Joe Biden

Aug. 19 (UPI) — The Trump administration wants U.S. chipmaker Intel to give the federal government an equity stake to receive $8 billion via the CHIPS and Science Act.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday confirmed President Donald Trump wants Intel to give the federal government a 10% stake in Intel in exchange for money promised to it by the Biden administration upon passage of the CHIPS and Science Act.

“We should get an equity stake for our money,” Lutnick said when interviewed by CNBC on Tuesday.

“We’ll deliver the money, which was already committed under theBiden administration,” Lutnick continued. “We’ll get equity in return for it.”

Intel officials in the fall announced the tech company will receive an $8 billion grant via the CHIPS and Science Act.

The president questions why the federal government is giving that much money to a tech firm that is worth $100 billion, Lutnick said.

Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent also confirmed the Trump administration’s demand for equity in Intel, saying it’s needed to make the tech firm stable and capable of increasing domestic production of chips. Additionally, Taiwan produces most of the global supply of chips, and U.S. national security requires a domestic supply, Bessent told Bloomberg last week.

The Trump administration’s request for equity in Intel comes a day after Japan-based tech investor SoftBank on Monday announced it will invest $2 billion in Intel in exchange for Intel common stock.

“Semiconductors are the foundation of every industry,” said Masayoshi Son, SoftBank chairman and chief executive officer. “For more than 50 years, Intel has been a trusted leader in innovation.”

Son said SoftBank officials believe Intel will have a “critical role” in expanding the United States’ semiconductor manufacturing and supply.

SoftBank will pay $23 per share for Intel stock, which would amount to nearly 87 million common shares.

The Trump administration, likewise, wants equity in Intel in exchange for CHIPs and Science Act funding, rather than giving away taxpayer funds.

Intel had begun building U.S. manufacturing facilities near Columbus, Ohio, with an estimated completion date in 2030.

Intel Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan last month said the company is slowing the pace of construction and will continue work based on market conditions, CNBC reported.

President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law on Aug. 9, 2022, which provides about $280 billion in funding for the U.S. semiconductor industry.

Biden lauded the act as a success a year ago in August after tech companies pledged more than $395 billion in investments in electronics and semiconductors and created more than 115,000 jobs during the act’s first two years.

U.S. tech firms account for about 10% of the global supply of chips that power artificial intelligence and a variety of consumer goods, including appliances and computers.

The United States was on pace to produce about 30% of the global computer chip supply by 2032, Biden announced.

Newsmax has paid $27m so far, and will pay $20m in 2026 and $20m in 2027 to technology firm Dominion Voting Systems.

The right-wing network Newsmax will pay $67m to a voting technology firm over outright false claims it made about United States President Donald Trump‘s 2020 election loss.

The settlement of the defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems was announced in a filing by Newsmax on Monday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Under the settlement agreement, Newsmax said it had paid Dominion $27m on Friday and would pay $20m in 2026 and the final $20m in 2027.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News settled a similar defamation lawsuit with Dominion in 2023 for the larger sum of $787.5m.

The settlement came as Trump vowed in a social media post on Monday to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines such as those supplied by Dominion and other companies. But it was unclear how the Republican president could achieve that.

Dominion filed a defamation suit against Newsmax in 2021 over false claims that its voting technology was used to rig the 2020 US presidential election, in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump. Dominion sought $1.6bn in damages.

In a statement, Newsmax said it had agreed to settle because it did not believe it would receive a fair trial.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis had ruled earlier that Newsmax defamed Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems by airing false information about the company and its equipment. But Davis said he would leave it to a jury to eventually decide whether that was done with malice, and, if so, how much Dominion deserved from Newsmax in damages.

“The pattern of judicial rulings that consistently denied Newsmax due process left the Company to believe it would not receive a fair trial,” Newsmax said. “Faced with these rulings and other constraints, Newsmax chose to settle the case.”

“Newsmax has always maintained that its reporting was not defamatory and that its coverage was consistent with accepted journalistic standards,” the company said.

“We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism,” it added.

However, internal correspondence from Newsmax officials shows they knew Trump’s claims of electoral fraud were baseless.

Davis also handled the Dominion-Fox News case, and made a similar ruling that the network repeated numerous lies by Trump’s allies about his 2020 loss despite internal communications showing Fox officials knew the claims were false.

Though Trump has insisted his fraud claims are real, there’s no evidence to prove they were, and the lawsuits in the Fox and Newsmax cases show how some of the president’s biggest supporters knew they were false at the time. Trump’s then-attorney general, William Barr, said there was no evidence of widespread fraud.

Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud, some before Trump-appointed judges. Numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results, including some run by Republicans, turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error and affirmed Biden’s win.

Aug. 16 (UPI) — The Trump administration won’t take control of the Washington police force, but more military personnel are being deployed to make the nation’s capital safer for residents, workers and visitors.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Saturday announced he is deploying between 300 and 400 of the state’s National Guard members to Washington to help “restore cleanliness and safety.”

“West Virginia is proud to stand with President [Donald] Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital,” Morrisey said.

He called the deployment a “show of cooperation to public safety and regional cooperation” that “aligns with our values of service and dedication to our communities.”

The W.V. National Guard will remain under the command of Adj. Gen. Maj. Jim Seward while deployed in the nation’s capital.

Morrisey’s deployment order comes after Justice Department and Washington police officials on Friday agreed the capital would maintain control of its police force of 3,200 officers.

U.S. Columbia District Judge Ana Reyes, during an emergency hearing on Friday, encouraged attorneys for the Justice Department and District of Columbia to negotiate a short-term agreement to temporarily stop the Drug Enforcement Administration from taking control of the city’s police force.

The resulting compromise agreement will continue while Reyes considers arguments made by the Justice Department and capital attorneys, who filed the federal case on Friday.

Reyes suggested Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration likely exceeded the authority that is provided by the 1973 Home Rule Act, which made Washington a self-governed federal district.

President Joe Biden appointed Reyes to the court in 2023.

“A hostile takeover of our police force is not going to happen,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said during a Friday news conference.

Capital Police Chief Pamela Smith “remains in control of the police department under the supervision of our mayor,” Schwalb said.

Bondi said the Justice Department will continue working with local officials to address concerns of criminal activity in Washington.

“We remain committed to working with Mayor [Muriel] Bowser, who is dedicated to ensuring the safety of residents, workers and visitors in Washington,” Bondi said.

Bondi on Thursday said an “emergency police commissioner” would approve the city’s Metropolitan Police Department policies and ensure the police force helps with federal law enforcement make immigration-related arrests, The Hill reported.

Bondi had appointed DEA Administrator Terrence Cole to oversee the Washington MPD, but his appointment is on hold and might not happen.

The Trump administration’s effort to police Washington’s streets and control its police force caused concern among many of its younger residents.

“I understand public safety is important, but they look more like they’re bullying us than being our community guardians,” a 16-year-old named Ali told NPR. “It’s hard not to feel intimidated.”

Another 16-year-old named Makayla blamed a relatively small group of juveniles for causing trouble that triggered the federal intervention in the capital.

“As a teenager, you want to go out and enjoy yourself,” she told NPR. “But all y’all want to do is fight.”

Trump cited juvenile crime as a tipping point in his decision to have his administration intervene in capital policing to make it safer for all for residents, workers and visitors.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner nominee E.J. Antoni has suggested suspending monthly jobs reports in favor of more accurate quarterly reports.

The economist criticized the current methods used by the BLS to gauge employment numbers in the United States in an Aug. 4 interview with Fox News Digital that was reported on Tuesday.

“How on Earth are businesses supposed to plan, or how is the [Federal Reserve] supposed to conduct monetary policy, when they don’t know how many jobs are being added or lost in our economy?” Antoni said.

“It’s a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately,” he added.

Instead of continuing to publish what he called flawed monthly jobs reports that undergo significant adjustments months later, Antoni favors publishing more accurate quarterly reports.

That would continue until the BLS can correct data-gathering methods and ensure more accurate monthly reports, he said.

“Major decision-makers from Wall Street to D.C. rely on these numbers,” Antoni said. “A lack of confidence in the data has far-reaching consequences.”

Antoni is the lead economist for the Heritage Foundation, and President Donald Trump said he will ensure accuracy in the BLS jobs reports.

“Our economy is booming,” Trump said Monday evening in a Truth Social post. “E.J. will ensure the numbers released are honest and accurate.”

Trump on Aug. 1 fired former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the BLS reported 73,000 new jobs in July, which was less than half of the 147,000 jobs reported in June.

The BLS on Aug. 1 revised down the June report to 14,000 jobs created, which is 133,000 and 90.5% fewer than initially reported.

The BLS also revised downward its prior employment report for May, which initially was reported as 144,000 new jobs, to 19,000.

The revised May jobs report is 125,000 fewer than initially reported, which is a change of 87%.

Trump accused McEntarfer of knowingly producing false jobs reports shortly before the Nov. 5 election that reflected well upon the Biden administration but later were revised to remove 818,000 jobs.

President Joe Biden nominated McEntarfer to lead the BLS in July 2023, which the Senate confirmed in January 2024.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — The Consumer Price Index rose slightly less than expected in July annually as tariffs showed only a minimal influence on prices.

The CPI increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month and 2.7% on a 12-month basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The Dow Jones estimates were 0.2% and 2.8%.

Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.3% for the month and 3.1% from a year ago, compared with the forecasts for 0.3% and 3%. Federal Reserve officials generally consider core inflation to be a better reading for longer-term trends, CNBC reported.

The 2% increase in shelter costs was the main uptick in the index, while food prices were flat and energy fell 1.1%.

New vehicle prices, which are tariffed, were also unchanged, but used cars and trucks saw a 0.5% bump. Transportation and medical services both rose 0.8%.

Stock market futures showed gains after the report, while Treasury yields were mostly lower.

Tariffs did affect some areas. Household furnishings and supplies showed a 0.7% increase after rising 1% in June. But apparel prices rose just 0.1%, and core commodity prices increased just 0.2%. Canned fruits and vegetables, which are usually imported and also sensitive to tariffs, were flat.

“The tariffs are in the numbers, but they’re certainly not jumping out hair on fire at this point,” former White House economist Jared Bernstein said on CNBC. Bernstein served under former President Joe Biden.

The report comes in the middle of a political shake-up in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which releases the CPI.

President Donald Trump on Monday nominated economist E.J. Antoni as commissioner of the BLS, a non-partisan agency he has criticized.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the chief economist with the conservative Heritage Foundation would replace Erika McEntarfer, who was fired by Trump on Aug. 1, alleging that she had manipulated the jobs reports for three months.

He worked for the Texas Public Policy Commission before the Heritage Foundation. He has master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from Northern Illinois University.

Last week, Antoni posted on X: “There are better ways to collect, process, and disseminate data — that is the task for the next BLS commissioner, and only consistent delivery of accurate data in a timely manner will rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last several years.”

On Nov. 13, one week after Trump was elected again, he wrote on X: “DOGE needs to take a chainsaw to the BLS.”

Aug. 11 (UPI) — U.S. chip makers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices inked an “unprecedented” deal in which they will pay 15% of their sales to China to the U.S. treasury in exchange for export licenses to ship their advanced H20 and MI308 semiconductors.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has begun issuing licenses to both companies to supply the AI chips to China, sources and officials told the BBC and the Financial Times on Sunday, after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with Trump last week.

The arrangements came two months after Trump reversed an earlier decision banning Nvidia from exporting its H20 chip to China, with the Santa Clara, Calif., firm moving to cut the deal because the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security had not issued the expected licenses.

Nvidia developed the H20 chip specifically for the Chinese market after the administration of President Joe Biden imposed sweeping export controls on advanced chips for AI in 2023. Before Trump’s ban, analysts estimated Nvidia would ship 1.5 million H20s this year, worth $23 billion.

AMD, which is also headquartered in Santa Clara, did not immediately comment on the development, but Nvidia said it always adhered to U.S. regulations when it came to exporting and warned of the risk of the U.S. losing its first-mover advantage.

“We follow rules the U.S. government sets for our participation in worldwide markets. While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide.”

Saying the development was without precedent, Forrester Vice President Charlie Dai said it demonstrated very elevated market access costs in a climate of rising tensions in global trade, generating “substantial financial pressure and strategic uncertainty for tech vendors.”

The deal, which takes to a new level Trump’s tactic of using trade restrictions to pressure multinationals to invest in the United States or shift manufacturing there, has attracted criticism from security experts who called the H20, in particular, a “potent accelerator” of Chinese AI that would help its military and erode the United States’ lead in the technology.

“If you have a 15% payment, it doesn’t somehow eliminate the national security issue. You either have a national security problem or you don’t,” said Deborah Elms, trade policy head at the Hinrich Foundation, a think tank.

BIS officials have also raised concerns along with 20 security experts who wrote Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asking him not to authorize licenses to export the H20.

“Chips optimized for AI inference will not simply power consumer products or factory logistics; they will enable autonomous weapons systems, intelligence surveillance platforms and rapid advances in battlefield decision-making,” the letter said.

Nvidia earlier dismissed the claims regarding China’s military and that the H20 would help Chinese AI to leap forward.

But Liza Tobin, China expert and National Security Council member in the first Trump administration, warned against monetizing the transfer of dual-use technology.

“Being must be gloating to see Washington turn export licenses into revenue streams. What’s next — letting Lockheed Martin sell F-35s to China for a 15% commission,” she told the FT.

William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, was the last commander in chief born a British subject and the first member of the Whig Party to win the White House. He delivered the longest inaugural address in history, nearly two hours, and had the shortest presidency, being the first sitting president to die in office, just 31 days into his term.

Oh, there is one more bit of trivia about the man who gave us the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” Harrison was the last politician to lose his first presidential election and then win the next one (Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson managed that before him). Richard Nixon lost only to win way down the road. (Grover Cleveland and Trump are the only two to win, lose and then win again.)

Everyone else since Harrison’s era who lost on the first try and ran again in the next election lost again. Democrat Adlai Stevenson and Republican Thomas Dewey ran twice and lost twice. Henry Clay and William Jennings Bryan each ran three times in a row and lost (Clay ran on three different party tickets). Voters, it seems, don’t like losers.

These are not encouraging results for Kamala Harris, who announced last week she will not be running for governor in California, sparking speculation that she wants another go at the White House.

But history isn’t what she should worry about. It’s the here and now. The Democratic Party is wildly unpopular. It’s net favorability ( 30 points) is nearly triple the GOP’s (11 points). The Democratic Party is more unpopular than any time in the last 35 years. When Donald Trump’s unpopularity with Democrats should be having the opposite effect, 63% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the party.

Why? Because Democrats are mad at their own party — both for losing to Trump and for failing to provide much of an obstacle to him now that he’s in office. As my Dispatch colleague Nick Cattogio puts it, “Even Democrats have learned to hate Democrats.”

It’s not all Harris’ fault. Indeed, the lion’s share of the blame goes to Joe Biden and the coterie of enablers who encouraged him to run again.

Harris’ dilemma is that she symbolizes Democratic discontent with the party. That discontent isn’t monolithic. For progressives, the objection is that Democrats aren’t fighting hard enough. For the more centrist wing of the party, the problem is the Democrats are fighting for the wrong things, having lurched too far left on culture war and identity politics. Uniting both factions is visceral desire to win. That’s awkward for a politician best known for losing.

Almost the only reason Harris was positioned to be the nominee in 2024 was that she was a diversity pick. Biden was explicit that he would pick a woman and, later, an African American running mate. And the same dynamic made it impossible to sideline her when Biden withdrew.

Of course, most Democrats don’t see her race and gender as a problem, and in the abstract they shouldn’t. Indeed, every VP pick is a diversity pick, including the white guys. Running mates are chosen to appeal to some part of a coalition.

So Harris’ problem isn’t her race or sex; it’s her inability to appeal to voters in a way that expands the Democratic coalition. For Democrats to win, they need someone who can flip Trump voters. She didn’t lose because of low Democratic turnout, she lost because she’s uncompelling to a changing electorate.

Her gauzy, often gaseous, rhetoric made her sound like a dean of students at a small liberal arts college. With the exception of reproductive rights, her convictions sounded like they were crafted by focus groups, at a time when voters craved authenticity. Worse, Harris acquiesced to Biden’s insistence she not distance herself from him.

Such clubby deference to the establishment combined with boilerplate pandering to progressive constituencies — learned from years of San Francisco and California politics — makes her the perfect solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Her choice to appear on Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” for her first interview since leaving office was telling. CBS recently announced it was terminating both Colbert and the show, insisting it was purely a business decision. But the reason for the broadcast network’s decision stemmed in part from the fact that Colbert narrow-casts his expensive show to a very small, very anti-Trump slice of the electorate.

“I don’t want to go back into the system. I think it’s broken,” Harris lamented to Colbert, decrying the “naïve” and “feckless” lack of “leadership” and the “capitulation” of those who “consider themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy.”

That’s all catnip to Colbert’s ideologically committed audience. But that’s not the audience Democrats need to win. And that’s why, if Democrats nominate her again, she’ll probably go down in history as an answer to a trivia question. And it won’t be “Who was the 48th president of the United States?”

@JonahDispatch

Aug. 5 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is no longer on the list to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

“Well I love Scott, but he wants to stay where he is,” Trump said on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “I asked him just last night, ‘Is this something you want?’ ‘Nope I want to stay where I am.'”

“I just take him off. He does not want it. He likes being Treasury secretary,” Trump said.

Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in 2026, and Trump has been highly critical of his hesitation to lower interest rates, calling him a “moron” and “too late.”

Trump is considering his own replacements for the Fed’s board of governors amid his criticism of Powell over his stance on interest rates.

Others Trump is considering to replace Powell include Kevin Warsh, a financier and bank executive who previously served on the Fed’s board of governors, and Kevin Hassett, an economist and the head of the National Economic Council at the White House.

“Both Kevins are very good, and there are other people that are very good, too,” Trump said, adding that [Adriana] Kugler’s resignation “was a pleasant surprise.”

Kugler, a labor economist, announced Friday that she would step down from the Fed’s board of governors this Friday. She plans to return to teaching public policy at Georgetown University in the fall.

Another contender for Powell’s job is economist and Fed governor Christopher Waller, whom Trump appointed.

Trump nominated Powell for the Fed job in 2017, during his first term as president. President Joe Biden reappointed him during his term. Trump alleged Tuesday that Powell told him, “Sir, I’ll keep interest rates so low. I’m a low interest rate person.”

Last week, the Fed kept the interest rate unchanged at 4.25%-4.5%. Waller and governor Michelle Bowman, another Trump appointee, dissented. It was the first time two governors had dissented since 1993.

Aug. 2 (UPI) — One of the seven members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Adriana Kugler, announced she is stepping down next week, creating an opening for President Donald Trump to fill.

Her term was set to expire in January but Kugler said Friday she will depart in seven days. President Joe Biden appointed Kugler, a 55-year-old labor economist, in September 2023.

Governors’ terms are for 14 years, and Kugler filled an opening.

“The Federal Reserve does important work to help foster a healthy economy and it has been a privilege to work towards that goal on behalf of all Americans for nearly two years,” Kugler said in her resignation letter to Trump. “I am proud to have tackled this role with integrity, a strong commitment to serving the public, and with a data-driven approach strongly based on my expertise in labor markets and inflation.”

Kugler said she plans to return to teaching public policy at Georgetown University in the fall. She was a vice provost for faculty at Georgetown and earned her Ph.D. in economics at the University of California at Berkeley.

“I am especially honored to have served during a critical time in achieving our dual mandate of bringing down prices and keeping a strong and resilient labor market,” she wrote in the letter.

Kugler did not vote on Wednesday when the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a range of 4.25% to 4.5% for a fifth consecutive meeting. Two of the 11 committee members who did vote dissented, backing Trump’s desire to lower rates.

The 12-member committee includes the seven governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and four remaining 11 Reserve Bank presidents who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis.

“We just found out that I have an open spot on the Federal Reserve Board. I’m very happy about that,” Trump said late Friday before boarding Marine One.

He later posted on Truth Social that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell “should resign, just like Adriana Kugler, a Biden Appointee, resigned. She knew he was doing the wrong thing on Interest Rates. He should resign, also!”

The replacement may ultimately replace Powell, whose term ends in May, though he can remain as a governor until 2028.

The president appoints each of the board members and designates one to serve as chair for four years. Trump appointed Powell during his first presidency in 2018. Biden appointed him to another term as chairman.

“Trump’s influence on interest rates will now be felt earlier and more strongly,” Derek Tang, an economist at LHMeyer, an economic consulting firm, told The Washington Post.

Contenders to lead the Fed are National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and Fed governor Christopher Waller, each with distinct strengths, The Washington Post reported. Trump has said he wants Scott Bessent to remain as Treasury secretary.

Trump has sought to replace Powell, calling him on Truth Social “a stubborn MORON” and “too late” on lowering interest rates. But he can only be fired “for cause,” such as malfeasance, neglect of duty or inefficiency, rather than disagreeing with policies.

Experts say his removal could disrupt the financial markets.

Aug. 2 (UPI) — Smithsonian Institution staff temporarily have removed the mention of all presidential impeachment efforts, including President Donald Trump‘s two impeachments, from an exhibit on presidential power.

The impeachment mentions were part of an exhibit called “Limits on Presidential Power,” but they have been removed while the Smithsonian renovates the exhibit, which last was updated after its last review in 2008, ABC News reported.

“In reviewing our legacy content recently, it became clear that the ‘Limits of Presidential Power’ section in ‘The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden’ needed to be addressed,” a Smithsonian spokesperson told ABC News.

“The section of this exhibition covers Congress, the Supreme Court, impeachment and public opinion,” the spokesperson said.

A temporary label within the exhibit had described the two impeachments against Trump and those against former Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.

It also discussed the pending impeachment of former President Richard Nixon, who resigned before the House of Representatives could vote on articles of impeachment against him.

The label also told visitors that the exhibit’s case is being redesigned, which it now is undergoing.

Until the exhibit is updated, the Trump impeachment mentions and all others won’t be included.

“A future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments,” the Smithsonian staff said in a statement to The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the exhibit says, “Only three presidents have seriously faced removal.”

“The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden” exhibit opened at the Smithsonian in 2000.

The exhibit displays photos of Johnson’s impeachment prosecutors in 1868, the investigative report that led to Clinton’s 1999 impeachment and a filing cabinet that was damaged during the 1972 Watergate Hotel break-in that led to Nixon resigning two years later.

An online version of the exhibit still includes information on all five impeachment efforts.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives impeached Trump in 2019 due to alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress regarding its so-called Russiagate investigation.

The House voted to impeach Trump again on Jan. 13, 2021, days after the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol as the U.S. Senate counted votes to confirm former President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election win.

Both impeachment efforts failed in the Senate.

Aug. 1 (UPI) — Slovenia on Friday imposed a ban on all weapons trading with Israel becoming the first European country to do so over the growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave in Israel’s ongoing war.

Its government said in a statement that at the initiative of Prime Minister Robert Golob, Slovenia signed off on its decision that prohibits “the export and transit of military weapons and equipment from or through the Republic of Slovenia to Israel, as well as the import of such goods from Israel into the Republic of Slovenia.”

It added that Israel’s actions had constituted “serious violations of international humanitarian law” and that Slovenia would prepare “some more national measures” in the “coming weeks,” according to the statement.

The prime minister’s decision, according to the Slovenian government, stems from a promise to “act independent” if the EU “failed to adopt concrete measures” by July.

“Due to internal disagreements and lack of unity, the European Union is currently unable to fulfil this task,” the statement said in part.

On Monday, a European Commission proposal to partly suspend EU weaponry aid to Israel was blocked as Sweden became the most recent to apply pressure over trade.

Nearly 70% of Israel’s arsenal is imported from the United States with Germany its second-biggest supplier and Italy at third.

Slovenian officials have repeatedly called for a cease-fire and its government increased aid delivery to the war-torn territory.

On Friday, it said people in Gaza are dying “because humanitarian aid is systematically denied to them. They are dying under the rubble, without access to drinking water, food and basic healthcare.”

Slovenia’s government called it a “complete denial of humanitarian access” and a “conscious prevention of basic conditions for survival.”

Last year in June, Slovenia became one of the first in Europe to recognize Palestine as a state.

Israel has exported more than $560 million in weaponry since October 2023 when Iran’s terror syndicate attacked and took Israeli hostages.

Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands have since either restricted or halted exports.

This week, the Dutch government banned Israel’s national security minister and finance chief from its borders.

The foreign ministers of Britain and 28 other nations including Canada, France, Italy and Australia recently issued a joint statement saying Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza had “reached new depths” and “must end now.”

Qatar in March called on international leaders to bring Israel’s nuclear facilities under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Chile’s president has sharply criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza as the South American nation seeks to replace Israel as Chile’s primary arms supplier.

Golob visited the United States last year in October and met with then-U.S. President Joe Biden prior to November’s presidential election.

“It is the duty of every responsible state to act,” the Slovenian leader’s statement continued. “Even if this means taking a step ahead of others.”

Aug. 1 (UPI) — An attorney disciplinary board is recommending White House official Jeffrey Clark be stripped of his Washington, D.C., law license over his involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election for President Donald Trump.

A majority of the nine-member Washington, D.C., Board on Professional Responsibility recommended Clark be disbarred on Thursday, stating Clark “was prepared to cause the Justice Department to tell a lie about the status of its investigation” into the 2020 general election.

“Lawyers cannot advocate for any outcome based on false statements, and they certainly cannot urge others to do so,” the panel said.

“Respondent persistently and energetically sought to do just that on an important national issue. He should be disbarred as a consequence and to send a message to the rest of the Bar and to the public that this behavior will not be tolerated.”

Of the nine members, seven voted for Clark to be disbarred, while two recommended he be suspended for three years and required prove his fitness to practice prior to reinstatement. The D.C. Court of Appeals will have the final say in the matter.

“The fight continues,” Clark said in response to the ruling on X.

Clark is the acting administrator of the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, but was previously acting assistant head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division during Trump’s first term and a supporter of his boss’ false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

The letter at the center of the ruling is one that Clark drafted in late December 2020, after Trump lost the general election to then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

In the letter to Georgia officials, he said the Justice Department had “significant concerns” about the state’s election, despite the federal department being aware of zero issues. The letter recommended that Georgia’s governor call the state’s legislature into special session to consider replacing electors that supported Biden with those that were in favor of Trump — a plot that is now widely referred to as the fake electors scheme.

After being warned against sending the letter by two superiors, Clark, whose job at the Justice Department was not involved in elections, continued to advocate for it to be sent.

Trump also considered replacing then-Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Clark but later declined to name him head of the department after being informed that doing so would ignite mass resignations.

Aug. 1 (UPI) — A federal judge has ruled to postpone the Trump administration’s termination of deportation protections for tens of thousands of migrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua amid litigation.

Judge Trina Thompson of the U.S. District Court in Northern California issued her strongly worded order Thursday, delaying the termination of Temporary Protected Status until at least Nov. 18, when a hearing is scheduled to hear the merits of the case.

The ruling is a win for immigration advocates, who have been fighting Trump’s crackdown on immigration and policies seeking to mass-deport migrants in the country.

“The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty and the American dream. That is all plaintiffs seek. Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names and purify their blood. The court disagrees,” Thompson said in her decision.

TPS was established by Congress in 1990 to shield migrants in the United States from being deported to their home countries experiencing problems, such as war, conflict or famine, where they would be put into harm’s way.

Honduras and Nicaragua were both granted TPS designation in January 1999, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch a year prior, with Nepal receiving the designation in 2015.

Some 60,000 people from the three countries are currently protected from being deported to their native nations because of TPS, many of whom have been in the United States for decades.

Trump has attempted to dismantle TPS. In early June, he announced it was ending such protections for those from Nepal, followed by doing the same for those from Honduras and Nicaragua. The designations were to be terminated within 60 days — Aug. 5 for Nepal and Sept. 8 for Honduras and Nicaragua.

The Trump administration cited that conditions in each of the three countries no longer warranted TPS designation.

The move was met with litigation filed by the National TPS Alliance on July 7, arguing the terminations violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to follow the necessary review process rules while stating racial animus was the actual motive behind ending the deportation protections.

The next day, National TPS Alliance filed for postponement of the terminations.

“Today’s court decision is a powerful affirmation of our humanity and our right to live without fear,” Sandhya Lama, a TPS holder from Nepal and plaintiff in the case, said in a statement. “As a TPS holder and mother, this victory means safety, hope and the chance to keep building our lives here.”

In her decision, Thompson, a President Joe Biden appointee, cited comments from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about TPS and immigrants as proof of racial animus behind the terminations.

She said Noem had intended to end TPS without first reviewing any country condition reports and that she had expressed bias against the program.

“These statements reflect the secretary’s animus against immigrants and the TPS program even though individuals with TPS hold lawful status — a protected status that we expressly conferred by Congress with the purpose of providing humanitarian relief,” Thompson said, adding that TPS holders have contributed billion to the economy by legally working, paying taxes and contributing to Medicare.

“By stereotyping the TPS program and immigrants as invaders that are criminal, and by highlighting the need for migration management, Secretary Noem’s statements perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population.”

Thompson also mentioned comments from Trump and other White House officials about migrants that show racial animus.

Trump has also sought to end TPS protections for other nations, including Afghanistan — moves that are also being challenged in court.

THIS is the hilarious moment Donald Trump’s golf caddy appears to drop his ball into a prime spot before he takes his shot.

A video clip has emerged which shows two golf caddies alongside the US President as he drives a golf cart around Turnberry’s Ailsa course, in Scotland.

6

6

6

He donned a white USA baseball cap and was joined by his son Eric.

Trump, 79, is seen being escorted down to the course, with a convoy of 20 other carts following close behind.

The caddies go ahead of the US leaser and one appears to try and secretly place a golf ball on the ground.

The President then gets out and claims to have made the shot himself.

Trump waves for cameras on the third green at the southeast end of the course before the party moves on.

One person who watched the footage circulating on X wrote: “Caddy did that so smoothly. Can only imagine how many times he’s done it.”

“I want to know how he finds caddies to do that for him,” added another.

This comes as the US President arrived aboard Air Force One at around 8.30pm on Friday for his five-day private visit to Bonnie Scotland.

After waving to the crowds, he was welcomed by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray before being whisked to his luxury Turnberry resort 20 miles down the Ayrshire coast.

Villagers waved as the convoy passed through nearby Kirkoswald and later arrived at the resort at around 9.30pm.

And he wasted no time in taking to the green after being seen teeing off at the luxury resort.

Several protests were planned, with opponents of Mr Trump gathering in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen earlier this week.

The Stop Trump coalition has planned what it has described as being a “festival of resistance”.

Activists also shut down the Forth Road Bridge in South Queensferry as part of a huge protest ahead of Trump’s visit.

6

6

6

Climate campaigners from Greenpeace confirmed that 10 activists abseiled from the massive 156m bridge to block an INEOS tanker.

A large number of police and military personnel were seen searching the grounds at the golf resort to ensure Mr Trump’s safety before he teed off.

A high-profile security operation was in full swing with land, sea and air coverage from police and security services while a number of guests were checked over.

Secret service agents with sniffer dogs checked bushes as snipers were positioned on a platform on the edge of the course and the roof of the hotel.

Uniformed and plain clothes cops guarded all access points to the course, including roads, footpaths and the beach.

Amid the search, a few golfers were also spotted at the course, enjoying an early-morning game.

A number of onlookers had gathered at the entrance to Turnberry hoping to catch a glimpse of the game.

But they were not let anywhere near.

Police also had road closures in place, with limited access for locals and members of the media.

Upon his arrival, Mr Trump told reporters: “There’s no place like Turnberry. It’s the best course in the world.”

As well as visiting Trump Turnberry, Mr Trump will later head to Aberdeenshire and visit his golf resort in Balmedie.

During his stay, he will officially open his second course at Menie, named in honour of his late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.

His visit is expected to last until Tuesday, July 29.

The President is also scheduled to meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during his trip.

After landing in Scotland, Mr Trump said the “invasion” of migrants is “killing” Europe and told the leaders to “get their act together”.

But when asked about illegal immigration, Mr Trump said a “horrible invasion” was taking place in Europe which needs to stop.

He said: “On immigration, you better get your act together.

“You’re not going to have Europe anymore, you’ve got to get your act together.

“As you know, last month we had nobody entering our country – nobody, [we] shut it down.”

He added: “You’ve got to stop this horrible invasion that’s happening to Europe.”

Mr Trump, who made a crackdown on illegal immigration a major policy in his second term at the White House, boasted: “Last month we had nobody entering our country.”

A massive £5million security operation has been rolled out to ensure his safety, with around 6,000 police officers drafted in from across the UK to support the efforts.

We previously told how police and security services assessed fears that Trump could be assassinated during his visit to Scotland after he survived an attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania last year.

David Threadgold, General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said “a huge amount of threat assessment and intelligence gathering” took place ahead of the visit.

President Donald Trump’s administration dished out a cold burn to Trump’s ice-cream-loving predecessor, Joe Biden, saying he led the US ice cream industry down an economic rocky road.

“America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020 under President Trump’s leadership, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million under President Biden’s watch,” the Office of the US Trade Representative wrote July 20 on X. The post included a chart that shows the US ice cream trade deficit with Japan, South Africa, the European Union, Brazil, Canada and Turkiye.

The US ice cream trade balance did change dramatically in 2021, the year Biden took office. The trade balance officially flipped negative – which means imports outnumber exports – in 2022 and has remained so since then.

But industry experts caution that US ice cream imports account for a minuscule fraction of all the US ice cream consumed in the US, and exports account for a tiny fraction of all US ice cream produced.

The trade change was driven mostly by a jump in imports. Exports have remained largely unchanged since 2020.

And the cherry on top? Disagreement over which products to classify as “ice cream” also affects data, experts say. For example, the data referenced by the office of the US Trade Representative also includes “edible ice”, which some experts (and dairy defenders) say doesn’t qualify as ice cream.

Removing edible ice shows that “the US is a net exporter by a significant margin of ($193 million) or +85% larger by value,” International Dairy Foods Association Executive Vice President Matt Herrick told PolitiFact via email.

Ice cream imports increase causes US trade deficit

From 1995 to 2020, the US had an ice cream trade surplus, ranging from about $20m to about $160m, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an online economic data platform. Longtime customers include Mexico, followed by Saudi Arabia and Canada.

In 2021, that surplus nearly vanished, and in 2022 and 2023, the US notched up an ice cream trade deficit of $92m and $33m, respectively.

At first glance, importing frozen foods doesn’t seem practical.

“Shipping refrigerated and frozen products overseas is expensive,” dairy economist Betty Berningat of HighGround Dairy said. “Mexico is the top destination for US dairy exports.”

But many US and European companies have tapped into global markets.

“Consumers may also want a specific treat that is styled after or known to be from another country,” Herrick said.

Italy, the birthplace of gelato, is now the United States’ largest single source of imported ice cream. Italian ice cream imports more than quintupled from about $12m to almost $65m between 2020 and 2021 alone, before decreasing somewhat in 2023, the last year for which data is available.

Some of this stems from increased consumer demand for specialty pints. A report by Mordor Intelligence, a global market research firm, said “product innovation and premiumisation” have become key in the US ice cream industry.

“This trend is particularly evident in the growth of premium pint offerings and individually wrapped novelties that cater to both indulgence and portion control preferences,” the report said.

The US produces far more ice cream than it imports or exports

To get to the pint: The vast majority of ice cream consumed in the United States is made there, not overseas.

The Trump administration is cherry-picking stats from a fraction of a sliver of the US ice cream industry.

According to US Agriculture Department data, US ice cream makers churned out 1.31 billion gallons of ice cream in 2024. This includes regular ice cream, low-fat and nonfat ice cream, sherbet and frozen yoghurt.

By comparison, the US imported 2.35 million gallons of traditional ice cream in 2024 – that’s 0.18 percent of the amount produced domestically, Herrick said.

The US exported 16.4 million gallons of that domestic production, which is also a tiny fraction of 1.31 billion gallons of ice cream – a little more than 1 percent.

Factoring in ice cream mixes, excluding ‘edible ice’ products

Another caveat about the international trade data: It does not include “mixes”, which skews the totals, said Herrick of the International Dairy Foods Association.

Mixes are used to make ice cream shakes and soft-serve products, and they account for a significant portion of US ice cream exports. “Inclusion of such data points would change the picture quite significantly,” said Herrick. “While it is true that traditional ice cream and edible ice exports have seen decreased exports, the same cannot be said for exports of mixes.”

US milk-based drink exports increased 621 percent over the past five years, he said. In 2024, the US exported nearly $35m in mixes to the European Union.

Americans and dairy-based ice cream: A centuries-old love affair melting away?

The White House has churned out plenty of ice cream devotees.

George Washington stocked the capital with ice cream-making equipment. Thomas Jefferson is credited as being the first American to record an ice cream recipe. Ronald Reagan declared July National Ice Cream Month in 1984. Barack Obama even slung scoops back in the day.

Biden, who was often sighted with a cone in hand, proclaimed while visiting Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream headquarters in 2016: “My name is Joe Biden, and I love ice cream.”

But consumption of regular dairy ice cream – a category that does not include frozen yoghurt, sherbet or nonfat and low-fat ice creams – has been trending down for years.

In 1975, Americans ate an average of 18.2 pounds each of ice cream per year. That figure fell to 11.7 pounds by 2023.

Our ruling

The office of the US Trade Representative purported a summertime scoop: “America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020 under President Trump’s leadership, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million under President Biden’s watch.”

It’s accurate that the US ice cream trade balance had a surplus for a quarter of a century before turning negative while Biden was president.

But the US Trade Representative’s statement makes the US ice cream deficit appear out of cone-trol.

There are three scoops of context on this trade sundae:

The change was driven mostly by a jump in imports. Exports have remained largely unchanged since 2020.

US ice cream imports and exports are a negligible amount compared to domestic production.

There’s also disagreement over which products should or shouldn’t be included in the data set, which can skew trend interpretations. Excluding edible ice products and factoring in ice cream mixes leaves the US with a surplus.

The statement is accurate but needs a sprinkling of clarification and additional details, so we rate it Mostly True.

Louis Jacobson contributed to this report.

July 23 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to remove three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission as the case proceeds through the courts in another emergency appeal on firings backed by the conservative-dominated court.

The court, in a 6-3 opinion along ideological lines, ruled in a lawsuit brought by Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr., who were nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

In a dissent by Justice Elena Kagan, joined by fellow liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, she said the court majority decided on the emergency appeal to “destroy the independence of an independent agency, as established by Congress.”

The majority opinion was unsigned and based upon an earlier 6-3 order that allowed the dismissal of two independent labor boards in Trump vs. Wilcox: the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board.

“Although our interim orders are not conclusive as to the merits, they inform how a court should exercise its equitable discretion in like cases,” the court ruled. “The stay we issued in Wilcox reflected ‘our judgment that the government faces greater risk of harm from an order allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power than a wrongfully removed officer faces from being unable to perform her statutory duty.’

“The same is true on the facts presented here, where the Consumer Product Safety Commission exercises executive power in a similar manner as the National Labor Relations Board, and the case does not otherwise differ from Wilcox in any pertinent respect.”

The order is stayed pending disposition by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va. On July 1, the three-judge panel rejected Trump’s request for an administrative stay pending appeal.

“Congress lawfully constrained the President’s removal authority, and no court has found that constraint unconstitutional,” the appeals court said. “The district court correctly declined to permit a President — any President — to disregard those limits.”

District Judge Matthew Maddox found on June 13 that Trump’s removal was unlawful and blocked it. Maddox, who serves in Maryland, was appointed by President Joe Biden.

“Depriving this five-member commission of three of its sitting members threatens severe impairment of its ability to fulfill its statutory mandates and advance the public’s interest in safe consumer products,” Maddox wrote in his decision. “This hardship and threat to public safety significantly outweighs any hardship defendants might suffer from plaintiffs’ participation on the CPSC.”

The terms of the five members are staggered to overlap during presidencies.

Boyle’s term was to end in October after filling a vacancy in 2022, with Hoehn-Saric in October 2027 and Trumka in October 2028. The board consists of five members, and they are operating as a two-member quorum, which is allowed for six months.

The remaining members are Acting Chairman Peter Feldman, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, and Republican Douglas Dziak, who was appointed by Biden in 2024.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a court ruling that Maddox’s decision has “sown chaos and dysfunction” at the agency.

In May, the three commissioners were notified their positions were terminated immediately. A president can legally only remove a commissioner for neglect of duty of malfeasance.

The court has allowed the termination of employees as the cases proceed through the courts.

Lower court judges have relied on a decision in 1935, called Humphrey’s Executor vs. United States, about the mass firings. The Supreme Court has said it will act on this matter.

On July 14, the justices allowed the Trump administration to mass fire half of the Education Department. Trump wants the agency abolished, and the court has not ruled on that decision, which requires a vote by the U.S. Senate.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which was created in 1972, protects consumers from dangerous products, including issuing safety standards and recalls.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat representing Minnesota, criticized the decision, saying: “For over 50 years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been free from politics so it can remain focused on its core mission of keeping Americans safe – from banning lead paint, to ensuring electronics aren’t fire hazards, to making swimming pools safe for kids. Last year alone, the Commission recalled 153 million unsafe items.”

“By firing the three Democratic commissioners, the President has undermined the independent structure of the Commission and its critical work — and the Supreme Court is letting it happen,” added the member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

July 22 (UPI) — The Justice Department has dismissed a Biden-era lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming care for minors, as the Trump administration continues to attack the rights and medical care of transgender Americans.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that her department’s Civil Rights Division dismissed the lawsuit in a statement Monday that said the Justice Department “does not believe challenging Tennessee’s law serves the public interest.”

Gender-affirming care includes a range of therapies, including psychological, behavioral and medical interventions, with surgeries for minors being exceedingly rare. According to a recent Harvard study, cisgender minors and adults were far more likely to undergo analogous gender-affirming surgeries than their transgender counterparts.

Every major American medical association supports gender-affirming care for both adults and minors, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, the largest national medical association.

Despite the support of the medical community and evidence of its efficacy, gender-affirming care and this marginalized community continue to be targeted by conservatives and Republicans with legislation.

Tennessee enacted Senate Bill 1 in March 2023 to prohibit healthcare professionals from prescribing puberty blockers or hormones to minors to treat gender dysphoria, which attracted a lawsuit from the Justice Department under President Joe Biden, arguing the law violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, as all other minors continued to have access to the same procedures and treatments.

The conservative movement targeting the healthcare of transgender minors has since gained a supporter in the White House with the re-election of President Donald Trump.

Since returning to power, Trump has implemented an agenda targeting transgender Americans, including directing the federal government to recognize only two sexes determined at “conception,” restricting gender-affirming care for youth and banning transgender Americans from the military.

Last month, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the Biden administration’s complaint to overturn the Tennessee law. The ruling fell along ideological lines, with the conservative justices voting for the law to stand. The liberal justices dissented.

“By retreating from meaningful review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in her dissent.

“Tennessee’s ban applies no matter what a minor’s parents and doctors think, with no regard for the severity of the minor’s mental health conditions or the extent to which treatment is medically necessary for an individual child.”

Bondi on Monday said the Supreme Court made “the right decision.” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said that by dismissing the lawsuit, they “undid one of the injustices the Biden administration inflicted upon the country.”

ATLANTA — It’s been six months since Joe Biden left the Oval Office. Republicans, including President Trump, can’t stop talking about him.

The House has launched investigations asserting that Biden’s closest advisers covered up a physical and mental decline during the 82-year-old Democrat’s presidency. The Senate has started a series of hearings focused on his mental fitness. And Trump’s White House has opened its own investigation into the Biden administration’s use of the presidential autopen, which Trump has called “one of the biggest scandals in the history of our country.”

It all fits with Trump’s practice of blaming his predecessors for the nation’s ills. Just last week, he tried to deflect criticism of his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case by casting blame on others, including Biden.

Turning the spotlight back on the former president carries risks for both parties heading into the 2026 midterms. The more Republicans or Democrats talk about Biden, the less they can make arguments about the impact of Trump’s presidency — positive or negative — especially his sweeping new tax cut and spending law that is reshaping the federal government.

“Most Americans consider Joe Biden to be yesterday’s news,” Republican pollster Whit Ayres said.

Republicans want Biden’s autopen to become a flashpoint

Seeking to avenge his 2020 loss to Biden, Trump mocked his rival’s age and fitness incessantly in 2024, even after Biden dropped his reelection bid and yielded to then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

He and other Republicans seemed poised to spend the summer touting their new tax, spending and policy package. But Trump, now 79 and facing his own health challenges, has refused to let up on Biden, and his allies in the party have followed suit.

Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin called the Biden White House’s use of the autopen “a massive scandal,” while Republican Rep. Nick Lalota insists his New York constituents “are curious as to what was happening during President Biden’s days.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently confirmed the administration would pursue an investigation of the Biden administration’s use of the presidential autopen. Trump and other Republicans have questioned whether Biden was actually running the country and suggested aides abused a tool that has long been a routine part of signing presidentially approved actions.

“We deserve to get to the bottom of it,” Leavitt said.

Biden has responded to the criticism by issuing a statement saying he was, in fact, making the decisions during his presidency and that any suggestion otherwise “is ridiculous and false.”

Congressional committees investigate

On Capitol Hill, the House Oversight Committee has convened hearings on use of the autopen and Biden’s fitness for office. Van Orden cited the Constitution’s Article II vesting authority solely with the president.

“It doesn’t say chief of staff. It doesn’t say an autopen,” he said.

The House panel subpoenaed Biden’s physician and a top aide to former first lady Jill Biden. Both invoked Fifth Amendment protections that prevent people from being forced to testify against themselves in government proceedings.

“There was no there there,” said Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell of Missouri, a member of the committee who called the effort “an extraordinary waste of time.”

The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, wants to hear from former White House chiefs of staff Ron Klain and Jeff Zients; former senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn; and other former top aides Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti and Annie Tomasini, among others. Republicans confirmed multiple dates for the sessions through late September, ensuring it will remain in the headlines.

Investigations could crowd out GOP efforts to define Trump positively

That GOP schedule comes as both parties work feverishly to define Trump’s start to his second term.

His so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” is a mix of tax cuts, border security measures and cuts to safety net programs such as Medicaid, a joint state-federal insurance program for lower-income Americans. Polls suggest some individual measures are popular while others are not and that the GOP faces headwinds on tilting the public in favor of the overall effort.

A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about two-thirds of U.S. adults view the bill as a win for the wealthy and another found that only about one-quarter of U.S. adults felt Trump’s policies have helped them. In the policy survey, he failed to earn majority support on any of the major issues, including the economy, immigration, government spending and health care. Immigration, especially, had been considered a major strength for Trump politically.

It is “rather tone deaf,” said Bell, for Republicans to go after Biden given those circumstances.

“Americans want us to deal with the issues that are plaguing our country now … the high cost of living, cost of food, the cost of housing, health care,” Bell said, as he blasted the GOP for a deliberate “distraction” from what challenges most U.S. households.

The effort also comes with Trump battling his own supporters over the Justice Department’s decision not to publicly release additional records related to the Epstein case.

“The Epstein saga is more important to his base than whatever happened to Joe Biden,” said Ayres, the GOP pollster.

Even Lalota, the New York congressman, acknowledged a balancing act with the Biden inquiries.

“My constituents care most about affordability and public safety,” Lalota said. “But this is an important issue nonetheless.”

Democrats don’t want to talk about Biden

With Republicans protecting a narrow House majority, every hotly contested issue could be seen as determinative in the 2026 midterm elections.

That puts added pressure on Republicans to retain Trump’s expanded 2024 coalition, when he increased support among Black and Hispanic voters, especially men, over the usual Republican levels. But that’s considerably harder without Trump himself on the ballot. That could explain Republican efforts to keep going after Biden given how unpopular he is with Trump’s core supporters.

Democrats, meanwhile, point to their success in the 2018 midterms during Trump’s first presidency, when they reclaimed the House majority on the strength of moderate voters, including disaffected Republicans. They seem confident that Republicans’ aggressiveness about Biden does not appeal to that swath of the electorate.

But even as they praise Biden’s accomplishments as president, Democrats quietly admit they don’t want to spend time talking about a figure who left office with lagging approval ratings and forced his party into a late, difficult change at the top of the ticket.

Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said Biden was productive while acknowledging he “was not at the top of his game because of his age.” He said Democrats want to look forward, most immediately on trying to win control of the House and make gains in the Senate.

“And then who’s our standard bearer in 2028?” Beyer said. “And how do we minimize the Trump damage with what we have right now?”

Barrow and Brown write for the Associated Press. Brown reported from Washington.

July 18 (UPI) — A federal judge overturned the approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of a mixed-use project in Chico, Calif., after environmentalists claimed it will destroy the natural habitat of threatened species.

At issue was the Stonegate Development Project, a 314-acre development. It was to include 423 single-family residential lots, 13.4 acres of multi-family residential land uses, 36.6 acres of commercial land uses, 5.4 acres of storm water facilities, 3.5 acres of park and a 137-acre, open-space preserve, the ruling said.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Calabretta gave summary judgment requested by the Center for Biological Diversity and AquAlliance and halted implementation of the project until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prepares a legally adequate biological opinion that the development wouldn’t jeopardize protected species.

Calabretta, a President Joe Biden appointee, wrote that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Biological Opinion for the project in early 2020. That opinion “acknowledged there would be harm to some ESA-listed species, but that the project would not jeopardize the continued survival and recovery of the listed fairy shrimp, tadpole shrimp and meadowfoam.” It also did not analyze impacts on the giant garter snake, he added.

“The court finds that federal defendants’ failure to consider potential effects on the ESA-listed giant garter snake was based on a faulty assumption that there have been no sightings of the snake within five miles of the project renders its Biological Opinion arbitrary and capricious,” Calabretta said.

According to the conservation groups, the project also would permanently destroy 9.14 acres of wetlands. But some meadowfoam habitat may be established through mitigation efforts.

The Butte County meadowfoam is found nowhere in the world but Butte County, Calif., the Center for Biological Diversity said. The species has only 21 distinct populations remaining, and the project would destroy one population and further encroach on two others.

According to the fish and wildlife service, the giant garter snake is one of the largest garter snakes, reaching 63.7 inches long. It has been listed as threatened since 1993 and now only exists in three counties in California. Only about 5% of its historical wetland habitat remains.

Vernal pool fairy shrimp are restricted to vernal pools found in California and southern Oregon. They are found in 32 counties across California’s Central Valley, central coast and southern California and in Jackson County in southern Oregon, the service said.

July 18 (UPI) — The Edward M. Kennedy Institute will give President Joe Biden a Lifetime Achievement Award at its 10th Anniversary Celebration this fall.

Biden plans to attend the event on Oct. 26 at the Institute’s Columbia Point, Mass., building. The award is to recognize Biden’s “more than four decades in public life, beginning with his election to the United States Senate from Delaware in 1972, to his ascent to leadership positions in the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees, to the vice presidency and ultimately to the White House,” a press release said.

The Institute, named for Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy, will also give out its Award for Inspired Leadership to former secretary of labor and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Retired U.S. Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“We believe that we can inspire new generations of leaders by highlighting the example of those who came before them like Senator Ted Kennedy,” said Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Kennedy’s widow and the co-founder of the Kennedy Institute. Biden, Walsh and Franchetti “are all such exemplary and inspiring leaders, dedicated to improving the lives of others in our community and throughout our country.”

The Institute’s fall dinner is its annual fundraiser, supporting its mission to foster bipartisan political leadership, provide a forum for civil discourse about critical issues, and educate the public about the Senate’s role in the American system of democratic government.

“President Biden’s life has been one of honorable service to his country, and like the man for whom the Kennedy Institute is named, fought for the interests, and to better the lives, of all Americans from all socio-economic, cultural, and personal backgrounds,” Kennedy Institute Chair Bruce A. Percelay said. “His tenacity and persistence — again, traits that echo those of Senator Ted Kennedy — are constant reminders to our current political leaders of the dedication and hard work required to do the people’s business in Washington.”