{"id":880,"date":"2025-03-26T07:12:23","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T07:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/26\/trump-administration-live-updates-and-latest-news-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T07:12:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T07:12:23","slug":"trump-administration-live-updates-and-latest-news-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/26\/trump-administration-live-updates-and-latest-news-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration: Live Updates and Latest News – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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JD Vance will lead a high-powered U.S. visit to Greenland.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The Trump administration seems like it just doubled down on Greenland.<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday that he was headed to the island later this week, taking over a controversial visit that officials in Greenland have made very clear they don\u2019t want at all.<\/p>\n

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Originally, the Trump administration said that Usha Vance, the second lady, and Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, would make the trip to Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark that President Trump wants for the United States.<\/p>\n

Officials from Denmark and Greenland immediately branded the move \u201caggressive<\/a>\u201d and part of the president\u2019s plan to get the island, as he recently put it, \u201cone way or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nuuk, Greenland, in January.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Ivor Prickett for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The White House then issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon changing up the visit. The new itinerary is for Mr. and Ms. Vance to visit Pituffik Space Base, high above the Arctic Circle, \u201cto receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with U.S. service members.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Mr. Vance said he would \u201cjust check out what\u2019s going on with the security there of Greenland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anti-Trump sentiment has been rising steadily on the island, and activists were already preparing to protest the arrival of the American delegation, starting at the international airport in the capital, Nuuk. But now it seems that the Vances might not even set foot in Nuuk.<\/p>\n

The United States has a longstanding defense agreement with Denmark to station troops in Greenland, and American officials can visit the base at will. Foreign-policy analysts said on Tuesday night that they expected the Vances to travel directly to the space base, which is nearly 1,000 miles north of Nuuk, and avoid the cauldron that is brewing in the capital.<\/p>\n

Greenland officials have emphasized that they never invited the Americans in the first place but they have little control over who visits the American base.<\/p>\n

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President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Michael Waltz, national security adviser, at the Oval Office this month.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Initially, the plan was for Ms. Vance and one of her sons to watch a dog sled race, a cherished Greenland tradition, in Sisimiut, one of Greenland\u2019s bigger towns. But the organizers of the race made a pointed statement on Sunday that while the race was open to the public, they had not asked the Vances to attend.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Ms. Vance denied that, saying she had received \u201cmultiple invitations for her attendance to the Greenland national dog sled race.\u201d Still, the White House announced on Tuesday that she would no longer be going to the race.<\/p>\n

U.S. administration officials had originally planned for Mr. Waltz to visit the space base, which is an important piece of the United States\u2019 missile defense. But with Mr. Waltz now embroiled in a controversy over his use of a mobile messaging application<\/a> to discuss sensitive war plans, his participation seems up in the air.<\/p>\n

As the news broke on Tuesday night that Mr. Vance would be arriving, Greenland\u2019s government wasn\u2019t pleased. Politicians there are embroiled in delicate talks over who will form the island\u2019s next administration. Earlier this month, the island held parliamentary elections, but the outcome was mixed, with no party winning a clear majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve asked for peace and quiet and no international visits while negotiations are ongoing, and that should be respected,\u201d said Pipaluk Lynge-Rasmussen, a leading member of the departing ruling party.<\/p>\n

Some political analysts in Denmark said that the decision to send Mr. Vance was an \u201cescalation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey choose to double down on it \u2014 massively escalate, in fact \u2014 this provocative show of force by sending JD Vance,\u201d said Lars Trier Mogensen, a political commentator in Copenhagen. \u201cThat is many times more significant than either Mike Waltz or Usha Vance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Denmark, people are starting to see this as a kind of hybrid warfare,\u201d he added, pointing to comparisons with Crimea, the region annexed by Russia in 2014, where lines between diplomacy and provocation were deliberately blurred.<\/p>\n

But others saw the decision to visit the American base and ditch the dog sled race as perhaps less provocative.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the visit to Nuuk has been canceled, the Trump administration may be stepping back by avoiding imposing itself on civilian Greenland,\u201d said Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. \u201cFocusing solely on the military base brings the conversation back to security.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Minho<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A federal judge has blocked Trump\u2019s push to shut down Radio Free Europe.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The headquarters of Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty in Prague last week.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>David W Cerny\/Reuters<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Trump\u2019s push to close down Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, a federally funded news organization that was born out of the American efforts to counter Soviet propaganda during the Cold War.<\/p>\n

The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, issued a temporary restraining order, saying that the Trump administration cannot unilaterally shut down RFE\/RL, even if the president has ordered the closure.<\/p>\n

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Judge Lamberth said the administration cannot overrule Congress, which gave the news outlet a statutory mandate to promote the freedom of opinion and expression, with \u201cone sentence of reasoning offering virtually no explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Lamberth was referring to a March 15 letter to RFE\/RL from the Trump administration that said the broadcaster was no longer needed as the government\u2019s priorities had shifted. The letter did not elaborate, other than citing Mr. Trump\u2019s directives to shut down federal agencies.<\/p>\n

The temporary restraining order will allow RFE\/RL to stay open at least until March 28. After that, Judge Lamberth would decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction that would allow the news outlet to continue operating until the court reaches a final verdict.<\/p>\n

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were founded in the 1950s as a U.S. intelligence operation covertly funded through the Central Intelligence Agency. The broadcaster sought to foment anti-communist dissent<\/a> behind the Iron Curtain.<\/p>\n

Since the early 1970s, it has been funded by Congress and has had editorial independence. Today RFE\/RL reports in nearly 30 different languages, reaching 47 million people every week in 23 countries, including Afghanistan, Russia and Hungary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court concludes, in keeping with Congress\u2019s longstanding determination, that the continued operation of RFE\/RL is in the public interest,\u201d Judge Lamberth wrote.<\/p>\n

Judge Lamberth was appointed by President Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n

His ruling partly blocks the Trump administration\u2019s push to shut down the news organization\u2019s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversaw five federally funded news networks including Voice of America.<\/p>\n

The letter to RFE\/RL was sent a day after Mr. Trump signed an executive order<\/a> dismantling the media agency, as an effort to terminate nearly $7.5 million in grants. The news organization is a private nonprofit that receives most of its funding from the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe award no longer effectuates agency priorities,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

Judge Lamberth wrote on Tuesday that the letter did not provide sufficient explanation for why the congressionally-established news outlet needed to be shut down in such a unilateral fashion.<\/p>\n

The officials at the Trump administration \u201chave acted arbitrarily and capriciously,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe \u2018explanation\u2019 offered by U.S.A.G.M. can scarcely be characterized as an explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter was signed by Kari Lake, a special adviser at the agency who appears to be leading the push to gut it. Ms. Lake, who was hired in February, is a former Senate candidate and local news anchor who peddled false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.<\/p>\n

Ms. Lake was initially named<\/a> in December to be the next director of Voice of America by Mr. Trump. She was hired as the media agency\u2019s special adviser instead, as legal experts questioned whether Mr. Trump would be able to fire Voice of America\u2019s current director.<\/p>\n

Her appointment stoked fears<\/a> that the Trump administration would meddle in the editorial decisions of federally funded news organizations. The global media agency has also opened investigations into its journalists for reporting on criticisms of Mr. Trump or making comments that were perceived as critical of him.<\/p>\n

During his first term, Mr. Trump attacked<\/a> the media outlets under the global media agency over their editorial decisions, and his appointees were accused of trying to weaken journalistic safeguards.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Mr. Trump appointed Michael Pack, an ally of his former aide Stephen K. Bannon, to run the media agency.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pack was accused<\/a> of trying to turn Voice of America into a mouthpiece for the Trump administration, and a federal judge ruled<\/a> that Mr. Pack had violated the First Amendment rights of the outlet\u2019s journalists. A federal<\/a> investigation later found that Mr. Pack had grossly mismanaged the media agency, repeatedly abusing his power by sidelining executives he felt did not sufficiently support Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Mr. Trump withdrew the nomination of L. Brent Bozell III<\/a>, a conservative media critic and fierce defender of Israel, to lead the media agency. He instead named Mr. Bozell as the next U.S. ambassador to South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Erica<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

President Trump said during an interview on Newsmax that he would look into the case of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed during the Jan. 6 riots. She was among the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election that he lost.<\/p>\n

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Credit…<\/span>Todd Heisler\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Erica<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The interviewer said the Justice Department was still defending the government against the wrongful death lawsuit Babbitt\u2019s family filed, and asked Trump if it should be settled. Trump said he was \u201cgoing to take a look at it,\u201d along with the fact that the Capitol Police officer who shot her is still a federal employee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Erica<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Trump, asked whether he believed that Russia was \u201cdragging its feet\u201d in getting to a ceasefire with Ukraine, gave two different answers, saying he believed that Russia wanted to see the war end, but could also be stalling. He added that he had done it over the years, when he didn\u2019t want to sign a contract but wanted to \u201cstay in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Erica<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

During an interview with Newsmax tonight, Trump was asked whether the Signal leak raised any concerns that members of his staff were talking to the Atlantic editor, Jeffrey Goldberg. Trump largely deflected by continuing his attacks on Goldberg, calling him \u201cbad news.\u201d He also repeated the claim that the leak was a result of actions of a staffer, which Waltz contradicted during his own interview with Fox tonight, when he took \u201cfull responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Chris<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The White House notified Congress earlier today that it was withdrawing the nomination of L. Brent Bozell III to lead the United States\u2019 global media agency, and that he has instead been nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to South Africa<\/a>. Bozell, a former anti-Trump Republican who is now a firm supporter of the president, would be stepping into the diplomatic post as the relationship between South Africa and the United States is at its worst in recent memory<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n

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\"Minho<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily blocked the Trump administration\u2019s push to close down Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, a federally funded news organization that was born during the Cold War out of the American efforts to counter Soviet propaganda with factual reporting. The judge, Royce C. Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, ruled that the Trump administration couldn\u2019t force the news media to shut down \u201ceven if the president has ordered them to do so,\u201d as Congress established the organization through a law it passed, the International Broadcasting Act of 1973.<\/p>\n

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Credit…<\/span>Alexey Vitvitsky\/Sputnik, via Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Minho<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The judge\u2019s ruling partly blocks the Trump administration\u2019s push to shut down the news organization\u2019s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversaw four other federally funded news networks including Voice of America. Last month, President Trump named Kari Lake, an unsuccessful Senate candidate and a former local news anchor who peddled false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, to serve as a special adviser at the agency, stoking fears<\/a> that she would meddle in editorial decisions of its news organizations. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order <\/a>dismantling the media agency in its entirety, prompting a lawsuit from Radio Free Europe employees.<\/p>\n

An earlier version of this post misstated the number of federally funded news outlets overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media in addition to Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty. It has been corrected above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Erica<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Trump signed an order calling for citizenship proof when voting.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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President Trump still trumpets the false claim that he won the 2020 election.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that will require proof of U.S. citizenship on election forms, in an aggressive push to catch and combat voter fraud, which is exceedingly rare but constantly cited by Mr. Trump as a reason he lost the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

The order<\/a> calls for the Election Assistance Commission to require people to show government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, and directs state or local officials to record and verify the information. It also seeks to require states to count ballots by Election Day.<\/p>\n

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Administration officials, who cast the order as one of the most far-reaching in American history related to elections, cited cracking down on immigrants illegally on voter rolls as one of the order\u2019s main goals, amplifying Mr. Trump\u2019s longstanding grievances about election integrity. He has falsely claimed that illegal votes contributed to his losing the 2020 election and the popular vote in 2016.<\/p>\n

Like many of Mr. Trump\u2019s orders, this one is likely to face legal challenges for executive overreach.<\/p>\n

Rick Hasen, a political science professor and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project<\/a> at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, said that Mr. Trump had no authority to dictate how states ran their elections, such as requiring them to count their ballots by Election Day.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hasen added that Mr. Trump\u2019s exertion of power over the commission \u2014 which was created by legislation passed in Congress<\/a> \u2014 would need to be tested in court, since what he is ordering them to do is \u201ceither contrary to law or at best disputed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis executive order is important for what it tries to do on requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote, but it is even more important for what it means for Presidential power,\u201d Mr. Hasen wrote in an email. \u201cTrump is trying to assert power over an independent, bipartisan agency that Congress created to deal fairly and evenhandedly with assisting states in administering elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

The order claimed that current rules that prohibited states from allowing noncitizens to register to vote were not \u201cadequately enforced,\u201d and suggested that elections were also compromised by states that counted ballots received after Election Day.<\/p>\n

This is standard practice in states that require that mail ballots are only postmarked by Election Day. But even in the weeks after his decisive victory in November, Mr. Trump continued to complain that ballots were still being counted.<\/p>\n

The order threatens to withdraw federal funding in states that do not comply.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree, fair and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic,\u201d the order stated. \u201cThe right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the signing, Mr. Trump \u2014 who still falsely claims he won the 2020 election \u2014 noted that some may not understand why he was complaining since he won \u201cin a landslide\u201d last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are other steps that we will be taking as the next in the coming weeks, and we think we\u2019ll be able to end up getting fair elections,\u201d Mr. Trump said on Tuesday at the signing. \u201cThis country is so sick because of the election, the fake elections and the bad elections, and we\u2019re going to straighten it out one way or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Erica<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Waltz\u2019s admission contradicts what President Trump has said in his defense of Waltz. Trump claimed that \u201cIt was one of Michael\u2019s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.\u201d Waltz confirmed the account provided by Goldberg, saying during the interview \u201cLook, a staffer wasn\u2019t responsible. I take full responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Chris<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Michael Waltz<\/a>, President Trump\u2019s national security adviser, said in an appearance on Fox News that \u201cI take full responsibility\u201d for the sharing of military plans on the messaging app Signal, adding that he had \u201cbuilt the group\u201d and added the journalist Jeffrey Goldberg<\/a> to it.<\/p>\n

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Credit…<\/span>Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Chris<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Waltz suggested in his remarks that Goldberg\u2019s number was saved under another person\u2019s contact information in his phone, and that was how Goldberg was mistakenly added to the group chat saying that \u201cI\u2019m sure everybody out there has had a contact where it was said one person and then a different phone number.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Luke<\/a>\"Kenneth<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Trump pardons a former business partner of Hunter Biden who testified about the Bidens.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, provided congressional testimony in 2023 when House Republicans investigated former President Biden\u2019s ties to his son\u2019s business dealings.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>J. Scott Applewhite\/Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

President Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon on Tuesday for Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden whose congressional testimony two years ago helped fuel House Republicans\u2019 investigation into the Biden family.<\/p>\n

Mr. Archer had been convicted in a fraud case, and was sentenced in 2022 to a year and a day in prison.<\/p>\n

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The pardon erases the conviction and also tens of millions of dollars in forfeitures and restitution that Mr. Archer had been ordered to pay. Mr. Archer was pardoned before he served any of his prison sentence.<\/p>\n

Mr. Archer earned fans on the right \u2014 including in Mr. Trump\u2019s circle \u2014 after he testified in a congressional investigation in 2023 into Hunter Biden\u2019s business dealings. He accused the Bidens of abusing \u201csoft power\u201d through business deals in which then-President Joseph R. Biden Jr.\u2019s son Hunter made millions of dollars. Supporters of Mr. Archer had argued that he was treated more harshly by prosecutors after he started cooperating with investigations into the Bidens.<\/p>\n

Before signing the pardon, Mr. Trump on Tuesday said that Mr. Archer \u201cwas treated very unfairly\u201d and \u201cwas a victim of a crime, as far as I\u2019m concerned, so we\u2019re going to undo that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pardon is the latest example of Mr. Trump\u2019s aggressive use of his clemency power<\/a> to reward allies or highlight his own grievances about what he sees as the political weaponization of the justice system.<\/p>\n

Mr. Archer, who had a background in international finance and Democratic fund-raising, partnered with Hunter Biden in 2009, helping arrange introductions to foreign business interests. In 2014, they joined the board of Burisma Holdings<\/a>, a Ukrainian energy company that some in the State Department viewed as corrupt, at a time when Joseph R. Biden Jr. was serving as vice president and overseeing the administration\u2019s Ukraine portfolio. The overlap would become a focus for Republicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr. Archer left the board and started severing his business connections with Hunter Biden after being charged in 2016<\/a> in connection with a scheme to defraud pension funds and an Indian tribe of tens of millions of dollars. He was initially convicted in 2018, but later that year a judge set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial, only to be reversed in 2020 by a federal appeals court ruling that reinstated the fraud conviction.<\/p>\n

Matthew L. Schwartz, Mr. Archer\u2019s lawyer, portrayed the presidential pardon as fixing a flawed decision by a jury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American jury system is an amazing thing, but as the trial judge held in finding serious questions about Devon Archer\u2019s innocence, sometimes juries get it wrong,\u201d Mr. Schwartz said in a statement. \u201cToday\u2019s pardon corrects a serious injustice, and finally allows an innocent man to be free of the threat of misguided prosecution. Mr. Archer is deeply appreciative of the President.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Archer\u2019s congressional testimony was not a clean win for either Republicans or Democrats.<\/p>\n

While he provided an unflattering portrayal of how Hunter Biden conducted business, Mr. Archer told congressional investigators he saw no wrongdoing by the elder Mr. Biden. The G.O.P.\u2019s congressional investigation ultimately did not result in an impeachment case against the former president.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you aware of any wrongdoing by Vice President Biden?\u201d Mr. Archer\u2019s lawyer asked him at one point during the closed-door testimony.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m not aware of any,\u201d Mr. Archer replied.<\/p>\n

But Mr. Archer also said he believed Burisma stayed in business during tough times through its associations with influential figures in Washington, and the \u201cbrand\u201d that Hunter Biden brought to the board.<\/p>\n

Asked what he meant, Mr. Archer said, \u201cBecause people would be intimidated to mess with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Archer testified that he could recall about 20 times when he and Hunter Biden were meeting with business associates, and Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone. The conversations, Mr. Archer said, discussed only niceties \u2014 \u201cHow\u2019s the weather? How\u2019s the fishing?\u201d \u2014 but the signal from Hunter Biden was clear, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was not business content in these conversations,\u201d Mr. Archer told the Trump-allied pundit Tucker Carlson in an interview after his testimony. \u201cThe idea of signals and influence \u2014 the prize is enough in speaking or hearing or knowing you have that proximity to power.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point, Mr. Archer told Mr. Carlson, \u201cIn the rearview, it\u2019s an abuse of soft power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Archer also said he believed it was false for defenders of the former president to say that he had no knowledge of his son\u2019s business activities. \u201cHe was aware of Hunter\u2019s business,\u201d said Mr. Archer, who played golf with both Bidens. \u201cHe met with Hunter\u2019s business partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the congressional testimony, Mr. Archer in 2021 was interviewed by prosecutors and subpoenaed<\/a> for documents as part of an investigation into Hunter Biden\u2019s finances and foreign business.<\/p>\n

Last year, Hunter Biden was convicted of gun crimes, and pleaded guilty to tax crimes<\/a> related to millions of dollars in income from Burisma and other foreign businesses.<\/p>\n

With less than two months left before he left office, President Biden issued a broad pardon for Hunter Biden for those convictions, and any other crimes he might have committed in the past 11 years, a period coinciding with the beginning of his work for Burisma.<\/p>\n

The pardon, which troubled clemency experts<\/a>, was cited by Mr. Archer\u2019s supporters as additional justification for granting clemency to him.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for Hunter Biden declined to comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Benjamin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Senate confirms Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, left, and Dr. Martin A. Makary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Dr. Martin A. Makary as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health, installing two critics of the medical establishment to influential posts amid a Trump administration campaign to cut spending at health agencies.<\/p>\n

In a 56-to-44 vote, Dr. Makary was confirmed to lead an agency with broad regulatory authority over products including drugs and vaccines, putting him at the center of debates about the safety of the abortion pill and a wide range of inoculations.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Bhattacharya\u2019s confirmation \u2014 53 to 47, on a party-line vote \u2014 places him at the head of the world\u2019s premier medical research agency, which lately has been battered by cuts to staffing and orders to pause or cancel vast research funding.<\/p>\n

Dr. Makary, a pancreatic cancer surgeon and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, drew attention from the Trump team as a Fox News personality and commentator on Covid who in 2021 incorrectly predicted<\/a> that the nation was \u201cracing toward an extremely low level of infection.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a confirmation hearing<\/a> this month, Dr. Makary signaled that he shared Republican concerns about expanded access to the abortion pill, which the Biden administration made available for people to obtain without an in-person medical appointment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He also expressed support for vaccines, even as he suggested that the F.D.A. needed to review the role of vaccine experts whom the agency turns to for advice.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers have warned that staff cuts and hiring freezes by the Trump administration could weaken F.D.A. efforts to ensure the safety of the food supply.<\/p>\n

The N.I.H., which has a $48 billion budget and funds medical research on diseases like cancer and diabetes, has also been whipsawed by layoffs and Trump administration moves to block key parts of its grant-making process and scrap some grants outright.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bhattacharya, a health economist and professor of medicine at Stanford, largely dodged questions about those decisions at a confirmation hearing in early March.<\/p>\n

He burst into the public spotlight in 2020, when he was among the authors of an anti-lockdown treatise<\/a>, the Great Barrington Declaration, which argued for protecting older and more vulnerable people from Covid while letting the virus spread among younger, healthier people.<\/p>\n

He has also argued for reforms to scientific funding practices, including applying greater scrutiny to research findings that are not borne out by subsequent studies and directing money toward the most far-reaching and innovative research rather than incremental studies.<\/p>\n

Questioned by lawmakers this month about the safety of vaccines, Dr. Bhattacharya said that he supported children\u2019s inoculation against diseases like measles, but also that scientists should conduct more research on autism and vaccines, a position at odds with extensive evidence showing no link<\/a> between the two.<\/p>\n

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, who has faced criticism for his reluctance to explicitly recommend vaccinations in the midst of a deadly measles outbreak in West Texas, oversees both the F.D.A. and the N.I.H.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Devlin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Trump\u2019s old grudge gets directed at another law firm.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that targeted a prominent white-shoe law firm where Andrew Weissmann, who served in a senior role on an investigation into Mr. Trump\u2019s possible links to Russia, once worked.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

President Trump initiated a fresh attack on lawyers on Tuesday, singling out a firm where a former prosecutor who investigated him once worked as the White House pursues vengeance against the profession he blames for his legal troubles.<\/p>\n

An executive order from Mr. Trump focused on Jenner & Block, a prominent white-shoe firm that once employed Andrew Weissmann, a longtime deputy to Robert S. Mueller III, who as a special counsel investigated Mr. Trump in his first term over possible links to Russia.<\/p>\n

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The order underscored the extent to which the president, who faced four criminal indictments after he left office in 2021, now aims to exact a steep price from anyone associated with past investigations of him.<\/p>\n

Days earlier, Mr. Trump significantly expanded his campaign of retaliation against lawyers he dislikes, issuing a far-reaching memorandum that threatened to use government power to punish any firms that, in his view, unfairly challenged his administration. Mr. Trump has declared his efforts will clean up a legal profession that has become tainted by politics and unethical behavior.<\/p>\n

At the White House on Tuesday, Mr. Trump called Mr. Weissmann a \u201cbad guy\u201d and said he would also declassify additional documents from the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, that began in 2016.<\/p>\n

After serving in a senior role for the special counsel investigation, Mr. Weissmann spent many years as a television pundit, sharply criticizing Mr. Trump\u2019s conduct. Mr. Weissmann, who left Jenner & Block in 2021, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The executive order signed Tuesday declares that many big law firms \u201ctake actions that threaten public safety and national security, limit constitutional freedoms, degrade the quality of American elections, or undermine bedrock American principles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The order also criticizes firms for doing pro bono work, or representing clients who are indigent or have limited financial resources to afford lawyers, charging that such work is often for what he called \u201cdestructive causes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mr. Weissmann, who spent many years as a television pundit criticizing Mr. Trump\u2019s conduct, left Jenner & Block in 2021.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Hilary Swift for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Jenner & Block, the president\u2019s order decreed, \u201chas abandoned the profession\u2019s highest ideals\u201d and therefore its employees should not have security clearances, federal government contracts, access to federal government buildings or be hired by the government.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for the law firm described its storied history of paid and pro bono work and pointed out that a federal judge had temporarily blocked the administration from imposing penalties on at least one firm subject to Mr. Trump\u2019s orders, Perkins Coie. \u201cWe remain focused on serving and safeguarding our clients\u2019 interests with the dedication, integrity and expertise that has defined our firm for more than 100 years and will pursue all appropriate remedies,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s accusations against the firm range from the personal to the political, claiming that Jenner & Block rehired Mr. Weissmann after he worked on the Mueller investigation, which Mr. Trump called \u201centirely unjustified.\u201d The order also accuses Mr. Weissmann of misconduct.<\/p>\n

Last week, one of the targeted firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, struck a deal<\/a> with the administration to spare itself from a punitive order Mr. Trump had issued.<\/p>\n

As part of that deal, the law firm agreed to provide $40 million worth of legal work in support of Mr. Trump\u2019s efforts to fight antisemitism on college campuses, as well as other issues.<\/p>\n

The president has embarked on his campaign against lawyers by denouncing what he calls \u201clawfare\u201d or the \u201cweaponization\u201d of the legal system against him.<\/p>\n

He and his allies have long claimed that Democrats asserted improper control over prosecutors\u2019 offices to bring cases against him. Current and former law enforcement officials say those accusations are baseless, and that what the president and his senior aides are doing is stripping away the ability of institutions like the F.B.I. and Justice Department to pursue such cases again.<\/p>\n

His ever-growing list of targets in the legal world has led to a heated debate among lawyers about how best to respond. Some have sharply criticized the president\u2019s actions, and the decision by Paul, Weiss to cut a deal rather than fight in court, as Perkins Coie chose to do.<\/p>\n

Vanita Gupta, who is a civil rights lawyer and a former Justice Department official, said Saturday that Mr. Trump is attacking \u201cthe very foundations of our legal system by threatening and intimidating litigants who aim to hold our government accountable to the law and the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The executive branch \u201cshould neither fear nor punish those who challenge it,\u201d Ms. Gupta said, \u201cand should not be the arbiter of what is frivolous \u2014 there are protections in place to address that. This moment calls for courage and collective action, not capitulation, among lawyers and the legal profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump also signed an executive order declassifying some documents from the Russia investigation, while ordering that two separate categories of documents from that work remain classified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Annie<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Democrats try an economic populist pitch with a new group, the New Economic Patriots.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Representative Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania in January. \u201cToo many in our party have lost their way and it\u2019s time to wake the heck up,\u201d he said of Democrats on Tuesday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A number of frustrated House Democrats who said their party had a \u201cweak and undefined brand\u201d announced on Tuesday that they were seeking to form a new group to dig out of their crisis, informally referred to as the New Economic Patriots.<\/p>\n

The group is the brainchild of Representative Chris Deluzio, a 40-year-old second-term congressman from a competitive district in Pennsylvania, who criticized members of his own party as wimps in a speech on the House floor on Tuesday and called for Democrats to channel a \u201cfighting spirit of economic populism\u201d that he argued could lead them out of the political wilderness.<\/p>\n

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\u201cToo many in our party have lost their way and it\u2019s time to wake the heck up,\u201d Mr. Deluzio said, later declaring: \u201cThe era of a spineless Democratic Party must end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer, he said, was for the party to focus on appealing to working people on economic issues, but it was not immediately clear how his plan was different from what many in the party have already been advocating. Still, Mr. Deluzio\u2019s effort is the latest sign that Democrats, relegated to the minority in Washington and desperate to find a more coherent message after their devastating 2024 losses, are still mired in a politically fraught debate about how to move forward.<\/p>\n

Mr. Deluzio has highlighted his status as a young lawmaker who outperformed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election in a critical district in a key battleground state as he makes the case for why he is the right person to help lead his party out of its funk.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Mr. Deluzio said the \u201cprogressive\u201d and \u201cmoderate\u201d labels did not work anymore given that his entire tattered party needed to be restructured around an economic populist message that he said had been co-opted by the right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not interested in a wimpy Democratic Party,\u201d Mr. Deluzio said. \u201cThe party for years has put too much stock in avoiding fights, avoiding naming big corporate villains.\u201d It is time for Democrats to turn back to their working-class roots, he said.<\/p>\n

The new group includes a disparate group of Democrats, including Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, a former chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, and Representative Pat Ryan, a moderate New York Democrat from a swing district. The group who spoke on the House floor notably did not yet include any Democrats who won Trump districts in 2024, or any members whom the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has identified as its \u201cfrontline\u201d members who are considered the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people are asking for is to transform the party in a more populist direction,\u201d said Representative Greg Casar, Democrat of Texas and the chairman of the Progressive Caucus, who is also a member of the new group. \u201cPopulist means we are for working people across the spectrum, even if they disagree with us. The way we bring in conservatives is that we\u2019re economic populists that are willing to be on their side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Casar, who made his debut appearance on Fox News over the weekend in an attempt to reach out to conservative-leaning voters, argued that Democrats could not be the party representing vulnerable people until they were seen as the party for all working people.<\/p>\n

The New Economic Patriots have been meeting every other week to hash out a new platform, and some have been circulating among their colleagues a five-page memo trying to address what they see as a crisis in the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few of us believe that we have to focus on the economy,\u201d said Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, who is a member. \u201cWe have to focus on issues that affect people\u2019s pocketbooks, and the Democrats haven\u2019t done this effectively for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Khanna added: \u201cOur message in 2024 did not recognize how much anger there was with the status quo. We did not recognize that offshoring of jobs was taking place, we did not recognize the pain people were still feeling, and our message wasn\u2019t transformational enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Deluzio said Democrats had both a messaging and policy problem to fix.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters don\u2019t think Democrats put lowering costs first, and this group does,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just putting the economy first; it\u2019s being clear about why you\u2019re being ripped off. We\u2019re very clear about who those villains are.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Democrats for months have been talking about Elon Musk, President Trump\u2019s billionaire ally who is leading an aggressive campaign of slashing government, as the main villain of the young administration.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday as the group made its debut by delivering a series of speeches on the House floor, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, made remarks that did not sound any different from dozens of others that she and other Democrats have given in recent weeks railing against Mr. Trump\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

Mr. Deluzio brought with him a poster board that read, simply and unspecifically, \u201cAnti corruption, pro American Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of their colleagues were skeptical of what, exactly, the group was trying to achieve. Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Democrat of Washington, has for years been making the argument that her party is not in tune with the needs of working-class voters<\/a>. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez was invited to participate in the new group\u2019s meetings and its performance on the House floor, but she declined to speak on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with her thinking.<\/p>\n

Mr. Deluzio said that Tuesday\u2019s floor action was simply an \u201copening salvo\u201d and that the group would put forward a clear platform to resuscitate the Democratic Party at a moment when voters are desperate for leaders to show an effective way to push back against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, the progressive stars Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York drew tens of thousands of supporters on their \u201cfight oligarchy\u201d tour, focusing on the needs of working people.<\/p>\n

Mr. Deluzio and his colleagues said theirs was the right message for Democrats, and that voters were primed for a bigger revamp of the party. (Neither Mr. Sanders nor Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is part of his group.)<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many Americans felt Democrats had become the party of the elites and stopped meeting people where they are,\u201d Mr. Ryan said on the House floor. \u201cThis moment is not ideological. It\u2019s about who fights for the people and who fights for the elites.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Robert<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

With the Signal snafu, Michael Waltz is thrust into the spotlight.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, at the White House on Tuesday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Despite President Trump\u2019s insistence on Tuesday morning that his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, \u201chas learned a lesson\u201d after inadvertently including the editor of The Atlantic in a cabinet-level chat session, speculation continues to build about Mr. Waltz\u2019s job security.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump vigorously defended Mr. Waltz in front of television cameras during an event a few hours later, saying he should not have to apologize for the breach.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat man is a very good man, right there, that you criticized,\u201d Mr. Trump said, pointing to Mr. Waltz after a reporter asked if the president would order practices to be changed. \u201cSo he\u2019s a very good man, and he will continue to do a good job. In addition to him, we had very good people in that meeting, and those people have done a very, very effective job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Waltz said later on Tuesday that \u201cI take full responsibility\u201d for the sharing of military plans on the messaging app Signal, telling Laura Ingraham on Fox News that he had \u201cbuilt the group\u201d and added the Atlantic editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, to it.<\/p>\n

Most of the Republican Party has leaped to Mr. Waltz\u2019s defense, seeking to blame the news media for the uproar.<\/p>\n

But in interviews, several close allies of the president characterized the national security adviser\u2019s standing as precarious, more so than it already was when The New York Times reported on his uneasy status<\/a> over a week ago. Those who discussed Trump administration views on Mr. Waltz did so on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly. His fate, they say, rests on Mr. Trump\u2019s caprices, with several competing factors coming into play.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, it is Mr. Trump\u2019s nature to defy a media firestorm rather than try to quell it by offering up a sacrificial lamb. He parted from this tendency at the beginning of his first administration when he fired his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, for not divulging his encounters with Russian officials to the F.B.I. According to one adviser from that era, Mr. Trump soon regretted that act of acquiescence.<\/p>\n

This time around, according to several people who have spoken to Mr. Trump over the first two months of his term, he wants to avoid firing people because of the narrative of chaos that it will quickly engender. Once he starts firing people, one person familiar with his thinking said, it will be very hard to draw a line if problems arise with other aides down the line. And Mr. Trump has appeared increasingly more concerned with holding his perceived enemies at bay than anything else.<\/p>\n

Mr. Waltz also benefits from a much closer relationship to the president than Mr. Flynn had. As a Republican congressman from 2019 until his current appointment, Mr. Waltz had been an unflagging defender of Mr. Trump throughout his political and legal travails. He spent much of last year campaigning for Mr. Trump, often traveling aboard the candidate\u2019s private plane. He aggressively questioned the director of the Secret Service at a hearing after an assassination attempt on Mr. Trump at a rally near Butler, Pa., and became a defender of Mr. Trump against the agency.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more significantly, Mr. Waltz frequently served as a campaign surrogate on Fox News, thereby passing the eyeball test for Mr. Trump, who prefers his senior aides be telegenic.<\/p>\n

But Mr. Waltz has now given Mr. Trump reason to second-guess his loyalty, two people familiar with the matter suggested. The detail that Mr. Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, appeared to be in Mr. Waltz\u2019s list of contacts to begin with \u2014 and possibly mistaken for another \u201cJG\u201d to be invited into the Signal group chat \u2014 has sent up alarms among the president\u2019s allies, according to people familiar with their thinking.<\/p>\n

In his appearance on Ms. Ingraham\u2019s Fox News show Tuesday evening, Mr. Waltz suggested that Mr. Goldberg\u2019s number had been saved under another person\u2019s contact information in his phone. \u201cI\u2019m sure everybody out there has had a contact where it was said one person and then a different phone number,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In The American Conservative, a founding editor, Scott McConnell, wrote Tuesday, \u201cI don\u2019t see how National Security Adviser Mike Waltz organizing a group chat with The Atlantic\u2019s Jeffrey Goldberg goes away without Waltz\u2019s resignation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In The Atlantic article, Mr. Goldberg recounted that Mr. Waltz had sent him a connection request on Signal on March 11, adding that he \u201cdidn\u2019t find it particularly strange that he might be reaching out to me.\u201d Asked about the Signal fiasco in a news conference with Mr. Trump Tuesday, Mr. Waltz described Mr. Goldberg as someone \u201cI\u2019ve never met, don\u2019t know, never communicated with.\u201d In an interview for this article, Mr. Goldberg said that he had met Mr. Waltz a few years ago at two events but had never interviewed him.<\/p>\n

Ironically, it was Mr. Waltz\u2019s familiarity with members of the U.S. foreign policy establishment, including Mr. Goldberg, that provided relief to some quarters after he was named to the second Trump administration. A former Green Beret and four-time recipient of the Bronze Star, Mr. Waltz had served in the national security apparatus for the Bush and Obama administrations before working for a defense contracting firm and then running for Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike\u2019s exceptionally well-rounded,\u201d said Peter Bergen, an author and national security analyst who wrote the foreword to one of Mr. Waltz\u2019s books. \u201cI saw it as an inspired choice on Trump\u2019s part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others saw Mr. Waltz as a curious selection. An avowed hawk, he staunchly defended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in his 2014 book \u201cWarrior Diplomat.\u201d In a podcast interview in 2021, he warned that withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, as Mr. Trump had proposed doing, was \u201cthe best way to cause another 9\/11 to happen.\u201d Mr. Waltz instead advocated a sustained troop presence like the one that has been in Colombia \u2014 \u201ca great model\u201d \u2014 for over three decades. Such views have caused Mr. Waltz to be branded a \u201cneocon\u201d in right-wing circles.<\/p>\n

Many of those who have heralded Mr. Waltz\u2019s capabilities now find themselves at pains to explain his breach of security protocol. At the news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump reiterated that Mr. Waltz was \u201ca very good man\u201d and that attacks on him were \u201cvery unfair.\u201d But some of the president\u2019s allies have speculated that this appraisal could change if his national security adviser is increasingly viewed with ridicule.<\/p>\n

Those who have known Mr. Trump throughout the years point to a striking constant: While he has a high tolerance for lightning rods, he has a very low one for laughingstocks.<\/p>\n

Maggie Haberman and Chris Cameron contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Debra<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A judge blocked the Trump administration from rescinding grants for fair housing groups.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Fair housing groups sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency this month.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday blocked the federal government from terminating dozens of grants to fair housing organizations across the country, a move that had left groups who fight housing discrimination scrambling to pay their bills and, in many cases, wondering if they could keep their doors open.<\/p>\n

Sixty-six housing nonprofits received a letter in late February informing them that their grants were being cut off, with around $30 million in grants being suddenly rescinded across the country. Local fair housing organizations generally have annual budgets of less than $1 million, and in many cases the grants made up the bulk of their funding.<\/p>\n

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Four of the groups \u2014 in Massachusetts, Idaho, Texas and Ohio \u2014 sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, earlier this month on behalf of a proposed class<\/a> of the groups.<\/p>\n

After a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Richard G. Stearns of the United States District Court in the District of Massachusetts granted a temporary injunction, which blocks the termination of the grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe action DOGE directed is endangering everyday people while empowering wealthy landlords and others to discriminate,\u201d said Lisa Rice, the president and chief executive of the National Fair Housing Alliance, in a statement. \u201cWe are grateful for today\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Zach<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A federal judge in Washington denied a request by the nonprofit group Public Citizen to depose Elon Musk on an expedited timeframe in a case focused on transparency into the Department of Government Efficiency operation. The group had moved to have Musk, who is leading the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to downsize the federal government, sit for a deposition within 20 days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Chris<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a statement following Vance\u2019s announcement that he would be visiting Greenland on Friday, the vice president\u2019s office said that Vance\u2019s wife, Usha, had cancelled a scheduled appearance at a marquee dogsled race<\/a> on the island this week. The organizers of the race had previously said that Usha had not been invited, but added that the event was open to the public and that she and her son \u201cmay attend as spectators.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Julian<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

U.S. intelligence report says Russia remains an enduring threat.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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In the hearing on global threats on Tuesday, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, described Russia as a \u201cformidable competitor\u201d but avoided calling it an adversary.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

While the Trump administration has drastically changed how it talks about the danger posed by Russia, American intelligence agencies said in an annual report on Tuesday that Russia remained an \u201cenduring potential threat to U.S. power, presence and global interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same day the report was released, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, described Russia as a \u201cformidable competitor\u201d but avoided calling Moscow an adversary.<\/p>\n

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The intelligence report \u2014 an annual assessment by federal agencies of global threats \u2014 found that Russia has the upper hand in its three-year-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has greater leverage now to press Kyiv and its supporters to negotiate \u201can end to the war that grants Moscow concessions it seeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report was not overly optimistic about the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to push for a quick cease-fire to end the war, even though President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine understands his position is weakening as his army\u2019s battlefield position erodes, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia knows the damage an extended conflict would do to his economy.<\/p>\n

Still, it said, \u201cboth leaders for now probably still see the risks of a longer war as less than those of an unsatisfying settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Russia, positive battlefield trends allow for some strategic patience, and for Ukraine, conceding territory or neutrality to Russia without substantial security guarantees from the West could prompt domestic backlash and future insecurity,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

The report said Mr. Putin\u2019s hold on power was extremely strong. The possibility of an alternative leader emerging \u201cprobably is less likely now than at any point in his quarter-century rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

While U.S. officials frequently talk about how much American military experts have learned from the war, the intelligence report said Moscow has also learned a huge amount about American capabilities, since the United States has armed Ukraine and has provided it with battlefield intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war in Ukraine has afforded Moscow a wealth of lessons regarding combat against Western weapons and intelligence in a large-scale war,\u201d the report said. \u201cThis experience probably will challenge future U.S. defense planning, including against other adversaries with whom Moscow is sharing those lessons learned.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Mattathias<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Court lets Trump pause new refugee admissions, but thousands must be let in.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Supporters of a lawsuit challenging an executive order aimed at refugees gathered outside the federal courthouse in Seattle last month.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Ryan Sun\/Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

An appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration must admit thousands of people granted refugee status before Jan. 20, but declined to stop President Trump from halting the admission of new refugees.<\/p>\n

The ruling<\/a>, issued by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, often a reliably liberal court, did not directly address the question of whether the government must restore billions of dollars in funding to nonprofit groups that help resettle refugees after they have reached the United States.<\/p>\n

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But the decision was framed as a victory by Melissa Keaney, an attorney for the International Refugee Assistance Project, one of the groups representing the plaintiffs. She said that \u201ctens of thousands\u201d of people who were overseas would be processed and admitted to the United States as refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ninth Circuit\u2019s ruling insures that U.S. refugee admission remains open in part,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But it was a rare victory as well for the Trump administration and its efforts to clamp down on immigration. Appellate judges have largely upheld rulings by the district courts blocking the president\u2019s agenda. In contrast, Tuesday\u2019s decision reversed in part an earlier ruling by Judge Jamal N. Whitehead of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, who was nominated to the bench by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.<\/p>\n

Judge Whitehead\u2019s ruling effectively required<\/a> the government to reinstate the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which has admitted more than three million refugees to the United States since it was established by statute<\/a> in 1980.<\/p>\n

Billions of dollars in funding for nonprofit groups that assist refugees with resettlement remain in limbo. After Judge Whitehead ordered the government to restore funding to the groups, the State Department terminated their contracts. A second order by Judge Whitehead, filed on Monday, ordered the government to reinstate the terminated funding. That order has not yet been considered by the appeals court.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s ruling by the appeals court is preliminary, and the court could eventually choose to either uphold or reverse Mr. Trump\u2019s executive order in full.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JD Vance will lead a high-powered U.S. visit to Greenland. The Trump administration seems like it just doubled down on Greenland. Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday that he was headed to the island later this week, taking over a controversial visit that officials in Greenland have made very clear they don\u2019t want at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}