A federal the canāt deport migrants to Libya ā a country with a history of human rights violations ā unless they have a meaningful chance to challenge their removal in court.
Wednesdayās order from U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts comes after attorneys said immigration authorities informed migrants of plans to deport them to Libya.
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Judge orders more information on Trump administration deal with El Salvador
District Court Judge James E. Boasberg said he needed the information from the administration to determine whether the roughly 200 men, deported in March under an 18th century wartime law, were still effectively in the United Statesā custody. If they are, Boasberg could order their return, as immigration lawyers have asked him to do.
Boasberg noted that Trump had boasted in an interview that he could get back one man wrongly imprisoned in El Salvador in a separate case by simply asking that countryās president, Nayib Bukele, to send him back.
The governmentās lawyer, Abishek Kambli, said that and other public statements by administration officials about their relationship with El Salvador lacked ānuance.ā
House Republicans are backing off some ā but not all ā Medicaid cuts
House Republicans appear to be backing off some, but not all, of the steep reductions to the Medicaid program as part of their big tax breaks bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is running into resistance from more centrist GOP lawmakers opposed to ending health care coverage for their constituents back home.
A new report out Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows millions of Americans would lose Medicaid coverage under the various proposals being circulated by Republicans as cost-savings measures.
House Republicans are scrounging to come up with as much as $1.5 trillion in cuts to health care, food stamps and other programs, to offset the revenue lost for some $4.5 trillion in tax breaks.
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Trump says heāll decide what to call the Persian Gulf while in the Middle East
Trump says he will make a decision about how the U.S. government will refer to the body of water commonly known as the Persian Gulf when he visits Arab states next week.
The president told reporters Wednesday that he expects his hosts will ask him about the U.S. officially calling the waterway the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia.
He was asked about the possible name change after The Associated Press reported Tuesday that two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said Trump would announce the change while he was on the trip. The report generated outcry from Iranians, who said the Persian Gulf moniker is thousands of years old and an essential part of Iranās history.
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Pro-Trump network to provide Voice of America with content, Kari Lake says
The Trump administration has sought to dismantle government-run news outlets like the Voice of America, in part because it believes the services that provide news to other countries operate with a liberal bias.
Now, Kari Lake, Trumpās representative at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, says the conservative One America ¾¢±¬“ó¹Ļ Network has agreed to provide its news and video feeds free of charge.
Lake portrays it as a boon to taxpayers while critics say it ensures steady pro-Trump coverage.
Court cases on the future of Voice of America and similar services Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have left them in limbo.
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FBI director says bureau needs more funding than what Trump administration budget proposal calls for
FBI Director Kash Patel is breaking with the Trump administration over a budget proposal that would dramatically slash funding for the bureau.
āWe need more than what has been proposed,ā he told lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday.
The 2026 budget proposal released Friday calls for a funding cut of more than $500 million for the FBI as part of what the White House said was a desire to āreform and streamlineā the bureau and reduce ānon-law enforcement missions that do not alignā with Trumpās priorities.
Patel warned that such a cut would be harmful for the FBI as it reorients priorities to focus on violent crime.
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US must allow migrants a chance to challenge in court any deportations to Libya, judge says
The order from U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts comes after attorneys said immigration authorities informed migrants of plans to deport them to Libya, a country with a history of human rights violations.
Murphy previously found that any migrants deported to countries other than their homelands must first be allowed to argue that it would jeopardize their safety. He said any āallegedly imminentā removals would āclearly violate this Courtās Order.ā
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Trump taps wellness influencer close to RFK Jr. for US surgeon general
Trump is tapping Casey Means, a wellness influencer with close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as his nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his initial pick for the influential health post.
The president said in a social media post that Means has āimpeccable āMAHAā credentialsā ā referring to the āMake America Healthy Againā slogan ā and that she will work to eradicate chronic disease and improve the health and well-being of Americans.
Trump withdrew former Fox ¾¢±¬“ó¹Ļ medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat for U.S. surgeon general, marking at least the second health-related pick from Trump to be pulled from Senate consideration.
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Khalil attorney praises judge for seeking history of provision behind clientās deportation case
The judge overseeing Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalilās deportation case has asked the governmentās attorneys to produce a rundown of every time federal officials have deployed the obscure provision of immigration law behind Khalilās possible removal from the U.S.
The provision authorizes the Secretary of State to deport those whose presence in the country is found to carry the potential of āserious adverse foreign policy consequences.ā
Baher Azmy, an attorney for Khalil, praised the federal judge for seeking the information on the Immigration and Nationality Act, āsince to our knowledge it has barely ever been used in the past 50 years until now when it is being rolled out indiscriminately to target constitutionally protected speech under the fatuous claim of foreign policy interests.ā
Legal scholars say the rarely invoked provision requires extensive judicial review and is intended for unusual circumstances in which a noncitizenās presence in the U.S. could set off diplomatic turmoil.
Judge in Khalilās deportation case assigns history report to government attorneys
The obscure provision of immigration law at the heart of Trumpās crackdown on student activists is now the subject of an unusual assignment handed down by a federal judge to the governmentās attorneys: produce a history report, due tomorrow.
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said the government should ālist each instance, other than this oneā in which federal officials used a provision of the law authorizing the Secretary of State to deport those whose presence in the country is found to carry the potential of āserious adverse foreign policy consequences.ā
Farbiarz is considering whether to free Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist at Columbia University who became the first person to face deportation under the Trump administrationās interpretation of the law.
The governmentās report is due Thursday morning, the judge wrote in the Wednesday order. The Department of Homeland Security and Department of State did not respond to emails seeking comment.
EPA targets Energy Star program focused on appliance efficiency
An Environmental Protection Agency plan to eliminate its Energy Star offices would end a decades-old program that gave consumers a choice to buy environmentally friendly refrigerators, dishwashers and other electronics, consumer and environmental groups said.
EPA launched Energy Star in 1992 with the goal of tackling environmental protection and economic growth. It boosts the market for energy-efficient products and benefits companies that design appliances that earn the label.
The changes, outlined in agency documents reviewed by The Associated Press, are part of a broad reorganization at EPA that would eliminate or reorganize significant parts of the office focused on air pollution.
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Fed chair says Trumpās public calls for rate cuts not influencing policy
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said pressure by Trump to cut benchmark interest rates will have no impact on the central bankās policy choices.
āIt doesnāt affect either our job or the way we do it,ā Trump said at a Wednesday press conference.
Trump has said inflation is falling and the Fed should cut its short-term rates in response, maintaining that he could fire Powell but that he has no plans to do so.
The Fed judges inflation to still be elevated and that Trumpās tariffs create a risk of both higher prices and higher unemployment.
Frank Bisignano is sworn as the 18th Social Security commissioner
Bisignano has served as chair of Fiserv, a payments and financial services tech firm since 2020.
His arrival at the Social Security Administration comes after a series of changes have been made to the agency in the past four months, including mass federal worker layoffs, cuts to programs, office closures and a planned cut to nationwide Social Security phone services, which were eventually walked back.
āPresident Trump has been clear about Social Security. We will protect it,ā Bisignano said. āWe will make the Social Security Administration a premier organization.ā
Trump says the US hasnāt decided whether to allow Iran to continue a civilian nuclear enrichment
Trump says he hasnāt decided yet whether to allow Iran to maintain a nuclear enrichment program even if it commits not to purify Uranium to weapons-grade, as his administration engages with talks with Tehran meant to end its advancing weapons program.
āWe havenāt made that decision yet,ā he told reporters in the Oval Office. āWe will, but we havenāt made that decision yet.ā
Earlier Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said Iran can have civil nuclear power, āWe donāt mind that,ā but then said that no regime in the world has civil nuclear power and enrichment without a nuclear weapon and cannot have the kind of enrichment program that allows them to get to a nuclear weapon.
Trump says he expects to be asked during Mideast trip for US to call Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf
āTheyāre going to ask me about that when I get there and Iāll have to make a decision,ā Trump said when asked if he planned to make an announcement that the U.S. will officially refer to the waterways as the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia during his visit to the Middle East next week.
The AP reported on Tuesday, citing two U.S. officials familiar with the matter, that Trump would announce the U.S. he was making the move. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he expected to receive a briefing on the matter and would then make a decision.
Trump says Gaza development is coming in next day or so
Ahead of his first trip to the Middle East since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump says thereās āa lot of talkā going on about Gaza and that his administration will soon have more to say about a new proposal ā that may include a new push for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the release of hostages and an influx of aid to Palestinians.
āYouāll be knowing probably in the next 24 hours,ā Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
āWe take their word for it.ā
Trump finished his remarks in the Oval Office by saying he expects the Houthis in Yemen to uphold their commitment to stop firing on cargo vessels in the Red Sea.
āHopefully thatās over with, and theyāll leave those ships alone,ā he said. āWe take their word for it.ā
The president had previously announced an end to the U.S. bombing campaign in Yemen.
Trump said āwe hit them very hardā and āthey took tremendous punishment.ā
Trump on India-Pakistan conflict: āSo terribleā
The president called the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan āso terribleā and urged both sides to stop the violence.
āItās so terrible,ā Trump said. āMy position is, I get along with both. I know both very well and I want to see them work it out.ā
He added: āIf I can do anything to help, I will be there.ā
Federal Reserve leaves key rate unchanged as it sees risk of higher prices and higher unemployment
The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday, brushing off Trumpās to lower borrowing costs, and said that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.
The Fed kept its rate at 4.3% for the third straight meeting, after cutting it three times in a row at the end of last year. Many economists and Wall Street investors still expect the Fed will reduce rates two or three times this year, but the sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump have injected a tremendous amount of uncertainty into the U.S. economy and the Fedās policies.
It is unusual for the Fed to say that the risk of both higher prices and more unemployment have increased. But economists say that is the threat created by Trumpās sweeping tariffs.
Trump said it was ādisappointingā to learn of senatorās objection to top DC prosecutor
The president said he didnāt know about the objections of North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis despite the senator saying publicly a day earlier that he had informed the White House that he would not support Ed Martin to lead the U.S. Attorneyās office in Washington.
Tillis also told Trump directly, according to an aide for the senator.
Trump called Martin ā very talentedā but said votes on the nominee are āreally up to the senators.ā
āThey have to follow their heart, and they have to follow their mind,ā he said.
Trump says he wonāt reduce tariffs on China in order to have negotiations
Trump said ānoā when asked if he would reduce his 145% tariffs on Chinese goods as a condition for negotiations.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are set to meet with their Chinese counterparts this weekend in Switzerland.
China has made the de-escalation of the tariffs a requirement for trade negotiations, which the meetings are supposed to help establish.
Trumpās comments suggest the worldās two largest economies could be at an impasse.
Trump looking at exempting baby products from tariffs
Sales associate Charlotte Santoli unpacks strollers and other inventory ordered by customers ahead of tariff-driven price increases at the Union Market location in Washington, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Trump says heās looking at exempting baby-related products from his tariffs, but he said he doesnāt want to complicate his import taxes.
āI donāt know,ā Trump told reporters at the White House. āIāll think about it.ā
While Trump said he would look at the matter, he said he wanted to keep his import taxes āvery simpleā and exemptions could make an already complex process even more indecipherable. He said that ānobody knowsā the policy if there are āso many exemptions.ā
Trump says itās a ādisserviceā that US doesnāt celebrate victory in World War II
Trump opened a swearing-in ceremony for his new U.S. ambassador to China by noting that World War II allies are spending the week celebrating the warās end with parades and other festivities but that America āhas never joined in with a proper celebration of our own.ā
āWe donāt celebrate it, and I think thatās a great disservice,ā the Republican president said from the Oval Office.
Trump issued a proclamation Wednesday designating Thursday as a day to celebrate victory in World War II.
He didnāt elaborate on what he expects people to do to observe the 80th anniversary of the end of that conflict.
Perdue sworn in as China envoy
The president held a ceremony to swear in David Perdue, his recently confirmed pick for U.S. ambassador to China.
āOur new ambassador brings to this position a lifetime of experience at the highest levels of business and politics,ā Trump said. āSay hello to President Xi when youāre over there, please."
Perdue was confirmed on a 67-29 vote last month. He was one of Trumpās most stalwart supporters in the Senate, starting with his 2016 presidential campaign.
āI am glad to be your man in China,ā Perdue said.
Final 2024 election fight ends in North Carolina Supreme Court race
Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin conceded his 734-vote loss for a to , two days after a federal judge potentially thousands of disputed ballots challenged by Griffin must remain in the count.
That ended Griffinās more than six-month challenge to the vote count in the November election. Even with his loss, Republicans retain a 5-2 majority on the state Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court race was the last undecided race in the country. The Associated Press called more than 4,800 winners in the 2024 general election.
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Why the tariff picture may seem more confusing
The more talks about his efforts to reach deals with Americaās trading partners, the more confusing picture gets. His team seems good with that, saying Trump is using āstrategic uncertaintyā to his advantage.
Trump says the U.S. doesnāt have to sign any deals, but he also says the U.S. could sign 25 of them right now. He says heās looking for fair deals on all sides, but also that he doesnāt care about other countriesā markets. He says his team can sit down to negotiate the terms of a deal, and that he might just impose a set of tariffs on his own.
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Trump administration rescinds layoff notices to CDC program for 9/11 responders
The Trump administration has rescinded layoff notices to about 15 workers in a federal program that cares for 9/11 responders and survivors.
The layoff notices went out last week, setting an end to the World Trade Center Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program provides medical monitoring and treatment of 9/11-related health conditions for about 133,000 people, and was one of the few parts of the CDCās National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that has not been eliminated in recent staffing or budget cuts.
The workers got notices Tuesday that their employment will continue.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the reversal. When asked for the reason, he said there are issues with human resources records.
-By Mike Stobbe
Trump endorses Rep. Mike Lawler ā just not for the office the congressman has been eyeing
Trump said heās backing the Republican for reelection in his New York swing district, writing on Truth Social that āHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!ā
But Lawler isnāt up for reelection until next year and has been teasing a potential run for governor for months. Meanwhile, Rep. Elise Stefanik, passed over for ambassador to the United Nations, is considering campaigning for governor and has been encouraged to run by major New York donors, state Republican officials and White House officials, .
Lawler is āgrateful for the Presidentās support,ā his spokesperson said in a statement, but added: āAs Congressman Lawler has said repeatedly, he will make a decision on running for Governor in June.ā
Trump designates Thursday as a day for US to celebrate victory in World War II
Trump has complained on social media that the U.S. doesnāt celebrate its military victories like the rest of the world. He said heād create a āVictory Dayā for World War I and World War II, then backtracked and said heād declare national holidays instead.
Trump signed a on Wednesday declaring Thursday as a āday in celebration of Victory Day for World War II.ā
Cities from London to Moscow will be awash with parades, flyovers and memorials this week as the world marks ā the day Nazi Germany surrendered to Allied forces. World War II ended May 8, 1945.
Trump said the victory wouldnāt have been possible without the U.S.
Millions of people would lose Medicaid under Republicansā changes, nonpartisan budget office says
Their plans could reduce the federal deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars, but states would be left to pick up costs, too. Medicaid is a joint program run by states and the federal government.
Republicans are considering a menu of options including reducing the federal share, which is as much as 90% in some cases ā and capping federal spending on each Medicaid enrolleeās health care.
Those two changes could result in more than 5 million people becoming uninsured, the Congressional Budget Office Wednesday morning.
Treasury secretary is testifying for a second day on Capitol Hill
Scott Bessent is now before the House Financial Services Committee to discuss international financial systems.
Heās also been asked about the looming X-Date when the U.S. could default on its debt, Chinaās economic influence, Russia sanctions and his participation in a Signal chat group with other Trump administration officials.
As for cryptocurrency in the U.S., Bessent said, āwe believe the United States should be the premier destination for digital assets ā¦ so that U.S. best practices are best used around the world.ā
A digital assets project called World Liberty Financial that Trump launched while campaigning has taken in billions of dollars from investors around the world.
RFK Jr. announces researchers will get access to data from autistic Medicare, Medicaid enrollees
The nationās health department is launching a research project that will examine claims data and electronic medical records of Medicaid and Medicare enrollees who have been diagnosed with autism.
The program will involve a data sharing agreement between the National Institutes of Health, the governmentās health research arm, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has access to claims data from nearly 150 million Americans across the country.
āWeāre using this partnership to uncover the root causes of autism and other chronic diseases,ā HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
The agreement will be āfully compliant with privacy and security laws,ā the department said in its statement.
Turkish Tufts University student detained by ICE can be sent to Vermont, appeals court rules
The 2nd Circuit Court appellate panel ruled in favor of Rumeysa Ozturk, whose lawyers sought her return to New England for hearings to determine whether her detention violates her constitutional free speech and due process rights.
The 30-year-old doctoral student has been detained in Louisiana for six weeks following an op-ed she cowrote last year criticizing the universityās response to Israelās war in Gaza. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said without providing evidence that Ozturk had engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
The Justice Department argued that an immigration court in Louisiana has jurisdiction. The court ordered Ozturkās transfer to ICE custody in Vermont no later than May 14.
US special envoy to informally brief UN Security Council members on aid to Gaza
Steve Witkoff is in New York to provide the unofficial briefing, according to a U.S. and a U.N. diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private diplomatic meetings.
For more than two months, from being trucked into the Palestinian territory, where the U.N. says the vast majority of . Israel alleges that Hamas was diverting supplies.
The U.S. is supporting a proposal for a new independent foundation to facilitate aid deliveries within the confines set by Israel, but it would not be an Israeli project, according to a person involved in the planning, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a plan not yet made public.
Itās unclear if Witkoff will be discussing this foundation in his briefing. The Security Council, with the exception of the U.S., has criticized Israelās blockade.
ā By Farnoush Amiri and Matthew Lee
Wisconsin Republican will miss House votes, cancels town hall due to ācredible threatā
Rep. Derrick Van Orden canceled a planned tele-town hall on Wednesday and will be missing votes in the House due to a ācredible threat made against his wife, children, and grandchildren,ā his office said.
The threat was delivered in a letter to his Washington office and has been reported to the authorities, his office said, blaming āincreasingly radical and violent rhetoric fueled by far-left Democrats who encourage hatred rather than healthy discourse.ā
The second-term, swing-district representative called on both Democrats and Republicans to āfully condemn it when they see it.ā
Federal judge orders release of pandemic aid money for schools
Trumpās Education Department the last of the U.S. relief money meant to help schools recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The vast majority of the $189 billion in aid approved by Congress has been spent, but some districts received extensions on deadlines to spend the money, and some were using it for things like after-school tutoring.
On March 28, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to schools saying she had moved the deadline up to that day. Several states and the District of Columbia sued in response, leading to the court order.
Vance talks free speech, Ukraine at security conference
The vice president spoke Wednesday at a meeting held in Washington by the Munich Security Conference, which also hosted a February summit in Germany where Vance ruffled feathers by declaring that free speech is āin retreatā across the continent.
Vance said Wednesday that his comments were not meant to imply āEurope bad, America good,ā but that both Europe and the U.S. under Biden had gotten āa bit off trackā when it comes to protecting free speech.
He said the administrationās next goals for brokering an end to the Russia-Ukraine war is to get both sides to start directly negotiating a long-term settlement.
GOP legislators push restrictions on citizen initiatives
Lawmakers in about a dozen states have advanced roughly 40 measures this year that would make it harder for citizen initiatives to get on ballots. Many already have been signed into law. The measures limit who can circulate petitions, add content requirements and in some cases raise thresholds needed for voter approval.
Republican lawmakers are making these moves in states where voters have been able to decide on initiatives proposed by progressive groups.
āThis is not a bill to restrict. It is a bill to protect ā to make sure that our constitutional system is one of integrity, and that itās free of fraud,ā said state Sen. Jennifer Bradley of Florida, where the new initiative requirements already .
But Dane Waters, chair of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, sees direct democracy on the retreat in many states. Lawmakers often perceive the initiative process as āan assault on their power and authority, and they want to limit it,ā Waters said.
Ahead of Trumpās visit, Disney announces a new theme park in the UAE
The theme park ā Disneyās 7th ā will be built on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, the company said Wednesday.
Trump has promised a series of business deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates during his trip to the region next week.
Disney posted solid quarterly profits and revenue from its theme parks and streaming service on Wednesday, boosting its annual profit expectations. But itās not immune from Trumpās including his threat of a 100% and Trumpās Federal Communications Commission said itās practices.
China says it agreed to US request for talks but remains opposed to tariffs
Upcoming trade talks between the U.S. and China have been initiated by Washington, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday in Beijing.
āChinaās position of firmly opposing the arbitrary imposition of tariffs by the U.S. has not changed,ā said spokesperson Lin Jian. And while Beijing is open to dialogue, he repeated that any talks āmust be based on equality, respect and mutual benefit.ā
āAny form of pressure or coercion against China will not work,ā Lin said. āChina will firmly safeguard its legitimate interests and uphold international fairness and justice.ā
Trump plans to announce that the US will call the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf, officials say
The president plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the U.S. will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.
Arab nations have pushed for a change to the geographic name of the body of water off the southern coast of Iran, while Iran has maintained its historic ties to the Gulf. The U.S. military for years has unilaterally referred to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf in statements and images it releases.
The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of āGulf of Arabiaā and āArabian Gulfā is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran ā formerly Persia ā threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the companyās decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps.
The White House and National Security Council did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
-By Matthew Lee
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The Associated Press
