Trump Administration to Screen Immigrants for ‘Anti-American' Views
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the primary agency in charge of legal immigration, said Tuesday that its officers should give significant weight to evidence that an immigrant 'has any involvement in anti-American or terrorist organizations' when reviewing residency, work and visa applications.
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Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Has Trump really ended ‘seven' wars?
While sitting beside Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, Donald Trump once again boasted of ending 'six wars' in as many months – without negotiating a single ceasefire. 'If you look at the six deals that I settled this year, they were all at war. I didn't do any ceasefires,' Trump said before turning to Zelensky, adding: 'I don't think you need a ceasefire.' Since his trip to Scotland last month, Trump has repeated multiple times a version of his claim that he's ended wars 'at about one a month,' according to PolitiFact. Earlier Monday, the president posted on Truth Social that in one case, he had averted a 'possible unclear disaster.' By Tuesday morning, Trump told Fox & Friends that his administration had 'solved seven wars,' though the president did not elaborate on which conflict he was now including in his list. The White House told The Independent that Trump was citing conflicts from both his first and second terms. The White House previously lauded Trump as the 'peacemaker-in-chief,' and the president has styled himself as the 'president of peace.' Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief has openly signalled his ambitions of winning a Nobel Peace Prize despite campaigning on a largely non-interventionist platform. Are Trump's claims of halting hostilities credible or an embellishment of the truth? The Independent takes a closer look at the president's peacemaking record. Israel and Iran Approximately three days after launching Operation Midnight Hammer, Trump told NATO leaders that his administration 'just ended a war in 12 days that was simmering for 30 years.' On June 23, the major Iranian uranium enrichment sites, Fordow and Natanz, and the research base of Isfahan faced a wave of U.S. bunker buster bombs and Tomahawk cruise missiles, which Trump claimed left the facilities 'obliterated.' The U.S. intervened in the conflict on June 21 after Israel launched a surprise attack eight days earlier on Iranian nuclear facilities, missile strikes, and military infrastructure. Iran responded with a wave of missile and drone strikes at Israeli army bases and cities. On June 23, Trump declared on Truth Social that Israel and Iran had reached a 'Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,' which was mediated by the U.S. While Trump's actions against Iran's nuclear program may have curtailed immediate strikes, it is not possible to claim to have secured lasting peace, with tensions in the region remaining high. India and Pakistan The brief but deadly military exchange between India and Pakistan that began on May 7 reignited long-standing tensions over the disputed region of Kashmir. It drew a surprise offer of mediation from Trump, who said he could help find a 'solution' to the Himalayan region that is claimed by both nations. 'We also appreciate President Trump's expressed willingness to support efforts aimed at the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,' said the Pakistani government. By contrast, India remained publicly silent while reinforcing its view that Kashmir is an internal matter. Major General Rameshwar Roy, a retired Indian Army officer, dismissed Trump's offer outright, calling it irrelevant and intrusive and telling The Independent in May that it was a 'bilateral agreement' reached without U.S. involvement. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri doubled down in June that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Trump there was 'no U.S. mediation between India and Pakistan.' Thailand and Cambodia On July 26, Trump said he was calling the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia to urge a ceasefire after three days of intense border fighting. A truce between the nations, brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, was reached on 28 July after Trump said he had spoken to the leaders. Trump leveraged his most powerful economic weapon: tariffs. He said he threatened to derail existing trade deals that had been brokered with the two countries if the fighting persisted. Just days later, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, lauding his 'extraordinary statesmanship' in halting the border conflict with its neighbor. However, foreign policy experts caution that there is no evidence that the president personally negotiated or directly brokered a ceasefire between the two countries. Reports indicate that the fragile truce has been violated multiple times, with both sides accusing each other of breaches. Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo On June 27, foreign ministers of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo flew to Washington, D.C., to sign a controversial peace deal brokered by the U.S. to end fighting in eastern DRC. The agreement also allows for U.S. investment in eastern DRC's critical mineral reserves, including gold, copper, and lithium. Flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and delegates from both nations in the Oval Office, Trump called the peace treaty 'a glorious triumph.' Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, however, claimed the 'diplomatic success' as his own. Foreign policy experts said the agreement is significant but part of a broader picture of broken contracts between the countries. A week earlier, Trump teed up the treaty he said he and Rubio arranged in a bid to put an end to the decades-long war between the two nations. 'This is a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World! I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for this,' he wrote on Truth Social on June 20. In his meandering post, Trump also noted that he wouldn't be awarded the prize for 'stopping' wars between India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, Egypt and Ethiopia, and for 'doing' the Abraham Accords in the Middle East. 'No, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that's all that matters to me!,' he said. Armenia and Azerbaijan On August 8, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement during a meeting with Trump in the White House, bringing an end to decades of conflict. If it holds, the deal between the South Caucasus rivals would reopen key transportation routes while allowing the U.S. to seize on Russia's declining influence in the region. A major transit corridor linking Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan is set to open, with the U.S. owning the development rights to the corridor. It was to be named the 'Trump Route,' the White House said, which the president called a 'great honor.' 'It's a long time – 35 years – they fought and now they're friends, and they're going to be friends for a long time,' Trump said, besides the leaders of the two nations at the signing ceremony. Egypt and Ethiopia After 12 years, Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on June 29 that talks with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the River Nile had ground to a halt. Days later, Ethiopia said its GERD was complete. While a full-scale conflict did not erupt, Egyptians remained wary that the mega dam could restrict the flow of the Nile, which provides 90 percent of the country's total water supply. In a White House meeting on July 14, Trump appeared to side with Egypt, claiming that it would be 'pretty incredible' if its water source were to be taken away. He said that the U.S is 'going to have that solved very quickly.' President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a Trump ally, said in a social media statement that the country appreciates Trump's 'keenness on reaching a just agreement' and supports the president's global 'vision of establishing just peace, security, and stability.' Ethiopian officials and experts warned that Trump's remarks risked aggravating the situation and undermining Ethiopia's right to utilize its natural resources. And any progress, they argued, is mainly attributable to ongoing multilateral negotiations, not Trump's intervention. Trump reportedly expressed hope for a quick resolution as Egypt and Ethiopia reached an agreement in 2018 during his first administration over how to share the waters of the Nile. Serbia and Kosovo At an Oval Office press conference on June 27, Trump declared that Serbia and Kosovo were on the brink of war – until, he said, his administration was 'able to stop it' by again threatening trade sanctions. Trump said he had a 'friend in Serbia' who alerted him that 'we're going to go to war again' with Kosovo, without providing further details. Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said on July 10 that Trump prevented a potential escalation 'from Serbia.' Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić denied the claims of warmongering and said on July 12 that a conflict with Kosovo 'does not even occur to us.' After the breakup of Yugoslavia, tensions between the two nations peaked between 1998 and 1999 when the countries were at war, which ended with NATO intervention. Friction has persisted since Kosovo declared independence in 2008. In 2020, during Trump's first term, the U.S. brokered a pact between the two Balkan nations to normalize economic relations.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sen. Lindsey Graham says Trump ready to ‘crush' Russian economy if Putin avoids talks with Zelenskyy
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday that he believes President Donald Trump is prepared to 'crush' Russia's economy with a new wave of sanctions if Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming weeks. Graham, who spoke with Trump on Tuesday morning, has pushed the president for months to support his sweeping bipartisan sanctions bill that would impose steep tariffs on countries that are fueling Russia's invasion of Ukraine by buying its oil, gas, uranium, and other exports. The legislation has the backing of 85 senators, but Trump has yet to endorse it. Republican leaders have said they won't move without him. 'If we don't have this thing moving in the right direction by the time we get back, then I think that plan B needs to kick in,' Graham said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. The Senate, now away from Washington for the August recess, is scheduled to return in September. Graham's call with Trump came less than 24 hours after high-stakes meetings at the White House with Zelenskyy and several European leaders. Trump and the leaders emerged from those talks sounding optimistic, with the expectation being that a Putin and Zelenskyy sit-down will happen soon. Still, Trump's comments to Graham, one of his top congressional allies, mark the latest sign that pressure is building — not just on Putin, but on Trump as well. 'Trump believes that if Putin doesn't do his part, that he's going to have to crush his economy. Because you've got to mean what you say,' Graham told reporters in South Carolina on Tuesday. As Congress prepares to return to session in early September, the next few weeks could become a defining test of whether lawmakers and international allies are prepared to act on their own if Trump doesn't follow through. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the lead Democrat pushing the bill with Graham, says there is a 'lot of reason for skepticism and doubt' after the meetings with Trump, especially because Putin has not made any direct promises. He said the Russian leader has an incentive to play 'rope-a-dope' with Trump. 'The only way to bring Putin to the table is to show strength,' Blumenthal told the AP this week. 'What Putin understands is force and pressure.' Still, Republicans have shown little willingness to override Trump in his second term. They abruptly halted work on the sanctions bill before the August recess after Trump said the legislation may not be needed. Asked Tuesday in a phone interview whether the sanctions bill should be brought up even without Trump's support, Graham said, 'the best way to do it is with him.' 'There will come a point where if it's clear that Putin is not going to entertain peace, that President Trump will have to back up what he said he would do,' Graham said. 'And the best way to do it is have congressional blessing.' The legislation would impose tariffs of up to 500% on countries such as China and India, which together account for roughly 70% of Russia's energy trade. The framework has the support of many European leaders. Many of those same European leaders left the White House on Monday with a more hopeful tone. Zelenskyy called the meeting with Trump 'an important step toward ending this war.' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that his expectations 'were not just met, they were exceeded.' Still, little concrete progress was visible on the main obstacles to peace. That deadlock likely favors Putin, whose forces continue to make steady, if slow, progress on the ground in Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after talks at the White House that Trump believes a deal with Putin is possible. But he said sanctions remain on the table if the process fails. ___ Associated Press reporter Meg Kinnard contributed to this report from Florence, South Carolina.
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
White House sending social media teams with FBI on some arrests in D.C., sources say
By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House has dispatched social media teams alongside FBI agents executing arrest warrants in the nation's capital to generate videos that promote U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on crime in the District of Columbia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The highly unusual arrangement runs afoul of longstanding Justice Department norms which seek to insulate criminal investigations from political influence. It could hamstring prosecutors' ability to try their cases by generating pre-trial publicity and raise constitutional questions about suspects' rights to privacy in cases involving arrests carried out in non-public areas, legal experts say. The White House has been playing an outsized role in the FBI's operations since Trump announced on August 11 that he was initiating a federal takeover of the District of Columbia's police department and calling in the National Guard to help patrol the streets. Critics have decried his actions as an authoritarian-like abuse of power. The White House posted a highly produced promotional video on its X account on Thursday documenting the arrest of Sean Charles Dunn, a now-former Department of Justice employee who is facing an assault charge after he hurled a Subway sandwich at a federal agent. In the video, armed agents can be seen storming Dunn's apartment and putting him in handcuffs. The video was taken by a social media team sent by the White House, one of the sources said, speaking anonymously to discuss personnel matters. According to X, it has received 2.4 million views. The social media team that filmed Dunn's arrest remained embedded with the same FBI squad throughout the evening, the source said. Reuters could not determine whether the people who produced the video are White House employees, nor could it determine on how many occasions the White House has sent people to film arrests since the operation began. The White House declined to answer those questions. "This is not a standard law enforcement posture because this is action directed by the president deeming what is necessary and appropriate under the law. Of course the White House is involved in highlighting our hugely successful efforts to stop violent crime in Washington, DC," a White House official said. "As the most transparent administration in history, we will continue sharing these efforts with the press and the American people," the official added. Spokespeople for the FBI declined to comment. Dunn's attorney Sabrina Shroff declined comment about the White House's role in filming the arrest, which took place just outside the doorway of Dunn's residence inside what appears to be an apartment-style building. "These are political media influencers who are there for a sole purpose, which is to document things in a light most favorable to a political agenda," said defense attorney Bradley Moss. "It has nothing to do with law and order." CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS The White House has also stationed employees inside the FBI's command post overseeing the federal operation who are tasked with reporting back with arrest numbers, the two sources said. A social media post from the Drug Enforcement Administration on Saturday featured Stephen Miller and White House Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Tony Salisbury appearing at the command post alongside Justice Department officials. In recent days, the FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department have referred media inquiries about arrests involving federal agents to the White House. Legal experts said embedding social media teams who are not employed by law enforcement agencies to film arrests could in some instances run afoul of people's Fourth Amendment right to privacy during the execution of a criminal warrant. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that deputy federal marshals and local sheriffs seeking publicity for their actions violated a suspect's constitutional rights when they invited members of the media to witness an arrest inside the person's home. "It's just kind of an outrageous tactic for promotional purposes, but it does cross the line in terms of constitutional and ethical conduct by police," said Bennett Gershman, a former New York state prosecutor who teaches at Pace University School of Law. The FBI has sometimes allowed the media to do ride-alongs, generally for recruitment purposes, said James Davidson, a former FBI agent who has since formed the nonprofit The FBI Integrity Project, which aims to safeguard the bureau from undue political influence. Both Davidson and Stacey Young, a former Justice Department lawyer who founded the group Justice Connection to advocate for current and former DOJ employees, expressed concerns that filming arrests could undermine confidence in the FBI. 'It erodes the FBI's integrity and the perception of impartiality, which are required for the bureau to maintain any credibility," Young said.
