disastrous deal from Ukraine’s perspective, or just abandon the whole peace idea – plus US support on the battlefield – altogether.
Indeed, in a sign of growing US frustration, vice-president JD Vance earlier today acknowledged there was an “impasse” in getting Putin to agree to a ceasefire and end the war, and added that it “takes two to tango. I know [Trump’s] willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to say, this is not our war”.
We’ll bring you more on the call as we get it.
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Joe Biden says thank you for ‘love and support’ after prostate cancer diagnosis
Joe Biden made his first public remarks on Monday morning about his cancer diagnosis, an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
Biden wrote on social media, his first statement since his office reported the diagnosis on Sunday:
Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” Biden’s personal office said in a statement. “On Friday he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.”
Biden, 82, and his family are reviewing treatment options. The cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, allowing for effective treatment, according to his office.
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Vance says Trump to engage Putin amid 'impasse' and adds that if US can't end it they may have to say 'this is not our war'
With less than an hour to go before the Trump-Putin call at 10am ET, JD Vance told reporters that Washington recognised there was an impasse in ending the war - and that if Moscow was not willing to engage then eventually the United States would have to say it was not its war.
Adding that he had just spoken to Trump, Vance said as he prepared to depart from Italy:
We realize there’s a bit of an impasse here. And I think the president’s going to say to President Putin: ‘Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?’”
I think honestly that President Putin, he doesn’t quite know how to get out of the war.
He said it “takes two to tango. I know the president’s willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to say, this is not our war.”
We’re going to try to end it, but if we can’t end it, we’re eventually going to say: ‘You know what? That was worth a try, but we’re not doing anymore.’
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Putin-Trump meeting not currently being prepared, RIA cites Kremlin as saying, as White House says Trump open to it
A meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is not currently being prepared, Russian state news agency RIA cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Monday.
The White House has said that Trump is open to meeting with the Russian president. The two are going to speak at 10am ET and Trump will call Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy when that call concludes, the White House said.
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JD Vance decided against Israel visit so as not to endorse expanded military operation in Gaza - Axios
JD Vance considered traveling to Israel tomorrow but decided not to due to the expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, Axios reports citing a senior US official.
Axios writes that, according to Israeli officials, the Trump administration on Saturday informed the Israeli government that Vance was considering stopping in Israel after attending the pope’s inauguration. Additional discussions took place yesterday between US and Israeli officials to prepare for the visit, and it was soon reported in the Israeli press that Vance might arrive tomorrow. Several hours later, however, a White House official denied the reports in a statement and claimed “logistical constraints have precluded an extension of his travel beyond Rome”.
But a US official with knowledge of what actually happened during those several hours told Axios logistics weren’t the issue. The official said that while Vance was deliberating, concerns were raised that a trip to Israel at this time would be perceived by Israel and countries in the region as validation for Israel’s expanded operation in Gaza, at a time when the US is pushing for a ceasefire and hostage deal. At that point, the official said, the vice-president made the decision not to go.
Yesterday, the Israeli army announced the start of a large-scale offensive in Gaza, describing “extensive ground operations” to seize “operational control” of swaths of the devastated Palestinian territory. It came on a second day of indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar, which ended without any breakthrough.
Axios writes:
This isn’t about publicly pressuring Israel. Vance officially cited “logistical” reasons for passing on the visit. But his decision sheds light on how the US feels about the current Israeli policy in Gaza.
You can read all our coverage of the crisis here:
JD Vance extends invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit US
JD Vance extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Associated Press reports.
Vance gave the first American pope a letter from Donald Trump and the first lady inviting him. The Chicago-born pope took the letter and put it on his desk and was heard saying “at some point”, in the video footage of the meeting provided by Vatican Media.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, also gave the Augustinian pope a copy of two of St Augustine’s most seminal works, The City of God and On Christian Doctrine, the vice-president’s office said. Another gift: A Chicago Bears T-shirt with Leo’s name on it.
“As you can probably imagine, people in the United States are extremely excited about you,” Vance told Leo as they exchanged gifts.
Leo gave Vance a bronze sculpture with the words in Italian “Peace is a fragile flower”, and a coffee-table sized picture book of the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace. Leo noted that Francis had chosen not to live in them and added: “And I may live in, but it’s not totally decided.”
Vance led the US delegation to Sunday’s formal mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope. Joining him at the meeting on Monday was secretary of state Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said. The two then also met with the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
“There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” according to a Vatican statement after their meeting.
After greeting Leo briefly at the end of Sunday’s mass, Vance spent the rest of the day in separate meetings, including with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also met with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni, who said she hoped the trilateral meeting could be a “new beginning”.
In the evening, Meloni spoke by phone with Trump and several other European leaders ahead of Trump’s expected call with Vladimir Putin today, according to a statement from Meloni’s office.
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Workers at top US consumer watchdog sound warning as Trump bids to gut agency
Donald Trump’s bid to gut the top US consumer watchdog has left the agency unable to protect consumers amid mounting fears of recession, according to workers.
For months the Trump administration has pushed to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and fire the vast majority of its workforce. Ripped-off Americans will have “nowhere to turn” if it succeeds, staff told the Guardian.
“The agency that Congress created after the last financial crisis to help prevent another financial crisis is currently completely handcuffed from working,” said one attorney at the CFPB, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
And we are on the verge of another major financial crisis, so it’s terrifying. The one thing we were created to do we can’t do – at a time when we’re most needed.
Trump officials tried to axe about 1,500 of the CFPB’s 1,700 workers last month, only for his plan to be blocked by a federal judge.
“This whirlwind has been hard on everyone, but everyone comes back with more fight to keep the bureau going, because we know the harms that will be visited on people if it goes under,” said a software engineer at the agency. “When it comes to loans, mortgages, car loans, credit card debt, bank accounts, we’re out there protecting everyone.
We have helped millions of people. We have returned billions of dollars. It isn’t the way it has to be that there is nowhere to turn to when a bank or credit card rips you off. That is something everyone is exposed to. That’s what’s heartbreaking to me about the possibility of my job disappearing.
Pope Leo and Vance share 'exchange of views' in meeting, Vatican says
Pope Leo XIV and US vice-president JD Vance met at the Vatican on Monday ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the US delegation to the formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope.
Joining him at the meeting on Monday was secretary of state Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said.
“There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” according to a Vatican statement after their meeting.
The Vatican listed Vance’s delegation as the first of several private audiences Leo was having Monday with people who had come to Rome for his inaugural mass, including other Christian leaders and a group of faithful from his old diocese in Chiclayo, Peru.
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US advocacy groups are waging an intensive campaign to protect Medicaid and Obamacare from Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, after House Republicans proposed an $880bn cut that could leave an estimated 13 million Americans without health insurance.
The House bill left Republicans’ most controversial proposals on the table, but has divided Senate Republicans: one called the effort to yank away healthcare “morally wrong and politically suicidal”. Others have described the cuts as insufficient and “anemic”.
“One of our patients just shared with us that when she had stage 4 lung cancer, she was not officially disabled but she could not work. It was a rare day she could even get off the couch,” said Erika Sward, assistant vice-president of National Advocacy for the American Lung Association.
“The idea you then have to justify your sickness while you’re fighting for your life is incomprehensible.”
Sward joined colleagues from other disease-specific health advocacy groups in a press call earlier this month, a sign of the gathering opposition to a Republican bill that proposes cuts to everything from healthcare to family and food support. Republicans have floated proposals to cut Medicaid for months, but their ideas were only put to text last week.
Donald Trump and his Republican allies are “petty bitches” for refusing to display a congressionally approved plaque honoring police officers who protected the US Capitol when the president’s supporters attacked the complex on 6 January 2021, says one of the cops in question, Michael Fanone.
Speaking recently on the show hosted by political broadcast journalist Jim Acosta, the famously candid and oft profane Fanone said he also had a suggestion about where Republican US House speaker Mike Johnson could position the commemoration. “I think that it would be … perfect … if the plaque was shoved up his ass,” said Fanone, who retired from the Washington DC police force after being wounded during the January 6th attack.
Fanone’s remarks in part demonstrated the discontent among many in law enforcement about the way Trump has handled the aftermath of the Capitol assault, which was meant to keep him in the Oval Office after his first presidency ended in defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election won by the Democrats.
After triumphing over Kamala Harris in November’s election, Trump started his second term in the White House by issuing unconditional pardons and commutations for more than 1,500 people charged with roles in the 6 January 2021 insurrection – which was linked to nine deaths, including the suicides of officers who were left traumatized having defended the Capitol.
Donald Trump’s bid to gut the top US consumer watchdog has left the agency unable to protect consumers amid mounting fears of recession, according to workers.
For months the Trump administration has pushed to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and fire the vast majority of its workforce. Ripped-off Americans will have “nowhere to turn” if it succeeds, staff told the Guardian.
“The agency that Congress created after the last financial crisis to help prevent another financial crisis is currently completely handcuffed from working,” said one attorney at the CFPB, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “And we are on the verge of another major financial crisis, so it’s terrifying.
“The one thing we were created to do we can’t do – at a time when we’re most needed.”
Trump officials tried to axe about 1,500 of the CFPB’s 1,700 workers last month, only for his plan to be blocked by a federal judge.
“This whirlwind has been hard on everyone, but everyone comes back with more fight to keep the bureau going, because we know the harms that will be visited on people if it goes under,” said a software engineer at the agency. “When it comes to loans, mortgages, car loans, credit card debt, bank accounts, we’re out there protecting everyone.
“We have helped millions of people. We have returned billions of dollars. It isn’t the way it has to be that there is nowhere to turn to when a bank or credit card rips you off. That is something everyone is exposed to. That’s what’s heartbreaking to me about the possibility of my job disappearing.”
New pope to meet JD Vance
Two high-profile Catholics, Pope Leo XIV and US vice-president JD Vance, were meeting Monday ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, AP reported.
Vance’s motorcade was seen entering Vatican City just after 7.30am Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the US delegation to the formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope.
Joining Vance at the Vatican was secretary of state Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said.
The Vatican, which was largely sidelined during the first three years of Russia’s war, has offered to host any peace talks while continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
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Trump tax bill passes in key US House committee vote
Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut bill, stalled for days by Republican infighting over spending cuts, won approval from a key congressional committee on Sunday to advance toward possible passage in the House of Representatives later this week.
The action was a big win for Trump and House speaker Mike Johnson, after hardline Republican conservatives on Friday blocked the bill from clearing the House Budget Committee over a dispute involving spending cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program for lower-income Americans and the repeal of green energy tax credits, Reuters reports.
Four hardline members of the committee’s 21 Republicans allowed the legislation to advance by voting “present” in a rare Sunday night session. The bill passed in a 17-16 vote, with all Democrats voting against it.
The hardliners had spent much of the day in closed-door negotiations with House Republican leaders and White House officials.
“The deliberations continue at this very moment. They will continue on into the week, and I suspect, right up until the time we put this big, beautiful bill before the House,” House budget chair Jodey Arrington said.
Nonpartisan analysts say the bill, which would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump’s signature first-term legislative win, would add $3tn to $5tn to the nation’s $36.2tn in debt over the next decade. Moody’s cited the rising debt, which it said was on track to reach 134% of GDP by 2035, for its decision on Friday to downgrade the US credit rating.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the cut’s significance in a pair of Sunday television interviews, saying the bill would spur economic growth that would outpace what the nation owed.
“I don’t put much credence in the Moody’s” downgrade, Bessent told CNN’s “State of the Union” program, echoing White House criticism.
Economic experts, meanwhile, warn the downgrade from the last of the three major credit agencies was a clear sign that the US has too much debt and should prompt lawmakers to either increase revenue or spend less.
Kremlin says Trump and Putin to talk at 5pm Moscow time on Monday, RIA reports
The Kremlin said that Russian president Vladimir Putin will hold a call with US president Donald Trump at 5pm Moscow time (10am EDT) on Monday, state news agency RIA reported.
RIA cited Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying that the two leaders’ discussion of Ukraine would take into account the results of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul last week.
Trump to speak to Putin and Zelenskyy about Ukraine ceasefire
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news throughout the next few hours.
Donald Trump is due to speak to both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an effort to stop what he called the “bloodbath” war in Ukraine.
Trump, posting on his Truth Social account on Saturday, wrote that he will speak to Putin on Monday morning. “THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE,” Trump wrote, in his customary all-capitalized prose. The president has repeatedly cited a death toll for the conflict that is much higher than any official figures, or estimates based on an open-source investigation, without explaining why.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to a state-run Russian news agency that preparations were under way for a call between the US and Russian presidents.
Trump’s call with the Russian president will be followed by a separate conversation with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s leader, and Nato leaders as part of the US effort to end the war that has raged since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END,” Trump wrote.
It’s unclear what kind of progress Trump will be able to spur, if any, in the peace process. Russia and Ukraine have just concluded mostly fruitless talks, the first of their kind since the start of the war, in Istanbul. Ukraine said it was ready for a ceasefire but was faced by “unacceptable” demands from Russia.
In other news:
Donald Trump’s acceptance of a $400m Boeing jet from Qatar is the “definition of corruption”, a top Democrat said on Sunday, as several senior Republicans joined in a bipartisan fusillade of criticism and concern over the luxury gift. Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, condemned the “flying grift” on NBC as he assailed the president’s trip to several Gulf states this week that included a stop in Qatar.
As Trump wages a blunt attack on major law firms and the justice department, some lawyers are starting their own law firms and challenging the administration’s effort to cut funding and punish civil servants. The decision to start the firms come as the judiciary has emerged as a major bulwark against the Trump administration.
The US retail company Walmart will “eat some of the tariffs” in line with Trump’s demands, the president’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has insisted, claiming he received the assurance in a personal phone call with the company’s chief executive, Doug McMillon. Walmart said last week it had no alternative to raising prices for consumers beginning later this month because it could not absorb the cost of the president’s tariffs on international trade.
A proposed rule change making it easier to fire civil servants deemed to be “intentionally subverting presidential directives” could pave the way for the White House to fire statisticians employed to produce objective data on the economy but whose figures prove politically inconvenient, experts warn. With Trump under pressure to explain shrinking gross domestic product (GDP) figures amid economists’ warnings that tariffs could trigger a recession, the administration could use new employment rules to pressure workers into “cooking the books”.
Former US president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his office announced on Sunday, and he and his family are considering options for treatment. Donald Trump expressed concern on behalf of himself and first lady Melania Trump.
US government debt may come under more pressure this week after the credit rating agency Moody’s stripped the US of its top-notch triple-A rating.
