Closing Summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and Palestinian organizer, is eligible to be deported from the United States, an immigration judge ruled on Friday during a contentious hearing at a remote court in central Louisiana. The decision sides with the Trump administration’s claim that a short memo written by secretary of state Marco Rubio, which stated Khalil’s “beliefs and associations” were counter to foreign policy interests, is sufficient evidence to remove a lawful permanent resident from the United States. Khalil will appeal his case to the board of immigration appeals, his attorney said at a New Jersey hearing later in the day.
A federal judge said it is “extremely troubling” that the Trump administration failed on Friday to comply with a court order to provide details on the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom it illegally deported to El Salvador in March. The governments of the United States and El Salvador have subjected more than 200 Venezuelan nationals to enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention, according to Human Rights Watch.
The Department of Homeland Security ended temporary protected status for about 9,000 Afghans living in the United States. In a statement released today, the agency said secretary Kristi Noem had decided to terminate the protected status, usually granted to people from countries affected by war or disasters, because she believed the conditions in Afghanistan no longer met that definition.
Democratic senators have called for an investigation to determine whether Donald Trump, any members of his cabinet, or other donors, insiders, and administration officials engaged in insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations. Elizabeth Warren, minority leader Chuck Schumer and colleagues sent a letter to the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking its chair to find out. The US president posted on social media that it was “a great time to buy” just hours before abruptly pausing his tariff impositions for most countries on Wednesday.
Trump’s justice department has upended a historic civil rights case into environmental racism against a majority-Black community in Alabama, on the grounds that it violates an executive order banning federal agencies from pursuing programs or initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), including those relating to environmental justice.
Luigi Mangione’s lawyers asked a judge to prevent the US government from seeking the death penalty, calling it “politically motivated”. Mangione is accused of shooting and killing the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance division, in New York last year.
The Trump administration is planning to slash budgets at both the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (Noaa) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), according to internal budget documents, taking aim specifically at programs that study impacts from the climate crisis.
The state department is ordering staff to report colleagues for instances of “anti-Christian bias” during the Biden administration, part of Trump’s aggressive push to reshape government policy on religious expression in his first months back in office.
A federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration, allowing immigration agents to continue entering houses of worship for now. The decision came as part of a lawsuit over a new Department of Homeland Security policy allowing agents access to “sensitive areas” like schools and churches. In related news, Los Angeles unified school district superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, has confirmed that immigration officials attempted to enter two Los Angeles elementary schools this week.
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The Social Security Administration has called earlier reporting that it will transition all of its public communication exclusively to X “false”. The agency shared a two sentence statement on X in response to a Wired magazine article which broke the news of the planned changes at the administration.
“This is false. Social Security will continue to communicate through any and all mediums,” it said.
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Defense contractors have proposed a plan to the White House to transport immigrants to a maximum security prison in El Salvador where part of the prison will be designated as US territory, Politico reports. The proposal is being spearheaded by former Blackwater executive Erik Prince who has suggested it as a way to skirt US immigration laws. The outlet adds that it’s unclear how seriously the White House is considering the plan.
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As Veterans Affairs employees prepare to return-to-office as early as Monday, NPR reports that therapists have been told to tell patients they “cannot guarantee complete confidentiality” due to office sharing requirements.
Many of the department’s therapists were hired during the pandemic to provide telehealth services, meaning there is not sufficient office space for their mandatory return-to-office.
Speaking at the Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters today, health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr called the agency a “sock puppet” for industry and warned of a “deep state”. A week after cutting 10,000 jobs from the Department of Health and Human Services, he added that his aim was to support FDA employees.
“I really want to empower you,” Kennedy said, adding that public health requires “an inspired and engaged workforce. And you’re the leaders in that workforce.”
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Three more international students have had their visas revoked, this time at Montana State University. The news comes as the American Immigration Lawyers Association reports that the Department of Homeland Security has terminated the academic records of at least 4,700 international students and scholars.
In an email to the student body today, Montana State University president Waded Cruzado wrote that Homeland Security had revoked the visas of three students enrolled there, KBZK reports.
Citing incoming American Immigration Lawyers Association president Jeff Joseph, the Washington Post reports that more than 4,700 international students or scholars have had their records deleted in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (Sevis). The system flags students who are not in compliance with their student visa requirements to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and could put them at risk for detention or deportation.
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Donald Trump has issued a national security memo directing the secretary of defense and other cabinet officials to launch a military mission aimed at “sealing the southern border of the United States and repelling invasions”.
The memo, which is addressed to the secretaries of defense, interior, agriculture and homeland security, directs the interior department to allow the defense department to construct military installations and perform other military activities on the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-ft wide strip of land along the US side of the US-Mexico border.
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A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from freezing federal funds for the state of Maine in response to the state’s policies allowing transgender girls to compete in school sports.
In a 70-page order, US district judge John A Woodcock ordered the US Department of Agriculture to “immediately unfreeze and release to the state of Maine any federal funding that they have frozen or failed or refused to pay because of the State’s alleged failure to comply with the requirements of Title IX”.
Last week, agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins sent a letter to Maine governor Janet Mills “freezing Maine’s federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools”, saying the state had violated the Trump-administration’s Title IX guidance on transgender students.
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DoJ terminates environmental racism case against majority-Black community in Alabama
Trump’s justice department has upended a historic civil rights case into environmental racism against a majority-Black community in Alabama, on the grounds that it violates an executive order banning federal agencies from pursuing programs or initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), including those relating to environmental justice.
The DoJ announced on Friday that it is terminating the environmental justice settlement deal reached in 2023, requiring Alabama’s health agencies to provide Lowndes county residents with adequate sanitation and wastewater disposal facilities – after decades of unlawful and discriminatory neglect which had led to multiple generations dealing with raw sewage, infectious diseases and other public health hazards.
“The DOJ will no longer push ‘environmental justice’ as viewed through a distorting, DEI lens,” said assistant attorney general Harmeet K Dhillon of the justice department’s civil rights division. “President Trump made it clear: Americans deserve a government committed to serving every individual with dignity and respect, and to expending taxpayer resources in accordance with the national interest, not arbitrary criteria.”
In fact, environmental justice is about how ecological hazards and deadly pollutants like lead, emissions from heavy manufacturing plants and highways are disproportionately located in communities of color, on Indigenous lands and low-income neighborhoods. Environmental justice work is not about DEI, it is about tackling systemic racism and other structural inequalities that have done untold health harms to Black, brown and Indigenous communities in the US.
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The Social Security Administration will transition all of its public communication exclusively to X, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Facing significant staffing cuts, the administration will cease issuing press releases or communicating with journalists.
“The agency will be using X to communicate to the press and the public,” Linda Kerr-Davis, SSA midwest-west regional commissioner told employees in a call Thursday, according to Federal News Network (FNN). “If you’re used to getting press releases and Dear Colleague letters, you might want to subscribe to the official SSA X account, so you can stay up to date with agency news.”
“I know this probably sounds very foreign to you – it did to me as well – and not what we are used to, but we are in different times now,” she added.
The decision comes as federal agencies have significantly reduced their staffing, following the directives of the Musk-led “department of government efficiency”, and as the Trump administration is limiting its contact with reporters. In February, the administration barred the Associated Press from the Oval Office over the outlets decision to use the term “Gulf of Mexico” instead of Trump’s preferred “Gulf of America”. The Associated Press sued to regain access to the White House press pool and a federal judge ruled in its favor this week.
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A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Trump administration, allowing immigration agents to continue entering houses of worship for now.
US district judge Dabney Friedrich declined to grant a preliminary injunction to a coalition of Christian and Jewish groups that had sued over a new Department of Homeland Security policy allowing agents access to “sensitive areas” like schools and churches. The judge found that the groups lack standing since few immigration enforcement actions have occurred at houses of worship to date.
In related news, Los Angeles unified school district superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, has confirmed that immigration officials attempted to enter two Los Angeles elementary schools this week:
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Khalil will appeal case, says attorney
Mahmoud Khalil will appeal his case to the board of immigration appeals, his attorney said at a New Jersey hearing.
One of Khalil’s attorneys, Marc Van Der Hout, told a federal judge that Khalil will file the appeal after the immigration judge who ruled him ‘removable’ today issues the final written ruling. Van Der Hout added that Khalil’s legal team may also pursue an asylum case.
“So nothing is going to happen quickly in the immigration proceeding even though she’s found him removable on the foreign policy grounds,” he said.
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As news of an immigration judge’s ruling on Mahmoud Khalil’s case reverberates around the country, here are a few statements advocacy groups are releasing in response.
Amnesty International USA: “This decision by the court sends a painfully chilling message to anyone living in the United States: under the Trump administration, free speech is only reserved for the few and not for all,” said Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research. “What the Trump administration has done to Mahmoud Khalil and too many other students across the country is to leverage the mass deportation machine in service of silencing dissent at home and crushing advocacy to stop the ongoing war crimes and genocide by Israel against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. At the same time, the US is continuing to provide weapons to the Israeli government.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations: “This Louisiana immigration judge’s dangerous, unconstitutional ruling allowing the deportation of a legal permanent resident because the current administration wants to punish him for exercising his first amendment right to criticize the Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza must not stand,” said national executive director Nihad Awad. “We are confident that federal courts will see through the Trump administration’s lawless attack on free speech and that the movement against the Israeli government’s genocide will continue to grow in our nation, despite these Orwellian attempts to suppress free speech.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression: “Allowing a single government official sweeping and nearly unchecked power to pick and choose individuals to deport based on beliefs alone, without alleging a single crime, crosses a line that should never be crossed in a free society,” said legal director Will Creeley. “The only ‘crime’ the government has offered was that Mahmoud Khalil expressed a disfavored political opinion. If that’s a crime in America, every single one of us is guilty.”
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In other immigration-related news, the Department of Homeland Security has ended temporary protected status for about 9,000 Afghans living in the United States.
In a statement released today, the agency said secretary Kristi Noem had decided to terminate the protected status, usually granted to people from countries affected by war or disasters, because she believed the conditions in Afghanistan no longer met that definition.
Of the tens of thousands of Afghans who fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021, about 9,000 have TPS (while others may have asylum or humanitarian parole), the Associated Press reports, citing a December congressional research service report.
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As we continue to await the latest on Mahmoud Khalil’s case, Wall Street has closed for the day after a chaotic week.
US stocks were up Friday, after a day of gains and losses. The S&P gained 1.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 619 points and the Nasdaq composite gained 2.1%.
At a press conference earlier in the day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to sooth investors’ fears about the economic impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs: “Trust in President Trump, he knows what he’s doing,” she said.
Here are my colleagues Callum Jones and Helen Davidson with more:
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Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team is expected to give a press conference at 5.30pm ET. We’ll bring you the latest from that – and from another hearing in Khalil’s case that’s expected to begin in a New Jersey court shortly.
In the meantime, here are two letters that Khalil and his wife, 28-year-old US citizen Noor Abdalla, wrote to one another in the Guardian over the past month:
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Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, has released a statement on her husband’s case:
“Today’s decision feels like a devastating blow to our family. No person should be deemed ‘removable’ from their home for speaking out against the killing of Palestinian families, doctors and journalists. Today, in court, the government reiterated the same baseless, racist claims about my husband that we have heard time and again in attempts to smear those calling for an end to Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza. My husband is a political prisoner who is being deprived of his rights because he believes Palestinians deserve equal dignity and freedom. There is nothing the government can say about my husband that can silence this truth. This ruling is an indictment of our country’s immigration system and does not reflect truth, justice or the will of the American people. In less than a month, Mahmoud and I will welcome our first child. Until we are reunited, I will not stop advocating for my husband’s safe return home.”
The statement was shared by Khalil’s support team at a press conference outside the detention center where he is being held.
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A number of faith leaders are now speaking outside the detention center where Mahmoud Khalil is detained.
“Let us not forget that abducting people, isolating them from their families and silencing their voices is the hallmark of oppression” said one Jewish leader, who did not identify himself. “Even pharaohs fell when they defied justice.”
“I’m here to speak particularly to Christians,” said a campus minister, who only identified herself as Liv, before detailing the story of Jesus Christ, born in Palestine and killed by “state-sanctioned violence”.
“What we did hear today was circle around. What we will continue to do for as long as it takes, we’ll circle around for release, for the end of genocide, for the end of colonization, for a free Palestine, for the release of all political prisoners,” said Rev Sarah Greene, a Unitarian Universalist community minister. “We will not stop until every inch, I’m so serious, every inch of our imagination, of how free we could be, is realized.”
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Support team shares statement to court from Khalil
According to his support team, at the end of his hearing, Mahmoud Khalil shared the following statement with the immigration court:
“I would like to quote what you said last time, that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness. Clearly what we witnessed today neither of these principles were present – today or in this whole process. This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family. I just hope that the urgency that you deemed fit for me is afforded to the hundreds of others who have been here without hearing for months,” Khalil said.
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Mahmoud Khalil's support team calls decision 'as unjust as it is alarming'
Speaking at a press conference outside a Louisiana detention center, Mahmoud Khalil’s support team has issued a statement on an immigration judge’s ruling that he is “removable”.
“Today an immigration judge ruled that Mahmoud can be removed from this country. A decision as unjust as it is alarming. Despite the government’s failure to prove that Mahmoud broke any law, the court has decided that lawful permanent resident’s can have their status revoked for pro-Palestine advocacy. This is a blatant violation of the first amendment and a dangerous precedent for anyone who believes in free speech and political expression. But this decision should not pacify you, it should embolden and encourage you.
“Those who know Mahmoud know him for his fierce commitment to justice and his refusal to back down from even the steepest of challenges. It is Mahmoud’s fighting spirit that we must embrace in the following days. While his deportation would devastate his wife and their soon-to-be-born child, it would also intimidate all who dare to speak for Palestinian liberation.
“In recent weeks, this repression has only intensified, with the visas of students presumed to be pro-Palestine being revoked daily, we must not give in to this chilling effect.”
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Here’s more on the news that a federal judge has ruled the Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil from my colleague Oliver Laughland in Jena, Louisiana:
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and Palestinian organizer, is eligible to be deported from the United States, an immigration judge ruled on Friday during a contentious hearing at a remote court in central Louisiana.
The decision sides with the Trump administration’s claim that a short memo written by secretary of state Marco Rubio, which stated Khalil’s “beliefs and associations” were counter to foreign policy interests, is sufficient evidence to remove a lawful permanent resident from the United States. The undated memo, the main piece of evidence submitted by the government, contained no allegations of criminal conduct.
During a tense hearing on Friday afternoon, Khalil’s attorneys made an array of unsuccessful arguments attempting to both delay a ruling on his eligibility for removal and to terminate proceedings entirely. They argued the broad allegations contained in Rubio’s memo gave them a right to directly cross-examine him.
Khalil held prayer beads as three attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security presented arguments for his removal.
Judge Jamee Comans ruled that Rubio’s determination was “presumptive and sufficient evidence” and that she had no power to rule on concerns over free speech.
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US immigration judge allows Trump administration to move forward with deportation of Mahmoud Khalil
A US immigration judge in Louisiana has ruled that the Trump administration can proceed with the deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested in New York City last month, Reuters reports.
We’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
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State department staff told to report colleagues for ‘anti-Christian bias’
The state department is ordering staff to report colleagues for instances of “anti-Christian bias” during the Biden administration, part of Donald Trump’s aggressive push to reshape government policy on religious expression in his first months back in office.
The internal cable, obtained by the Guardian, establishes a short seven-day window for employees to report perceived religious discrimination committed by state department officials, with particular emphasis on Christianity.
“The department is seeking submissions regarding any practices involving anti-religious bias during the last presidential administration,” the Friday cable reads, instructing staff to report to a specially created taskforce by 18 April.
The cable, first reported by Politico, points back to Trump’s February executive order aimed at ending “the anti-Christian weaponization of government”, and indicates that the department will offer preferential treatment for Christians.
One example of the “bias” the department wants reported includes “mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners or other paraphernalia” – a thinly veiled reference to Pride flags previously displayed at US embassies under the previous administration. The cable also specifically points to “policies related to preferred personal pronouns” as potentially discriminatory against religious employees.
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Witkoff-Putin meeting ends after more than four hours, Russian media say
Talks between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff concluded late on Friday after more than four hours, Russian media reported.
The Kremlin posted a photo on its website of the two men shaking hands, saying the meeting had taken place. “The theme of the meeting – aspects of a Ukrainian settlement,” it said.
Interfax news agency said Witkoff, Donald Trump’s envoy for the Middle East and increasingly involved in Russian affairs, had left the site of the talks, the presidential library in St Petersburg. Tass news agency said Putin’s investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev had returned to a hotel in the city.
We’ll bring you more details from the meeting as and when they arise.
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Massive cuts to Nasa science and other key research centers proposed in early White House budget plan
Donald Trump shows no signs of easing his assault on climate science as plans of more sweeping cuts to key US research centers surfaced on Friday. The administration is planning to slash budgets at both the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (Noaa) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), according to internal budget documents, taking aim specifically at programs that study impacts from the climate crisis.
If the plan is approved by Congress, funding for the office of oceanic and atmospheric research (Oar) would be eviscerated – cut from $485m to $171m – dismantling a key part of the agency’s mission, the journal Science reported. All budgets for climate, weather, and ocean laboratories would be drained, according to the document, which reportedly states, “at this funding level, OAR is eliminated as a line office”.
Noaa is facing a $1.3bn cut to overall operations and research. Integrated Ocean Observing System Regional Observations, Competitive Research, Coastal Zone Management Grants, National Coastal Resilience Fund, or the National Estuarine Research Reserve System are all on the chopping block and the National Ocean Service would be cut in half.
Science done outside the agency would also be undermined with cuts to Noaa’s climate research grants program, which provides roughly $70m a year.
Research at Nasa, the country’s space agency is also on the chopping block. The agency is slated for a 20% overall budget loss, but deeper cuts would be directed at programs overseeing planetary science, earth science, and astrophysics research, according to Ars Technica, which first reported on Trump’s plans when agency officials were briefed last month.
Now documents have been issued to back up those plans, halving funding for science at Nasa.
Still not set in stone, these “passback” documents are a part of how the government goes about budgeting. They are issued by the White House to federal agencies before discretionary budget is released and are seen as a guidance on presidential priorities. The numbers aren’t final and could be changed, and Congress will also have to act on the plans to finalize them.
But the drastic degree of these cuts shows the administration’s position on climate and its determination to hamper US research, experts say. Craig McLean, OAR’s longtime director who retired in 2022, told Science the move would take the country back to the 1950s, “all because the Trump administration doesn’t like the answers to scientific questions”.
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Venezuelan deportees 'forcibly disappeared' by US and El Salvador governments
The governments of the United States and El Salvador have subjected more than 200 Venezuelan nationals to enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention, according to Human Rights Watch.
On 15 March, the US government removed 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they were immediately transferred to the country’s notorious Cecot mega-prison known for its brutal conditions.
Since then, Human Rights Watch said, the Venezuelans have been held incommunicado. US and Salvadoran authorities have not disclosed a list of the people removed, although CBS News published a leaked list of names. Relatives of people apparently transferred to El Salvador told Human Rights Watch that US authorities said that they were unable to share any information on their relatives’ whereabouts, while Salvadoran officials have been completely unresponsive.
Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said:
These enforced disappearances are a grave violation of international human rights law. The cruelty of the US and Salvadoran governments has put these people outside the protection of the law and caused immense pain to their families.
Under international law, an enforced disappearance occurs when authorities deprive a person of their liberty and then refuse to disclose that person’s fate or whereabouts.
Mangione lawyers ask judge to prevent US prosecutors from seeking death penalty, calling it 'politically motivated'
Luigi Mangione’s lawyers on Friday asked a judge to prevent the US government from seeking the death penalty, Reuters is reporting. Mangione is accused of shooting and killing the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance division, in New York last year.
Reuters reports that Mangione’s lawyers said in a filing in New York federal court that US attorney general Pam Bondi’s 1 April announcement that prosecutors would seek the death penalty was politically motivated, breached government protocols for death penalty decisions and “indelibly prejudiced” the process.
“The United States government intends to kill Mr. Mangione as a political stunt,” his lawyers said. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
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The day so far
US federal judge Paula Xinis said it is “extremely troubling” that the Trump administration failed on Friday to comply with a court order to provide details on the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom it illegally deported to El Salvador in March. Drew Ensign, an attorney with the Department of Justice, said the administration had said in court filings, that it would provide that information by the end of Tuesday, once it evaluated the supreme court ruling. While that ruling appeared at first to be a victory for Abrego Garcia and his family, it contained a line that Trump officials could ultimately use to reiterate their position that they could not be forced to bring him back from El Salvador. In their decision, the justices never defined what they meant by “facilitate and effectuate” his return, sending that question back to US district judge Xinis to flesh out. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said in a Friday court filing “the government continues to delay, obfuscate, and flout court orders, while a man’s life and safety is at risk”. The Trump administration’s refusal to comply with Xinis’s directives put it on a collision course with the judge and threatens to erupt into a showdown between the executive and judicial branches.
Elsewhere:
Donald Trump claimed his tariff policy was “doing really well”, calling it “very exciting” for the US and the rest of the world, despite ongoing market volatility that continues to rattle investors. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that more than 75 countries have now reached out to the Trump administration to discuss trade. She credited for this a need to discuss the “trade issues that have exploited America and hurt our workers”, rather than Trump’s tariff policy chaos.
Democratic senators have called for an investigation to determine whether Donald Trump, any members of his cabinet, or other donors, insiders, and administration officials engaged in insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations. Elizabeth Warren, minority leader Chuck Schumer and colleagues sent a letter to the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking its chair to find out. The US president posted on social media that it was “a great time to buy” just hours before abruptly pausing his tariff impositions for most countries on Wednesday. The timing of his posts and subsequent huge share jumps has sparked accusations of market manipulation. The senators’ letter requests answers by 25 April.
The White House said “there will be hell to pay” if Iran develops a nuclear weapon, while Iran said it seeks a “real and fair” agreement with Washington on its nuclear programme, setting the stage for a diplomatic showdown this weekend in Oman. Leavitt said “all options are on the table” and “Iran has a choice to make” ahead of the talks on Saturday. Meanwhile there is still some confusion about whether the talks are going to be direct or indirect. Iran said again on Friday the talks would be indirect, whereas the White House doubled down that they would be direct.
Donald Trump is optimistic about reaching a trade deal with China, Leavitt said, amid the escalating trade war between the two nations that has battered markets. Levitt told reporters: “The president has made it very clear he’s open to a deal with China. If China continues to retaliate, it’s not good for China.” She did not elaborate when asked to explain the reasons behind Trump’s optimism.
Iowa’s deeply popular Republican governor, Kim Reynolds said she will not seek a third term in office in 2026. Reynolds announced the surprise decision on social media, citing family reasons. Reynolds broke neutrality to endorse Ron DeSantis during the presidential race, saying she did not believe Trump could win. “I think it’s just really important that we put the right person in office,” she said at the time.
The Trump administration has moved to classify more than 6,000 living immigrants as dead, canceling their social security numbers and effectively wiping out their ability to work or receive benefits in an effort to push them to “self-deport”.
Nearly two dozen US law firms quietly scrubbed references to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from their website and revised descriptions of pro-bono work to more closely align with Donald Trump’s priorities, a Guardian review found, underscoring the Trump administration’s successful campaign of intimidation against the legal profession.
Alina Habba, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey said she has launched an investigation into Democratic governor Phil Murphy and state attorney general Matt Platkin over the state’s directive to local law enforcement not to cooperate with federal agent conducting immigration enforcement. Habba, appointed last month by Trump as the interim US attorney for the state, announced the investigation as “a warning for everybody” on Thursday evening.
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Iran seeks 'real and fair' deal in 'indirect' nuclear talks with US
Iran seeks a “real and fair” agreement with Washington on its nuclear programme, a senior aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday, setting the stage for a diplomatic showdown this weekend in Oman, AFP reports.
Iran and the United States are set to hold talks on Saturday aimed at reaching a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Donald Trump last month wrote to Khamenei urging negotiations, but has warned of possible military action if Iran refuses.
Khamenei adviser Ali Shamkhani posted on X:
Far from putting up a show and merely talking in front of the cameras, Tehran is seeking a real and fair agreement, important and implementable proposals are ready.
He confirmed that foreign minister Abbas Araghchi was heading to Oman “with full authority for indirect negotiations with America”, adding that if Washington showed goodwill, the path forward would be “smooth”.
Asked if Donald Trump wants the president of El Salvador to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia with him when he visits the US on Monday, Karoline Leavitt said the supreme court’s ruling “made it very clear that it’s the administrations responsibility to ‘facilitate’ the return, not to ‘effectuate’ the return”. (More on that here).
Trump optimistic on reaching deal with China, White House says
Donald Trump is optimistic about reaching a trade deal with China, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, amid the escalating trade war between the two nations that has battered markets. Levitt told reporters:
The president has made it very clear he’s open to a deal with China. If China continues to retaliate, it’s not good for China.
Pressed to explain the evidence behind Trump’s optimism, Leavitt moved swiftly on.
White House says 'there will be all hell to pay' should Iran develop nuclear weapon and 'all options are on the table'
Donald Trump wants Iran to know that “all options are on the table” for preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons ahead of talks on Saturday between US and Iranian delegations, his press secretary told reporters.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s “ultimate objective is to ensure that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon” and that Trump believes in diplomacy.
But he’s made it very clear to the Iranians and his national security team will as well, that all options are on the table, and Iran has a choice to make. You can agree to President Trump’s demand, or there will be all hell to pay, and that’s how the president feels. He feels very strongly about it.
Answering an earlier question, Leavitt also doubled down on the administration’s insistence that the talks in Oman on Saturday “will be direct” (though Iran has said they won’t be).
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More than 75 countries have now reached out to the Trump administration to discuss trade, Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House press briefing earlier. She credited for this a need to discuss the “trade issues that have exploited America and hurt our workers”, rather than Trump’s tariff policy chaos.
The phones have been ringing off the hook to make deals. And these countries wisely heeded President Trump’s warning not to retaliate and as a result they were rewarded with a 90-day pause and substantially lower ‘reciprocal’ tariff rates during this period so potential solutions can be achieved.
Judge says it's 'extremely troubling' Trump administration cannot tell her location of man it illegally deported
US federal judge Paula Xinis has said it is “extremely troubling” that the Trump administration failed on Friday to comply with a court order to provide details on the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom it illegally deported to El Salvador.
Xinis demanded at a hearing that the administration identify the whereabouts of Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador on 15 March.
Xinis repeatedly pressed a government attorney for answers. She said:
I’m not sure what to take from the fact that the supreme court has spoken quite clearly and yet I can’t get an answer today about what you’ve done, if anything, in the past.
Drew Ensign, an attorney with the Department of Justice, repeated what the administration had said in court filings, that it would provide that information by the end of Tuesday, once it evaluated the supreme court ruling.
The administration said in a court filing earlier on Friday that it was “unreasonable and impracticable” to say what its next steps are before they are properly agreed upon and vetted. The filing said:
Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said in a Friday court filing “the government continues to delay, obfuscate, and flout court orders, while a man’s life and safety is at risk”.
This is some useful detail from the New York Times (paywall) on the nitty gritty on the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
While the supreme court’s ruling appeared at first to be a victory for Abrego Garcia and his family, it contained a line that Trump officials could ultimately use to reiterate their position that they could not be forced to bring him back from El Salvador.
In their decision, the justices never defined what they meant by “facilitate and effectuate” his return, sending that question back to US district judge Paula Xinis to flesh out.
Indeed, the justices cautioned Xinis that when she clarified the steps the White House should take, her decision needed to be made “with due regard for the deference owed to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs”.
In their filing on Friday, lawyers for the Justice Department said they wanted Xinis to issue her clarification before they laid out what the White House planned to do to free Abrego Garcia from El Salvador. They wrote:
It is unreasonable and impracticable for defendants to reveal potential steps before those steps are reviewed, agreed upon, and vetted. Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review.
Trump administration defies judge seeking details on plan to return wrongly deported man
The Trump administration has defied a federal judge’s order to provide an explanation for how it intended to bring back to the United States a Maryland man who was unlawfully deported to El Salvador last month, the New York Times (paywall) reports.
In an aggressive two-page filing, Justice Department lawyers told US district judge, Paula Xinis, that she had not given them enough time to work out what they planned to do about Kilmar Abrego Garcia after the supreme court ordered the administration on Thursday to “facilitate” his return to US soil. The department lawyers wrote:
Defendants are unable to provide the information requested by the court on the impracticable deadline set by the court hours after the Supreme Court issued its order.
In light of the insufficient amount of time afforded to review the Supreme Court order, defendants are not in a position where they ‘can’ share any information requested by the court. That is the reality.
The administration’s refusal to comply with Xinis’s directives put it on a collision course with the judge and threatens to erupt into a showdown between the executive and judicial branches.
The administration’s stance heightened the stakes of a hearing, scheduled for Friday afternoon, where Abrego Garcia’s lawyers and lawyers for the Justice Department are set to appear in front of Xinis to discuss how to proceed in the case.
Here is the background to today’s developments in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, which highlights the Trump administration’s tensions with federal courts – several have blocked Trump policies and judges have expressed frustration with administration efforts to comply with court orders.
Abrego Garcia’s family sued to challenge the legality of his deportation and on 4 April US district judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” his return. The administration challenged that order at the supreme court, which upheld Xinis’ order but said the term “effectuate” is unclear and may exceed the court’s authority.
The Justice Department in a supreme court filing on 7 April stated that while Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador through “administrative error”, his actual removal from the United States “was not error”. The error, department lawyers wrote, was in removing him specifically to El Salvador despite the deportation protection order.
White House press briefing to start soon
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is about to speak to reporters for the White House press briefing. I’ll bring you any key lines.
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Judge orders Trump lawyers to court after they defy order to detail steps to return wrongly deported man to US
The Trump administration must explain to a federal court without delay what it is doing to facilitate the return of a Maryland resident it illegally deported to El Salvador, a federal judge ordered on Friday.
Reuters reports that US district judge Paula Xinis has set a hearing for 1pm ET, rejecting an administration request to give it until Tuesday afternoon to identify the location of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador on 15 March.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland and has had a work permit since 2019, was stopped and detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on 12 March and questioned about alleged gang affiliation. He was deported on 15 March on one of three high-profile deportation flights to El Salvador that also included alleged Venezuelan gang members.
On Thursday the US supreme court said the Trump administration must take steps to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and detail the steps it has taken and will take to return him to the United States.
The ruling also said the lower court should clarify its order “with due regard for deference” to the executive branch of government.
In response, the White House referred to an earlier Justice Department statement which said activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the president’s authority to conduct foreign policy.
Xinis asked that the Trump administration explain what has been done to return Abrego Garcia and offer a timeline for returning him to the US. She said its request to delay the hearing to review the four-page supreme court order “blinks at reality”.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said in a Friday court filing: “The government continues to delay, obfuscate, and flout court orders, while a man’s life and safety is at risk.”
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Iowa Republican governor announces she won’t seek reelection in 2026
In a surprise announcement on Friday, Iowa’s deeply popular Republican governor, Kim Reynolds has said she will not seek a third term in office in 2026.
Reynolds has held the position since 2017, when former governor Terry Branstad was appointed US ambassador to China. The state’s first female governor, she was elected to full terms in 2018 and again in 2022.
In a video post on social media, Reynolds said:
This wasn’t an easy decision, because I love this state and I love serving you. But, when my term ends, I will have had the privilege of serving as your governor for almost 10 years.
Reynolds said she is leaving office after years of her family supporting her, saying now “it’s time for me to be there for them”. Her husband, Kevin Reynolds, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2023. In her condition of the state in January, she said his cancer remained in remission.
Reynolds broke neutrality to endorse Ron DeSantis during the presidential campaign, saying she did not believe Trump could win. She told NBC: ““I believe he can’t win. And I believe that Ron can.”
“As a mother and as a grandmother and as an American, I just felt like I couldn’t stand on the sidelines any longer,” she said at the time. “We have too much at stake. Our country is in a world of hurt. The world is a powder keg. And I think it’s just really important that we put the right person in office.”
While in office, Reynolds signed a bill rolling back several of Iowa’s child labor law protections, including how many hours children can work and at what type of establishments. She also signed into state law a ban on school materials about sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms from kindergarten through sixth grade, and a bill prohibiting transgender females from participating in girls high school sports and women’s college athletics.
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Trump administration lists thousands of living immigrants as dead in bid to push them to 'self-deport'
The Trump administration has moved to classify more than 6,000 living immigrants as dead, canceling their social security numbers and effectively wiping out their ability to work or receive benefits in an effort to get them to leave the country, two people familiar with the situation have told the Associated Press.
The move will make it much harder for those affected to use banks or other basic services where social security numbers are required.
The Trump administration is moving the immigrants’ names and legally obtained social security numbers to a database that federal officials normally use to track the deceased, according to the two people familiar with the moves and their ramifications. They spoke on condition of anonymity on Thursday night because the plans had not yet been publicly detailed.
Related: US judge allows White House to require noncitizens to register with government
The officials said stripping the immigrants of their social security numbers will cut them off from many financial services and encourage them to “self-deport” and abandon the US for their birth countries.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the 6,000-plus immigrants were chosen. But the Trump White House has targeted people in the country temporarily under Biden-era programs, including more than 900,000 immigrants who entered the US using that administration’s CBP One app.
On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked the legal status of the immigrants who used that app. They had generally been allowed to remain in the US for two years with work authorization under presidential parole authority during the Biden era, but are now expected to self-deport.
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Profits at major US banks beat forecasts in the first quarter as stock trading jumped, but executives on Friday warned of economic turbulence as sweeping tariffs could fuel risks and weigh on economic growth.
Reuters has this report:
Equity traders at JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley brought in record revenue as markets boomed early in the year, while Wells Fargo earned more fees from clients. But industry executives said consumers and corporations were becoming more cautious about US president Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which have roiled markets and could spur inflation and tip the economy into recession.
“The first quarter was a pretty good start to the year in terms of trading and even business activity, but what happens in the second quarter is still unknown, including the impact on markets, mergers and acquisitions,” said Brian Mulberry, portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management. “It is going to be a tale of two different quarters.”
While it is too early to understand the full implications of the tariffs, households and businesses were starting to respond to the import levies, executives at the biggest US lenders said.
In the global fallout from Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement, it appears nowhere is safe. Crashing share prices, a sell-off in bonds and currency chaos erasing trillions of dollars of wealth in a matter of days.
On Friday the dollar fell by more than 1% relative to a basket of other currencies to reach its lowest level in three years, compounding an almost 10% slide since the start of the year. In the space of a week, it has lost about three cents against the pound and four cents against the euro.
Even after the president’s pause – freezing tariffs at 10% on all US imports except those from China for 90 days – markets swung from relief rally to fresh rout, as investors questioned the once unthinkable: could the US dollar be losing its unassailable safe haven status?
“The damage has been done,” said George Saravelos, the head of foreign exchange research at Deutsche Bank. “The market is re-assessing the structural attractiveness of the dollar as the world’s global reserve currency and is undergoing a process of rapid de-dollarisation.”
For the full story, click here:
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Chuck Schumer said on Friday that Democrats are “totally united” in response to Donald Trump’s tarrifs.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the Senate minority leader said:
“We are totally united, that you don’t see any divisions in the Democrats the way you do with the Republicans.”
He went on to add:
“For instance, when we had our first vote on the budget reconciliation, we had 27 amendments. Every Democrat supported every one of those amendments. We had no defections. They’re beginning to show cracks and defecting because they know embracing Trump is not what the American people want. And we Democrats are showing them that every day.”
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Pentagon to end $5.1bn in contracts with companies including Accenture and Deloitte citing ‘Doge findings’
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the termination of several information technology services contracts valued at $5.1bn, including companies such as Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte, Reuters reports citing a Pentagon memo.
The contracts “represent non-essential spending on third party consultants” for services Pentagon employees can perform, Hegseth said in the memo released late on Thursday. “These terminations represent $5.1bn in wasteful spending,” Hegseth said, adding that their termination would result in “nearly $4bn in estimated savings.”
During morning trading in New York shares of Booz Allen Hamilton were down 2.4% to $106.30 and Accenture shares were down 2% to $279.52.
Representatives for Accenture, Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The contracts appeared to be wide-ranging cuts to consulting services for the Navy, the Air Force, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Defense Health Agency.
In a video posted on X, Hegseth said the contracts were for “ancillary things like consulting and other non-essential services.” He said the services would be brought in-house.
In the memo Hegseth said he was directing the Pentagon’s chief information officer to work over the next 30 days with tech billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called and unofficial “department of government efficiency” to prepare a plan to cut and in-source the Defense Department’s information technology consulting and management services.
Additionally, the memo said the Pentagon would negotiate the “most favorable rates” for cloud computing services.
US law firms quietly scrub DEI references from websites to appease Trump
Nearly two dozen US law firms have quietly scrubbed references to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from their website and revised descriptions of pro-bono work to more closely align with Donald Trump’s priorities, a Guardian review has found, underscoring the Trump administration’s successful campaign of intimidation against the legal profession.
The changes, which have occurred at some of the nation’s most prestigious firms, include eliminating mention of pro-bono immigration work from firm websites and deleting sections entirely related to DEI. In some cases, firms appear to have dropped the word “diversity” from descriptions of their work. In at least one case, a change included revising a quote from firm partners to eliminate mention of diversity and inclusion.
The Guardian contacted all of the firms mentioned in this story. None responded to a request for comment.
Many of the steps taken by law firms to capitulate to Trump are being tracked in a speradsheet by the Coalition for Justice, an alliance of progressive student organizations at Georgetown law school in Washington DC. About a dozen students are keeping a spreadsheet of how hundreds of firms are responding.
Mari Latibashvili, a second-year law student who is a leader of Coalition for Justice and has been helping with the tracker, said:
The administration’s attacks are so blatantly illegal and unconstitutional that the law firms choosing to comply in advance is really a slap in the face for the legal profession.
It’s them saying that they’re not willing to stand up for these very basic fundamental constitutional rights – the rule of law, legal ethics and just freedom of speech and expression – I think are just fundamental things that we all learn about first year of law school.
'Warning for everybody': US attorney Habba investigating New Jersey governor over immigration enforcement policy
The top federal prosecutor in New Jersey says she has launched an investigation into Democratic governor Phil Murphy and state attorney general Matt Platkin over the state’s directive to local law enforcement not to cooperate with federal agent conducting immigration enforcement.
Alina Habba, appointed last month by Donald Trump as the interim US attorney for the state, announced the investigation as “a warning for everybody” on Thursday evening on Fox News.
I want it to be a warning for everybody that I have instructed my office today to open an investigation into Governor Murphy, to open an investigation into Attorney General Platkin.
Both Murphy’s office and Platkin’s office declined to comment.
A partner in a small New Jersey law firm near Trump’s Bedminster golf course, Habba served as a senior adviser for Trump’s political action committee, defended him in court in several civil lawsuits and acted as a spokesperson last year as he volleyed between courtrooms and the campaign trail.
The Associated Press reports that Murphy’s administration has been largely supportive of immigration. Under his tenure, Platkin’s predecessor issued a guideline limiting cooperation between local New Jersey police and immigration officials. A bill that would make the directive state law is pending in the legislature, but hasn’t advanced.
The policy and the pending bill have gotten renewed attention since Trump’s second administration began and immigration officials arrested people in Newark soon after the inauguration. The arrests led immigrant rights advocates to call out “Where’s Governor Murphy?” during a news conference held by Newark’s mayor to deride the immigration enforcement.
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US markets slip at the open while Trump says 'very exciting' tariff policy 'doing really well'
Donald Trump has claimed his tariff policy is “doing really well”, calling it “very exciting” for the US and the rest of the world. He posted on his Truth Social platform:
We are doing really well on our TARIFF POLICY. Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly. DJT
Meanwhile, as of the last few minutes Wall Street is open and amid the escalating trade war US stock are down at the start of trading.
Across the main indexes, the S&P 500 is down 6 points or -0.1% at 5,262 points, the Dow is down 64 points or -0.16% at 39,529 points, while the Nasdaq is down 9 points or -0.06% at 16,377 points.
The US dollar also suffered a further blow as a result of Beijing’s retaliatory 125% tariff announcement earlier, falling to a three-year low.
Democrats call on SEC to investigate trading around Trump's abrupt tariff pause
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, minority leader Chuck Schumer and colleagues have sent a letter to the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to determine whether Donald Trump, any members of his cabinet, or other donors, insiders, and administration officials engaged in insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations.
Trump’s dramatic about-face on his trade war shocked investors and led to big rises in stock markets around the world, igniting accusations of market manipulation and insider trading.
Warren wrote on X:
Did President Trump tip off big donors or family to cash in on his tariff chaos? Today with @SenSchumer and Senate Democrats, I officially called for an SEC investigation to find out. Presidents are not kings.
The letter reads:
We urge the SEC to investigate whether the tariff announcements, which caused the market crash and subsequent partial recovery, enriched administration insiders and friends at the expense of the American public and whether any insiders, including the President’s family, had prior knowledge of the tariff pause that they abused to make stock trades ahead of the President’s announcement.
It goes on to highlight that the US president posted it was “a great time to buy” on social media just hours before abruptly pausing his tariff impositions for most countries. The timing of his posts and subsequent huge share jumps has sparked accusations of market manipulation.
Before pausing the tariffs that threw markets into disarray, President Trump appears to have previewed his plans to do so on Truth Social: at 9:37 am, he announced, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” His official announcement of the tariff pause came roughly 4 hours later at 1:18 pm.
(In my colleague Lauren Almeida’s story from yesterday, she noted: “Trump does not usually sign off his post with his initials. Those letters happen to be the same as the ticker for Trump Media & Technology Group, the business that controls Truth Social, whose stock shot up by 22% on Wednesday.”)
The senators’ letter also asked how Trump administration cuts to the SEC might impact the agency’s ability to respond to large-scale market events and pursue enforcement actions. They have requested answers by 25 April.
Yesterday I reported that Democratic senators Adam Schiff and Ruben Gallego (who are also signatories to this letter) are demanding that the Office of Government Ethics investigate potential conflicts of interest and insider trading of White House and executive branch officials who may have been privy to Trump’s 90-day pause on steep tariffs.
You can follow all the latest from the markets on our business blog:
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China raises US tariffs to 125% as Xi invites EU to team up against Trump ‘bullying’
China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.
Xi made the comments during a meeting with the Spanish prime minister in which he invited the EU to work with China to resist “bullying”, part of an apparent campaign to shore up other trading partners.
The Chinese commerce ministry announced on Friday it was raising the 84% tariffs on all US imports to 125%, again saying that China was ready to “fight to the end”. The statement also suggested it may be Beijing’s last move in the tit-for-tat tariff rises as “at the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for US goods exported to China”.
“If the US continues to impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, China will ignore it,” it said, flagging that there were other countermeasures to come.
Some markets continued to tumble on Friday, as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, described the US president’s 90-day tariff pause – which sets most tariffs at 10% until July – as “fragile”.
Asian indices followed Wall Street lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei down nearly 5% and Hong Kong stocks heading towards the biggest weekly decline since 2008. Oil prices were also expected to drop for a second consecutive week.
Chinese officials have been canvassing other trading partners about how to deal with the US tariffs, after the country was excluded from Donald Trump’s 90-day pause of the steepest global tariffs. Instead the US president made consecutive increases to duties on Chinese imports, which are now 145%.
California’s $59bn agriculture industry reels under Trump’s wavering tariffs
California’s $59bn agricultural industry is bracing for disruption as Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to spike tensions and trigger economic turmoil with China – one of the state’s biggest buyers.
California is the country’s breadbasket, supplying roughly one-third of US vegetables and 75% of its fruits and nuts. But it also exports much of its produce – close to $24bn worth in 2022. This means farmers in the state could lose out significantly as China imposes retaliatory tariffs on American goods.
The threat of another prolonged trade war has contributed to growing uncertainty in an industry where decisions often have to be made long before harvests or sales. It’s difficult for producers to decide to cull or keep dairy cows from their herds, rip plants tended to for years from the soil or pluck trellises of grapevines from their pastures.
Already grappling with extreme weather events that have damaged or destroyed crops and water restrictions that added challenges, a spate of Trump policies – including attacks on agricultural research, a funding freeze of billions from the US Department of Agriculture, and crackdowns on migrant workers – have left farmers reeling.
Zachary Williams, sales director for Stewart & Jasper Orchards in Newman, California, said:
The uncertainty is probably more of a problem than the tariff itself. Uncertainty about whether there will be, or won’t be, is a little harder to plan around.
Advocates for academic freedom are bracing for what they expect to be the next phase of the government’s effort to reshape higher education: an overhaul of the system accrediting institutions of higher learning.
Donald Trump has made no secret of such plans. During the campaign, he boasted that accreditation would be his “secret weapon” against colleges and universities the right has long viewed as too progressive.
“I will fire the radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics,” Trump said last summer. “We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again and once for all.”
In recent weeks, the government has taken aggressive actions against US universities in the form of funding cuts, a ban on diversity initiatives, and the targeting of international students. Dismantling the accreditation system would be a powerful tool to further erode the separation between the government’s political ideology and what US students are taught.
While it’s unlikely that Trump can delist currently recognized accreditation agencies, which are controlled by a bipartisan body enshrined in federal law, there are several ways in which the administration could weaken their authority to enforce schools’ compliance with a series of standards. Project 2025 and efforts to curtail accreditors’ power in some conservative states offer a blueprint for what several education professionals who spoke to the Guardian, along with officials at the department of education, fear may be an impending executive action on the issue.
Targeting accreditation – the peer-review system guaranteeing quality assurance on learning institutions – is part the right’s broader strategy to undermine higher education as a whole, advocates warn. Because accreditation by a recognized agency is required for students to be eligible for federal financial aid, the government has massive financial sway over how the system works.
The Mississippi library commission, which offers services such as specialized research assistance to libraries in the state, has ordered the deletion of two research collections: the race relations database and the gender studies database. The collections were stored in what’s called the Magnolia database, which is used by publicly funded schools, libraries, universities and state agencies in Mississippi.
The commission’s executive director, Hulen Bivins, confirmed the deletion to the Guardian, and said:
We may lose a lot of materials.
All of the states, we are in dire shape. We have had a reconsideration of everything with regard to what Doge [is doing].”
The so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), which has sent shock waves through federal agencies and departments since its creation when the second Trump administration began, all but axed the Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS) in March by putting nearly all of its employees on administrative leave. The independent federal agency provides resources and support to libraries, archives and museums in all 50 states and territories. Earlier that month, Trump signed an executive order that called for the IMLS to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” within seven days.
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The head of the US military base in Greenland, a Danish territory coveted by Donald Trump, has been fired for criticising Washington’s agenda for the island.
Col Susannah Meyers, who had served as commander of the Pituffik space base since July, was removed amid reports she had distanced herself and the base from JD Vance’s criticism of Denmark and its oversight of the territory during the US vice-president’s visit to the base two weeks ago.
The US Space Force said in a statement on Thursday night:
Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in the performance of their duties.”
The statement did not expand further, but the US website military.com said Meyers sent an email to all personnel at Pituffik on 31 March “seemingly aimed at generating unity among the airmen and guardians, as well as the Canadians, Danes and Greenlanders who work there, following Vance’s appearance”.
During his 28 March visit to the base, Vance told a press conference:
Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have under-invested in the people of Greenland and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass.”
In her email, relayed to military.com, Meyers wrote:
I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the US administration discussed by vice-president Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik space base.”
The Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on X:
Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense.”
Pirelli has put on hold plans to invest further in the United States as it tries to smooth out tensions linked to having Chinese state-owned group Sinochem as its largest investor, the Italian tyre maker said on Friday.
Sinochem has a 37% stake in Pirelli and is at odds with the company and its Italian shareholders over governance, at a time when being seen as a Chinese-linked business is increasingly proving an obstacle for doing business in the US, one of Pirelli’s key markets.
Pirelli makes about 25% of its revenues in North America, which it mostly serves through its plants in Mexico, South America and Europe, although it also runs a smaller facility in the US state of Georgia.
The Italian government intervened in 2023 to curb Sinochem’s powers in Pirelli and shield management’s autonomy.
Responding on Friday to a media report, Pirelli said its desire to increase its production capacity in the US “has been known for some time”, reports Reuters.
“At the moment, however, nothing has been decided given the regulatory obstacles linked to questions of governance and shareholder structure regarding which … evaluations and in-depth analyses with Sinochem are still ongoing,” it said in a statement.
The Corriere della Sera daily said on Friday that Paolo Zampolli, US president Donald Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships, hoped that Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni would announce an investment by Pirelli during her visit to the White House on 17 April.
Zampolli said Pirelli would invest $1bn in Georgia to produce smart tyres, raising the investment to $2bn in the future.
Expanding capacity in the US would help limit the impact of US tariffs, but Washington has also decided to crack down on Chinese technology in the automotive industry, banning key software and hardware from Chinese-controlled companies.
Marco Tronchetti Provera, the Italian businessman at the helm of Pirelli since 1992 and now its executive vice-chair, said early this week that US local authorities were raising objections in negotiations on plans to expand the group’s capacity in the country due to Sinochem’s stake. Tronchetti’s vehicle Camfin controls a 26.4% stake in Pirelli.
Shareholders are now discussing possible solutions ahead of a board meeting on 28 April.
Trump to undergo first physical of his second term
Donald Trump, the oldest person to assume theUS presidency, is to undergo his first physical examination of his second term on Friday.
Trump, who turns 79 in June, is known for his love of fast food but often talks about his robust physical and mental health.
“I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump wrote in a post on the Truth Social platform on Monday, announcing the planned exam.
The White House did not respond to queries about the exam and what would be included, reports Reuters.
The physical could offer the first clear look at Trump’s condition since his ear was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July. His campaign released a report by Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former White House doctor, saying the injuries were superficial.
The White House typically determines what data will be released from a president’s health exam. Trump is not compelled to release any information, and there is no template for the presidential exam. Trump released only limited information about his health during his presidential campaigns.
During the 2024 election, Trump drew sharp contrasts with his predecessor, Joe Biden, now 82, claiming he was younger and fitter.
A White House doctor said in 2018 when Trump was serving his first term that he was in overall excellent health but needed to shed weight and start a daily exercise routine, reports Reuters.
Trump included a cognitive exam, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, as part of his physical during his first term, and his doctor later said he scored 30 out of 30.
Biden released detailed summaries of his physical exams while in office, but several books published in recent months have raised questions about his mental acuity in his final months in the White House.
The mental ability and age of both Biden and Trump were in focus during last year’s election campaign, especially after Biden’s disastrous performance in a debate with Trump in June, and Trump’s increasingly rambling speeches at rallies.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Friday that “the US cannot act recklessly, and the wheel of history cannot go backwards,” referring to US tariffs on China.
Reuters reports that Wang made the remarks in a meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general Rafael Mariano Grossi in Beijing.
China on Friday increased its tariffs on US imports to 125%, hitting back against US president Donald Trump’s decision to increase duties on Chinese goods to 145% and raising the stakes in a trade war that threatens to up-end global supply chains.
After doubling down on his promise not to pause his latest tariffs, Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause for most countries except China. Why did he change his mind?
My colleague, Jonathan Freedland, speaks to James Bennet of the Economist about who might have forced the president’s hand, and what could happen next, in the latest episode of the Politics Weekly America podcast:
China raises US tariffs to 125% as Xi invites EU to team up against Trump ‘bullying’
China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.
Xi made the comments during a meeting with the Spanish prime minister in which he invited the EU to work with China to resist “bullying”, part of an apparent campaign to shore up other trading partners.
The Chinese commerce ministry announced on Friday that it was raising the 84% tariffs on all US imports to 125%, again saying that China was ready to “fight to the end”. The statement also suggested it may be Beijing’s last move in the tit-for-tat tariff raises as “at the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for US goods exported to China”.
“If the US continues to impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, China will ignore it,” it said, flagging that there were other countermeasures to come.
Some markets continued to tumble on Friday, as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, described the US president’s 90-day tariff pause – which sets most tariffs at 10% until July – as “fragile”.
Asian indices followed Wall Street lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei down nearly 5% and Hong Kong stocks heading towards the biggest weekly decline since 2008. Oil prices were also expected to drop for a second consecutive week.
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US Senate approves Trump’s nominee for top military officer
The US Senate approved Donald Trump’s nominee to be the nation’s top military officer on Friday after the president abruptly fired the previous chair of the joint chiefs of taff this year.
Lawmakers signed off on Dan Caine’s nomination and promotion to four-star general in an early morning vote of 60 to 25 ahead of a two-week recess, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Trump’s administration has dismissed a series of senior officers as part of a rare and major shake-up of top US military leadership that began shortly after he returned to office in January.
Democrats have sharply criticised the firings – including of the previous joint chiefs chair, Gen Charles “CQ” Brown- accusing Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth of seeking to ensure the military is led by people loyal to the president.
AFP reports that Caine sought to allay such concerns about his nomination during his confirmation hearing last week, pledging that he would “continue the traditions and standards of my oath of office and my commission as a nonpartisan leader who will always strive to do the right thing”.
He said that guarding against politicisation of the military “starts with being a good example from the top and making sure that we are nonpartisan and apolitical and speaking the truth to power every day”.
“The nation and the constitution all require a nonpartisan military,” said Caine, who as a retired lieutenant general was a highly unusual candidate for the top military post.
Nominees for chair of the joint chiefs must have served as the head of a military branch, as leader of a combatant command or as vice-chair – none of which Caine has done – but the president can waive that requirement.
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Supreme court orders US to help return man wrongly deported to El Salvador
The US supreme court upheld on Thursday a judge’s order requiring Donald Trump’s administration to facilitate the return to the United States of a Salvadoran man who the government has acknowledged was deported in error to El Salvador.
US district judge Paula Xinis last week issued an order that the administration “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, in response to a lawsuit filed by the man and his family challenging the legality of his deportation.
The supreme court, in an unsigned decision, said that the judge’s order “properly requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador”.
However, the court said that the additional requirement to “effectuate” his return was unclear and may exceed the judge’s authority. The justices directed Xinis to clarify the directive “with due regard for the deference owed to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs”.
The administration, meanwhile, “should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps,” the court directed.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that the administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it.
More on this story in a moment, but first, here are some other key developments:
Donald Trump is undergoing his annual physical on Friday, potentially giving the public its first details in years about the health of a man who in January became the oldest in US history to be sworn in as president. “I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump, 78, posted on his social media site.
A week of turmoil unleashed by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs showed little sign of easing on Friday, with some markets again tumbling and French president Emmanuel Macron describing the 90-day tariff pause as “fragile”. Macron wrote on X early on Friday that the partial suspension “sends out a signal and leaves the door open for talks. But this pause is a fragile one”.
During a cabinet meeting, Trump defended his tariff policies, saying, “We’re in great shape,” while warning that there may be a “transition cost”. The president’s abrupt decision to postpone the implementation of “reciprocal” tariffs by 90 days sparked accusations of market manipulation and insider trading. Meanwhile, former treasury secretary Janet Yellen called Trump’s economic policy the “worst self-inflicted wound” an administration has imposed on an otherwise well-functioning economy.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio said the government can deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for his “beliefs”. In response to a judge’s request for evidence, the government submitted a two-page memo, in which it argues that the Trump administration may deport noncitizens whose “beliefs, statements or associations” represent a threat to US foreign policy interests. The memo was released the same day that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement shared, and then deleted, a social media post saying that it is responsible for stopping illegal “ideas” from crossing the US border.
Iran said on Friday it was giving nuclear talks with the United States on Saturday “a genuine chance”, after president Donald Trump threatened bombing if discussions failed. Trump made a surprise announcement on Monday that Washington and Tehran would begin talks in Oman, which has mediated between the west and Tehran before.
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration can require all people in the country without authorisation to register with the federal government. Also today, the Washington Post reported that the Social Security Administration has added the names and social security numbers of more than 6,000 mostly Latino immigrants to a database used to track dead people, and the New York Times reported that the Trump administration is working to effectively cancel the Social Security numbers of immigrants with legal status.
The Trump administration is considering placing Columbia University under a consent decree, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The decision would mark a major escalation in the federal government’s crackdown on the Ivy League institution.
House speaker, Mike Johnson, was finally successful in muscling through a multitrillion-dollar budget framework that paves the way for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, just a day after a rightwing rebellion threatened to sink it. Now Republicans in both chambers need to come together to actually write the legislation and lay out the spending cuts they have promised to pay for the plan.
