Page 4 - Trump Inauguration 2025

Trump inks order to plan 250 yrs of US, punish those who vandalise statues

President Donald Trump is making plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence and create a new national sculpture garden while reviving efforts to harshly punish those who vandalise or destroy existing statues and monuments. Trump signed an executive order Wednesday establishing a White House task force to plan what he says will be a grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence," which the country will celebrate on July 4, 2026. Trump will serve as chair of the task force, which will include a long list of senior administration officials, including cabinet secretaries. The order also revives Trump's plans to build a National Garden of American Heroes with statues memorialising 250 historical figures. Trump first announced plans for what he said would be a new monument to the giants of our past" in a 2020 speech celebrating Independence Day at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. It was to have featured ...

White House revokes Trump's memo freezing federal money after confusion

President Donald Trump's budget office on Wednesday rescinded a memo freezing spending on federal loans and grants, less than two days after it sparked widespread confusion and legal challenges across the country. The memo, which was issued Monday by the Office of Management and Budget, had frightened states, schools and organisations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington. Administration officials said the pause was necessary to review whether spending aligned with Trump's executive orders on issues like climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion programmes. But on Wednesday, they sent out a two-sentence notice rescinding the original memo. The reversal was the latest sign that even with unified control of Washington, Trump's plans to dramatically and rapidly reshape the government has limits. Administration officials insisted that despite the confusion, their actions still had the intended effect by underscoring to federal agencies their obligations to abide by

Trump signs Laken Riley Act, allows pre-trial detention of illegal migrants

Trump said that he will sign an executive order to prepare a facility at Guantanamo Bay to house deported migrants, during the signing of the Lake Riley Act

US federal judge temporarily blocks Trump's trillion-dollar funding freeze

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump's directive to freeze trillions in federal funding, halting its impact on key government programs until at least February 3

Under Trump 2.0, White House opens briefing room to new media creators

Under the Trump administration's second term, the White House briefing room embraces a new era, offering seats to content creators, influencers, and podcasters to amplify diverse voices

Trump ordered delivery of price relief to Americans, says WH press secy

Criticising the previous President Joe Biden's administration, Leavitt said that Trump ended regulatory constraints and war on American energy

Trump-endorsed candidates win primary races to replace Matt Gaetz, Waltz

President Donald Trump-endorsed candidates Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine won their Republican primaries in the special elections to replace former Florida Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz, notching wins in reliably conservative districts. Republicans are expected to hold the seats following the general election April 1, which would boost their thin majority in the US House as they pursue Trump's agenda. In the 1st District election to replace Gaetz, Patronis fended off a challenge from former state Rep. Joel Rudman, a doctor who gained political prominence for opposing mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patronis will advance to the general election to face Gay Valimont, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the race for the northwest Florida seat. Patronis, who grew up in Panama City, has been a familiar face in Florida politics for decades and previously served in the state House of Representatives. His family is well-known in the area for founding a local ...

Trump calls India, China high tariff nations, vows to establish fair system

While the memorandum did not specify the countries on which the US would impose higher tariffs, Trump has separately mentioned that high tariffs would be slapped

Trump signs order that likely sets in motion a ban on transgender troops

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon's policy on transgender troops, likely setting in motion a future ban on their military service. He also ordered troops to be reinstated who had been booted for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, outlined new rollbacks in diversity programs and provided for the deployment of a space-based missile defense shield for the US just after Hegseth began his first day on the job. Both Trump and Hegseth had described parts of the anticipated orders throughout the day, but the exact language did not drop until late Monday evening. Transgender order A transgender ban had been widely expected, and the order Trump signed largely sets in motion a future ban but directs Hegseth to come up with how that would be implemented in policy. In his order, Trump claimed that service by troops who identify as a gender other than their biological one conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an

Kash Patel: A staunch Trump defender and fierce critic of FBI he could lead

TheFBI agents who searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate found boxes of classified documents in his office and storage room and retrieved sensitive government secrets about nuclear systems and weapons capabilities. One person unmoved by the gravity of the allegations: Kash Patel. Days after Trump's June 2023 indictment on charges of hoarding the documents, Patel insisted to listeners of his Kash's Corner podcast that Trump was permitted under a law known as the Presidential Records Act to take classified records with him when he left the White House. When you're president and you leave, you can take whatever you want, Patel said, advancing an argument later adopted by Trump's lawyers but dismissed as meritless by the Justice Department. And when you take it, whether it's classified or not, it's yours. It's but one example of how Patel positioned himself as a steadfast Trump loyalist well before the president picked him to run the FBI. An Associated Press review of more than 100

Top prosecutor advocated for Jan 6 rioters, echoed Trump's election claims

For years, conservative activist Ed Martin has promoted Donald Trump's false claims about a stolen 2020 election, railed against the prosecution of the rioters who stormed the US Capitol and represented some of them in court. Now he's leading the office that prosecuted the nearly 1,600 defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot before Trump now back in the White House ended the largest investigation in Justice Department history with the stroke of a pen. Martin's first week as the interim US attorney for the District of Columbia ushered in a dizzying sea change for the office's rank-and-file prosecutors. He oversaw the dismissals of hundreds of Jan. 6 cases and celebrated Trump's pardons for police officers and anti-abortion activists who had been prosecuted by attorneys in the office. And on Monday, Martin ordered an internal review of prosecutors' use of a felony charge brought against hundreds of Capitol rioters, directing employees to hand over files, emails and other ...

President Trump calls for 'Iron Dome' for US homeland missile defence

It says Trump will order the construction of an "Iron Dome" shield, comparing it to Israel's vaunted system, which was developed in coordination with the US

Trump tells House Republicans he wants border wall, immigration funds

Trump also indicated that he was pursuing the ability to deport undocumented migrants, even if they couldn't be returned to their home countries

Trump pledges tariffs 'much bigger' than 2.5% and on crucial sectors

Remember, again, the word 'tariff.' We're going to protect our people and our businesses, and we're going to protect our country, with tariffs, Trump added

In early going, Trump 2.0 approach on foreign policy is to talk loudly

Donald Trump in his first week back in the White House has offered an early preview to his second-term foreign policy approach: Talk loudly and wield a big stick. Over the weekend, Trump threatened to levy massive tariffs on Colombia after the country's leftist president refused to allow a US military plane returning deported migrants from the South American nation to land in the country. He's needled the Ukrainian president for talking so brave instead of negotiating with Russia. He's flummoxed even Republican allies with his calls on Mideast nations to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza, potentially moving out enough of the population to just clean out the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate. Through economic coercion and sharp rhetoric, Trump is signalling that he intends to be a bull in the China shop in hopes of extracting what he wants from allies and adversaries alike. In the Colombia episode, President Gustavo Petro quickly relented in the face of Trump's ...

Canada's Freeland hopeful, lays out plan to fight Trump's tariff threats

Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who is running to replace Justin Trudeau as Canada's prime minister, said Monday Canada needs to release a retaliation list of goods the country would target if US President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods. A list of products worth 200 billion Canadian dollars (USD 139 billion) would send a message to US exporters about the harm tariffs would cause them, Freeland said in a statement. Being smart means retaliating where it hurts, she said. Our counterpunch must be dollar-for-dollar and it must be precisely and painfully targeted: Florida orange growers, Wisconsin dairy farmers, Michigan dishwasher manufacturers, and much more." Now is the moment when Canada must make clear to Americans the specific costs that will accompany any tariff measures by the Trump administration. Trump has said he will use economic coercion to pressure Canada to become the nation's 51st state. He continues to

Trump Justice dept says it fired employees involved in prosecuting him

The Trump Justice Department said Monday that it had fired more than a dozen employees who worked on criminal investigations into President Donald Trump. The abrupt action targeting career prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's team is the latest sign of upheaval inside the Justice Department and reflects the administration's determination to purge the government of workers it perceives as disloyal to the president. The move, which follows the reassignment of multiple senior career officials across divisions, was made even though rank-and-file prosecutors by tradition remain in their positions across presidential administrations and are not punished because of their involvement in sensitive investigations. A Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the personnel move, confirmed the terminations were made by acting Attorney General James McHenry. It was not immediately clear which prosecutors were affected by the order. Smith himse

Netanyahu hopes to meet Trump in US as soon as next week, say officials

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington as early as next week, according to two US officials familiar with preliminary planning for the trip. Should the trip come together in that timeframe, Netanyahu could be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump at the White House since his inauguration last week. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the planning remains tentative, said details could be arranged when Trump's special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, travels to Israel this week for talks with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. The White House had no immediate comment on the plans, which were first reported by Axios. Netanyahu's spokesman, Omer Dostri, said Monday on the social platform X that the Israeli leader has not yet received an official invitation to the White House. An Israeli official, however, said Netanyahu is expected to go to the White House in February but did not have a dat

US CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, to wait for orders

US public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organisation, effective immediately. A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all agency staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and await further guidance. Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing threats from around the world. It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among US livestock. The Associated Press viewed a copy of Nkengasong's memo, which said the stop-work policy applied to all CDC staff engaging with WHO through technical working groups, coordinating centres, advisory boards, cooperative agreements or other means in person or virtual. It also says CDC staff are not allowed

New updates: PM Modi speaks to US president Donald Trump over phone

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