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In a reversal, President Trump appears to have backed off joining a European push for new sanctions on Russia, seemingly eager to move on to doing business deals with it.For months, President Trump has been threatening to simply walk away from the frustrating negotiations for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.After a phone call on Monday between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, that appears to be exactly what the American president is doing. The deeper question now is whether he is also abandoning America’s three-year-long project to support Ukraine, a nascent democracy that he has frequently...

WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, American consumers and businesses have been hearing that President Trump’s massive import taxes – tariffs – would drive up prices and hurt the U.S. economy. But the latest economic reports don’t match the doom and gloom: Inflation actually eased last month, and hiring was solid in April. For now, the disconnect has businesses and consumers struggling to reconcile what they were told to expect, what the numbers say and what they are seeing on the ground. Trump and his supporters are quick to point out that the trade wars of his first term didn’t translate...

Critics say the administration is breaking the law and sidestepping the rulemaking process that presidents of both parties have routinely followed.At the Transportation Department, enforcement of pipeline safety rules has plunged to unprecedented lows since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.Trump recently ordered Energy Department staff to stop enforcing water conservation standards for showerheads and other household appliances. And at one Labor Department division, his appointees have instructed employees to halt most work related to antidiscrimination laws.Across the government, the Trump administration is trying a new tactic for gutting federal rules and policies that the president dislikes: simply stop enforcing them.“The conscious...

SummaryTrump order targeted children of certain immigrants Three judges issued orders blocking policy nationwide Administration challenges nationwide injunctions WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court wrestled on Thursday over Donald Trump's attempt to broadly enforce his executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year as the Republican president seeks a major shift in how the U.S. Constitution has long been understood.The court's conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority, seemed willing to limit the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide, or "universal," injunctions, as federal judges in Maryland,...

At home, President Trump is ordering up investigations into his political opponents and finding creative ways to use his executive power to ruin the lives of even some of his milder critics.Abroad, Mr. Trump has sent a different message: Let bygones be bygones. Even if those bygones involved trying to assassinate him or working with Al Qaeda.In a series of speeches and off-the-cuff remarks during the first major foreign trip of his second term, Mr. Trump has told audiences in the Middle East that he is willing to set the past aside in the interests of peace and profit.“I have...

ISTANBUL—Diplomatic brinkmanship over U.S.-brokered efforts to efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine reached dizzying levels on Wednesday, with each side seeking to call the other’s bluff by demonstrating a desire for peace and casting the other as the obstacle to it. Ukraine’s president said he would be waiting in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Thursday for Vladimir Putin, but the Russian president is sending a team of negotiators to Istanbul, and the Kremlin won’t say if he will be there. President Trump hasn’t ruled out the possibility of joining any talks in Turkey, and senior U.S. officials are headed...

Americans lambasted President George H. W. Bush for infamously vowing on stage at the 1988 Republican National Convention not to raise taxes on Americans, then supporting a tax hike as president two years later. History could repeat itself as President Donald Trump this week signaled his support for congressional Republicans raising taxes to accomplish the ambitious goals of his "big, beautiful bill," according to experts. "My opponent won't rule out raising taxes, but I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no. And they'll push and I'll say no. And they'll push again, and...

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News. The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump...

In the run-up to the vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., knew her party had a problem — and its name was John Fetterman. Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, was open to confirming President Donald Trump’s embattled pick, according to two people familiar with his thinking. Murray wanted to speak with her colleague one-on-one. So she reached out to set up a time. But Fetterman refused, as the two people familiar with the episode told NBC News. “He figured that she wanted to yell at him about it,” one person familiar with the...

The state requires voters to prove their citizenship. An error led to chaos, suspicion and confusion, signaling broader challenges for Republican-led efforts across the country.PHOENIX — For 30 years, no one questioned Danny Dobosz’s citizenship when the lifelong Republican cast his ballot. So when a letter arrived from a local election official last month asking him to send back a copy of his birth certificate to prove he was an American citizen who was eligible to vote, he tossed it in the trash at his home in Yuma, Arizona. Dobosz, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump who was born...

Current and former officials say the crackdown is creating a climate of fear and harming national security.National security agencies across the Trump administration are ramping up investigations into alleged leaks to the news media, in some cases using polygraph tests that current and former officials say are creating a climate of fear and intimidation.At FBI Director Kash Patel’s direction, the bureau in recent weeks has begun administering polygraphs to identify the source of information leaks, an FBI spokesperson said. The new use of polygraphs at the bureau, which are commonly known as “lie detector” tests, has not been previously reported.“The...

The man behind the president’s tumultuous tariff policies has sought for decades to set off the ultimate trade war with China.One year ago, Peter Navarro sat in a federal prison in Miami, sending messages that he was a martyr for MAGA. He had begged for help paying legal bills that he said would reach $750,000.Now Navarro has a prime seat in the Oval Office, where he is an architect of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy — butting against the secretaries of treasury and commerce and Elon Musk, who called him a “moron.”Navarro’s journey to one of the most powerful positions...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine could not accept US recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea as he visited South Africa, while both he and Donald Trump criticised a deadly missile and drone attack on Kyiv. Though he did not mention Crimea – the contested Black Sea peninsula occupied by Russia since spring 2014 – by name, Ukraine’s president diplomatically returned to the topic a day after Trump accused him of intransigence on the issue.

On March 11, about 50 judges gathered in Washington for the biannual meeting of the Judicial Conference, which oversees the administration of the federal courts. It was the first time the conference met since President Trump retook the White House.In the midst of discussions of staffing levels and long-range planning, the judges’ conversations were focused, to an unusual degree, on rising threats against judges and their security, said several people who attended the gathering.Behind closed doors at one session, Judge Richard J. Sullivan, the chairman of the conference’s Committee on Judicial Security, raised a scenario that weeks before would have...

Americans barely remember the Mexican-American War, but in Mexico memories of the war and other military quarrels with the United States remain deeply felt. Mexico lost half its territory, including California, in the war that broke out this week in 1846. President Claudia Sheinbaum, who often speaks of Mexico’s sovereignty, said, “We are neither a protectorate nor a colony of any foreign nation.” MEXICO CITY — At the entrance to Mexico City’s largest park lies a towering marble monument to six young military cadets killed in battle. The Niños Héroes — “boy heroes” — died while defending Mexico’s capital...

Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday called on Ukraine to accept an American peace proposal that closely aligns with longstanding Russian goals, including a “freeze” of territorial lines in the three-year war, acceptance of the annexation of Crimea by Russia and a prohibition on Ukraine becoming part of the NATO alliance.It was the first time a U.S. official had publicly laid out a plan to end the war that favors Russia in such stark terms.A peace plan that leaves Russian forces deep inside eastern Ukraine would be welcome news in Moscow. President Vladimir V. Putin has said for almost year...

A wave of protests is set to sweep across all 50 states on Saturday, April 19, organized by the grassroots group 50501 in opposition to President Donald Trump's policies and executive actions since returning to office in January. Organizers cite concerns over civil liberties, judicial independence and what they describe as authoritarian overreach. The 50501 name is short for "50 protests, 50 states, one day." The group, known for organizing protests like "Not My Presidents Day" in February and the global "Hands Off" demonstrations on April 5, has quickly become a fixture in the national resistance to Trump's administration. April...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Joe Biden returns to the national stage Tuesday to elevate liberal concerns that President Donald Trump's agenda is threatening the health of Social Security. The 82-year-old Democrat has largely avoided speaking publicly since leaving the White House in January, which is typically the tradition for immediate past presidents. That's even as Trump frequently blames Biden for many of the nation's problems, often attacking his predecessor by name. Biden is expected to fight back in an early evening speech to the national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled in Chicago. While Biden has...

Donald Trump has repeatedly said that his move to impose wide-ranging tariffs is based on the simple concept of reciprocity: The U.S. should put the same conditions on imports from other countries that they impose on our goods through tariffs and other trade barriers. But the tariff scheme he announced isn’t reciprocal and isn’t based on measuring foreign trade barriers. Instead, it simply measures bilateral trade deficits and comes up with tariff numbers from there. Those are two very different things, and could be one reason why global financial markets are reacting so badly. The upshot is that, in the...

Opponents of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk plan to rally across the U.S. on Saturday to protest the administration's actions on government downsizing, the economy, human rights and other issues. More than 1,200 “Hands Off!” demonstrations have been planned by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The protests are planned for the National Mall in Washington, D.C., state capitols and other locations in all 50 states. Protesters are assailing the Trump administration's moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire...