Latest news with #ThisWeekinTrumpland
Business Mayor
17-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Trump administration fires nearly 600 contractors at Voice of America
The administration of Donald Trump has terminated nearly 600 contractors at Voice of America (VOA), the US-funded international news network known for delivering independent journalism to countries with restricted press freedom. The firings, announced on Thursday, appeared to defy a recent court order requiring the government to preserve strong news operations at VOA. The US president has criticized the news network and accused it of spreading 'radical' content. The cuts, announced on Thursday, affected mostly journalists along with some administrative staff and represented more than one-third of VOA's workforce. Among those dismissed are journalists from authoritarian countries who now face deportation, as their visas are linked to their jobs at VOA. 'Today is an incredibly difficult day as USAGM terminates many of our contractors who have devoted themselves to fulfilling VOA's congressionally-mandated mission to deliver factual, balanced and comprehensive journalism to the world,' journalists with the SaveVOA campaign said in a statement. 'Among those affected are J-1 visa holders who will be forced to leave the country within 30 days. Several of these journalists come from countries where they could be arrested or worse because of their reporting for VOA.' The group said the team was considering its next steps and remained 'committed to the goal of returning all employees to their positions'. The administration cited 'the government's convenience' as the justification for the firings, taking advantage of the workers' status as contractors rather than full federal employees. Michael Abramowitz, the director of VOA, called the move 'inexplicable' and said he was 'heartbroken' in an email to staff obtained by the New York Times. Abramowitz has filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from closing VOA. Read More Gary Lineker wins £4.9 million tax battle with HMRC The notification to employees told terminated staffers that they will be let go as of 30 May and instructed them to return their press credentials, badges and other VOA property by that time, according to the Hill. Kari Lake, a Trump ally and senior adviser at the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, defended the decision as legally permissible. Lake had previously denounced the agency as 'unsalvageable' and accused it of corruption without presenting evidence. The federal building that houses the VOA news outlet in Washington DC was also listed for sale on Thursday. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Senator Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate foreign relations committee, issued a statement in response to the firings: 'The Trump administration's gutting of Voice of America threatens access to independent media in places where it is needed most,' the statement reads. 'It deeply weakens a critical and cost-effective tool of American influence and soft power. If Voice of America is silenced, PRC and Russian propaganda and lies will fill the void. To add more fuel to the fire, Kari Lake's recent announcement that the Voice of America will now become a conduit for One America News Network is a gift to Russia and propagandists everywhere.' She added: 'Firing respected independent journalists and employees is as strategically shortsighted as it is heartless. The Trump administration's efforts to gut and de-fund independent media will only harm the United States in the long run.' The firings are the latest in a string of moves by the Trump administration targeting independent news organizations. The Federal Communications Commission, led by Trump appointee and the Project 2025 author Brendan Carr, has ordered investigations into NPR and PBS. Trump is also in an ongoing legal battle with 60 Minutes and CBS, and his administration previously barred the Associated Press from the Oval Office.
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
NPR and PBS push back against Trump's order to cut funding: ‘This could be devastating'
The heads of embattled US public broadcasters, National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), defended themselves against efforts by the Trump administration to cut off taxpayer funding, with both telling a Sunday political talk show they were looking at legal options. PBS chief executive, Paula Kerger, told CBS News's Face the Nation that Republican-led threats to withdraw federal funding from public broadcasters had been around for decades but are 'different this time'. Kerger said: 'They're coming after us on many different ways … we have never seen a circumstance like this, and obviously we're going to be pushing back very hard, because what's at risk are our stations, our public television, our public radio stations across the country.' Donald Trump last week issued an executive order blocking NPR and PBS from receiving taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The White House said that unlike in 1967, when the corporation was established, the media landscape is now filled with news options and the concept of government funded news media was 'not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence'. The order added: 'Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.' On Sunday, Kerger warned that some stations in smaller communities across the US could lose 40 to 50% of their funding. 'And for them, it's existential, and that's what's at risk if this funding goes away,' she said. NPR chief executive, Katherine Maher, who like Kruger was grilled by Republicans on Capital Hill last month over claims that programing at both operations was politically-biased, said her organization is 'looking at whatever options are available to us'. But she added: 'I think it's a little preliminary for us to speak to the specific strategies that we might take.' Maher warned that the impact to local radio stations was immediate, 'especially in a time where we're seeing an advance of news deserts across the nation, 20% of Americans don't have access to another local source of news. The impact of this could really be devastating, particularly in rural communities.' But the NPR boss also sought to resist the US president's claims that her operation is left-leaning and pointed to reluctance by Trump administration officials to come on NPR shows. The point of public broadcasting, Maher said, is to 'bring people together in those conversations and so, we have had a whole host of conservative voices on air of late'. Maher added: 'We've been making requests of the Trump administration to have their officials air. We would like to see more people accept those invitations. It's hard for us to be able to say we can speak for everyone when folks won't join us.' Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion In a university commencement address in Alabama last week, Trump told journalism majors that he's not sure he likes the press, but acknowledged a free press is important even though he has repeatedly called American journalists 'enemies of the people'. 'We need a brilliant press. They're like a watch-keeper. They're very important. And you can go out and take it down a new track. Help save the country. The people of this country, they know the truth when they hear it. That's why the ratings, the approval numbers of the media, are so low.' However, ongoing arguments over media bias and threats to defund public broadcasters put children's programming is at risk, including those that are not enrolled in formal pre-K schooling, Kerger warned on CBS. 'That was the idea of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers, and everything that has followed since, is to make sure that children that do not have an access to a full array of resources have the opportunity to learn … That's what's at risk.' she said.
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump pressures journalist to accept doctored photo as real: ‘Why don't you just say yes'
Donald Trump lashed out at an ABC journalist in a tense TV interview to mark 100 days of his second term in office, in which among other confrontations he angrily pushed correspondent Terry Moran to agree with him that a doctored photo was actually real, telling him: 'Why don't you just say yes.' The 40-minute interview in the Oval Office veered off course when Moran pressed Trump on the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran man living in Maryland who was deported despite a protective court order. When Moran pointed out that the supreme court had ordered García's return to the US, and suggested Trump had the power to comply by making a single phone call, the president bristled. 'I could,' Trump said – contradicting weeks of his administration's insistence that he could not – but added: 'I'm not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don't want to do this.' 'You're the president,' Moran said, then after talking over each other, Trump said: 'No, no, no, no. I follow the law. You want me to follow the law. If I were the president that just wanted to do anything, I'd probably keep him right where he is.' 'The supreme court says what the law is,' Moran pointed out. The exchange deteriorated further when Trump insisted García has MS-13 tattoos on his knuckles, while Moran – after several times gently disagreeing and trying to move to a new topic – eventually pointed out that the image Trump was referring to had obviously been digitally altered. 'Why don't you just say, 'Yes, he does' [have a gang tattoo] and, you know, go on to something else,' Trump said. The US president added: 'You do such a disservice... This is why people no longer believe the news, because it's fake news.' He then claimed he picked Moran to do the milestone interview 'because frankly, I never heard of you', and added: 'Hey, they're giving you the big break of a lifetime, you know – you're doing the interview.' Throughout, Trump stood by his controversial economic and immigration policies, even as Moran pressed him on potential consequences. On his steep tariffs against China – which reached 145% on some goods – Trump dismissed widespread economic concerns about price increases for American consumers. 'Everybody's gonna be just fine,' the president insisted, despite analyses from Moody's and other financial institutions projecting thousands of dollars in additional costs for American families. 'It'll raise prices on everything from electronics to clothing to building houses,' Moran said. 'You don't know that. You don't know whether or not China's gonna eat it,' Trump countered, claiming his tariffs were necessary to address trade imbalances that made the US economy 'not sustainable'. When it came to his proudest achievement in the first 100 days, Trump pointed to his border policies, claiming his adminstration had reduced illegal crossings by '99.9%'. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion But, when questioned on whether he recognizes the legal procedures for deportations, Trump appeared to challenge established due process requirements. Asked if he acknowledged that under US law every person facing deportation is entitled to a hearing, Trump responded: 'If people come into our country illegally, there's a different standard,' contradicting decades of supreme court precedent establishing that constitutional protections extend to all persons on US soil. Even when Moran cited concerns from podcaster and Trump supporter Joe Rogan, who warned that deportations without due process might mean 'we become monsters while we're fighting monsters', the president offered only vague assurances about being 'careful' while doing 'something that has to be done'. On Ukraine, Trump described the ongoing conflict as 'Biden's war' while recounting his recent meeting with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Though he condemned Russia's missile strikes on civilian areas, he also expressed belief that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, 'wants peace' – a claim at odds with Russia's continued offensive operations. When asked directly if he trusted Putin, Trump deflected: 'I don't trust you. I don't trust a lot of people. I don't trust you,' before adding that Putin 'respects me'. Trump also declined to clarify whether the US would continue military aid to Ukraine if peace negotiations fail, saying: 'I want to leave that as a big, fat secret, because I don't want to ruin a negotiation.' When challenged about his use of presidential powers – including revoking security clearances and targeting law firms with regulatory threats – Trump defended his actions by claiming he had been 'persecuted like no other president'. And as the interview wrapped, Moran asked Trump directly about concerns he was becoming authoritarian, to which the president responded: 'I would hate them to think that. I'm doing one thing: I'm making America great again.'
The Guardian
17-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
FDA to suspend quality-control program for food testing due to staff cuts
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is suspending a quality-control program for its food-testing laboratories as a result of staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to an internal email seen by Reuters. The proficiency testing program of the FDA's Food Emergency Response Network is designed to ensure consistency and accuracy across the agency's network of about 170 labs that test food for pathogens and contaminants to prevent food-borne illness. The firing and departure of as many as 20,000 HHS employees has upended public health research and disrupted the agency's work on areas like bird flu and drug reviews. Donald Trump hopes to slash as much as $40bn from HHS. 'Unfortunately, significant reductions in force, including a key quality assurance officer, an analytical chemist, and two microbiologists at FDA's Human Food Program Moffett Center have an immediate and significant impact on the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) Proficiency Testing (PT) Program,' says the email sent on Tuesday from FERN's National Program Office and seen by Reuters. The program will be suspended at least through 30 September and means the agency will be unable to do planned quality-control work around lab testing for the parasite cyclospora in spinach or the pesticide glyphosate in barley, among other tests, the email says. 'These PTs and Exercises are critical to demonstrating the competency and readiness of our laboratory network to detect and respond to food safety and food defense events,' the email says. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A former FDA official told CBS News: 'There's so much work to go around. And us duplicating their work just doesn't make sense.' The outlet further reported that the FDA is devising plans that would halt most of its routine food safety inspection work, citing multiple federal health officials. According to the officials who spoke to the network under anonymity, the plans may need congressional action to fully fund, adding that some higher-risk routine food inspections would probably remain at the FDA. Food safety laboratories rely on these types of tests to meet standards for accreditation, said a source familiar with the situation, who was not aware of other ready alternatives to the FDA to provide such testing. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The FDA in early April suspended an effort to improve its testing for bird flu in milk, cheese and pet food as a result of staff cuts. In February, HHS announced plans to fire 5,200 probationary employees across various agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same month, Jim Jones, the head of food division at the FDA, quit in protest against the staff cuts. At the time, Jones said: 'I was looking forward to working to pursue the department's agenda of improving the health of Americans by reducing diet-related chronic disease and risks from chemicals in food.' He went on to add that the cuts would make it 'fruitless' to continue in his role under the Trump administration, which he said has 'disdain for the very people' needed to ensure food safety.
The Guardian
15-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Judge rebukes Trump officials for not securing return of wrongly deported man
A federal judge sharply rebuked the Trump administration and scolded officials for taking no steps to secure the return of a man wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, as the US supreme court had ordered in a contentious ruling last week. The US district judge Paula Xinis said that Donald Trump's news conference with El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, where the leaders joked that Kilmar Ábrego García would not be released, did not count as compliance. 'To date nothing has been done,' Xinis said, a day after senior Trump officials also mounted an effort to sidestep the supreme court decision by offering increasingly strained readings of the order to claim they were powerless to bring back Ábrego García. The judge ultimately said she would require the administration to produce details under oath about its attempts to return Ábrego García to US soil in two weeks, an unusually expeditious timeline for discovery that indicated how she intends to move with the case. At issue at the hearing in federal district court in Maryland was the administration's narrow reading of the supreme court order that compelled it to 'facilitate' the return of Ábrego García, who was supposed to have been shielded from being sent to El Salvador. The administration had earlier conceded Ábrego García's deportation was an administrative error. But it has since taken the position that it is powerless to bring him back beyond removing domestic obstacles, and courts lacked the constitutional power to dictate the president to do more. The lead lawyer for the administration, Drew Ensign at the justice department, also said in legal filings before the hearing that even if Ábrego García was returned to the US, it would detain him to a different county or move to terminate the order blocking his removal to El Salvador. But the judge rejected the administration's narrow reading of 'facilitate', noting the plain meaning of the word meant officials needed to secure Ábrego García's release – and that US immigration and customs enforcement had previously taken a number of different positions on its meaning. 'Your characterization is not bound in fact,' Xinis said. 'I need facts.' The administration argued it had sought to comply with the supreme court's order when Trump addressed the case and Bukele questioned whether he was supposed to smuggle Ábrego García across the border – which Ensign argued showed the matter had been raised at the 'highest levels'. The judge appeared unimpressed by the argument. 'It's not a direct response,' Xinis said. 'Nor is the quip about smuggling someone into the us. If you were removing domestic barriers, there would be no smuggling right? Two misguided ships passing in the night.' Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The judge told Ábrego García's lawyers to prepare by Wednesday their questions for the administration about what steps it had taken. She said they could depose up to six officials, including Robert Cerna, a top official at Ice, and Joseph Mazarra, the acting general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security. 'Cancel vacation,' Xinis told Ensign. 'Cancel appointments. I'm usually pretty good about this in my courtroom, but not this time.' After the hearing, Ábrego García's lawyer Rina Gandhi called the hearing a win but added they were not yet done. 'We have not brought Kilmar home,' she told reporters, 'but we will be able to question those involved and get information and evidence as required.' She also accused the administration of acting in bad faith. 'This case is about the government unlawfully – and admitting to unlawfully – removing a gentleman from this country, from his home, his family, his children, and taking no actions to fix them as ordered by the supreme court,' Gandhi said.
