Todd Blanche’s nomination to be permanently made the attorney general marks the apex of a gamble from a man who bet everything on representing Donald Trump and became one of his most steadfast and punishing enforcers.
Trump announced the news at the White House on Monday. The nomination will require Senate confirmation to become permanent.
President Trump on Monday formally nominated acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to fill the role permanently, tapping his former personal criminal defense attorney to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ). Blanche, previously the No. 2 at the DOJ, has led the department for the last two months after Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi.…
Donald Trump nominated Todd Blanche to serve permanently as attorney general on Monday, lining up his former personal lawyer to be the country’s top law enforcement officer.
President Trump on Monday called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to “immediately fire” Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to clear the way for Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot. “Senate Majority Leader John Thune should…
The Kennedy Center officially dropped President Trump’s name from the performing venue as reflected by a set of invitations sent on Monday to guests at its annual awards ceremony set to take place later this month. Bill Maher’s name was prominently featured on invitations as a recipient of the Mark Twain Award for American Humor. …
New York City is tightening security ahead of President Trump’s attendance of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs. “Tonight is Game 3 of the NBA finals – an exciting time for New York City – and we want everyone to be able to enjoy the game…
Border Czar Tom Homan on Monday said New York City was about to see its largest deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in response to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent legislative package that provides residents with added protections from federal authorities. “You are going to see more ICE agents than you have ever seen…
President dramatically raised cost of visa for highly skilled workers in executive order last year
A US judge has invalidated Donald Trump’s $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications, ruling it an unlawful tax that violated federal administrative law and the constitution.
US district judge Leo Sorokin in Boston issued the 42-page ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging a fee Trump announced in September that dramatically raised the cost of obtaining H-1B visas.. The ruling vacated the sweeping fee, which was a 20-to-50 fold increase on existing rates, and the Trump administration is widely expected to appeal.
A federal judge over the weekend struck down a Trump administration effort to restrict tax credits for wind and solar energy. While the ruling is a win for renewable energy supporters, it comes less than a month before a key deadline to phase out the credits entirely under Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill,” so it’s unclear how wide-reaching the…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that it is seeking to strip the citizenship from 17 foreign-born Americans across the country accused of serious crimes, marking the latest move in the administration’s denaturalization push. Federal prosecutors filed denaturalization actions in various U.S. District Courts in what officials described as the largest denaturalization effort in…
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday criticized President Trump for planning to attend Game 3 of the NBA finals in his hometown of New York, which shut down watch parties previously slated to occur outside of Madison Square Garden. “It already has been a vibe killer, because now the city has to shut down all the…
Tom Homan says he made Kathy Hochul promise after governor signed bill protecting New Yorkers against ICE
Donald Trump’s hardline border czar has again threatened to dispatch a surge of immigration agents to New York City, as the administration vows to press ahead with its controversial crackdown.
Tom Homan said on Monday that he has reviewed a plan to expand Immigration Enforcement and Customs (ICE) operations in New York and deploy “more ICE agents than you’ve ever seen” in the city.
President Trump on Monday evening will head into New York City to catch Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. Heightened security caused an abrupt change to the city’s watch party plans, forcing them into Bryant Park from outside Madison Square Garden. After a weekend of…
Donald Trump on Monday posted on Truth Social that “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting’” before claiming an hour later that Israel and Iran were “looking to do an immediate ceasefire” and that “final negotiations on peace” were under way.
While he did not provide any further details, AFP reports that Trump had called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
This live blog is now closed. For the latest, read more of our coverage on the Middle East conflict here.
Iranian media is reporting that there were no immediate casualties following apparent Israeli strikes on the Karun petrochemical plant in Mahshahr, a city in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.
According to the Fars news agency, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they responded to what they described as an American-Israeli strike on the Iranian petrochemical site by launching a missile attack on a similar plant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
David Rush, who was arrested in May, stole millions from US government through ‘special access program’, officials say
A former executive intelligence agent who is accused of stealing more than $40m in gold bars from the CIA reportedly created a fake spy program to siphon money, the latest on his fraudulent activity, the Washington Post first reported.
David Rush, who was a senior-level employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for 17 years, was arrested in May after FBI agents discovered Rush had taken 303 bullion bars, each about 2.2lbs, dozens of luxury watches, and more than $2m in foreign currency from his government office.
Potential proposal would secure control of Diego Garcia base amid stalled UK plans to cede sovereignty of territory
Donald Trump is reportedly weighing a plan to buy the Chagos Islands from Mauritius amid stalled plans from the UK to cede sovereignty of the territory, the Telegraph first reported.
The White House did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on the report about the potential plan.
The Trump administration is rolling out what experts describe as the most significant expansion of U.S. sanctions on Cuba in decades.
The administration is attempting what supporters say is the first broad application of Cuba-related secondary sanctions against foreign firms, aiming not only at Havana itself but also at foreign companies and banks that continue doing business with the island’s military-linked economic empire.
The new framework, established under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump May 1, applies pressure beyond U.S. companies for the first time, threatening foreign firms with sanctions exposure if they continue operating in key sectors of the Cuban economy linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., or GAESA.
Supporters say the move closes a loophole that allowed foreign investors to sustain Cuba’s communist regime while the longstanding U.S. embargo largely restricted Americans.
Critics argue the measures risk worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis on the island without meaningfully weakening the government.
"At the top of the month, what the Trump administration did was for the first time extend the application of U.S. sanctions from just prohibiting trade between U.S. firms and U.S. persons and the Cuban island to third-party countries and enablers," Max Meizlish, a former Treasury Department official now serving as a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
"For the first time ever in a truly unprecedented fashion, that’s the same logic that the administration is now applying to Cuba," he said.
The sanctions focus heavily on GAESA, a sprawling military-linked conglomerate that analysts estimate controls between 40% and 70% of Cuba’s economy, including tourism, mining, retail, ports and financial services.
A recent Foundation for Defense of Democracies report authored by Meizlish and Connor Pfeiffer argued that foreign companies doing business in Cuba are effectively helping sustain the regime’s military and political leadership.
The State Department sanctioned GAESA and several affiliated entities in May under the new authorities, opening the door for potential penalties against foreign companies and financial institutions that continue dealings with them after a June 5 wind-down deadline.
Meizlish argued previous sanctions regimes failed because they isolated American companies while allowing foreign actors to continue financing the Cuban state.
"There’s a lot of Spanish firms, for instance, that have invested millions of dollars in luxury hotel properties, villa properties in Cuba that partner with GAESA, all funding this military enterprise at the expense of the Cuban people," he said.
He also pointed to Canadian involvement in Cuba’s nickel and cobalt sectors, saying foreign investment has generated "huge amounts of money for the regime."
"A lot of people think about the U.S. embargo over the years is actually being responsible for a lot of the problems on the Cuban island, but they don't give consideration to the fact that GAESA, this newly sanctioned entity, has been sitting on an estimated $20 billion in assets and cash over the year while depriving the people of Cuba," Meizlish told Fox News Digital.
But critics of the policy warn the economic fallout could land the hardest on ordinary Cubans.
William LeoGrande, a longtime Cuba expert at American University, said the May 1 measures represent a major escalation because they specifically target foreign businesses rather than just Americans and aim to deter foreign companies from doing business with GAESA by threatening sanctions exposure.
LeoGrande acknowledged the measures could deprive the Cuban government of revenue but argued the broader population is likely to suffer most.
"This would potentially deprive the Cuban government of funds, but the impact will fall mainly on ordinary citizens because it means the government has fewer resources to import food, medicine and fuel," he said.
The World Food Programme says food insecurity is worsening amid fuel shortages, inflation and declining access to imported goods, while U.N. officials have warned that electricity shortages and blackouts are disrupting hospitals, vaccination programs and food distribution networks across the island.
LeoGrande also warned tougher sanctions could contribute to another migration crisis.
"Another unintended effect is that by making living conditions in Cuba even more desperate, tougher sanctions could trigger a mass migration like we saw in 1980 or 1994," LeoGrande said.
"The suffering of the Cuban people is not caused by the U.S. embargo but by the Cuban dictatorship’s failed Communist policies and human rights violations," the official told Fox News Digital. "The embargo does not prohibit Cuba’s access to world markets or trade with third countries."
The official added that U.S. law explicitly permits exports of food, medicine and medical equipment to Cuba and accused the regime of hiding "billions in overseas bank accounts instead of investing in electricity, infrastructure and the daily needs of its people."
The debate mirrors long-standing arguments surrounding U.S. sanctions on countries like Iran and Venezuela, where supporters view economic pressure as a tool to weaken authoritarian governments while critics argue regimes often survive and civilians absorb the economic damage.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio says anyone providing services to listed entities ‘is at risk of sanctions themselves’
The United States has announced fresh economic sanctions on Cuba’s president and some of his immediate family, alongside members of the Castro family, in Washington’s latest ramping up of pressure on its communist-led neighbour.
Among those targeted were the son and a grandson of former president Raúl Castro, who no longer holds an official position but remains a key figure on decisions about the future of the island.
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