Tag: donald trump

Trump Says US ‘Must Respond’ After US Apache Helicopter Shot Down Near Iran

President Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday that the US “must respond” after the US military told him that a US Army Apache helicopter was shot down by Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz.

His post came after US Central Command said that its forces rescued two crew members from the helicopter, and media reports said that the US was probing whether Iran was responsible for the incident, which came a day after a US F/A-18 fighter jet bombed an oil tanker that was trying to reach Oman. So far, Iran hasn’t taken credit for shooting down the helicopter, but it has made clear it will respond to US attacks on ships.

“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” the president added.

According to The Associated Press, the two crew members of the Apache spent about two hours in the water before being rescued by a 24-foot unmanned boat.

Tuesday’s incident comes after Iran struck Israel in response to Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. Israel then launched strikes on Iran, and President Trump called on the two sides to “stop shooting,” but shortly after his statement, CENTCOM announced the strike on an oil tanker.

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Trump DOJ Announces Largest-Ever Effort to Denaturalize U.S. Citizens Accused of Immigration Fraud or Concealing Serious Crimes

The Trump DOJ is dramatically expanding its campaign to revoke US citizenship from naturalized Americans accused of hiding terrorism ties, violent crimes, immigration fraud, and other serious misconduct during the naturalization process.

The new push, according to reports, marks one of the most aggressive uses of denaturalization in modern American history and reflects President Donald Trump’s broader America First effort to restore consequences inside an immigration system that has been abused for decades.

The Department of Justice announced cases against roughly a dozen foreign-born US citizens, with targets originally from countries including Iraq, Somalia, China, India, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Gambia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Bolivia.

Officials said the cases involve allegations ranging from concealed terror affiliations and war crimes to child sexual abuse, sham marriages, false identities, and immigration fraud.

The message is quite clear: American citizenship is not a shield for foreign criminals who lied to obtain it. Naturalization, they argue, is a privilege granted by the United States—not a loophole for people who concealed dangerous pasts.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department would pursue those who misrepresented themselves to become Americans.

Anyone “who intentionally concealed their criminal histories or misrepresented themselves during the naturalization process will face the fullest extent of the law,” Blanche said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

One of the most serious cases involves Ali Yousif Ahmed, who obtained citizenship after claiming he fled Iraq in 2009 because al Qaeda terrorists had attacked his family. Authorities now say Iraq sought his extradition in 2019 after he allegedly murdered two Iraqi police officers while serving as an al Qaeda leader.

Federal officials allege Ahmed omitted that information from the U.S. government. The case has become a stark example of why Trump officials say deeper scrutiny is needed before and after citizenship is granted.

Another case involves Salah Osman Ahmed of Somalia, who naturalized in 2007 and later pleaded guilty in 2009 to providing material support for terrorists and belonging to al Shabaab, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

The Justice Department argues that joining a terrorist organization within five years of naturalization can be grounds for revoking citizenship. For immigration hawks, the case underscores the danger of treating citizenship as irreversible even when national-security issues emerge.

The crackdown also includes Oscar Alberto Pelaez, a Colombian-born Catholic priest convicted in the United States of 13 counts of sexual abuse of a minor, including sodomy. Authorities allege he lied about the crimes during the naturalization process.

Another target, Abduvosit Razikov of Uzbekistan, allegedly entered into a sham marriage to obtain citizenship. Other cases include individuals accused of using false identities, concealing serious crimes, or committing immigration fraud.

In a separate announcement, the Justice Department said it is seeking to denaturalize Manuel Rocha, a former American diplomat who admitted in a criminal case to acting as a Cuban spy.

The Rocha case points to a broader concern: the United States must be willing to revoke citizenship when people obtain it through deceit and then use American status against American interests.

Denaturalization has historically been rare. Between 1990 and 2017, the federal government filed just over 300 such cases, averaging roughly 11 per year.

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US Army preparing for first executions in 65 years – ABC News

The US Army is preparing to carry out its first executions of death-row service members since 1961 if President Donald Trump orders them, ABC News reports, citing an internal planning document.

Trump has advocated wider application of the death penalty as a deterrent against violent crime.

ABC News reported on Saturday that the plan – known as Operation Resolute Justice – was circulated internally in February and requires the military to be ready to carry out executions “no later than 150 days from the date of presidential approval of the death sentences.”

The preparations reportedly include reviewing execution procedures and transferring the four death-row inmates from the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith downplayed the preparations as a “standard component of our continued planning,” noting that Trump has yet to issue a specific order, as quoted by the publication.

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Obama Judge Blocks Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee

A federal judge on Monday blocked President Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa fine.

US District Judge Leo Sorokin, an Obama appointee, said the $100,000 fee is an unauthorized tax.

CNBC reported:

A federal judge on Monday vacated President Donald Trump’s policy imposing a $100,000 fee for employers’ H-1B visa applications.

The visa payment policy violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution, Judge Leo Sorokin declared in the ruling in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

Sorokin agreed with the plaintiffs in finding “the substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax,” and that Congress had not delegated that power to the executive branch.

The H-1B policy was created in 1990 and is heavily used by U.S. tech giants to bring in high-skilled workers from overseas. The program allows U.S. employers to seek government permission to hire a nonimmigrant workers in specialty occupations for up to six years.

Last September, President Trump announced new restrictions of certain nonimmigrant workers.

“American IT workers have reported they were forced to train the foreign workers who were taking their jobs and to sign nondisclosure agreements about this indignity as a condition of receiving any form of severance. This suggests H-1B visas are not being used to fill occupational shortages or obtain highly skilled workers who are unavailable in the United States,” the White House previously said.

“The abuse of the H-1B program is also a national security threat. Domestic law enforcement agencies have identified and investigated H-1B-reliant outsourcing companies for engaging in visa fraud, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and other illicit activities to encourage foreign workers to come to the United States,” the White House said.

“Further, abuses of the H-1B program present a national security threat by discouraging Americans from pursuing careers in science and technology, risking American leadership in these fields. A 2017 study showed that wages for American computer scientists would have been 2.6 percent to 5.1 percent higher and employment in computer science for American workers would have been 6.1 percent to 10.8 percent higher in 2001 absent the importation of foreign workers into the computer science field,” the White House said.

President Trump required a $100,000 payment to accompany new H-1B Visa petitions.

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FBI Records Reveal Witness Account that SWAT Officer Recovered ‘Remote Device’ from Butler Shooter’s Pocket

Judicial Watch announced today that it forced the release of 48 heavily redacted pages from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that indicate that a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officer at the July 2024 presidential rally for Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, recovered a “gray remote device” with an antenna from would-be assassin Thomas Crooks’ pocket after he was killed.*

The records also show that a medic with the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit told the FBI that she was on the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building examining Crooks’s body when she was informed that a police canine had “hit” on the building and she was told to evacuate the roof where Crooks’s body remained. 

Judicial Watch filed the July 2025 lawsuit after the FBI failed to respond to a July 2024 FOIA request for all records related to Crooks and the assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The request included investigative files, interview summaries, reports, communications, media, and database records, as well as any FBI communications—across all formats—between FBI personnel, sources, contractors, or assets and Crooks himself (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-02216)).

In a July 17, 2024, FD-302 interview summary a Beaver County Emergency Services Unit (ESU) first responder told the FBI that she observed a SWAT officer recover a remote device and a cell phone from Crooks’ pocket. The first responder also states that she was called to the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building where she examined Crooks and pronounced him deceased:

[Redacted] confirmed she was present at the Butler County fairgrounds for the Trump rally. Her responsibilities included providing medical backup for the ESU [Emergency Services Unit] team or any police response. She arrived at the fairgrounds at 9:00am and was positioned at the spectator screening area.

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Politico Folds Its Climate News Website After Trump EPA Axed Nearly $500K Annual Subscription

Politico is shutting down its E&E News brand just over a year after the Trump administration ended a taxpayer-funded subscription worth nearly half a million dollars per year.

The outlet announced Monday that E&E News will cease operating as a standalone brand and will instead be folded into Politico’s broader energy and environmental coverage.

The move follows a decision by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in February 2025 to cancel the agency’s subscription to Politico and E&E News, saving taxpayers $458,919 annually.

“Best $458,919 we ever saved on behalf of taxpayers,” an EPA spokesperson told The Daily Caller.

“The government shouldn’t subsidize poor journalism, and it’s a stinging indictment of the previous administration that they wasted so many hard-earned American tax dollars keeping this outlet afloat.”

At the time, Zeldin announced on social media that the EPA would not renew its membership with Politico and Politico E&E, citing the nearly half-million-dollar annual cost.

Politico says the closure is part of a broader restructuring of its energy and environmental coverage.

According to an announcement from CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Global Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger, the company plans to launch two new energy-focused newsletters later this year.

“Beginning in September, we are modernizing how we deliver our energy and environmental policy journalism and launching a more focused, high-impact portfolio of daily news and intelligence products,” the executives told Semafor.

“As part of this shift, E&E News will no longer operate as a separate brand.”

“Its journalism and expertise will be fully integrated into POLITICO’s energy and environment portfolio of stories, briefs, analysis and newsletters.”

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Trump clashes with ‘Meet the Press’ interviewer, calls outlet ‘crooked’ before ending segment

An exchange between President Donald Trump and NBC’s Kristin Welker became heated in a “Meet the Press” interview.

During a Sunday segment focused on a proposed “anti-weaponization” fund, which is meant to provide compensation to Americans who were politically or ideologically targeted under the administration of former President Joe Biden, the discussion quickly became tense.

“You had a bunch of dirty cops, and frankly what they did was weaponization of our government,” Trump said, the conversation specifically focused on the January 6th protesters.

“There’s no evidence of that,” Welker said.

“Try looking at the tapes one time,” Trump replied.

In support of her assertion, Welker brought up the number of people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers.

“They plead guilty because they were frightened,” Trump claimed, purporting people had been told they would be jailed for significant periods of time.

He noted that the fund, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche recently announced the Department of Justice (DOJ) would no longer be pursuing, would have been applied on an “individual case basis,” rather than blanket allocations.

As the interview continued to heat up, the discussion turned to the topic of election fraud, including about the 2020 presidential election, as well as Trump calling out the lengthy vote counting process in California. Registered voters are automatically mailed ballots before elections in California, leading to long ballot counting times and concerns by some of the opportunity for fraud.

“Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later they’re nowhere close to picking a winner,” Trump said of the Golden State.

“State and local officials acknowledge they are slow…” Welker said.

“No, they’re crooked,” Trump said. “They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked, and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.”

“You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they are rigged,” he continued, accusing the press of lacking credibility due to unbalanced reporting.

Besides NBC, Trump accused several media outlets of being “crooked,” naming ABC, CBS and CNN.

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Sam Altman Pushes Plan For Backdoor Government Backstop By Handing Out Small Equity Stake To Americans

Back in November, amid mounting speculation that OpenAI’s massive cash burn was massively unsustainable in light of the $1.4 trillion of funding commitments by the AI company, which in turn has sparked the biggest capex flood in modern history all on the hope that the company’s promised payments will be made good, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar sparked a market selloff when amid an admission that OpenAI was “looking for an ecosystem of banks [and] private equity” to support its ambitious plans, she explicitly said that the US government would have to “backstop the guarantee that allows the financing to happen.” 

In other words, as we explained at the time, when all the other sources of funds dried up – clearly a scenario the company is considering judging by her response – the company would have to come to the US taxpayer.

Friar further explained that “Federal loan guarantees would really drop the cost of the financing,” enabling OpenAI and its investors to borrow more money at lower rates to meet the company’s ambitious targets. Right… because there is nothing like a company with $14BN in revenue, $1 trillion in “valuation” and $1.4 trillion in commitments, than loading up to the gills with government-backstopped debt… if only Enron and Lehman had thought to do the same, both would still be around.

Anyway, after the market vividly demonstrated it was less than enthused by this proposal, sending shares in the AI sector sharply lower as it signaled OpenAI itself doubted it would have the financial wherewithal to meet its obligations, the company promptly shelved any discussion of a taxpayer bailout backstop Federal loan guarantee, and even prompted a rare tweet from Sam Altman to explain why Sarah didn’t really mean the things she said. 

All that changed late last week, when Donald Trump caught much of the AI industry by surprise when he threw his weight behind a radical proposal for companies such as OpenAI to hand equity stakes to the American people.

Elements of the idea, which had started as a fringe argument on the progressive left, have recently drawn support from an unlikely cast of characters including Trump cabinet members, democratic socialists such as Bernie Sanders and Maga populists such as Steve Bannon.

But the concept suddenly gained more traction in the White House when – six months after OpenAI first flirted with the idea of a backstop – OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman visited Capitol Hill this week.

According to the FT, the plan proposed by his company, alongside others, would involve setting up a sovereign-wealth-style fund into which AI companies would contribute equity so the American public can share in the lossmaking sector’s soaring valuations. What was left unsaid is that while the “American public” would share in the soaring valuations, they would also share in the AI sector’s continued losses and, more importantly, would be on the hook for the hundreds of billions in commitments if OpenAI is unable to fund them.

Translation: OpenAI – which reportedly is worth just shy of $1 trillion on pre-IPO paper, is once again seeking a government bailout, pardon, backstop. 

Such a plan would be distinct from the $9bn stake the Trump administration took in chipmaker Intel last year, as the public would own shares individually, rather than the US government directly owning equity, according to a person with knowledge of OpenAI’s plans.

In response to a question about equity stakes on Air Force One on Friday, Trump suggested “pieces [of AI companies] could be given to the American public” in an effort to quell the growing alarm around the rapid rollout of the technology. As if the American public can somehow sell its shares of OpenAI to offset soaring electricity prices. 

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Trump Admin Announces $850MM To Modernize US Coal Capacity, Build 2 New Plants

The Trump administration approved 76 coal-related permits in more than a year of efforts to revive the flagging fuel and execute an agenda of “energy dominance.” His latest attempt includes tapping Defense Production Act funding to expand the industry.

“Last year we prevented 17 GW of coal-powered electricity from going offline. That’s enough power for about 13 million homes, and at a very low price. It’s the lowest price,” Trump said of coal resources.

But critics say the opposite is true. “This move, along with the President blocking the retirement of old coal plants that are too costly to operate, is making most Americans poorer,” Jenkins said. “This is a total misuse of the Defense Production Act, a giant giftwrapped payout to subsidize and prop up a flailing industry that can no longer compete in the free market.”

The coal funding is “another example of Trump ignoring the affordability crisis,” Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s energy program, said in a statement. “Abusing emergency authorities to justify subsidies for coal is a waste of taxpayer dollars and a clear giveaway to an absurdly outdated, expensive and dirty fossil fuel.”

DOE said it plans to use up to $425 million in Defense Production Act Title III funds to support a dozen coal-plant projects and $75 million for the West Gateway Terminal Project, to operate a rail-served marine export terminal. The coal projects include:

  • $19 million for Arizona Electric Power Cooperative to modernize and extend the operating life the Apache Generating Station near Cochise, Arizona;
  • $33 million for Duke Energy Kentucky to boost generating capacity at its East Bend Station in Boone County, Kentucky;
  • $22.5 million for Oklahoma Gas and Electric’s Sooner DCS Modernization Project near Red Rock, Oklahoma, to modernize the facility’s distributed control system to maintain reliability and improve efficiency; and,
  • $46.3 million for Tennessee Valley Authority to revitalize its Cumberland Fossil Plant in Stewart County, Tennessee, to meet regional demands for dispatchable power.

The West Gateway Terminal Project “will support continued growth in U.S. coal exports, improve supply chain resilience, and strengthen energy partnerships with allies throughout the Indo-Pacific region,” DOE Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit said in a statement.

In a separate announcement, DOE said four projects will receive up to $350 million under the agency’s “Restoring Reliability: Coal Recommissioning and Modernization” initiative, to add or preserve roughly 3.6 GW of coal-fired capacity.

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Trump Administration Eyes Equity Stake in OpenAI, Aligning with Push for Public Share in AI Gains

President Donald Trump said Friday he has been speaking with AI companies about deals that would let the American people share directly in the sector’s success, with the Trump administration now reportedly discussing an equity stake in OpenAI.

The potential government ownership in the AI leader comes amid growing bipartisan interest in ensuring the public captures some of the massive wealth expected from artificial intelligence. Bloomberg reported that CEO Sam Altman has been floating the idea of government stakes in major AI companies since early 2025.

According to CNBC, the administration’s discussions with OpenAI could involve using part of that equity to help seed a “Public Wealth Fund” proposed by the company. The fund would distribute proceeds directly to citizens, enabling broader participation in AI-driven growth regardless of personal wealth or access to capital, reported Tech Crunch.

Trump elaborated on the concept aboard Air Force One, telling reporters he is exploring ideas where “pieces could be given to the American public,” effectively turning citizens into partners with the companies.

This approach aligns with the administration’s earlier move to take a 10% government stake in struggling chipmaker Intel last year. It also echoes proposals from the left. This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders called for a one-time 50% tax on leading AI firms — including OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI — to be paid in stock. With several of these companies eyeing public offerings this year, Sanders argued the tax would give Americans a direct say in the technology’s future and ensure AI trillions improve lives across the country.

David Sacks, who recently left his post as Trump’s AI and crypto czar and now co-chairs the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, acknowledged the idea’s cross-aisle appeal. “I can see why [Sanders’] idea resonates, including with many on the right,” Sacks posted. Still, he warned it risks accelerating “corporate-government fusion.”

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