Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
President admonished by John Roberts after calling for impeachment of district court judge who ruled against him on deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Donald Trump has overturned a 1965 executive order signed by Lyndon B Johnson requiring federal contractors — private businesses paid with taxpayer dollars — to enforce rules against segregation in their workplaces. This conflicts with federal and state anti-discrimination laws, including the Civil Rights Act.
Meanwhile, the president promised that his administration will not openly defy court orders, despite top aides saying they do not care about judges’ decisions, amid a slew of rulings across the country against deportations and federal firings.
Speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, the president insisted his team would not flout court orders from judges who have ordered his administration to stop deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act 1798 or blocked other divisive policies arising from his executive orders.
Trump also griped that courts are ruling against him because of “very bad judges” who “shouldn’t be allowed” to make decisions that impinge on his powers.
Earlier, Trump was rebuked by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for calling for the impeachment of a judge.
The administration suffered several more legal setbacks this week, including Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s move to scrap the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) being found unconstitutional.
The former Fox News star who is deeply embedded within Trump’s inner circle, warned the president this week that a strike on Iran “would certainly result” in a war that would cost billions of dollars and lead to “thousands of American deaths” in the region.
“The cost of future acts of terrorism on American soil may be even higher. Those aren’t guesses,” the MAGA podcaster added on Monday evening.
“Those are the Pentagon’s own estimates. A bombing campaign against Iran will set off a war, and it will be America’s war. Don’t let the propagandists lie to you.”
The far-right commentator’s remarks came on the heels of Trump’s air strikes across Yemen this past weekend that killed dozens, which were followed by an explicit threat to the Iranian government of “dire consequences” if the Houthis engaged in any further retaliatory attacks.
Justin Baragona has more on an unlikely dove.
A federal judge has denied the Trump administration‘s move to dismiss a case from Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student activist who was detained by immigration enforcement agents and jailed in Louisiana over his support for pro-Palestine demonstrations on campus.
Khalil is currently detained in a Louisiana facility, more than 1,300 miles from New York, and has been placed in deportation proceedings.
New York District Judge Jesse Furman is moving the case to New Jersey, where Khalil was detained at the time his lawyers filed for his release.
Alex Woodward reports.
U.S. citizens are deeply divided when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and political correctness, according to a poll from NBC News.
The divisions have emerged along partisan and racial lines, with the poll coming as Trump continues his push to dismantle DEI programs.
In the poll, 49 percent of registered voters agreed that DEI programs should end as “they create divisions and inefficiencies in the workplace by putting too much emphasis on race and other social factors over merit, skills, and experience.”
Meanwhile, 48 percent said DEI programs should remain “because diverse perspectives reflect our country, create innovative ideas and solutions, encourage unity, and make our workplaces fair and inclusive.”
Gustaf Kilander takes a closer look.
Amid a multi-week Wall Street sell-off that has seen the major stock market indexes approach correction territory over economic uncertainty largely spurred by Trump’s chaotic trade war, Fox Business anchor Charles Payne grumbled that this was all the media’s fault.
With the Dow Jones index down hundreds of points on Tuesday afternoon, breaking a brief two-day comeback, Payne appeared on Fox’s America Reports to discuss investors’ continued apprehension and the White House’s attempts to tout the “success” of its economic policies.
“As we have said for years as market watchers, markets do not like uncertainty,” anchor Sandra Smith noted.
“Even if the decision is to go forward with an unpopular policy, or economic plan, the markets can accept that as long as they know what’s coming. It is that uncertainty that continues to weigh on markets.”
Payne, however, trumpeted the Trump administration’s long-term vision while blasting the mainstream press for being biased against the president and far too gloomy with its economic coverage.
“Yeah, but what we’re seeing in the last couple of weeks is a media creation,” he groused.
“The media has gone to war with President Trump to make tariffs the scariest thing in the world.”
Justin Baragona has more.
Detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s case is being moved from Louisiana to New Jersey per a judge’s order.
Judge Jesse Furman also denied the Trump administration’s move to dismiss the case altogether.
He wrote in part:
These are serious allegations and arguments that, no doubt, warrant careful review by a court of law; the fundamental constitutional principle that all persons in the United States are entitled to due process of law demands no less. But before the Court may review Khalil’s allegations and arguments, it must confront a threshold question: whether it is the proper tribunal to even consider Khalil’s Petition.
Read the full ruling here
President Donald Trump will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy at 10 a.m. ET, Axios reports.
Their conversation follows yesterday’s call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley offers this analysis of that call:
With Donald Trump and Elon Musk saying that anti-Tesla protests amount to domestic terrorism, as we saw a little while earlier, officials have revealed that an investigation into another arson attack on Musk’s vehicles has been elevated to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Trump began issuing threats against people caught engaging in attacks against Teslas at the White House last week as he promoted his friend’s car range, telling the press: “Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them.”
Mary Papenfuss reports.
The president has overturned an executive order signed by Lyndon B Johnson in 1965 to jettison a requirement that federal contractors must enforce rules against segregation in their workplaces.
The General Services Administration last month issued a memo to all federal agencies pointing out that Trump’s order no longer requires businesses paid with taxpayer dollars in contracts to ensure they won’t have facilities like segregated dining areas for Black and white employees.
State and federal laws still outlaw segregation in all companies, including government contractors, but New York University constitutional law professor Melissa Murray told NPR that Trump’s message in lifting the ban is significant and disturbing.
“It’s symbolic, but it’s incredibly meaningful in its symbolism,” she said, noting that the changes conflict with laws established by the government in the 1950s and 1960s “that led to integration.”
The “fact that they are now excluding those provisions from the requirements for federal contractors speaks volumes,” Murray told NPR.
Graig Graziosi has more.
The top Democrat and Senate Minority Leader was interviewed on the ABC panel show yesterday and endured a pretty torrid time of it, facing accusations that he “caved” on Republican pressure to support its spending bill last week in order to avoid his party being blamed for an ensuing government shutdown.
The former Republican Illinois representative has dared the president to arrest him after the commander-in-chief erroneously claimed that the pardons issued by his predecessor Joe Biden were “void” because of the use of an autopen.
Kinzinger was one of two Republicans on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 2021 Capitol riot and was pardoned by Biden amid fears that Trump would go after those who probed the insurrection that led to his historic second impeachment.
In a recent rant, Trump indicated that he may have an appetite to come after individuals such as Kinzinger.
He then said on Sunday that the pardons were “void” because of claims that they were signed using an autopen.
Kinzinger duly appeared on CNN on Monday night, daring Trump to take action.
Gustaf Kilander was watching.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
