Trump live updates: Harris praises the ‘working people' for ‘Hands Off' protests against Trump and Musk

Independent

06-04-2025

Former Vice President Kamala Harris praised the millions of protesters who gathered at 1,300 'Hands Off' demonstrations across the country Saturday for 'standing up' to the Trump administration.
'Thank you for using your voices and the power of protest to stand for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; for the Department of Education and programs like Head Start; for clean air and water; for the right to make decisions about your own body without government interference,' Harris wrote on X. 'The voices of working people will always be louder than the unelected billionaires.'
Protesters staged demonstrations at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and in more than 1,000 other places nationwide, asking for President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to get their 'hands off' health care, public lands, immigrants, LGBTQ+ rights, cancer research, and more.
DOGE has executed mass layoffs across the federal workforce, slashed contracts, and made strides to reduce the federal government's real estate footprint. Meanwhile, in recent weeks, the administration ordered many immigrants to be deported from the U.S., cut funding for health programs, and took steps to shutter federal agencies.
Speaking to a crowd in D.C., Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin described Trump as 'an economy-crushing dictator who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.'
The demonstrations come one day after the stock market closed with a bloodbath on Friday, as investors are spooked about the impact of Trump's tariff plan that he unveiled Wednesday.
SNL cold open mocks Trump tariffs with 'Make America Great Depression Again' line
Saturday Night Live's James Austin Johnson took to the stage as President Donald Trump, promising to 'Make America Great Depression Again' in a spoof of the president's 'Liberation Day' announcement in which he detailed his widespread tariffs.
'Thank you all for coming out to hear about tariffs. My favorite word, tariff, which, of course, is short for a-terrific-idea,' said Trump, calling the tax on Americans the 'backbone of my incredible plan for our economy.'
'It's actually even better than a plan, because it's a series of random numbers, like the numbers on the computer screen in Severance,' he added. 'You have no idea what the hell they mean, but I know what the numbers mean … They mean we're gonna make America wealthy again. You know you're gonna check your stock portfolio in a couple days and think 'I'm almost too wealthy.''
But before all that, the president said, 'We're going to do MAGDA — Make America Great Depression Again … It'll be better than great. It'll be a fantastic, unbelievable depression, the likes of which have never been seen before.'
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
SNL cold open mocks Trump tariffs with 'Make America Great Depression Again' line
'You know, the depression is going to be so great. We'll be the ones eating the cats and the dogs. That's going to be fun'
Kelly Rissman6 April 2025 14:30
WATCH: Canada 'will win' trade war with Trump, says PM Carney
Democrats in Pennsylvania are angry. John Fetterman's old rival is listening
Glenn Thompson's cardboard cutout took some real abuse on Saturday, as a room full of Pennsylvania Democrats let out their frustrations.
A few other members of the state's congressional delegation might be thankful that his likeness was the only one on display.
Thompson, on his fourth term in the House of Representatives, is just one of dozens of Republican lawmakers who have scaled back public events or avoided them completely amid nationwide outrage from Americans set to see steep cuts to funding for programs in their communities and their own personal safety nets under a Trump 2.0 agenda. Town hall events have become raucous gatherings where Republicans like Victoria Spartz, Chuck Edwards and others have been forced to confront angry voters demanding Congress take action to stop Elon Musk's DOGE firing spree affecting the Social Security Administration, USAID and other agencies.
John Bowden has the story.
Democrats in Pennsylvania are angry. John Fetterman's old rival is listening
Amid Trump's unprecedented slash-and-burn of the federal government, many Democratic voters feel their party is not doing enough to fight back. John Bowden reports from State College, Pennsylvania on a former congressman looking to meet the moment
Kelly Rissman6 April 2025 13:00
Justice Department seeks 87-month sentence for former GOP Rep. George Santos
The Department of Justice is seeking an 87-month sentence for former New York Republican Rep. George Santos after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft last August.
'Santos' history and characteristics are troubling in the extreme. Santos is a pathological liar and fraudster,' states the 26-page sentencing memo from the department. 'For years, Santos manufactured and promoted a fictionalized biography, one that depicted himself as a highly educated, independently wealthy, successful businessman, all premised on a heap of lies.'
Santos was elected in the 2022 midterms when he flipped a Democratic district covering parts of Long Island and Queens.
His life story, however, was quickly found to be largely fabricated. His claims that he worked at top firms on Wall Street and had attended a particular college were debunked, and the financing of his campaign raised questions.
Santos was expelled from Congress in December 2023, after only 11 months as a representative. He was only the sixth member to be expelled; the other five were members of the confederacy.
Gustaf Kilander6 April 2025 12:00
DHS claims these tattoos show Venezuelan gang membership. The tattoo artists who did them say the truth is a lot more innocent
In its sweeping deportation campaign against Venezuelan immigrants, the Trump administration has repeatedly relied on tattoos to determine whether someone is a member of the feared criminal syndicate Tren de Aragua.
But The Independent has found that the U.S. government's examples of TDA tattoos, created under the Biden administration, include art by artists in the UK and India, who say the tattoos they etched had innocent meanings. One honored the birth of a child, while another appears to commemorate the Aussie rock band AC/DC.
'It is mind-blowing that this is being used as an example of gang tattoos. It makes no sense at all,' the British artist whose clock tattoo appears in a 2024 Department of Homeland Security briefing on 'detecting and identifying' TDA members told The Independent. 'I have no relationship to Venezuelan gangs, and my art has nothing to do with them.'
Io Dodds has the details.
DHS claims these tattoos show Venezuelan gang membership. The tattoo artists deny it
'It's mind-blowing... a total misrepresentation,' one British tattoo artist whose work was cited as a symbol of the crime syndicate Tren de Aragua tells Io Dodds
Kelly Rissman6 April 2025 10:00
Millions flocked to the streets across the country in protest of President Donald Trump's administration's cuts to health program funding, mass firings of federal workers and steps toward shuttering entire agencies.
'Hands Off' protests, organized by nearly 200 advocacy groups, cropped up in more than 1,000 locations across the U.S. and around the globe Saturday in what became the largest day of collective action since Trump was inaugurated for a second time.
The protests aimed to put a stop to the 'most brazen power grab in modern history,' organizers said. Millions — from Los Angeles to London — marched to advocate for civil rights, healthcare, democracy, workers' rights and LGBTQ+ rights that have been under 'assault' by the Trump administration and GOP Congress members, they added.
Read the full story.
Trump and Musk denounced as thousands protest in cities across US
Protesters flooded the streets in hopes of stopping what one dubbed 'the most brazen power grab in modern history'
Kelly Rissman6 April 2025 08:00
Ukrainian refugees accidentally told to leave in mistaken email
Ukrainians legally in the U.S. were told in an email mistakenly sent Friday by the Department of Homeland Security that their parole status had been withdrawn and that they had to self-deport, according to Politico.
The email, sent to an unidentified number of people, prompted widespread fear among those who came to the U.S. to flee the full-scale Russian invasion that began in February 2022. The refugees have been increasingly concerned about their legal status in the country, as President Donald Trump said last month that they could revoke their residency status.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the outlet that the U.S. has not yet revoked the temporary parole status handed to the 240,000 Ukrainians who came to the U.S., fleeing the war under former President Joe Biden.
240,000 Ukrainians came to the U.S., fleeing the war under former President Joe Biden
Gustaf Kilander6 April 2025 07:00
DOJ lawyers file emergency appeal on order requiring return of Maryland man mistakenly sent to El Salvador
The Trump administration is arguing that a federal judge didn't have the authority to order the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, a Saturday filing reveals.
On Friday. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to 'facilitate and effectuate' Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. by late Monday night. On Saturday, government lawyers filed an emergency appeal, requesting the court pause the judge's order.
'A judicial order that forces the Executive to engage with a foreign power in a certain way, let alone compel a certain action by a foreign sovereign, is constitutionally intolerable,' the attorneys wrote in a filing in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court asked Abrego Garcia's lawyers to respond to the government's filing by Sunday afternoon, according to the Associated Press.
The arrest and wrongful removal of a Salvadoran immigrant from the United States was unconstitutional 'from the moment he was seized,' a federal judge told lawyers for Donald Trump's administration on Friday.
'He was apprehended without legal basis … and without due process,' Judge Xinis said.
Alex Woodward has more on the story.
Judge orders Trump to return Maryland father deported to El Salvador
Government attorneys argued in court filings that the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was no longer in their hands despite admitting he was removed due to an 'administrative error'
Kelly Rissman6 April 2025 06:00
Trump vows to 'Make America Great Depression Again' in SNL cold open spoof on tariffs announcement
Saturday Night Live's James Austin Johnson took to the stage as President Donald Trump, promising to 'Make America Great Depression Again' in a spoof of the president's 'Liberation Day' announcement in which he detailed his widespread tariffs.
'Thank you all for coming out to hear about tariffs. My favorite word, tariff, which, of course, is short for a-terrific-idea,' said Trump, calling the tax on Americans the 'backbone of my incredible plan for our economy.'
'It's actually even better than a plan, because it's a series of random numbers, like the numbers on the computer screen in Severance,' he added. 'You have no idea what the hell they mean, but I know what the numbers mean … They mean we're gonna make America wealthy again. You know you're gonna check your stock portfolio in a couple days and think 'I'm almost too wealthy.''
'You know, the depression is going to be so great. We'll be the ones eating the cats and the dogs. That's going to be fun'
Gustaf Kilander6 April 2025 05:35
Justice Department lawyer placed on leave after questioning deportation of Maryland man
A top immigration attorney at the Department of Justice was placed on indefinite leave Saturday after he questioned the deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador, according to The New York Times.
A letter obtained by the paper, which had been sent to Erez Reuveni, the acting deputy director of the immigration litigation division, states that he was suspended by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for not following 'a directive from your superiors.'
This comes after Reuveni was promoted just two weeks ago. He's one of several career officials who have faced demotion, suspension, a transfer, or been fired for not following directions from Trump appointees.
Gustaf Kilander6 April 2025 05:00