President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was placing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a move that the White House claims would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.
The tariffs could be complicated as even U.S. automakers source their components from around the world, meaning that they could face higher costs and lower sales. Shares in General Motors have fallen roughly 3% in Wednesday afternoon trading. Ford’s stock was up slightly. Shares in Stellantis, the owner of Jeep and Chrysler, have dropped nearly 4%.
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Child slips through fencing at White House and is intercepted by Secret Service
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said the young trespasser squeezed through the fence on the North Lawn at around 6:30 p.m., about an hour after Trump announced planned auto tariffs from the Oval Office.
“Officers quickly reunited the child with their parents without incident,” Guglielmi said in a social media post.
Video posted on social media shows an armed officer carrying a young child wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt across the lawn before handing off the child to another officer.
Such intrusions have happened before. In April 2023, a toddler squeezed through the metal fencing, also on the North Lawn, and was later reunited with his parents, who were briefly questioned.
Heads of the 3 Democratic committees slam Trump’s executive order on elections
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic National Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee joined in the chorus criticizing Trump’s executive order that threatens to unravel the nation’s elections, calling it “brazen” and an unconstitutional overreach.
“America was founded on the belief of government by the people, for the people — decided by fair and free elections,” they said. “Donald Trump and DOGE, in an attempt to rationalize their repeatedly debunked conspiracy theories, now want to suppress the vote of military members serving overseas, married women who have changed their names, and millions of Americans who vote by mail. This Executive Order is reckless, dangerous, and illegal.
Judge says Justice Department attacked her character to ‘impugn the integrity’ of US judicial system
A federal judge is accusing the Justice Department of attacking her character in an effort to undermine the integrity of the judicial system, forcefully pushing back against the Trump administration’s criticism of the courts for blocking parts of the president’s agenda.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell’s comments came Wednesday in an order denying the Justice Department’s bid to remove her from a case challenging an executive order punishing a prominent law firm.
The Trump administration had asked for the case to be moved to another judge in Washington’s federal court, accusing Howell of demonstrating “a pattern of hostility” toward the president.
▶ Read more about Howell’s comments
Canadian prime minister says Trump’s auto tariffs are a ‘direct attack’ on his country
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says he needs to see the details of Trump’s executive order before taking retaliatory measures. He called it unjustified and said he will leave the election campaign to go to Ottawa on Thursday to chair his special Cabinet committee on U.S. relations.
Carney earlier announced a CA$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” that will protect Canadian auto jobs affected by Trump’s tariffs.
Autos are Canada’s second largest export, and Carney noted it employs 125,000 Canadians directly and almost another 500,000 in related industries. Carney says it is appropriate that he and Trump speak on the phone. The two have not spoken since Carney was sworn in March 14.
▶ Read more about Carney’s response to Trump’s tariffs
AP will return to court in suit against the Trump administration
The Associated Press is returning to a Washington courtroom Thursday to ask a judge to restore its full access to presidential events. That’s weeks after the White House retaliated against the news outlet last month for not following President Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
In a previous hearing last month, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden refused the AP’s request for an injunction to stop the White House from barring reporters and photographers from events in the Oval Office and Air Force One. He urged the Trump administration to reconsider its ban before Thursday’s hearing. It hasn’t.
The AP has said it needs to take a stand against Trump’s team for punishing a news organization for using speech that it doesn’t like. The news outlet said it would still refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its style guidance to clients around the world, while also noting that Trump has renamed it the Gulf of America. The White House said it has the right to decide who gets to question the president.
“For anyone who thinks the Associated Press’s lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,” Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal. “It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.”
The president has dismissed the AP as a group of “radical left lunatics” and said that “we’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America.”
Trump signed an order to reshape how elections in the US are run. Is it constitutional?
Election officials, state attorneys general and legal experts say Trump’s executive order seeking to reshape election processes throughout the U.S. will likely face legal challenges for violating the Constitution.
Tuesday’s executive order demands sweeping changes for how Americans can register to vote and when they can cast their ballots. But the Constitution leaves it to states to determine the “times, places and manner” of how elections are run.
The president’s order also issues directives to the independent Election Assistance Commission, which election law experts say he doesn’t have the authority to do.
A day after the order was issued, several voting rights groups and state attorneys generals already are hinting they plan to challenge it in court.
▶ Read more about the constitutionality of Trump’s order
Turkish student at Tufts University is detained without explanation
A Turkish national who is a doctoral student at Tufts University has been detained by federal agents without explanation, her lawyer said.
Rumeysa Ozturk had just left her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, when she was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents.
Surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking the 30-year-old’s phone as she yelled and was handcuffed Tuesday.
A federal judge ordered Ozturk not be moved out of Massachusetts and gave the government until Friday to respond. Messages to DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were not immediately returned.
▶ Read more about the student’s detainment
Social Security Administration backtracks on some ID requirements
The Social Security Administration is partially backtracking on a plan that would require all new and existing beneficiaries to travel to an agency field office to verify their identity.
The administration said people applying for Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare or Supplemental Security Income who are not able to use the agency’s online portal can complete their claim entirely over the phone instead of in person. Other applicants will still be required to verify their identities at a field office.
The changes will apply to all beneficiaries beginning April 14, instead of the previously announced date of March 31.
“We have listened to our customers, Congress, advocates, and others, and we are updating our policy to provide better customer service to the country’s most vulnerable populations,” Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, said in a statement.
▶ Read more about the ID requirement change
Democrats explore impacts of National Institutes of Health cuts
A cancer survivor, an ALS patient and Alzheimer’s disease researchers told Senate Democrats on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s siege on the National Institutes of Health is destroying hope for cures.
“I ask you to protect this funding so more people can outlive their expiration dates,” Dr. Larry Saltzman, a retired physician who’s survived leukemia years longer than expected by enrolling in clinical trials of new therapies. “I am living proof of what NIH-based research can do.”
Democrats held the hearing to explore the impacts of drastic cuts at the world’s leading funder of biomedical research. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin, described more than 300 NIH grants abruptly canceled and delays of $1.7 billion in funding for new or ongoing studies.
An Emory University researcher described dreading telling a woman in one of her Alzheimer’s studies that it had been canceled.
“The news is going to devastate her,” neuroscientist Whitney Wharton said. “It’s already having real-world impacts.”
Trump calls Signal uproar a ‘witch hunt’
Trump grumbled about Democratic scrutiny over his national security team using the Signal app to plan an attack on Houthis in Yemen. The president said the criticism and media coverage was distracting from the successful operation that his team conducted on militants that have wreaked havoc in the Red Sea.
“I think it’s all a witch hunt,” Trump said.
Trump said he was not bothered by calls from Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat, for an expedited inspector general investigation into the use of Signal by the national security team.
Trump said he didn’t know if classified information was shared by his team on the app.
Trump pitches deal on TikTok and tariffs
Trump said he would consider a reduction in tariffs on China if they were able to reach a deal on TikTok.
“Sounds like something I’d do,” he said.
Legislation signed into law by then-President Joe Biden set a deadline for forcing the sale of the social media platform. Trump has extended the deadline and suggested he could do so again.
▶ Read more about Trump’s TikTok comments
North Carolina DHHS says termination of federal grants will result in loss of over 80 positions and $100 million in funds
North Carolina’s state government health agency says the “abrupt and immediate termination” of several federal grants by the Trump administration will result in the loss of more than 80 positions and over $100 million in funding.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which has more than 18,000 employees, learned of the grant terminations on Tuesday, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
The agency said the lost funding is related to several work areas, including immunization efforts, infectious disease monitoring, behavioral health and substance use disorder services. Local health and social service offices, universities and hospitals that complete grant-related work also are affected.
Some department vendors are being asked to pause work until more information is provided by the federal government, the state agency said.
Trump places 25% tariff on imported autos in move aimed at spurring domestic manufacturing
Trump says he is placing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a move that the White House claims would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.
“This will continue to spur growth,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll effectively be charging a 25% tariff.”
The tariffs could be complicated as even U.S. automakers source their components from around the world, meaning that they could face higher costs and lower sales. Shares in General Motors have fallen roughly 3% in Wednesday afternoon trading. Ford’s stock was up slightly. Shares in Stellantis, the owner of Jeep and Chrysler, have dropped nearly 4%.
▶ Read more about the tariffs
Congressional Republicans target PBS and NPR funding in contentious hearing
Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has called for dismantling and defunding the nation’s public broadcast system following a contentious public hearing.
“We believe that you all can hate us on your own dime,” said Taylor Greene, of Georgia.
The leaders of PBS and NPR appeared before the committee as congressional Republicans and Trump have roughly half a billion dollars in public funding for them in their sight.
Republicans complain of left-wing bias in the news and programming. Democrats mocked the hearing as shameful considering other issues, as the broadcast company leaders tried to explain what they delivered for taxpayers.
▶ Read more about the hearing
Trump criticizes Democrats’ record on transgender issues at Women’s History Month event
At the White House event, Trump said the previous administration wanted to “abolish the very concept of womanhood.”
“No matter how many surgeries you have or chemicals you inject, if you’re born with male DNA in your body, you can never become a woman,” Trump said.
He said there would be “tremendous goodies” for women in Republican legislation this year, including support for in vitro fertilization.
“I’ll be known as the fertilization president,” he said.
Appeals court won’t halt order barring Trump administration from deportations under wartime law
A federal appeals court has refused to lift an order barring the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law.
A split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a March 15 order temporarily prohibiting deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Invoking the law for the first time since World War II, the Trump administration deported hundreds of people under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.
The Justice Department appealed after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked more deportations and ordered planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants to return to the U.S. That did not happen.
Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan noncitizens who were being held in Texas.
▶ Read more about the court’s decision
Canada’s leader says Trump ‘wants to break us so America can own us’
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Trump’s trade war “is hurting American consumers and workers and it will hurt more.”
American consumer confidence is at a multiyear low and U.S.-Canadian kinship is under more strain than ever before, Carney said while campaigning in Windsor, Ontario ahead of Canada’s April 28 election.
Trump put 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening to impose sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products on April 2.
But America will never own Canada, Carney said: “It will never ever happen because we just don’t look out for ourselves we look out for each other.”
▶ Read more on the Canadian view of Trump tariffs
US secretary of state says Signal leak was a ‘big mistake’ but did not cause harm
“Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist” to the Signal group chat with the most senior Trump officials, Marco Rubio said. “Nothing against journalists, but you aren’t supposed to be on that thing.”
Speaking alongside Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness during his tour of the Caribbean, Rubio said he’s been assured by the Pentagon that the group chat’s details about attacking Houthis in Yemen weren’t classified.
“It didn’t put in danger anyone’s life or the mission. There was no intelligence information,” Rubio said. “There was no war plans on there. This was a sort of description of what we could inform our counterparts around the world when the time came to do so.”
▶ Read more about Rubio’s Caribbean trip
Education Department says it has reopened applications for student loan repayment plans
The Education Department says applications for income-driven repayment plans are available online again for student loan borrowers.
The applications were taken down in response to a February court ruling that blocked some Biden-era programs. The materials’ removal had complicated the renewal process for borrowers already enrolled in other repayment plans.
The department said Wednesday that revisions to the form were necessary to comply with the court ruling.
The American Federation of Teachers had filed a lawsuit seeking to force the department to accept and process applications for the repayment plans.
Federal workers fired for DEI-related activities file class action complaint
The complaint filed Wednesday before the Merit System Protection Board accuses the Trump administration of violating the workers’ First Amendment rights and unlawfully targeting them because they promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.
The complaint also alleges that the mass firings violated antidiscrimination laws because they were based on pair of anti-DEI executive orders that “disproportionately singled out federal workers who were not white men for hostility, suspicion, job interference, and termination.”
The complaint was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward and two law firms on behalf of Mahri Stainnak, a former employee of the Office of Personnel Management, and “similarly-situated federal workers.”
White House characterizes Signal chat as ‘sensitive policy discussion’ but insists no classified information shared
“I would characterize this messaging thread as a policy discussion, a sensitive policy discussion among high level cabinet officials and senior staff,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Wednesday.
Asked to square how classified information wasn’t shared, considering launch times and weapon systems were included, Leavitt cited a social media post by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that said the information wasn’t classified.
She also assailed The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg — mistakenly added to the thread by the national security adviser — as an “anti-Trump sensationalist reporter.”
“Do you trust the secretary of defense — who was nominated for this role, voted by the United States Senate into this role, who has served in combat, honorably served our nation in uniform — or do you trust Jeffrey Goldberg?” she asked.
Schumer says Trump pick would ‘destroy Social Security from within’
Senate Democrats said Frank Bisignano should withdraw his nomination to lead the Social Security Administration.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer compared appointing Bisignano to “hiring an arsonist to run the fire station.”
“And what is the intent? Kill Social Security — by strangling, by not letting it work, by making it so that it’s impossible for people to get their help and their benefits,” Schumer said.
Bisignano, a Wall Street veteran and self described “DOGE person,” faced tough questions at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Supreme Court seems likely to preserve $8 billion phone and internet subsidy for rural, low-income areas
The justices heard nearly three hours of arguments Wednesday in a new test of federal regulatory power, reviewing an appellate ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the Universal Service Fund, the tax that has been added to phone bills for nearly 30 years.
Liberal and conservative justices alike expressed concerns about the potentially devastating consequences of eliminating the fund that has benefited tens of millions of Americans. The Court seems likely to preserve the subsidies for phone and internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas.
▶ Read more on this test of federal regulatory power
Homeland Security secretary is on her way to El Salvador for prison visit
The Department of Homeland Security says in a post on X that Kristi Noem will discuss how the U.S. can expand deportation flights of “violent criminals” to the Central American nation.
Noem is visiting a prison where Venezuelans removed from the U.S. are being held. The Trump administration has acknowledged that many do not have criminal records, but alleges that they are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. It has not identified who was deported or given any evidence that they’re gang members.
She’ll also meet with President Nayib Bukele. He agreed to imprison the deportees at the administration’s request.
Federal judge struggles with scope of relief for fired federal workers
U.S. District Judge James Bredar is briefly extending a temporary order requiring the Trump administration to bring back federal workers who were fired as part of a dramatic downsizing of the federal workforce.
During a hearing in Baltimore on Wednesday, the judge said he is reluctant to issue a sweeping national preliminary injunction in the case. The government is appealing Bredar’s earlier decision to require the federal government to reinstate more than 24,000 federal workers.
His ruling came in a lawsuit filed by 19 states and the District of Columbia. They contend the Trump administration blindsided them with the layoffs, which could have devastating consequences for their state finances.
US on track to hit debt ceiling by August, CBO reports
The so-called X-date is when the country runs short of money to pay its bills.
Without another deal between lawmakers and the White House, the government will exhaust the accounting maneuvers used to stretch existing funds by August, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday.
The House added $4 trillion to the debt ceiling in the Republican budget plan, which sets the stage for extending tax cuts passed in Trump’s first term. Whether the Republican-led Senate will agree remains unclear.
“Democrats are ready to work across the aisle to prevent a catastrophic default. But Republicans must work with us to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
Republican chair of Senate Armed Services Committee calls for investigation into Signal chat
Sen. Roger Wicker said he and Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat, will send a letter to the Trump administration requesting an Inspector General investigation into the use of Signal by top national security officials to discuss military plans.
Wicker is also calling for a classified Senate briefing from a top national security official and verification that The Atlantic published an accurate transcript of the Signal chat.
Wicker’s move is notable given the Trump administration’s defiance. Most Republicans seem content to allow the episode to blow over. Asked what the consequences for Hegseth should be, Wicker said, “Let’s see.”
He added that the administration — “right up to the president” — should take a conciliatory approach to the episode.
The Trump administration is at the Supreme Court with a new emergency appeal
Wednesday’s filing seeks approval to go ahead with cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training.
A federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the cuts, finding they were already impacting a nationwide teacher shortage. Eight Democratic-led states challenged Trump’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs as his administration follows his executive order calling for the dismantling of the Education Department.
The Justice Department has filed three other emergency appeals of court rulings that blocked administration actions.
The Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether to narrow nationwide holds on executive actions as Trump seeks to restrict birthright citizenship. Also pending is an appeal to halt an order requiring the rehiring of thousands of federal workers.
Democrats, CIA director clash over Hegseth, Signal chat
The questioning of John Ratcliffe descended into yelling as a California Democrat asked the CIA director whether Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was drinking when he used the Signal app to text his plans for attacking Houthis in Yemen.
“I think that’s an offensive line of questioning,” Ratcliffe told Rep. Jimmy Gomez. “The answer is no.”
Ratcliffe and Gomez then began shouting over each other as Gomez tried to follow up.
“We want to know if his performance is compromised,” Gomez said.
Democrats call on defense secretary to resign over Signal app exposure
“It is completely outrageous to me that administration officials come before us today with impunity, no acceptance of responsibility,” said Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado. He said Pete Hegseth “must resign immediately. There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there is accountability.”
Other Democrats on House Intelligence Committee rejected assertions by Gabbard and Ratcliffe that no classified material was included in the chat. They pointed chat messages released by The Atlantic on Wednesday as evidence the exposure could have jeopardized the mission’s success or endangered U.S. service members’ lives.
“This is classified information. It’s a weapon system, as well as a sequence of strikes, as well as details of the operations,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. “He needs to resign immediately.”
Trump says ‘we have to convince’ people of Greenland to become US citizens
Asked if he thinks they’re “eager” to become American citizens, Trump said he didn’t know “but I think we have to do it, and we have to convince them.”
Trump repeated in an interview Wednesday on “The Vince Show” that the U.S. needs control of Greenland for national security reasons. His pronouncements have irked residents of the semiautonomous Danish territory.
Vance and his wife, Usha, are scheduled Friday to visit a U.S. military base on the Arctic island.
Gabbard says including a reporter in a discussion of military plans on Signal was a ‘mistake’
Gabbard acknowledged before the House Intelligence Committee that the texts contained “candid and sensitive” discussions but said again that no classified information was included.
“It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added,” Gabbard said.
National security adviser Mike Waltz has taken responsibility for the addition of The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to the chat, which also included the defense secretary, the vice president and other top Trump administration officials.
Democrats blasted it as a sloppy mistake that could have put American service members at risk.
Texts released by The Atlantic on Wednesday referred to the timing of strikes and the types of weaponry involved.
Democrats to press directors of National Intelligence and CIA over Signal leak
Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe face more questioning about how Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a group chat in which they discussed American military strikes in Yemen.
Gabbard, Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Michael Waltz and other top national security officials were on the chat, which included the times of warplane launches and other actions.
Waltz has taken responsibility. Trump called it “a glitch.” Democrats said it was an irresponsible security lapse that could require resignations.
Republican Rep. Rick Crawford urged his fellow House Intelligence Committee members not to focus on the Signal chat leak during Wednesday’s hearing on global threats.
“It’s my sincere hope that we use this hearing to discuss the many foreign threats facing our nation,” Crawford said in opening remarks.
Senate confirms Trump’s picks to lead NIH, FDA
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya passed a 53-47 party-line vote to become director of the National Institutes of Health.
The Stanford University health economist, an outspoken critic of COVID-19 policies, has vowed to encourage scientific dissent. He now leads the world’s top funder of biomedical research as Trump drastically reduces its funding and workforce.
Dr. Marty Makary won over a handful of Democrats in a 56-44 vote to become commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates drugs, medical devices and food safety.
The Johns Hopkins University researcher also has contrarian views, and like the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has criticized food additives, ultraprocessed foods and the overprescribing of drugs.
Schumer and Senate Democrats question if Signal app breach violated Espionage Act
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and top Senate Democrats on the national security committees want answers from Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials as the Signal app fallout deepens, questioning whether the actions violate the Espionage Act.
“We write to you with extreme alarm about the astonishingly poor judgment shown by your Cabinet and national security advisers,” the senators wrote in a letter to the president.
“Our committees have serious questions,” they wrote, detailing a 10-part probing line of inquiry.
The senators noted that if any other American military service member or official committed such breach “they would be investigated and likely prosecuted.”
▶ Read more on the Signal text chat fallout
Consumers and investors slam Delaware’s passage of ‘billionaire’s bill’
The legislature voted overwhelmingly in favor after Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer urged quick passage amid pressure from corporate leaders about court precedents governing conflicts of interest.
Elon Musk encouraged a “Dexit” after Tesla shareholder complaints led a judge to invalidate his compensation package potentially worth more than $55 billion.
Critics warned it will harm investors, pensioners and middle-class savers by making it harder to hold corporate insiders accountable for violating their fiduciary duties.
Delaware is the legal home of more than 2 million corporate entities, including two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies. State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton warned against “cooking that golden goose.”
▶ Read more about how Delaware’s loosening of corporate accountability
The Atlantic releases entire Signal chat — including plans for Yemen attack
The Atlantic released the entire Signal chat between Trump senior national security officials on Wednesday, showing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact times of war plane launches through the unclassified communications app — before the men and women flying those attacks on behalf of the United States were airborne.
The revelation follows two intense days where Trump’s senior most cabinet members of his intelligence and defense agencies have squirmed to explain how details — which current and former U.S. officials have said would have been classified — wound up on an unclassified Signal chat that included Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
Hegseth has refused to say whether he posted classified information onto Signal. He is traveling in the Indo-Pacific and to date has only said he did not reveal “war plans.”
▶ Read more on related developments as Trump officials face House questioning
Researchers in limbo as Columbia bows to Trump’s demands in bid to restore $400M federal funding
When Trump canceled $400 million in funding to Columbia University over its handling of student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, much of the financial pain fell on researchers a train ride away from the school’s campus, working on things like curing cancer and studying COVID-19’s impact on children.
The urgency of salvaging ongoing research projects at the university’s labs and world-renowned medical center was one factor in Columbia’s decision last week to bow to the Republican administration’s unprecedented demands for changes in university policy as a condition of getting funding restored.
Scientific and medical researchers are appalled that their work was drawn into the debate to begin with.
▶ Read more about the impact on researchers at Columbia
Change in itinerary for JD Vance brings cautious relief for Greenland and Denmark
Greenland and Denmark appeared cautiously relieved early Wednesday by the news that Vance and his wife are changing their itinerary for their visit to Greenland Friday, reducing the likelihood that they will cross paths with residents angered by the Trump administration’s attempts to annex the vast Arctic island, a semiautonomous Danish territory.
The couple will now visit the U.S. Space Force outpost at Pituffik, on the northwest coast of Greenland, instead of Usha Vance’s previously announced solo trip to the Avannaata Qimussersu dogsled race in Sisimiut.
The vice president’s decision to visit a U.S. military base in Greenland has removed the risk of violating potential diplomatic taboos by sending a delegation to another country without an official invitation. But Vance has also criticized long-standing European allies for relying on military support from the United States, openly antagonizing partners in ways that have generated concerns about the reliability of the U.S.
▶ Read more about the vice president’s trip to Greenland
Trump’s executive order on elections is far-reaching. But will it actually stick?
Trump’s executive order seeking broad changes to how elections are run in the U.S. is vast in scope and holds the potential to reorder the voting landscape across the country, even as it faces almost certain litigation.
He wants to require voters to show proof that they are U.S. citizens before they can register for federal elections, count only mail or absentee ballots received by Election Day, set new rules for voting equipment and prohibit non-U.S. citizens from being able to donate in certain elections.
A basic question underlying the sweeping actions he signed Tuesday: Can he do it, given that the Constitution gives wide leeway to the states to develop their own election procedures? Here are some of the main points of the executive order and questions it raises.
▶ Read more about Trump’s executive order on elections