House prepares to advance cuts on public broadcasting and foreign aid. Here’s a rundown of Thursday.

By the Associated Press

The host delivered the news to his audience at a taping Thursday, days after spoking out against Paramount Global, parent company of his network, CBS, settling with President Donald Trump in his lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” story.

In his monologue Monday, Colbert said he was “offended” and joked that the technical name in legal circles for the deal was “big fat bribe.”

Paramount and CBS executives said in a statement that the cancellation “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

The most recent ratings from Nielsen show Colbert as winning his timeslot, with about 2.417 million viewers across 41 new episodes. It also said his late night show was the only one to gain viewers so far this year.

“The Late Show” was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding talk show this week for the sixth time. It also won a Peabody Award in 2021.

By the Associated Press

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones was removed from the press conference Thursday before the Department of Homeland Security secretary arrived.

The Democrat obtained national recognition in 2023 as one of the “Tennessee Three” when his Republican colleagues expelled him for a gun control protest on the chamber floor. He was quickly reappointed to his district, which includes the Nashville International Airport, where Noem came to speak about new security lanes to make it easier for military members to travel.

Jones told reporters he was allowed into the secure area where the press conference would be held after a security check. However, members of Noem’s staff objected to his presence, and he was required to leave.

Jones said he had come to ask Noem what happened to 196 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a recent weeklong operation in Nashville.

The event was by invitation only and Jones was not invited, according to DHS.

By Yogev Toby, Globe Correspondent

Matt Murphy spent more than 25 years as the general manager of WERU, a community radio station in Blue Hill, Maine.

Now, a quarter of the station’s budget is at risk.

“I’m not optimistic” Murphy said, “but I’m hopeful,”

WERU is one of about 1,500 public broadcasters nationwide bracing for severe budget cuts, following a Senate vote on Thursday morning to claw back $1.1 billion in funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The legislation is expected to be approved by the House before going to President Trump, who is expected to sign it.

Public broadcasting offers free access to news, local information, independent music, and emergency alerts. As local newspapers continue to close and news deserts expand, public media sometimes serves as the only source of news in rural areas.

Across the country, about 120 rural stations rely on federal funding for at least 25 percent of their budget, while 33 stations rely on federal funding for more than 50 percent. Many of these are tribal stations operated for Native American communities — where cable or internet access is spotty — and won’t survive without funding.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

President Trump is granting two years of regulatory relief to coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturers and other industries as he seeks to reverse Biden-era regulations he considers overly burdensome.

Trump issued a series of proclamations late Thursday exempting a range of polluting industries that he calls vital to national security.

The proclamations cover coal-fired power plants, taconite iron ore processing facilities used to make steel, and chemical manufacturers that help produce semiconductors and medical device sterilizers.

The proclamations allow the facilities to comply with Environmental Protection Agency standards that were in place before rules imposed in recent years by the Biden administration. Trump’s EPA had earlier exempted many coal plants for the same reasons.

By Tal Kopan, Globe Staff

The Trump administration notified some AmeriCorps programs this week it was reinstating funding that had been abruptly terminated in April, a sudden about-face that came with no explanation for the reversal or clarity on its scope.

At least one of the service-oriented leadership programs in West Virginia and in New Hampshire that had been cut in the middle of their terms received word they could get funds restored. A copy of one such notice was provided to the Globe.

Though court orders previously had already mandated that some programs be restored, those rulings were limited to the group of Democratic-led states and coalition of third-party organizations, including the employee union, that sued.

The notifications that came this week extended the possibility of restored funding to programs in Republican-led states that had not joined the litigation.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

The order would create a new class of federal workers — called Schedule G — consisting of workers considered political employees, meaning their government service will end once the president who appointed them leaves office.

“President Trump believes creating non-career Schedule G positions will enhance government efficiency and accountability and improve services provided to taxpayers by increasing the horsepower for agency implementation of Administration policy,” Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, said via X.

Trump and other Republicans have long been skeptical of career federal service workers, believing them to be a part of a “deep state” working against the president. Trump took steps earlier this year to reclassify tens of thousands of employees under Schedule F, giving them less protection from dismissal.

Thursday’s executive order includes a specific reference to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It says the VA secretary “shall” consider whether an employee would be “suitable exponents” of Trump policies, while not taking into account potential employees’ political affiliations.

By the Associated Press

Voto Latino President and Co-Founder Maria Teresa Kumar called the news that the administration has been capturing data on Medicaid enrollees “an unprecedented breach of the public trust that not only violates the privacy of 79 million Medicaid enrollees” but also raises questions over why ICE needs access to the data.

Kumar, in a statement, said the “weaponization of health care data to pursue immigration enforcement is a flagrant abuse of power and a chilling escalation of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement efforts.”

She added that the act creates a major public health emergency and risks the health data of all recipients.

Kumar called Medicaid a “lifeline” for 26.8 million Latinos and over 50% of Latino children. “They all deserve care, not surveillance.”

By the Associated Press

In new guidance issued to all US embassies and consulates abroad, the department said posts should refrain from issuing statements that invoke any particular ideology and what they may say must be in line with President Donald Trump’s stated position that the US will respect the sovereignty of all foreign nations.

“Consistent with the administration’s emphasis on national sovereignty, the department will comment publicly on elections only when there is a clear and compelling US foreign policy interest to do so,” said the cable, a copy of which was shared with The Associated Press.

“Messages should avoid opining on the fairness or integrity of an electoral process, its legitimacy or the democratic values of the country in question,” said the cable, which was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The State Department has for decades issued statements highly critical of or questioning the legitimacy of certain elections, notably in authoritarian countries.

By The New York Times

When the California National Guard rolled into Los Angeles to respond to devastating wildfires in January, Southern Californians largely hailed the troops as heroes. Celebrities thanked them for their service in Pacific Palisades. Suburban homeowners competed to chat them up at traffic checkpoints in Altadena.

Seven months later, much of that goodwill is gone.

Protesters jeer the troops as they guard federal office buildings. Commuters curse the behemoth convoys clogging freeways. Family members grill members with questions about whether they really have to obey federal orders.

The level of public and private scorn appears to have taken a toll on the National Guard deployment to Los Angeles that President Donald Trump announced last month, citing protests over immigration raids. Interviews with nearly two dozen people — including soldiers and officers as well as officials and civilians who have worked closely with the troops — show that many members of the Guard are questioning the mission. The deployment’s initial orders to quell scattered protests have given way to legally disputed assignments backing up federal immigration agents.

“They gave Disneyland tickets to the people who worked in the wildfires,” one soldier said. “Nobody’s handing out Disneyland tickets now.”

Six members of the Guard — including infantrymen, officers and two officials in leadership roles — spoke of low morale and deep concern that the deployment may hurt recruitment for the state-based military force for years to come. Those who were interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity, because military orders bar Guard personnel from publicly discussing the federal deployment and they feared retribution for talking to the media.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

The House came to a standstill late in the day when GOP concerns over the clamor to release the Epstein files complicated swift passage of another item — Trump’s request to claw back $9.4 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid.

House Speaker Mike Johnson huddled privately with key Republicans trying to forge a solution that could include a resolution supporting the release of “credible” files pertaining to Epstein and his activities.

“The House Republicans are for transparency, and we’re looking for a way to say that,” Johnson said.

“We agree with the president,” he said. “All the credible evidence should come out.”

Johnson acknowledged that Republicans “have been taking incoming criticism” after Democrats on the House Rules Committee forced votes to release the files. The GOP lawmakers on the panel mostly rejected the amendments on procedural grounds.

By the Associated Press

Trump will not recommend a special counsel in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, a White House spokeswoman said Thursday, turning aside calls for further action in an inquiry that has roiled the Justice Department and angered supporters who had been expecting a treasure trove of documents from the case.

The rejection of a special counsel is part of an effort by the White House to turn the page from continued outrage from corners of Trump’s base over the Justice Department’s refusal last week to release additional records from the investigation into Epstein, a well-connected and wealthy financier who killed himself in jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

Officials also said Epstein did not maintain a much-hyped “client list” and said the evidence was clear he had died by suicide despite conspiracy theories to the contrary.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

Swollen legs led to Trump being diagnosed with what’s called chronic venous insufficiency. It’s a fairly common condition among older adults but requires a thorough checkup to rule out more serious causes of swelling in the legs.

Here are some things to know.

By the Associated Press

The Chinese embassy said the phone calls between the two leaders have set the economic and trade relationship on the right path.

“President Xi Jinping and President Trump corrected that course during their phone calls,” said Chen Zhenghong, an embassy official. Xi and Trump talked over the phone in early June when tensions were rising over trade restrictions the two governments placed on each other.

After the phone call, senior US and Chinese officials met in London and reached a framework agreement before both sides took steps to ease trade restrictions. It was the first phone call between the two men after Trump returned to the White House in January. They also spoke on the phone just days before Trump was sworn in.

In their most recent phone call, Xi welcomed Trump to visit China.

By the Associated Press

The House has passed three bills intended to boost the legitimacy of the cryptocurrency industry with new regulations as Trump has pushed to make the US the “crypto capital of the world.”

One of the bills, which would regulate a type of cryptocurrency called stablecoins, had already passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support and will now head to Trump’s desk. The other two bills — broader legislation to create a new market structure for cryptocurrency and a bill to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency — will go to the Senate.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is calling on the White House to fire Russell Vought after the Office of Management and Budget director said the appropriations process in Washington “has to be less bipartisan.”

Schumer has long said that it takes both parties working together to pass spending bills that keep the federal government running. That’s because it generally takes 60 votes to advance spending measures in the Senate. He said he’s furious with Vought.

“Donald Trump should fire Russell Vought immediately before he destroys our democracy and runs the country into the ground,” Schumer told reporters.

Vought said the federal government has racked up $37 trillion in debt under the current spending process. He said over time a more partisan appropriations process will eventually lead to more bipartisanship.

Schumer’s call for Vought’s firing follows the Senate passing a bill early Thursday to roll back about $9 billion in previously approved public broadcasting and foreign aid funds. Vought helped lead the effort, which Democrats unanimously opposed.

By the Associated Press

Top lawmakers are urging a review of US intelligence sharing with Spain following reports that it hired the Chinese firm Huawei to provide services related to national security wiretaps.

Senator Tom Cotton and US Representative Rick Crawford wrote to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Thursday seeking the review. The letter cited media reports in Spain that the Ministry of the Interior selected Huawei to provide technical services for its wiretap system.

Huawei’s close ties to China’s government have prompted tight restrictions on its businesses in the US and many American allies.

Cotton and Crawford lead the Senate and House intelligence committees. The two Arkansas Republicans wrote in their letter to Gabbard that given national security concerns about Huawei, American spy agencies should ensure that any information shared with Spanish authorities is redacted of information that could be exploited by China.

By the Associated Press

More than 20 Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging a new federal health insurance rule that tightens restrictions for enrolling in marketplace plans through the Affordable Care Act and bans coverage requirements for gender-affirming care.

The lawsuit led by New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts, also involves 18 other states. They argue that the new rule could strip coverage from millions of Americans, drive up health care costs and harm state health systems.

The rule set to take effect in August shortens open enrollment windows, eliminates year-round enrollment for low-income Americans and adds verification requirements. It also prohibits states from including gender-affirming care in the ACA’s list of essential health benefits.

On its website, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says the rule “finalizes additional safeguards to protect consumers from improper enrollments and changes to their health care coverage, as well as establishes standards to ensure the integrity of the ACA Exchanges.”

By Alyssa Vega, Globe Staff

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and longtime critic of Jerome Powell, spoke out against President Trump’s attacks on the Federal Reserve chairman, saying he shouldn’t be fired despite their policy disagreements.

“I certainly have policy differences with Powell, but I also believe in the independence of the Fed,” Warren told CBS on Wednesday.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

The White House said Thursday that it has launched its own investigation into former president Joe Biden’s use of the autopen to sign presidential documents.

The counsel’s office has requested information from the National Archives, Leavitt said Thursday.

“We deserve to get to the bottom of it,” the press secretary said.

By the Associated Press

While answering a question about Trump weighing in on New York City’s mayoral race, Leavitt got the name of Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani wrong, calling him “Zemdhani.”

It is unclear whether the flub was intentional. Leavitt did not acknowledge the mistake before moving on.

By the Associated Press

Asked about the possible appointment of a special prosecutor for a full probe into the federal sex trafficking case of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, Leavitt confirmed that Trump does not support such a move.

“The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case, she said.

Read more about the Epstein case.

By the Associated Press

Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his frustration with Israel’s military striking the Holy Family Church in Gaza, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Leavitt said Trump did “not” have a “positive reaction” to the strike and that Netanyahu “agreed” to put out a statement as part of the conversation.

She said that Netanyahu relayed to Trump that it had been a mistake to hit the church.

By the Associated Press

The White House is putting together a signing ceremony for crypto legislation on Friday afternoon.

The House is working its way through the so-called Genius Act, which would regulate a form of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins. The Senate has already passed the legislation, meaning it would go to Trump for his signature once the House passes it.

“This piece of legislation is going to make America the crypto capital of the world,” Leavitt said.

By the Associated Press

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read a doctor’s letter that was intended to dispel health concerns about the swelling in Trump’s ankles and a makeup covered hand.

Leavit said that Trump noticed “mild swelling” in his lower legs and was evaluated by the White House medical unit. She said the tests showed “no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease,” but that Trump has blood pooling in his veins that she said are common in individuals over than 70.

She said that the bruising on Trump’s hand covered up by makeup is “consistent” with irritation from his “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.”

Leavitt said “the president remains in excellent health.”

Analysis

By James Pindell, Globe Staff

When Donald Trump first ran for president in 2016, his pitch was simple: The system is rigged, the elites are lying to you, and only I can fix it. It was a gospel of distrust — a message tailor-made for a country where confidence in government, media, and institutions had cratered. And it worked. Trump rode that wave of suspicion all the way to the White House.

But this past week, in the wake of a memo saying nothing else in the Jeffrey Epstein case would be released about his death as Trump, and many of his top officials, promised, Trump had a curious message for his followers: Move along, nothing to see here.

Read the full analysis.

By Camilo Fonseca, Globe Staff

ufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk said in an op-ed published Thursday that her abrupt arrest and detention by immigration agents was “a narrative of human suffering.”

Writing for the Tufts Daily student newspaper, Öztürk described the conditions of her six-week detention at an immigration facility in Louisiana as unsanitary and inhumane.

But the experience bonded her with the other women detainees, who were compassionate and strong “even when the circumstances were unimaginably challenging,” she said.

“All we wanted was to be seen as human again,” she wrote. “We felt invisible, stripped of our identity as breathing and living human beings.”

Öztürk was seized by immigration agents in Somerville on March 25. Federal officials said the basis of her arrest was an op-ed she co-wrote for the Tufts Daily in March 2024, which criticized the university’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

The White House confirmed that the president will travel to Scotland later this month.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will be in Turnberry and Aberdeen from July 25 to July 29. During that visit, Trump will meet with British prime minister Keir Starmer to follow up on the US-UK trade deal that the two nations struck earlier this year.

Trump owns two golf courses in Scotland — one in Turnberry and the other in Aberdeen.

Leavitt also said Trump and first lady Melania Trump will head back to the United Kingdom for a state visit Sept. 17 to Sept. 19. That trip had already been confirmed by Buckingham Palace earlier this month. The visit marks the second state visit for Trump and is unprecedented. No US president has been invited for a second state visit.

By the Associated Press

University officials met with administration officials to discuss ways to restore federal funding that has been withheld from the school. That’s according to a person familiar with the meeting who requested anonymity to disclose a private conversation.

Columbia is one of the universities that has been targeted by Trump.

By the Associated Press

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will be given access to the personal data of the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, to track down immigrants who may not be living legally in the United States, according to an agreement obtained by The Associated Press.

The information will give ICE officials the ability to find “the location of aliens” across the country, says the agreement signed Monday between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security. The agreement has not been announced publicly.

The extraordinary disclosure of millions of such personal health data to deportation officials is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which has repeatedly tested legal boundaries in its effort to arrest 3,000 people daily.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

New measures announced by the Treasury and State departments on Thursday designate the gang’s chief, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero, and five other top leaders as members of a transnational criminal organization, blocking their property and assets.

A reward of $5 million for information leading to Guerrero’s arrest or conviction was offered more than a year ago. Tren de Aragua has already been designated a “foreign terrorist organization” by the State Department for its involvement in the illicit drug trade, extortion, money laundering, human smuggling and trafficking, and the sexual exploitation of women and children.

Some alleged gang members who had been imprisoned in the US have been deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador.

By the Associated Press

The Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital.

The committee’s Republican members voted unanimously Thursday to send Pirro’s nomination to the Senate floor after Democrats walked out to protest Emil Bove’s nomination to become a federal appeals court judge.

Pirro has served as acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia since May. Trump withdrew his first pick, Ed Martin Jr., after a key Republican senator said he could not support him, given Martin’s outspoken support for rioters who stormed the US Capitol.

Before she replaced Martin, Pirro cohosted the Fox News show “The Five” on weekday evenings. She was elected as a judge in New York’s Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county’s elected district attorney.

By the Associated Press

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement prepares to add 10,000 employees in five years to enable Trump’s mass deportations, the Border Patrol’s torrid expansion in the early 2000s serves as a cautionary tale. Hiring and training standards were loosened, arrests for employee misconduct rose and attrition spiked.

“If they don’t uphold pretty rigorous standards and background checks, you can end up hiring the wrong people, and then you pay a huge price in how the public perceives them,” said Gil Kerlikowske, who ran Customs and Border Protection from 2014 to 2017.

ICE is set to get $76.5 billion, nearly 10 times its annual budget, under the bill Trump signed. “The unprecedented funding for ICE will enable my hard-working officers and agents to continue making America safe again by identifying, arresting and removing criminal aliens from our communities,” acting ICE director Todd Lyons said.

By the Associated Press

Amid a worsening national affordable housing and homelessness crisis, Trump’s administration is determined to reshape HUD’s expansive role providing stable housing for low-income people, which has been at the heart of its mission for generations.

At a June congressional budget hearing, HUD Secretary Scott Turner argued that imposing a two-year limit on rental assistance will fix waste and fraud in public housing and Section 8 voucher programs.

“It’s broken and deviated from its original purpose, which is to temporarily help Americans in need,” Turner said. “HUD assistance is not supposed to be permanent.”

By the Associated Press

More than 1 million low-income households — most of them working families with children — who depend on the nation’s public housing and Section 8 voucher programs could lose government-subsidized homes under the Trump administration’s proposal to impose a two-year time limit on rental assistance.

New research from New York University obtained exclusively by The Associated Press the limit could affect as many as 1.4 million households helped by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The NYU report published Thursday predicts “enormous disruption and large administrative costs,” for public housing authorities that “would have to evict all of these households and identify new households to replace them.”

By the Associated Press

The uproar started when Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley moved to vote on the nomination of Bove, a top Justice Department official, to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Democratic Senator Cory Booker expressed frustration that not all voices had been heard yet, prompting the rest of the Democrats on the committee to walk out before Republicans advanced his nomination to the floor.

Bove, who along with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche served as a criminal defense lawyer for Trump, has been behind some of the most scrutinized Justice Department actions since Trump returned to office, including the dismissal of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case.

A former Justice Department lawyer accused Bove of suggesting the department might have to defy court orders. Bove denied that claim.

Blanche wrote in a piece published by Fox News Wednesday that Bove’s “legal acumen is extraordinary, and his moral clarity is above reproach.”

By the Associated Press

Lin-Manuel Miranda plans to use the 10th anniversary Broadway performance of “Hamilton” to raise about $3 million for the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition, a group of 14 nonprofits including the National Immigration Law Center.

Miranda told The Associated Press that he remains surprised by the joyous audience reaction to the “Immigrants: We get the job done” line that’s shared in the show by Hamilton and French military officer Marquis de Lafayette. “It’s one of the things that just heartens me and gives me hope. In these dark times, it still gets a big cheer,” Miranda said.

“It’s the same reason why that No Kings protest vastly outnumbered the military parade happening on the same day: There are still a lot of people who believe in basic decency and treating people who come here — often from really tough situations — with humanity.”

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, says the imminent passage of a new package of spending cuts shows “enthusiasm” for getting the nation’s fiscal situation under control.

“We’re happy to go to great lengths to get this thing done,” Vought said during a Thursday breakfast with reporters hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

In response to questions about the relatively small size of the cuts — $9 billion — Vought said it’s because “I knew it would be hard” to pass in Congress, and that more are coming.

Another rescissions package is “likely to come soon,” Vought said. “But we’re not there yet.”

By the Associated Press

The House is expected to take up Trump’s request to claw back about $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting on Thursday evening.

“We can’t be spending taxpayer funds overseas, engaging in all sorts of nefarious activities. That’s what this rescissions package is about, to stop that,” Speaker Mike Johnson said. “We need to get back to fiscal sanity and this is an important step.”

The Senate approved the package in the early morning hours Thursday. If the House does the same, the bill would go to Trump’s desk for his signature. Supporters of the foreign aid spending say it’s miniscule for the amount of good it does in saving lives and enhancing the standing of the United States around the world.

By the Associated Press

They spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals as they remain on the payroll until September.

“The American people aren’t getting all of the facts about what the department has done,” said one officer working in intelligence. This person said their team’s work had been transferred to office that lacks capacity to handle the sensitive material.

Others were tasked with maintaining U.S. energy dominance, “a centerpiece of our foreign policy,” Rubio said at his confirmation hearing. “The fact that they got rid of all the energy experts who would promote oil and gas sales overseas clearly undermines everything that they’re saying,” the official said.

The list also includes intelligence analysts who specialize in Russia and Ukraine, and experts with deep institutional and cultural knowledge of China, leaving the U.S. exposed to a country Rubio labeled “the most significant long-term risk to the United States.”

By the Associated Press

The dismissals are a major concern for staffers being tasked with additional duties to make up for losses in key areas like intelligence and research, consular affairs, diplomatic security, energy, and international and educational organizations. Deeply skeptical Democratic lawmakers predict a devastating impact on US diplomacy.

But Michael Rigas, the State Department official who sent employees the layoff notices, tried Wednesday to allay such concerns, denying that the cuts were made in a haphazard and irresponsible manner to the detriment of national security.

Rigas told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that the department had grown to more than 76,000 employees worldwide and a massive reorganization was needed to keep it relevant and nimble to respond to foreign crises and policy challenges.

The department “became large and began to lose its way,” becoming “ineffectual bureaucratically,” spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Wednesday.

By the Associated Press

According to a list that current and former foreign service officers compiled and sent to Congress, the layoffs include:

• more than 100 people whose work in the Bureau of Consular Affairs is self-funded from passport and visa fees. They investigated passport fraud and people who oversaw contracts to provide American citizen services including processing passport applications,
• experts responsible for dealing with visa fraud and money laundering in Russia and Eastern Europe, transnational criminal organizations and migrant worker visa fraud in Mexico and Central America.
• A small team in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs that supported the Secretary of State’s trip to Malaysia last week and were fired as Marco Rubio was flying back to Washington.

“There’s no one left to do what we were doing,” said a laid-off employee with more than 30 years of experience.

By the Associated Press

US experts who coordinated intelligence activities, promoted US energy interests abroad and shaped America’s strategy for competing with China are among the more than 1,300 State Department employees whose firings eliminated hundreds of years of institutional knowledge and experience.

The move has America’s diplomatic workforce wondering who — if anyone — will do critical work to keep the US safe and competitive on the world stage.

Many of the offices “abolished” Friday under Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s dramatic reorganization plan worked on Trump’s priorities such as combating visa fraud and countering China. Other cuts could delay the processing of of passport applications. Trump officials said the mass dismissals are overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient.

By the Associated Press

Markets, as well as the dollar, took a quick dive Wednesday on reports that Trump was talking about terminating Powell, but calm was restored after Trump walked back his threats. Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq were essentially flat in early trading Thursday.

Trump has harshly criticized Powell and his Fed colleagues for the decision to stand pat on interest rates at a time when the economy is broadly healthy and unemployment is low. Now Trump said the central bank chief could be fired over cost overruns on a $2.5 billion renovation project at the Fed’s headquarters.

Wall Street loves lower rates because they goose prices higher for stocks and other investments, but Powell has insisted on waiting to see how Trump’s tariffs affect the economy and inflation.

By the Associated Press

• 10:30 a.m. ET — Trump will receive his intelligence briefing
• 1 p.m. — Press secretary Karoline Leavitt will host a press briefing
• 4 p.m. — Trump will sign executive orders

By the Associated Press

One of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations is calling for a “new resistance” to the administration’s agenda.

The National Urban League’s annual State of Black America report accuses the federal government of being “increasingly determined to sacrifice its founding principles,” according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

“For a long time, people saw white supremacist politics and white nationalism as on the fringe of American politics. It has now become the mainstream of the American right, whose central foundation is within the Republican Party,” said Marc Morial, president of the Urban League.

The report directly critiques Project 2025, condemns major corporations, universities and top law firms for reversing diversity, equity and inclusion policies and accuses social media companies of censoring Black voices while enabling “extremists” to spread “radicalizing” views.

By the Associated Press

The administration has said many policies implemented by both Democratic and Republican administrations are discriminatory and unconstitutional, arguing that acknowledgments of race and federal and corporate policies that seek to address disparities between different demographics are themselves discriminatory. Trump has signed executive orders banning “illegal discrimination” and promoting “merit based opportunity.”

In response to the Urban League’s report, White House spokesman Harrison Fields said civil rights groups that oppose the administration “aren’t advancing anything but hate and division, while the president is focused on uniting our country.”

By the Associated Press

Protests against the Trump administration’s mass deportations and cuts to the nation’s health and safety nets for poor people are planned Thursday at more than 1,600 locations around the country.

The “Good Trouble Lives On” national day of action honors the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. Organizers are calling for the demonstrations to be peaceful, as Lewis would have wanted.

“We are navigating one of the most terrifying moments in our nation’s history,” Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said during an online news conference. “We are all grappling with a rise of authoritarianism and lawlessness within our administration ... the rights, freedoms and expectations of our very democracy are being challenged.”

By the Associated Press

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is gaining some key backing on Capitol Hill from GOP senators who fear the repercussions if Trump follows through with threats to try and remove the politically independent central banker.

As Trump seemingly waffled back and forth this week on trying to dismiss the Fed chair, some Republicans in Congress began to speak up and warn that such a move would be a mistake. Trump would potentially obliterate the Fed’s independence from political influence and inject uncertainty into the foundations of the US economy if he fires Powell.

“If anybody thinks it would be a good idea for the Fed to become another agency in the government subject to the president, they’re making a huge mistake,” GOP North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said in a floor speech.

The measure of support from GOP members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs showed how traditional Republicans are carefully navigating a presidency in which Trump often flirts with ideas — like steep tariffs or firing the Fed chair — that threaten to undermine confidence in the US economy.

By the Associated Press

The Senate has passed about $9 billion in federal spending cuts requested by President Trump, including deep reductions to public broadcasting and foreign aid, moving forward on one of the president’s top priorities despite concerns from several Republican senators.

The legislation, which now moves to the House, would have a tiny impact on the nation’s rising debt but could have major ramifications for the targeted spending, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to US food aid programs abroad.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

One employee coordinated intelligence activities. Another worked to leverage US energy interests abroad. And a third was an expert on strategic competition with China.

They are just some of the more than 1,300 State Department employees fired last week, eliminating hundreds of years of institutional knowledge and experience.

The move has stunned America’s diplomatic workforce, not only as their careers abruptly end but as they wonder who — if anyone — will fill in on what they call critical work to keep the US safe and competitive on the world stage.

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By the Associated Press

Protests and events against President Trump’s controversial policies that include mass deportations and cuts to Medicaid and other safety nets for poor people are planned Thursday at more than 1,600 locations around the country.

The “Good Trouble Lives On” national day of action honors the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. Protests are expected to be held along streets, at court houses, and other public spaces. Organizers are calling for them to be peaceful.

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By the Associated Press

One of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations on Thursday declared a “state of emergency” for antidiscrimination policies, personal freedoms, and Black economic advancement in response to President Trump ‘s upending of civil rights precedents and the federal agencies traditionally tasked with enforcing them.

The National Urban League’s annual State of Black America report accuses the federal government of being “increasingly determined to sacrifice its founding principles” and “threatening to impose a uniform education system and a homogenous workforce that sidelines anyone who doesn’t fit a narrow, exclusionary mold,” according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

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