Rubio to discuss energy security, illegal migration, in Caribbean trip
WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will discuss energy security in the Caribbean, illegal immigration and dismantling of transnational criminal networks during a trip to the region later this week, U.S. State Department officials said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a briefing, U.S. Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone told reporters that U.S. accusations about a labor program that sends Cuban workers, particularly medics, overseas was also going to be among the topics the top U.S. diplomat will tackle with his counterparts.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump scrambles to claim credit for Israel's Iran attack he publicly opposed
Donald Trump is walking a tightrope as he claims that he was fully aware of Israel's plans to launch massive airstrikes against Iran while continuing to distance the US from those strikes and deny Washington took any active role in the preparations. The White House's messaging has shifted quickly from Marco Rubio's arms-length description of the Israeli attack as a 'unilateral action', to Trump claiming on Friday morning that he was fully in the loop on the operation and that it came at the end of a 60-day ultimatum he had given Iran to 'make a deal' on its nuclear programme. 'Today is day 61,' he wrote on Truth Social. 'I told [Iran] what to do, but they just couldn't get there.' Trump's framing presents a good cop-bad cop dynamic of his approach with Benjamin Netanyahu, the embattled Israeli leader with whom he has a notoriously combative relationship. The US president has scrambled to now present the Israeli strikes, which he publicly claimed he did not want on Thursday, as a means of continuing his efforts to convince Iran to negotiate. 'They should now come to the table to make a deal before it's too late,' he said. But the discordant US response from to the strikes, including Rubio's Thursday evening statement, a hasty evacuation of some US personnel from the region and ambiguity over whether the US provided intelligence or would actively take part in Israel's defence from a likely counterattack, has raised questions over whether Israel may have moved ahead of the Trump administration as a way to present Washington with a fait accompli. 'They made a bet on President Trump,' said Elliott Abrams, a former diplomat and senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, suggesting that Israel had pushed harder for strikes while the Trump administration had sought to maintain a diplomatic route. 'The Israelis struck and then today Trump called it 'excellent'.' While Israel had clearly given the United States advanced warning of the strike, claims that it was fully coordinated in Israeli state media have been subject to speculation: was Trump actually on board or was he repositioning himself on Friday in order to present the strikes as part of a coherent strategy. On Thursday, in remarks from the White House's East Room, Trump said that strikes on Israel could 'blow up' his diplomatic efforts to negotiate with the Iranian leadership and said he 'didn't want them going in'. He defended his decision to begin evacuating personnel because a strike 'could well happen'. 'The US started evacuating voluntarily non-essential personnel on Wednesday, barely 24 hours ahead of time, not enough time to really get people out of harm's way,' said Rosemary Kelanic, the Middle East director for Defense Priorities, a thinktank that pushes for a more restrained US foreign policy. 'So the question for me is what did the president know and when did he know it?' On Friday, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he was not caught unaware by the strike: 'Heads-up? It wasn't a heads-up. It was, we know what's going on.' And he indicated that he had been apprised of future Israeli plans, writing that the 'next already planned attacks' would be 'even more brutal'. Senior Israeli officials also began to brief media that Trump had only pretended to oppose an Israeli attack and that they in fact had a 'green light' for the attack. But Kelanic and others noted that Israel may be seeking a means to 'entrap' the US into a war. In either case, it is doubtful that Israel could have prepared the attack in the past week without US knowledge. Officials at the Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies would have seen the preparations for the airstrike – involving more than 200 Israeli fighter jets striking more than 100 targets across Iran – and probably understood that Israel was planning a major attack against Tehran. Late on Thursday, administration officials told Fox News that the US had replenished missiles for Israel's Iron Dome anti-air batteries in recent weeks in preparation for an expected counterattack. And the US in recent weeks had deployed B-52 bombers to its airbase on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, where multiple B-2 bombers have also been stationed since late March. B-2s stationed at the base took part in airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this year, but the base would also serve as a launching point for airstrikes against Iran if the US were to join the conflict. But there are other explanations for the resupply of anti-air missiles to Iron Dome, particularly following the unprecedented barrage of ballistic missiles launched by Iran against Israel last year. And the US could have employed those B-2s and B-52s to strike the Fordow uranium enrichment centre, which is located deep underground and was not apparently struck in Friday morning's strikes. Still intact, it represents an important element in Iran's nuclear program that was not eliminated – at least in the first round of the Israeli attacks.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Skadden law firm fellowship revamps application to omit 'racial justice,' 'equity'
June 13 (Reuters) - The Skadden Foundation, a public interest law fellowship program entirely funded by law firm Skadden Arps, has altered its application criteria to remove language related to racial justice and other topics that became flashpoints for U.S. law firms under the Trump administration. Applicants last year were required to explain "the role of public interest work in addressing systemic racism" and asked, "to the extent your project relates to racial justice, please describe the intended impact of your project on racial equity in our country." That essay question is absent in updated application materials for the two-year fellowship, which funds law graduates to work at non-profit organizations, according to a Reuters review of the current applications and archived versions from one year ago. The foundation also removed language encouraging applications from lawyers "who are members of groups that historically have been underrepresented in the legal profession," and who have "deep connections with or insights into the marginalized client communities they seek to serve," a comparison showed. Spokespeople for the Skadden Foundation and the law firm did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The foundation's former executive director Kathleen Rubenstein resigned last week, telling Reuters that she was leaving "rather than endorse actions that I believe will undermine its mission." She did not elaborate and had no immediate comment on Friday on the updated application. Susan Plum, who took over as interim executive director of the foundation, said in a statement last week that "maintaining a broad, nonpartisan approach in an increasingly polarized climate is more difficult than ever and some believe it runs counter to the foundation's purpose and values. We fundamentally disagree." Plum did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. Skadden, a 1,700 lawyer firm based in New York, made a deal in March with President Donald Trump to devote $100 million in free legal work to causes supported by the White House and committed to what Trump called merit-based employment practices. That agreement, one of nine made by prominent firms after Trump began targeting law firms with executive orders over their past cases and hires, required Skadden to also fund at least five fellowships related to "Assisting Veterans; ensuring fairness in our Justice System; combatting Antisemitism, and other similar types of projects." Skadden had agreed that its fellows would "represent a wide range of political views, including conservative ideals," Trump had said in a March 28 post on his Truth Social platform. The Skadden Foundation's website now includes new language, saying that it prohibits "discrimination against applicants and fellows on any basis prohibited by applicable law." It adds now that applicants should work at a "strong, nonpartisan host organization." Skadden's deal with Trump also resolved an inquiry launched by the acting chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which in March had warned Skadden and 19 other major law firms that their employment policies, meant to boost diversity, equity and inclusion, may be illegal. Other law firms and major U.S. companies have dropped or considered altering their DEI policies after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 2023 ruling curtailing affirmative action. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January cracking down on such programs in the federal government and in the private sector.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
The Latest: Trump meets with National Security Council on Israel-Iran attacks
The new Israeli military operation against Iran is giving President Donald Trump a fresh test of his campaign promise to disentangle the U.S. from foreign conflicts. It lands as he's dealing with domestic turmoil: Opponents of his administration are set to rally in hundreds of cities on Saturday during the military parade in Washington to mark the Army's 250th anniversary, which coincides with Trump's birthday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, doubling as Trump's national security adviser, asserted that the U.S. was 'not involved' and that protecting U.S. forces in the region is the Republican administration's central concern. Trump, however, said Friday that he knows of Israel's plans and warned Iran of 'a lot more to come.' The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday temporarily blocked a federal judge's order directing Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California after he deployed them against people protesting immigration raids in Los Angeles. Here's the Latest: 4 detainees escaped from a New Jersey immigration detention facility Authorities are looking for four detainees who escaped from an immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, according to the Department of Homeland Security. More 'law enforcement partners' have been brought in to find the detainees missing from Delaney Hall, according to an emailed statement attributed to a senior DHS official whom the department did not identify. The statement also didn't specify which law enforcement agencies are involved. ▶Read more about what's going on at Delaney Hall. Marines to take over operations in downtown LA, commander says Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 troops deployed in Los Angeles, said Friday that 200 Marines have finished training on civil disturbance. Sherman said the Marines will take over operations at noon local time in downtown Los Angeles. He says they will be protecting federal property and personnel. The Marines will join some 2,000 National Guard troops that have been on the streets of the city since last week when immigration raids set off protests. Trump is convening a National Security Council meeting on Israel's attack on Iran The meeting in the Situation Room, which was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., is the only item listed on Trump's public schedule for Friday. There are currently no plans for him to appear before reporters. Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human smuggling in Tennessee Kilmar Abrego Garcia 's plea was the first chance the Maryland construction worker has had in a U.S. courtroom to answer the Trump administration's allegations against him since he was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The Republican administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. last week to face a new indictment charging him with human smuggling for transported immigrants inside the United States. Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers during a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. 'There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy,' his lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said last week. U.S. attorneys have asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes to keep Abrego Garcia in jail, describing him as a danger to the community and a flight risk. Los Angeles had another relatively calm night Most of the sprawling city has been spared as protests continue downtown, near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. On the third night of an 8 p.m. curfew, Los Angeles police arrested several demonstrators who refused to leave a downtown street, and Homeland Security officers deployed flash bangs to disperse a crowd near the jail. Those incidents were outliers. As with the previous two nights, the hourslong demonstrations remained peaceful and upbeat, drawing a few hundred attendees who were chanting, dancing and poking fun at the Trump administration's characterization of the city as a 'war zone.' The LAPD said there have been about 470 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority for failing to leave the downtown area at the request of law enforcement. A handful of more serious charges include assault against officers and possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injuries. ▶ Read more about the crackdown and protests in Los Angeles Detained Columbia protester asks judge to order his release, says government missed appeal deadline The letter lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil sent Friday to U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in New Jersey says Khalil has satisfied all the court's requirements for his release, including posting a $1 bond, while lawyers for the government missed the judge's Friday's 9:30 a.m. deadline. In response, the judge gave the government until 1:30 p.m. Friday. Khalil's lawyers say the government hasn't shown any grounds to keep detaining him, other than reasons the judge already dismissed. 'The deadline has come and gone and Mahmoud Khalil must be released immediately,' his lawyers said in a statement provided by the American Civil Liberties Union. 'Anything further is an attempt to prolong his unconstitutional, arbitrary, and cruel detention.' Spokespeople for the Justice Department and Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment. ▶ Read more about Khalil's case California governor concerned that private Medicaid data will facilitate deportations Gavin Newsom 's office expressed concern that the data will be used for immigration raids supported by the National Guard troops and Marines Trump deployed in Los Angeles. 'We deeply value the privacy of all Californians,' the statement said. 'This potential data transfer brought to our attention by the AP is extremely concerning, and if true, potentially unlawful, particularly given numerous headlines highlighting potential improper federal use of personal information and federal actions to target the personal information of Americans.' Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said the data was shared legally, 'to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them.' Nixon wouldn't answer questions about how DHS would use it, and DHS officials did not respond to requests for comment. Trump administration gives personal data of immigrant Medicaid enrollees to deportation officials The data includes the immigration status of millions of Medicaid enrollees, which could facilitate locating people to deport as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown. An internal memo and emails obtained by The Associated Press show that Medicaid officials unsuccessfully sought to block the data transfer, citing legal and ethical concerns. Nevertheless, two top advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the dataset handed over to the Department of Homeland Security, the emails show. The dataset includes people living in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington, D.C., all of which allow non-U.S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that use only state taxpayer dollars. ▶ Read more about how DHS now has personal data of immigrant Medicaid enrollees Republican enthusiasm for Musk cools after his feud with Trump, a new AP-NORC poll finds The tech billionaire has lost some of his luster with Republicans since his messy public falling-out with the president last week. Fewer Republicans view Trump's onetime government efficiency bulldog 'very favorably' compared with April, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Though most Republicans continue to hold a positive view of Musk, their diminished fervor suggests his vocal opposition to Trump's signature spending and tax cut legislation — and Musk's subsequent online political and personal taunts — may have cost him. About half of Americans have a negative opinion of Tesla — far more than other car companies. Tesla has dropped in value and amid protests in the U.S. and Europe. ▶ Read more about the AP/NORC poll on opinions about Elon Musk Trump praises appellate court for blocking judges order that his National Guard deployment is illegal 'If I didn't send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now,' Trump said on his Truth Social platform Friday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday temporarily blocked a federal judge's order directing Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California, and set an appellate hearing for Tuesday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom had asked for an emergency intervention to stop troops from supporting immigration raids. 'Today was really about a test of democracy, and today we passed the test,' Newsom said before the appeals court decision. 'The district court has no authority to usurp the President's authority as Commander in Chief,' White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said. ▶ Read more about California's legal challenge of Trump's military deployment in Los Angeles Trump: U.S. was aware of Israeli attack ahead of time The U.S. president said Friday morning that 'we know what's going on' when asked what sort of advance warning he got from Israel about its attack on Iran. 'Heads-up? It wasn't a heads-up. It was, we know what's going on,' he told the Wall Street Journal. Trump again cited the Israel attack as a warning to Iran to make a nuclear deal. US shifts military resources in Mideast in response to Israel strikes on Iran The United States is shifting ships and other military resources in the Middle East in response to Israel's strikes on Iran and a possible retaliatory attack by Tehran, two U.S. officials said Friday. The Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner to begin sailing toward the Eastern Mediterranean and also has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward, so it can be available if requested by the White House. The president is meeting with his National Security Council principals, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Friday morning to discuss the situation, one of the officials said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public. — Tara Copp. Judge blocks Trump's election order, siding with Democrats who called it overreach The Republican president's March 25 executive order sought to overhaul elections nationwide by compelling officials to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote for federal elections, accepting only mailed ballots received by Election Day and conditioning federal election grant funding on states adhering to the new ballot deadline. The White House has defended the order as 'standing up for free, fair and honest elections' and called proof of citizenship a 'commonsense' requirement. The judge sided with a group of Democratic state attorneys general who challenged the effort as unconstitutional. The attorneys general said the directive 'usurps the States' constitutional power and seeks to amend election law by fiat.' Israel told the Trump administration of the attacks ahead of time Israel told the Trump administration that large-scale attacks were coming and expected Iranian retaliation would be severe and that's why the United States ordered the evacuations of some nonessential embassy staffers and authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents in the region, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity to describe private diplomatic discussions. Special envoy Steve Witkoff still plans to go to Oman this weekend for talks on Tehran's nuclear program, but it's not clear if the Iranians would participate, officials said. Trump warns there'll be more attacks on Iran In an interview with ABC News on Friday morning, Trump said the Israeli attack on Iran was 'excellent' and again previewed more attacks to come. 'We gave them a chance and they didn't take it,' Trump told ABC's Jon Karl. 'They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come. A lot more.' Israeli strikes on Iran lead to new test of Trump's ability to deliver on 'America first' agenda Just hours before Israel launched strikes on Iran early Friday, President Donald Trump was still holding onto tattered threads of hope that a long-simmering dispute over Tehran's nuclear program could be resolved without military action. But with the Israeli military operation called 'Rising Lion' now underway — something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says will go on for 'as many days as it takes' — Trump will be tested anew on his ability to make good on a campaign promise to disentangle the U.S. from foreign conflicts. 'I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal,' Trump said in a Friday morning social media post. 'I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done.' ▶ Read more about the new test to Trump's agenda Appeals court temporarily blocks judge's ruling to return control of National Guard to California The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday temporarily blocked a federal judge's order that directed President Donald Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California after he deployed them there following protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids. The court said it would hold a hearing on the matter on Tuesday. The ruling came only hours after a federal judge's order was to take effect at noon Friday. ▶ Read more about the court ruling Marines moving soon into Los Angeles, preparing to take over some security posts Marines are expected to begin moving into the city soon and will formally take over security from National Guard troops at some of the protest locations Friday morning. The arriving Marines will take some time to transition with the Guard soldiers leaving the posts, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday night to discuss troop movements. About 700 Marines have been undergoing civil disturbance training at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Orange County, California. ___ Associated Press reporter Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report. Judge invokes King George III in deliberations over Trump's use of the National Guard U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles without approval of California's governor exceeded was illegal and violates the Tenth Amendment. The order applied only to the National Guard troops and not Marines who were also deployed to the LA protests. The judge said he would not rule on the Marines because they were not out on the streets yet. 'We're talking about the president exercising his authority, and the president is of course limited in that authority. That's the difference between a constitutional government and King George,' Breyer said during Thursday's court hearing, referring to the king of England during the American Revolution. 'This country was founded in response to a monarch, and the Constitution is a document of limitations,' Breyer said. 'I'm trying to figure out where the lines are drawn.' Judge has bigger questions in court hearing over Trump's use of National Guard in immigration raids California Gov. Gavin Newsom requested that the judge temporarily block Trump's use of the National Guard specifically for immigration raids. But Thursday's hearing opened with Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer asking attorneys whether Trump followed the law when he called in the National Guard. Trump orders government wildland firefighting consolidated into single program Thursday's executive order is meant to centralize duties now split among five agencies and two Cabinet departments. Former federal officials have warned that such a consolidation could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes as global warming makes wildfires more severe and destructive. Officials have not disclosed how much the change could cost. In its first months, the administration sharply reduced the ranks of firefighters through layoffs and retirement offers and temporarily cut off money for wildfire prevention work. Trump tells immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to leave The Department of Homeland Security is notifying hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans that their temporary permission to live and work in the United States has been revoked and they should leave the country. The termination notices are being sent by email to about 532,000 people who came to the country under the humanitarian parole program created by the Biden administration. They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the U.S. DHS said the letters informed people that both their temporary legal status and work permit were revoked 'effective immediately.'
