President Donald Trump's administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to block the university from enrolling international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
The moves raise the stakes of the showdown between the White House and the nation’s oldest, wealthiest and arguably most prestigious university.
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US intelligence contradicts Trump claims linking gang to Venezuelan government to speed deportations
The new intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, according to U.S. officials.
The classified assessment from the National Intelligence Council, released this month, is more comprehensive and authoritative than an earlier intelligence product released Feb. 26 and reported last month by The New York Times, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the assessment. They weren’t authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The new assessment draws input from the 18 agencies that comprise the intelligence community. It repeatedly stated that Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in a prison in Venezuela, is not coordinated with or supported by the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, or senior officials in the Venezuelan government. While the assessment found minimal contact between some members of the gang and low-level members of the Venezuelan government, there was a consensus that there was no coordination or directive role between gang and government.
▶ Read more about the U.S. intelligence assessment on Tren de Aragua
— Michelle L. Price and Mary Clare Jalonick
Education Department is demanding records related to foreign funding at Harvard
It’s the latest attempt to ramp up pressure on the university. The department sent a records request to Harvard on Friday asking for, among other things, a list of all foreign gifts, grants, and contracts from or with foreign sources.
The records request followed a review that Education Secretary Linda McMahon said showed Harvard has “not been fully transparent or complete in its disclosures, which is both unacceptable and unlawful.”
The move comes after the Trump administration threatened to block the university from enrolling international students and the president called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status. The Trump administration has also frozen nearly $2 billion in grants and loans after Harvard rejected the administration’s demands related to activism on campus, antisemitism and diversity.
FDA scrambling to hire contractors to replace fired staff who supported safety inspections
It’s the latest example of the chaotic fallout from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s effort to slash the size of the federal health workforce.
Kennedy said last month that inspections would not be affected by thousands of layoffs at the Food and Drug Administration. But dozens of staffers who helped support that work have been eliminated, including those who handled travel to remote regions of Asia where most pharmaceutical ingredients are produced.
The disruption comes as the FDA struggles to retain inspectors.
▶ Read more about cuts at the FDA
The US has a single rare earths mine. Chinese export limits are energizing a push for more
America’s only rare earths mine heard from anxious companies soon after China responded to Trump’s tariffs this month by limiting exports of those minerals used for military applications and in many high-tech devices.
“Based on the number of phone calls we’re receiving, the effects have been immediate,” said Matt Sloustcher, a spokesperson for MP Materials, the company that runs the Mountain Pass mine in California’s Mojave Desert.
The trade war between the world’s two biggest economies could lead to a critical shortage of rare earth elements if China maintains its export controls long-term or expands them to seek an advantage in any trade negotiations. The California mine can’t meet all of the U.S. demand for rare earths, which is why Trump is trying to clear the way for new mines.
Rare earth elements are important ingredients in electric vehicles, powerful magnets, advanced fighter jets, submarines, smartphones, television screens and many other products.
▶ Read more about the tariffs and rare earths mines
New US ambassador to Japan says he’s optimistic a tariffs deal can be reached
George Glass arrived in Tokyo on Friday.
Glass, a prominent businessperson known for his background in finance, investment banking and technology, arrives as Washington and Tokyo are negotiating Trump’s tariff measures, which have triggered worldwide concern about their impact on the economy and global trade.
“I’m extremely optimistic ... that a deal will be get done,” Glass told reporters after landing at Tokyo’s Haneda international airport.
His arrival comes a day after the two countries held their first round of tariff talks between their top negotiators in Washington where both sides agreed to try to reach an agreement as quickly as possible and hold a second round of meetings later this month.
▶ Read more about the new U.S. ambassador to Japan
Strange sell-off in the dollar raises specter of investors losing trust in the US under Trump
Among the threats tariffs pose to the U.S. economy, none may be as strange as the sell-off in the dollar.
Currencies rise and fall all the time because of inflation fears, central bank moves and other factors. But economists worry the recent drop in the dollar is so dramatic that it reflects something more ominous as President Trump tries to reshape global trade: a loss of confidence in the U.S.
The dollar’s dominance in cross-border trade and as a safe haven has been nurtured by administrations of both parties for decades because it helps keep U.S. borrowing costs down and allows Washington to project power abroad — enormous advantages that could possibly disappear if faith in the U.S. was damaged.
▶ Read more about tariffs and the falling U.S. dollar
It could be a rare day where the president doesn’t appear publicly
He’s slated to participate in a swearing in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz, who was confirmed by the Senate to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But there’s not expected to be press access and there’s nothing else on Trump’s public schedule.
Rubio says the US will drop Ukraine-Russia peace efforts if no progress within days
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the U.S. may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.
He spoke in Paris after landmark talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. A new meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested that could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.
“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” Rubio told reporters upon departure. “Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on.”
“It’s not our war,” Rubio said. “We have other priorities to focus on.” He said the U.S. administration wants to decide “in a matter of days.”
▶ Read more about Rubio’s comments
Law firms, universities and now civil society groups are in Trump’s sights for punitive action
First the nation’s top law firms. Then its premier universities. Now, Trump is leaning on the advocacy groups that underpin U.S. civil society.
Trump said Thursday that the administration is looking at the tax-exempt status not just of Harvard, but environmental groups and specifically the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.
The president’s remarks began to confirm what advocacy groups have been quietly warning: Trump’s campaign of retribution is coming next for them.
Trump and his team have been working their way through the nation’s institutions, threatening to chisel away at the independence and autonomy of the law firms, college campuses and now advocacy groups — or putting them at risk of losing their federal funds or professional livelihood.
▶ Read more about Trump’s plans to go after law firms and universities
Trump administration seeks explosive expansion of nation’s immigration detention system
If Trump’s administration has its way, the capacity to hold tens of thousands more migrants will soon be added around the country as the U.S. seeks an explosive expansion of what is already the world’s largest immigration detention system.
Trump’s effort to conduct mass deportations as promised in the 2024 campaign represents a potential bonanza for private prison companies and a challenge to the government agencies responsible for the orderly expulsion of immigrants. Some critics say the administration’s plans also include a deliberate attempt to isolate detainees by locking them up and holding court proceedings far from their attorneys and support systems.
The acting director of the ICE, Todd Lyons, said at a border security conference in Phoenix last week that the agency needs “to get better at treating this like a business” and suggested the nation’s deportation system could function “like Amazon, trying to get your product delivered in 24 hours.”
▶Read more about the administration’s plans
Trump administration takes aim at Harvard’s international students and tax-exempt status
The Trump administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to block the university from enrolling international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
The moves raise the stakes of the showdown between the White House and the nation’s oldest, wealthiest and arguably most prestigious university, which on Monday became the first to openly defy the administration’s demands related to activism on campus, antisemitism and diversity.
“I think Harvard’s a disgrace,” President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday.
By taking action against international students and the school’s tax status, the administration struck at two pillars of Harvard, where international students make up 27% of the campus, and the majority of the student body is in graduate school, often conducting globally prominent research. The school has risen to distinction by attracting the world’s top talent and large tax-deductible gifts from the country’s richest donors.
The federal government has already frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts to the Ivy League institution.
▶ Read more about the battle between Trump and Harvard
Russia-Ukraine war latest: Kremlin responds to US threat to abandon peace talks
JD Vance jokes Giorgia Meloni could call him a ‘jerk’ during Easter Rome visit
Josh Shapiro says he still hasn’t heard from Trump following arson attack
Katy Perry gears up for sci-fi inspired world tour
Petrified FSU students take shelter under tables during shooting as alarms sound
Clips of Trump and Vance saying they’d stop the IRS from political attacks resurface
