14 h. ago Trump administration sued by 20 states for cutting disaster prevention grants

Lawsuit claims Fema lacks power to cancel multibillion-dollar Bric program after it was approved by CongressA group of 20 mostly Democratic-led US states filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to block the Trump administration from terminating a multibillion-dollar grant program that funds infrastructure upgrades to protect against natural disasters.The lawsuit filed in Boston federal court claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) lacked the power to cancel the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program in April after it was approved and funded by Congress. Continue reading...

Politics

16 h. ago 20 states sue the Trump admin for cutting disaster prevention money

A group of 20 mostly Democrat-led U.S. states filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to block the Trump administration from terminating a multibillion-dollar grant program

Politics

16 h. ago Trump ferociously turns on his own base ripping into 'weaklings' stoking Epstein conspiracies

Donald Trump can't make his most fervent supporters forget about his administration's Jeffrey Epstein files failure - no matter how hard he tries.

Politics

60 h. ago US supreme court allows Trump to resume gutting education department

Justices lift federal judge’s order that reinstated nearly 1,400 workers affected by mass layoffs in win for presidentThe US supreme court on Monday cleared the way for Donald Trump’s administration to resume dismantling the Department of Education as part of his bid to shrink the federal government’s role in education in favor of more control by the states.In the latest high court win for the president, the justices lifted a federal judge’s order that had reinstated nearly 1,400 workers affected by mass layoffs at the department and blocked the administration from transferring key functions to other federal agencies. A legal challenge is continuing to play out in lower courts. Continue reading...

Politics

2 d. ago Photos highlight Boys and Girls Club programs threatened by Trump grant freeze

A Trump administration freeze on education grants has put at risk summer and after-school programs for more than 1 million students. While many clubs kept summer programs running, they warn that after-school offerings this fall may not survive.

Politics

5 d. ago Trump administration sues California over egg prices and blames animal welfare laws

The Trump administration is suing California over its animal welfare laws, claiming they unconstitutionally raised egg prices

Politics

5 d. ago US state department issues first of 1,350 termination orders after court lifted ban

Career diplomats and other staff begin receiving notices amid Trump administration cull of about 15% of workforceUS politics – live updatesThe US state department has begun issuing the first of more than 1,350 termination notices as part of a huge reorganisation of America’s diplomatic corps under the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, according to internal documents and US diplomats at the state department on Friday.Career diplomats and other staff began to receive the notices on Friday morning, days after the supreme court lifted a ban on the Trump administration moving forward with mass firings of government employees that will affect hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago US state department announces plan to lay off nearly 15% of its domestic staff

Several hundred bureaus will be merged or eliminated after supreme court sided with Trump administrationThe US state department has announced that it plans to move forward with mass layoffs as part of the most significant restructuring of the country’s diplomatic corps in decades. Officials say the cuts will align their mission with Donald Trump’s vision of America first.The layoffs, which are commonly called reductions in force (or RIFs), along with voluntary redundancies, will affect nearly 15% of the state department’s domestic staff. A senior state department official said that was close to 1,800 people. The restructuring will also see several hundred bureaus merged or eliminated entirely. The department advises the president and leads the US in foreign policy issues. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Fate of Aukus nuclear submarine deal may be delayed months as UK and Australia wait on Trump review

Snap Trump administration review of the $360bn deal announced a month ago will extend well beyond initial 30-day timeframeGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia and the UK potentially face months of more uncertainty over the future of the Aukus agreement, amid expectations a snap Trump administration review of the nuclear submarines deal will extend well beyond its initial 30-day timeframe.The author of Britain’s Aukus review, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, said both countries would contribute to the Pentagon assessment but warned there was “a way to go” yet before advice to US President Donald Trump was settled.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

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7 d. ago Trump administration holding immigrants from 26 countries at Guantánamo prison

The increase in immigration detainees at the island prison comes as the Supreme Court has freed up the Trump administration to deport undocumented immigrants to countries beyond their nation of origin

Events

8 d. ago US supreme court clears way for Trump officials to resume mass government firings

Justices lift lower court order that froze ‘reductions in force’ federal layoffs while litigation in case proceededThe US supreme court has cleared the way for Donald Trump’s administration to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers that critics warn could threaten critical government services.Extending a winning streak for the US president, the justices on Tuesday lifted a lower court order that had frozen sweeping federal layoffs known as “reductions in force” while litigation in the case proceeds. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Ghislaine Maxwell was not Jeffrey Epstein’s sole enabler. So why is she the only one in prison? | Arwa Mahdawi

This weekend, the Trump administration officially closed the file on the notorious billionaire Epstein. Maga aren’t the only ones who should be outragedGreat news, everyone! We can all stop thinking about Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with the sex trafficking of minors in 2019 and found dead in his Manhattan jail cell shortly after, apparently of suicide. Great minds have looked into the case and discovered there is nothing more to uncover. So don’t waste your time wondering which powerful people might have been part of Epstein’s alleged trafficking operation. There’s nothing to see here – nothing at all. Case officially closed.That, in essence, was the message from the Trump administration over the weekend. On Sunday, Axios reported on a memo from Trump’s justice department and the FBI that concluded there is no evidence that Epstein was involved in blackmailing people, kept a “client list” or was murdered. Most importantly, the memo said there is no “evidence that could predica...

Events

1 week ago Trump and US commerce secretary say tariffs are delayed until 1 August

President says team will start reaching out to trade partners with new tariff rates as 90-day pause ends this weekDonald Trump said on Sunday that his administration plans to start sending letters on Monday to US trade partners, dictating new tariff rates to be imposed on goods they sell to Americans. “It could be 12, maybe 15,” the president told reporters, “and we’ve made deals also, so we’re going to have a combination of letters and some deals have been made.”With his previously announced 90-day pause on tariffs set to end on 9 July, the president was asked if the new rates would go into effect this week, or on 1 August, as some officials had suggested. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Groups sue to stop Trump administration from using what they call unconstitutional tactics in raids

A federal lawsuit accuses President Donald Trump’s administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during an ongoing immigration crackdown that has put the region “under siege.”

Politics

2 w. ago Trump administration sued for giving Medicaid data to deportation officials

Twenty states say giving immigrants’ health data to DHS broke privacy laws and threatens access to emergency careThe Trump administration violated federal privacy laws when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to deportation officials, a group of 20 states allege in a lawsuit.Last month advisers to the secretary of the Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS), Robert F Kennedy Jr, ordered the release of a dataset that includes the private health information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington DC to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago 20 states sue after the Trump administration releases private Medicaid data to deportation officials

The Trump administration has violated federal privacy laws when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to federal deportation officials last month, says California Attorney General Rob Bonta

Politics

2 w. ago Billions in grants for summer school, English instruction delayed during Trump administration review

The Trump administration is withholding more than $6 billion in federal grants for afterschool and summer programs, English language instruction, adult literacy and more

Politics

2 w. ago Trump administration raises possibility of stripping Mamdani of US citizenship

Move comes after rightwing Republican accused New York mayoral candidate of concealing support for ‘terrorism’ The Trump administration has raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York, of his US citizenship as part of a crackdown against foreign-born citizens convicted of certain offences.Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to pave the way for an investigation into Mamdani’s status after Andy Ogles, a rightwing Republican congressman for Tennessee, called for his citizenship to be revoked on the grounds that he may have concealed his support for “terrorism” during the naturalization process. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Planned Parenthood may not survive the Trump administration | Moira Donegan

The Trump administration has made repeated cuts targeting the organization’s clinics. Now the US supreme court has struck another blowPlanned Parenthood, the massive, 108-year-old network of women’s and reproductive health clinics that operates almost 600 health centers across the United States, may not survive the Trump administration. Long a hated symbol on the right, and unable to summon enthusiastic support from the left, the medical network has nevertheless remained a symbolic and material cornerstone of women’s equality, serving millions of patients – many of them indigent or low-income – each year, and housing one of the biggest feminist and pro-choice lobbying and litigation shops in America, in addition to being one of the nation’s largest healthcare providers.Since returning to power in January, the Trump administration has made repeated cuts targeting Planned Parenthood’s clinics, excluding the group from the vast Title X family planning program, on the pretext of scurril...

Politics

2 w. ago As Trump targets birthright citizenship, the terrain is once again ‘women’s bodies and sexuality’

From 22 Chinese women detained in 1874 for being ‘lewd and debauched’, experts point to a grim US traditionOne day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, five pregnant immigrant women – led by an asylum seeker from Venezuela – sued over the president’s executive order limiting automatic birthright citizenship, out of fear that their unborn children would be left stateless.The case went before the supreme court, which sided with the Trump administration Friday by restricting the ability of federal judges to block the order. Continue reading...

Events