Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

April 14

Freak sell-off of ‘safe haven’ US bonds raises fear that confidence in America is fading

NEW YORK (AP) — The upheaval in stocks has been grabbing all the headlines, but there is a bigger problem looming in another corner of the financial markets that rarely gets headlines: Investors are dumping U.S. government bonds.

https://apnews.com/article/treasurys-bond-market-yield-tariff-46b4818710f01b8cc93fd002081167b0?

American Rendition: Rümeysa Öztürk’s Journey From Ph.D. Scholar to Trump Target Languishing in Louisiana Cell

With a line of cars waiting behind them at the train station, the two women hugged tightly as they said goodbye at the end of a spring break that hadn’t turned out to be the relaxing vacation they’d imagined.

https://www.propublica.org/article/rumeysa-ozturk-best-friend-inside-story-tufts-trump-louisiana-ice?

April 14

What Comes Next in Mahmoud Khalil’s Fight Against Deportation

From a small courtroom in a remote immigration jail in Jena, Louisiana, Judge Jamee Comans ruled on Friday that the government can deport Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil based solely on his advocacy for Palestine.

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/12/mahmoud-khalil-immigration-hearing-deportation-trump/?

Mahmoud Khalil and the Necropolitics of Trump’s Deportation Regime

Donald Trump’s administration moved this week to declare thousands of immigrants dead.

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/11/mahmoud-khalil-trump-rights-immigrants/?

How Much Did Congress Make Off Market Turmoil and Why’re They Allowed to Make Anything at All?

When Donald Trump’s top trade official was in the middle of testifying to Congress on Wednesday, the markets seemed to be in a free fall. Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, was speaking to Congress only hours after Trump went on his social media platform and encouraged investors to buy stocks at low prices.

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/10/congress-ban-stocks-insider-trading-tariffs-trump/?

April 14

Trump's hardline stance

Business leaders are calling and back-channeling President Trump to dump on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, trade adviser Peter Navarro and their pro-tariff views, hoping to end the trade war.

But make no mistake: Trump's wholly unmoved, top White House officials tell Axios' Marc Caputo. This is his disruptive policy, done his disruptive way. "This is the team," one said.

The Trump administration is trying to present a unified front as it implements its controversial tariff policies that have rocked financial markets. Officials loathe palace-intrigue stories that make the team look divided.

CEOs want the Treasury-Secretary-Scott-Bessent-on-truth-serum approach. But they keep running into the reality that Trump is more Navarro.

📺 Behind the scenes: Lutnick and Navarro both appeared on Sunday shows yesterday because the White House team wanted to push back on reports that the two had been bucked in rank or sidelined, senior officials tell Caputo.

"We wanted Howard out there. We wanted Peter out there to deliver the message and call bulls**t," one of the advisers said.

🖼️ The big picture: Administration officials privately acknowledge the rollout of Trump's tariff policy has been subpar. But they hope the trial-and-error phase is behind them as the U.S. settles in for what could be a brutal trade war with China.

Many lawmakers, business leaders and economists have expressed confusion, frustration and dismay at President Trump's sweeping tariffs package — and at the on-again, off-again nature of how aspects of it have been presented.

Lutnick played a key role in yet another tariff walkback yesterday. He told ABC's "This Week" that smartphones and other electronics will be included in future semiconductor sector tariffs. Just two days earlier, the Trump administration indicated that such products would be exempt from China import levies.

April 14

🚀 Charted: NASA's funding jeopardy

A line chart illustrating NASA science funding by division from FY 2000 to FY 2026. It features four categories: Planetary science, Earth science, Astrophysics, and Heliophysics. The chart shows a peak in 2009, followed by fluctuations, with a projected funding proposal of $1.9 billion for Planetary science and approximately $1 billion for Earth science by FY 2026.

Data: The Planetary Society. Chart: Jacque Schrag/Axios

A proposed White House budget plan sent to NASA officials would gut the agency's budget, Axios Generate co-author Ben Geman writes.

The Planetary Society, an organization that promotes space exploration, writes the "budget would force the premature termination of dozens of active, productive spacecraft."

Between the lines: It would also steeply cut NASA's Earth Sciences division, which is the centerpiece of the agency's climate work.

April 14

US still won’t say whether it will return mistakenly deported man, despite Supreme Court decision

The Trump administration is doubling down on its decision not to tell a federal court whether it has any plans to repatriate a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported last month and remains confined in a notorious prison in El Salvador, despite a Supreme Court ruling and lower court order that the man should be returned to the United States. Read more.

Why this matters:

The U.S. district court judge handling the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is now weighing whether to grant a request from the man’s legal team to compel the government to explain why it should not be held in contempt. Any move toward a contempt finding would represent an extraordinary turn in the Trump administration’s assertion of presidential authority, both generally and specifically over immigration policy.
The government’s latest daily status update, filed Sunday as required by Judge Paula Xinis, states essentially that the Trump administration has nothing to add beyond its Saturday statement that, for the first time, confirmed that Abrego Garcia, 29, was alive and remained in an El Salvador prison under the control of that country’s government. That means for the second consecutive day, the administration has not addressed Xinis’ demands that the administration detail what steps it was taking to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

April 14

Deportations

A federal judge last week ordered US officials to “take all available steps to facilitate” the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. But in court filings Sunday, the Trump administration insisted it is not required to work with officials in El Salvador to secure the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was deported on March 15 and is being held in the notorious Cecot mega-prison even though an immigration judge barred his deportation years ago over concerns about his safety in his native country. “The federal courts have no authority to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way, or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner,” the DOJ attorneys wrote. The Trump administration has previously conceded in court that the father of three was deported due to “an administrative error.”

Social Security

The Department of Homeland Security reportedly requested that the Social Security Administration add the names of more than 6,000 living immigrants to its database of dead Americans. The move, which was first reported in The New York Times, aims to cut off their ability to legally work in the US, receive benefits or access credit and bank accounts that require an active Social Security number. A DHS official told CNN the Trump administration hopes that by adding these names to the Social Security Death Master file — which DOGE leaders have since renamed the “Ineligible file” — the immigrants will decide to self-deport. When Greg Pearce, who oversaw the IT staff at the SSA, pushed back on the move, he was escorted out of the building, The Washington Post reported. “If they can, contrary to the law and every regulation and without any due process, mark people inside SSA’s database dead who legally entered the country and were legally required to be issued a work SSA number, then they can do that to anybody,” former Social Security commissioner Martin O’Malley said.

April 15

With billions at risk, Harvard rejects Trump administration’s request for policy changes

Harvard University rejected the Trump administration’s demands for policy changes at the school on Monday, putting nearly $9 billion in federal funding at risk.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/14/us/harvard-rejects-policy-changes/index.html?

ps:Again good for them!!!

Live updates: El Salvador’s president says he won’t release wrongly deported man back to US

President Donald Trump’s top advisers and Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, said Monday that they had no basis for the small Central American nation to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported there last month. Read More.

Deportation defiance

The White House isn't lifting a finger to get Kilmar Abrego Garcia out of a notorious Salvadorian prison, despite courts' orders to do so.

The Justice Department has conceded in court documents that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador due to an "administrative error." The Supreme Court said last week that the U.S. must "facilitate" his release.

✈️ That simply means that if El Salvador asks to send him back, the U.S. has to help, administration officials argued today — not that the U.S. has to do anything proactive to rectify its error.

"If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the Oval Office.

🇸🇻 El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, said he's not asking.

"The question is preposterous," Bukele said at the White House today. "How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don't have the power to return him to the United States."

💡 Zoom out: The two leaders have created a circular logic in which no one has the ability to do what the Supreme Court said must be done.

The Justice Department is also arguing in legal filings that courts don't have the power to dictate specific steps to the executive branch. So, effectively, no one can initiate this process.

💬 President Trump said during his appearance with Bukele that he'd be open to sending U.S. citizens to the same Salvadorian prison.

Despite a court order, White House bars AP from Oval Office event

Despite a court order, a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press were barred from an Oval Office news conference on Monday with President Donald Trump and his counterpart from El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. Read More.

April 15

Trump blames Zelensky again: "Millions dead because of 3 people"

President Trump once again accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of starting the war with Russia on Monday, saying "you don't start a war with someone 20 times your size and then hope people give you some missiles."

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/14/trump-blames-zelensky-russia-ukraine-war-ceasefire?

April 15

Why Trump hates "E"s

President Trump's abrupt walk-back of tariff exceptions for cellphones, computers and chips has Wall Street guessing. But it makes sense to those who know the president's thinking: He doesn't like the "E" words.

"Exceptions and exemptions are weakness," said a Trump adviser who has discussed tariff policy with him. "Trump is for strength."

Why it matters: Trump's erratic, real-time tariff tweaking has confused investors, deflated the dollar and shaken the stock market, Axios' Marc Caputo writes.

Investors and the nation's financial system crave stability and predictability — the opposite of what Trump's delivering.

🔎 Zoom in: The president's trade policies revolve less around traditional economic theories and more around semantics — and his desire to project power.

"What's the real policy? Who knows?" the exasperated editorial board of the Wall Street Journal asked Sunday when it grappled with the mystery of what it labeled "Trump's Exceptional Tariff Weekend."

Trump is still talking about tariff exceptions, as he did yesterday for car companies. He just doesn't use an "E" word, and tries to frame the matter in a way that connotes control.

"Look, I'm a very flexible person," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I don't change my mind. But I'm flexible."

⏱️ The tick-tock: Trump's tariff two-step began at 10:36 p.m. ET Friday, when Customs and Border Protection issued a bulletin that spared cell phone and computer makers such as Apple from crushing tariffs on Chinese imports. The document used the word "exception" three times.

9:20 p.m. Saturday: The White House posts a video clip on X of the president on Air Force One ducking a question when asked about exceptions for iPhones and other electronics. "I'll give you that answer on Monday," he said. "We'll be very specific."
9 a.m. Sunday: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on ABC's "This Week" and explains that the technology items are "exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs" Trump wants to levy. "This is not like a permanent sort of exemption," Lutnick said.
3:36 p.m. Sunday: "There was no Tariff 'exception' announced on Friday," Trump posted on Truth Social, ignoring the administration's repeated use of the word in its Friday bulletin.

👀 The intrigue: Behind the scenes, White House officials asked Lutnick to go on TV on Sunday to push back against the idea of "exceptions." Reports about them were annoying Trump.

"Trump didn't like the coverage about exceptions and exemptions. He didn't want to look like he was giving in to Apple," a White House official said.

April 15

⚖️ Vance allies set to flex antitrust muscle

Illustration of a hand clutching a dollar sign.

Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios

Vice President Vance's allies and former aides are set to have a key role in pushing the Trump administration to move aggressively to break up big corporations — including tech companies, Axios' Alex Thompson and Ashley Gold write.

Why it matters: It's the latest example of Vance leaning into an area that's popular with President Trump's MAGA base — and at odds with the pre-Trump GOP.

"We believe fundamentally that Big Tech does have too much power," Vance, a former Ohio senator who has called for breaking up Google, said in the first week of the new administration.

Vance and his allies think dominant tech firms censor speech by conservatives, and control too much of Americans' daily lives.

🔬 Zoom in: Several of Vance's former aides are now in administration jobs that are key for setting antitrust policies that can break up large companies and block mergers.

Gail Slater, Vance's economic policy adviser in the Senate, was confirmed to be assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.
James Braid now heads the White House's office of legislative affairs as antitrust bills start to get reintroduced in this Congress. Braid worked for Vance when the VP was in the Senate.
Vance's deputy policy director, James Lloyd, led the Antitrust Division in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office, where he sued technology companies including Google.
Vance's chief of staff, Jacob Reses, previously was a senior policy adviser to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has introduced a slew of Big Tech antitrust bills.

Keep reading.

April 15

🎓 Trump escalates Harvard clash

Illustration of the Harvard crest with the

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The Trump administration announced it'll freeze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard hours after university officials said they wouldn't roll over to the government's demands, Axios' Dave Lawler and Steph Solis write.

Why it matters: The administration's response shows what may be in store for colleges under scrutiny for DEI practices and alleged antisemitism.

While Trump's effort is officially about fighting antisemitism, Harvard president Alan Garber wrote in a letter yesterday that the demands are really about imposing "direct governmental regulation" of higher education.

The Trump administration had asked for multiple audits of hiring, admissions and college practices.

🕵️‍♂️ The intrigue: Garber's letter was amended after publication to change a line stating that Harvard "will not negotiate over its independence or constitutional rights" to Harvard "will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."

In a separate letter to Trump administration officials, lawyers representing Harvard said the university was "open to dialogue" but would not accede to demands that go beyond the government's "lawful authority."

Harvard's letter ... Administration letter to Harvard.

April 15

Trump’s Trade War Is A Political Trap For Democrats

To tariff or not to tariff? Today’s tweet-length political discourse pretends this is a binary choice. President Donald Trump has pitched across-the-board import levies as a panacea to rebuild American manufacturing, while Democrats insist that Trump’s proposals are an attempt to crash the economy, and that their party should tout their opposition to all tariffs.

https://www.levernews.com/trumps-trade-war-is-a-political-trap-for-democrats/?

Both the US and El Salvador refuse to return wrongly deported man to the US

President Donald Trump’s administration officials emphasized that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to a notorious gang prison in El Salvador last month, was a citizen of that country and that the U.S. has no say in his future. And Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador who has also been a vital partner for the Trump administration in its deportation efforts, said “of course” he would not release him back to U.S. soil. Read more.

Why this matters:

The Supreme Court has called for the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia. Trump indicated over the weekend that he would return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. if the high court’s justices said to bring him back, saying “I have great respect for the Supreme Court.” But the tone from top administration officials was sharply different Monday. “He’s a citizen of El Salvador,” said Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff. “So it’s very arrogant, even for American media, to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens.”
In a court filing Monday evening, Joseph Mazzara, the acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, said it “does not have authority to forcibly extract” Abrego Garcia from El Salvador because he is “in the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.” Should El Salvador want to return Abrego Garcia, the U.S. would “facilitate it, meaning provide a plane,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
The president has said openly that he would also favor El Salvador taking custody of American citizens who have committed violent crimes. Trump said in a video posted on social media by Bukele that he wanted to send “homegrowns” to be incarcerated in El Salvador, and added that “you’ve got to build five more places,” suggesting Bukele doesn’t have enough prison capacity for all of the U.S. citizens that Trump would like to send there.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

April 15

Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over its defiance in limiting campus activism

The hold on Harvard’s funding marks the seventh time the Trump administration has taken the step at one of the nation’s most elite colleges, as they argue universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests last year against Israel’s war in Gaza. Trump’s administration has normalized the extraordinary step of withholding federal money to pressure major academic institutions to comply with the president’s political agenda and to influence campus policy. Read more.

What to know:

In a letter to Harvard Friday, Trump’s administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs. The federal government said almost $9 billion in grants and contracts in total was at risk if Harvard did not comply.
On Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” Hours later, the government froze billions in Harvard’s federal funding.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

April 15

Presidential power

President Donald Trump wants to be able to deport US citizens and imprison them abroad. “If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem,” Trump said on Monday during an Oval Office meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, adding that Attorney General Pam Bondi was studying the laws “right now.” Trump also urged Bukele to build more mega-prisons, like the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), where deportees are kept in communal cells holding up to 100 men each for 23½ hours a day. El Salvador has already offered Trump the option to house deportees of any nationality for a fee. Although the president is keen to accept such an offer, it would likely face significant legal pushback. “The US is absolutely prohibited from deporting US citizens, whether they are incarcerated or not,” Leti Volpp, a law professor at UC Berkeley, told CNN in February.

Deportations

Efforts to return a Maryland man to the US after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month hit another serious roadblock on Monday. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, is being held in the CECOT mega-prison even though an immigration judge barred his deportation years ago and the Trump administration admitted that the father of three was deported due to “an administrative error.” Despite a Supreme Court ruling saying that the US must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, Attorney General Bondi claimed the decision was out of the US’s hands. “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him,” she said. “That’s not up to us.” Asked directly by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins if he plans to return Abrego Garcia, President Bukele said he has no intention of doing so. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous,” he said.

Harvard

Harvard University has rejected the Trump administration's demands that it eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies, audit the viewpoints of students, faculty and staff, and alter rules for on-campus protests or face major losses of federal funding. In a statement, Harvard President Alan M. Garber said the university would not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” he said. The Trump administration responded by freezing $2.2 billion in multi-year grants to the school. Similar punitive actions also have been taken against Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern and considered against Brown. Columbia University was the first higher education institution to see its funding slashed. It decided to acquiesce to the administration by changing its curriculum and admission guidelines, enacting new policies and empowering law enforcement to identify protesters on and off-campus.

April 15

Pam Bondi Gives Stunning Response When Asked if Trump’s Plan to Jail Americans Abroad Is ‘Legal’

Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to say whether President Donald Trump’s plan to deport American citizens to a Salvadoran prison is legal.

During an interview with Fox News, host Jesse Watters asked if Trump’s “musings” about sending Americans to CECOT, the notorious prison complex where inmates sleep on bare metal racks and are kept in their cells 23.5 hours per day, is “legal.”

Bondi refused to answer.

“Jesse, these are Americans he is saying who have committed the most heinous crimes in our country,” she said. “Crime is going to decrease dramatically because he has given us a directive to make America safe again.”

Legal experts told NBC News the idea was “obviously illegal.”

Trump and his administration officials have nevertheless floated the plan several times over the past week. The U.S. is paying El Salvador about $6 million per year to jail about 240 Venezuelans and a handful of Salvadorans, and on Monday, Trump met with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

“Homegrown criminals next,” Trump whispered to Bukele as they entered the Oval Office.

“I said homegrowns the next,” he added, raising his voice. “The homegrowns. You got to build about five more places.”

Later during their meeting, Trump told reporters that Bondi was “studying the law” to figure out how to deport Americans accused of crimes.

“We always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters,” Trump told reporters. “I’d like to include them.”

Deporting Americans clearly violates their fundamental rights as U.S. citizens, according to legal experts. In fact, Americans who were wrongly deported have successfully sued the government for damages.

For all of Trump’s talk of “obeying the laws,” when it comes to CECOT, the administration has ignored judicial ruling after judicial ruling—including an order from the Supreme Court.

The court ruled unanimously last week that the administration needed to take steps to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father of three with legal protective status who was deported to CECOT because of an “administrative error.”

Despite admitting the mistake, the administration has refused to bring him home.

Originally, officials tried to claim he was a member of the MS-13 gang, but during legal proceedings, the Department of Justice failed to present any evidence showing gang affiliations. Eventually, the government dropped its position that he was a “danger to the community,” a federal appeals court found.

Abrego Garcia worked as a full-time sheet metal apprentice and union member.

“His attorneys are saying he’s not affiliated with a gang. They’re wrong, and he has no right to be [in the U.S.] but for an extra step in paperwork,” Bondi told Watters.

In fact, a judge would need to rule that Abrego Garcia was no longer eligible for protection, which he received after proving in court that he had been targeted by gangs back in El Salvador because of his family’s papusa business.

“President Bukele does not want to give him back to the United States, nor do we want him back,” Bondi added, while Watters laughed.

Sean McGarvey, the president of the building trade unions association, disagreed.

“We’re not red, we’re not blue. We’re the building trades. The backbone of America,” McGarvey said during a speech last week.

“You want to build a $5 billion data center, want more six-figure careers with health care and retirement and no college debt? You don’t call Elon Musk, you call us. North America’s Building Trades Unions. And yeah, that means all of us all. All of us. Including our brother, SMART apprentice Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who we demand to be returned to us and his family now,” he continued, smacking the lectern.

“Bring him home!” he said as the union’s members stood up and applauded.

In the meantime, it’s not clear whether the Venezuelans being held at CECOT are there legally either. Trump had invoked the Alien Enemies Act—which applies only when the U.S. is officially at war with a foreign government—to justify deporting alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

But last month a federal judge temporarily blocked the deportations based on the fact that U.S. wasn’t actually at war. In any case, sending Venezuelans to CECOT, which is located in a third-party country, is legally suspect considering the documented human rights abuses that take place there, experts told NPR.

The Trump administration has nevertheless tried to justify the deportations by claiming the deportees are violent criminals and a threat to American safety.

But an investigation from 60 Minutes found that only 12 of the men sent to CECOT had been accused of violent crimes such as rape, murder or trafficking. About 75 percent of the deportees had no criminal record, while others were accused of non-violent offenses like shoplifting and trespassing.

They included a gay makeup artist, a professional soccer player, and a food delivery driver who were in the U.S. legally seeking asylum but were apparently targeted for deportation because they have tattoos.

The Trump administration, however, says its deal with CECOT is “an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere,” according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and should be expanded.

Referring to Americans, Bondi told Watters, “These people need to be locked up as long as they can, as long as the law allows. We’re not gonna let ‘em go anywhere, and if we have to build more prisons in our country, we will do it.”

“Right. That’s what I thought,” he replied.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pam-bondi-gives-stunning-answer-when-asked-if-trumps-plan-to-jail-americans-abroad-is-legal/?

April 15

U.S. human rights law likely violated in $6M payment for El Salvador prison, experts say

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department is paying El Salvador $6 million to house hundreds of immigrants deported from the United States in an immense and brutal prison there, Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/14/repub/u-s-human-rights-law-likely-violated-in-6m-payment-for-el-salvador-prison-experts-say/?

ps:So where are they getting this money from to pay this? Oh!! So maybe that's why they're firing whoever they fill like??

Tariff exemptions for sale. Trump’s plan for blanket global tariffs aren’t just roiling the stock market and triggering international upheaval — it’s also opening the door to wholesale corruption, with the White House using tariff exemptions to potentially reward its allies. Already, Trump has suspended the tariffs for electronics and is considering exempting cars as well — good news for Trump super PAC donor Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook, who personally delivered $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. During his first term, Trump offered key exemptions to major firms, including Apple, in a process that internal auditors had previously described as “neither transparent nor objective.”

To the victors go the spoils. While tariff exemptions were designed to aid products that aren’t available domestically, they’ve become a political tool benefiting large and politically connected businesses. A recent study of China tariffs during Trump’s first term found that companies donating to and lobbying Republicans were more likely to win exemptions, while firms supporting Democrats were less likely. Researchers found that granting companies tariff exemptions — which increased firms’ average market value by $51 million — was “a very effective spoils system allowing the administration of the day to reward its political friends and punish its enemies.”

We’ve been here before. In 2019, the Commerce Department’s inspector general — which audits and investigates the department for wrongdoing — found that “a lack of transparency” around Trump officials’ handling of steel and aluminum tariffs “contributes to the appearance of improper influence in decision-making for tariff exclusion requests.” Among other concerns, the office found zero records of what transpired in 100-plus meetings between officials and companies. A follow-up inspector general report found the exclusion process failed to fully consider companies’ abilities to manufacture products domestically — the primary reason for tariff exclusions.

This time, something’s different. As part of his February purge of government watchdogs, Trump fired Biden’s choice for Commerce Department inspector general. In her place stepped Roderick Anderson — who was previously removed from the position with bipartisan support after being implicated in alleged whistleblower retaliation. A lawmaker who helped remove Anderson sounded the alarm about his return, noting, “The work of the Commerce Department [inspector general] is more important than ever as President Trump and Elon Musk continue their assault on the federal government.” But for now, Anderson will oversee the opaque and lucrative business of Trump’s tariff exemptions.

April 15

Trump’s Hatred of Two ‘E’ Words Explains His New iPhone Tariff Chaos

The president apparently thinks “exceptions” and “exemptions” make him look weak.

President Donald Trump’s erratic and contradictory announcements on whether he will impose tariffs on iPhones and other electronics is grounded in his hatred of two words that start with the letter “e.”

The president thinks the words “exceptions” and “exemptions” connote weakness, whereas Trump stands for strength, Axios reported.

Trump’s announcement of crushing 145 percent tariffs—a tax paid by American companies, with the costs typically passed on to consumers—on all products from China, sent markets plummeting on Thursday.

The next day, Customs and Border Protection issued a bulletin saying cellphones and computers would be exempt. It used the word “exception” three times. On Saturday, though, Trump refused to give a direct answer to a reporter asking about the exception.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick then told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that technology items would be exempt from the 145 percent reciprocal tariffs on Chinese products but not from sector-specific tariffs on semiconductors.

Trump also wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that no exceptions had been announced Friday, despite the CBP bulletin.

It turns out that over the weekend, Trump had gotten annoyed by new reports about the “exceptions,” according to Axios.

“Trump didn’t like the coverage about exceptions and exemptions. He didn’t want to look like he was giving in to Apple,” a White House official told the outlet.

The president has hated the concept ever since his first term, when he thought his U.S. trade representatives negotiated weak deals with too many carve-outs.

But as the duties threaten to crater key industries, Trump is trying to reframe the “e” words in a way that still makes him look tough. He has said he’s “looking at something to help some of the car companies” and has told reporters in the Oval Office he’s “flexible.”

“I don’t change my mind, but I’m flexible,” he said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-hatred-of-two-e-words-explains-his-new-iphone-tariff-chaos/?

ps:What is it with this Bull Manure? Didn't Apple and others pay Billions to him to not have this happen to them?????

April 15

Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man ICE mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison?

Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s story begins in his native El Salvador, but it’s become increasingly unclear where it will end. As his case continues in the U.S. courts, here is Abrego Garcia’s story so far. Read More.

Colorado judge puts temporary hold on deportations sought by Trump under Alien Enemies Act

District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney issued the emergency order Monday night after the American Civil Liberties Union requested it on behalf of two Venezuelan men being held in Denver who feared they would be falsely accused of belonging to the gang Tren de Aragua. Read More.

Federal judge drops contempt case against ICE agent over arrest outside Boston courthouse

A federal judge has dismissed a contempt case against an ICE agent whose arrest of man during his trial sparked criticism among the law enforcement community in Boston. Read More.

South Africa's new US envoy called Trump racist, homophobic and narcissistic in a 2020 speech

Mcebisi Jonas, a former deputy finance minister, was appointed Monday by President Cyril Ramaphosa as his representative to Washington, tasked with rebuilding South Africa’s deteriorating relationship with the U.S. under Trump. Read More.

April 16

Plans for America's 250th hit a snag

Illustration of a tiny birthday cake on a plate with a blown out candle

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

DOGE's cost-cutting may get in the way of the "grand celebration" President Trump has ordered for July 4, 2026 — America's 250th birthday.

State humanities councils planning 250th anniversary celebrations all over the country have had their funding slashed.
And some of those organizations told Axios' Avery Lotz they likely won't be able to execute their big, patriotic plans.

🎉 Trump has called for an "extraordinary celebration" next summer, and signed an executive order in his first few days in office creating a federal task force to plan it.

The chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities is part of that task force, and state humanities councils across the country had a leading role in planning public events to mark the occasion.
But 80% of the NEH's staff was placed on administrative leave this month. State and jurisdictional humanities councils were alerted that their funding grants were being terminated.

🗓️ "The programs that we have already started to outline are all going to be jeopardized," said Gabrielle Lyon, the executive director of Illinois Humanities.

Go deeper.

ps:But we got money for the criminal-in-chief birthday parade

April 16

The Revenge Stage

In December, Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker asked Donald Trump about his threats of revenge during the campaign. He demurred. “I’m not looking to go back into the past. I’m looking to make our country successful,” he said. “Retribution will be through success.”

Believe it or not, this statement turns out to have been not entirely honest.

During the first two months of his presidency, the prevailing theme of Trump’s White House was the Elon Musk–led attempt to drastically cut federal agencies. The purge is incomplete—the U.S. DOGE Service continues to seek cuts at more agencies, and litigation has slowed or blocked some of the cuts—but we seem to have already moved into the next stage: revenge.

Trump took one of his most chilling steps toward retribution last week, when he directed the government to investigate two officials in his first administration: Chris Krebs, who headed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Miles Taylor, who was chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. The reasons Trump is out to get these two men are clear enough. Krebs, whose work focused on election security, was fired for refusing to say that fraud tainted the 2020 presidential election; as I wrote back in November of that year, Trump targeted him “not because he did a bad job, but because he did too good a job and said so.” Taylor wrote a notable anonymous New York Times op-ed about administration officials resisting Trump, then published a book unmasking himself and worked to organize Republican opposition to Trump.

One might be tempted to think that Trump’s new orders rely on pretexts to target the duo, but they don’t even really bother: They’re pretty straightforward about the reasons. Trump is starting with a conclusion that the two men did something wrong and demanding the government work backwards to find some evidence to support it.

The Krebs order is particularly Orwellian. As he uses the power of the federal government to try to punish someone for voicing his opinion, Trump alleges that Krebs’s conduct “both violates the First Amendment and erodes trust in Government, thus undermining the strength of our democracy itself.”

You don’t have to be a fan of either Krebs or Taylor to be alarmed by these actions, just as you don’t have to agree with Mahmoud Khalil’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to see why his detention is a danger to all Americans. I criticized Taylor’s anonymous op-ed as self-serving and short-sighted when it was published in 2018, but I don’t believe that conduct I think is dumb or misguided is inherently criminal—nor is conduct criminal solely because Trump doesn’t like it.

Any legal inquiries into Krebs and Taylor seem unlikely to go anywhere, beyond stripping their security clearance, which Trump has the power to do. But the two will have to hire lawyers, likely at significant cost, and go through the stress and fear of defending themselves. Even if they triumph, they will have been made examples; other would-be dissenters will see their travails and think twice before speaking, as Trump intends.

Trump has been quietly imposing retribution for some time, but the DOGE-led purges mean fewer longtime professionals who might object to or stand in the way of the latest revenge moves. Late last month, the White House stepped in to fire two career attorneys at the Justice Department “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump”—a serious break with the tradition of Justice Department semi-independence. In January, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, fired several attorneys who had prosecuted cases related to the January 6, 2021, riots. Trump also stripped security details for officials who had served in his first administration but later criticized him—even though some face credible death threats from Iran because of actions they took on Trump’s behalf.

Meanwhile, in a sort of inverse retribution, the administration is rewarding its loyal allies. The Justice Department is pushing for the release of a man convicted of lying to FBI agents about the Biden family. (The original prosecutor on that case, by the way, was appointed U.S. Attorney by Trump.) DOJ is also arguing that people convicted of January 6 attacks on the Capitol whose cases were actively being appealed when Trump pardoned them should be refunded money that they paid in restitution.

One prominent target for Trump’s retribution has been law firms. Trump has gone after a series of major firms simply because current or former attorneys there were involved in things Trump hated: his felony conviction in Manhattan, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s work. Last week, he also assailed a firm that has represented plaintiffs in defamation cases related to 2020 election fraud. As the Atlantic contributor Paul Rosenzweig writes, the speed with which some of these firms have surrendered is deplorable.

In the settlements, these firms have agreed to provide a combined total of about $1 billion in “pro bono” work supporting causes the president backs. As The Wall Street Journal reports, these deals have been negotiated by Trump’s personal lawyer Boris Epshteyn, who is not a government employee—making clear that these causes relate to Trump’s personal revenge rather than some legitimate governmental purpose.

But then, Trump has never seen much distinction between his own interests and the power of the government. For him, revenge isn’t just a welcome adjunct to controlling the levels of government. It’s the reason to control them.

Related:

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April 16

'They're embarrassed': Morning Joe guest reveals GOP secretly humiliated by Trump

Republicans, and particularly legacy Republicans, secretly hate what their own party has become under President Donald Trump , Politico's Jonathan Martin told a panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Monday — but their options for doing anything about it have basically vanished.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3962053614509-theyre-embarrassed-morning-joe-guest-reveals-gop-secretly-humiliated-by-trump?

🛑 Trump blocked Musk briefing on China

Beyond tariffs and court battles over Trump policies, two pieces of White House palace intrigue emerged yesterday, Axios' Marc Caputo writes.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspended two top Pentagon officials, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, as part of an investigation into who leaked word of a planned top-secret briefing on China for Elon Musk.
Axios learned that Musk or Hegseth didn't just decide to call off that briefing after the leak. President Trump himself ordered staffers to kill it. "What the f**k is Elon doing there? Make sure he doesn't go," Trump said, a top official recalled to Axios.

Why it matters: Musk has annoyed several administration officials with his constant presence at the White House, his haphazard social media posts and his slash-and-burn tactics at his Department of Government Efficiency.

The planned Pentagon briefing, however, got him cross with the boss at the Resolute Desk.
"POTUS still very much loves Elon, but there are some red lines," the official said. "Elon has a lot of business in China and he has good relations there, and this briefing just wasn't the right thing."

🪖 The intrigue: Musk still attended a briefing at the Pentagon with Hegseth on March 21. But China wasn't discussed.

In the White House that day, Trump let slip his true feelings about Musk's entanglements with China. "I certainly wouldn't want, you know — Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that," he told reporters. "But it was such a fake story."

April 16

🦊 Trump's immigration surprise

President Trump pitched a path to legal status for "great people" who are undocumented immigrants in an interview with Fox Noticias yesterday.

Why it matters: Trump's informal proposal would help create a pathway to living in the U.S. legally for people who self-deport and have an employer supporting their return, Axios' Brittany Gibson writes.

The idea was also recently floated at a Cabinet meeting. But it's a sharp pivot from Trump's campaign promises for "mass deportation now" and from the rhetoric and policies his administration has embraced.

The approach could help industries like farming and hospitality, the president said. Employers could be partly responsible for supporting an immigrant's return.

Trump told Fox News' Rachel Campos-Duffy: "We're going to give them a stipend, we're going to give them some money and a plane ticket, and then we're going to work with them if they're good."

Keep reading ... Watch the interview.

💥 Administration targets Letitia James

Today's New York Post cover

A Trump administration official referred New York Attorney General Letitia James for potential criminal prosecution for instances of alleged mortgage fraud, the New York Post reports.

Why it matters: James brought a civil fraud lawsuit against President Trump and his company for routinely inflating the value of real estate assets. A judge fined Trump $355 million.

A letter sent by the Federal Housing Finance Agency's director, Bill Pulte, to the Justice Department alleged James "falsified records" to get home loans for a property in Virginia that she claimed was her principal residence in 2023 — while still serving as a New York state prosecutor, the Post reports.

Her office told the Post: "Attorney General James is focused every single day on protecting New Yorkers, especially as this Administration weaponizes the federal government against the rule of law and the Constitution. She will not be intimidated by bullies — no matter who they are."

Keep reading.

April 16

🎓 Harvard leads higher-ed fight

Animated illustration of the Harvard University seal, with the three books that read VE RI TAS flipping pages to reveal the words NO NO NO. In a ribbon at the bottom, the name HARVARD is replaced by NOOOOOOO.

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

Harvard's decision to push back against President Trump's pressure tactics shows other institutions targeted by his administration that there's an alternative to swift capitulation, Axios' Erica Pandey writes.

Why it matters: Harvard is an international brand with a $53 billion endowment — a rare institution with the resources and willpower to withstand an onslaught of funding cuts and investigations from the government.

🖼️ The big picture: In the last few weeks, American institutions have steadily buckled under pressure from the Trump administration.

Columbia ceded control of an academic department and expanded campus police powers to try to unfreeze federal funding.
The University of Michigan shut down its expansive DEI program.
Several Big Law firms offered nearly $1 billion in pro bono work to get on the administration's good side.

🔬 Zoom in: Support for Harvard — and resistance to the Trump administration — is bubbling at other universities.

60 current and former university presidents co-signed an op-ed in Fortune backing Harvard.
Stanford, which faces funding threats itself, came out in support of Harvard.

🥊 The other side: Trump's allies are vowing to hold the line against Harvard, the nation's wealthiest university, The Wall Street Journal reports (gift link).

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who graduated with honors from Harvard in 2006, told The Journal that Harvard officials "don't realize ... the level of seriousness — it is dead serious."
On X, she wrote: "It is time to totally cut off U.S. taxpayer funding to this institution ... Defund Harvard."

April 16

Town halls

Republicans faced frustrated constituents at town hall meetings on Tuesday, with voters expressing concerns about tariffs, Social Security and DOGE’s cuts to funding and the federal workforce. In Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley was repeatedly urged to push back against the executive branch but his lukewarm responses drew groans from the crowd. In Georgia, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene mocked the questions she didn’t like and the constituents who submitted the queries, calling them “brainwashed.” Three attendees were arrested at her event, and in two instances, stun guns were used. Democrats are also facing anger from voters, mostly about not fighting hard enough against President Donald Trump and the Republicans. Rep. Sarah Elfreth was called "milquetoast" during a town hall in Maryland earlier this week, and when Rep. Laura Friedman of California was asked about the Democratic Party’s plan to resist, participants didn’t care for her answer.

Deportation

The federal judge overseeing the case of a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador says there’s no evidence that the Trump administration is working to “facilitate” his release. The US mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia last month, even though an immigration judge barred his deportation years ago. The administration has repeatedly admitted in court that Abrego Garcia was deported due to “an administrative error” and yet he remains incarcerated in the notorious CECOT mega-prison. “It is a fact now of this record that every day Mr. Garcia is detained in CECOT is a day of irreparable harm,” US District Judge Paula Xinis said in a tense hearing on Tuesday. She has called for an expedited fact-finding effort to determine whether the administration is complying with her court orders.

April 17

Harvard’s challenge to the Trump administration could test limits of government power

On one side is Harvard, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university. On the other side is the Trump administration. Both sides are digging in for a clash that could test the limits of the government’s power and the independence that has made U.S. universities a destination for scholars around the world. Read more.

Why this matters:

On Monday, Harvard became the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it demands sweeping changes to limit activism on campus. The university frames the government’s demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but also to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.
No university is better positioned to put up a fight than Harvard, whose $53 billion endowment is the largest in the nation. But like other major universities, Harvard also depends on the federal funding that fuels its scientific and medical research.
For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. Some conservatives have suggested that if Harvard wants independence, it should follow the example of colleges that forgo federal funding to be free of government influence.

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