MEXICO CITY (AP) — Three Mexican financial institutions sanctioned by the Trump administration last week have felt a cascade of economic consequences following the allegations that they helped launder millions of dollars for drug cartels.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was blocking transactions between U.S. banks and Mexican branches of CIBanco and Intercam Banco, as well as the brokering firm Vector Casa de Bolsa. All three have fiercely rejected the claims.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum accused U.S. officials of providing no evidence to back their allegations, though the sanctions announcement made specific accusations on how money was transferred through the companies. It detailed how “mules” moved money through accounts in the U.S., as well as transactions carried out with Chinese companies that U.S. officials said provided materials to produce fentanyl.
Mexico’s banking authority has announced that it is temporarily taking over management of CIBanco and Intercam Banco to protect creditors.
Sheinbaum said Tuesday that the Mexican government is doing everything within its power to ensure that creditors aren’t affected, and said they were well “within their right” to pull their money from the banks.
The U.S. Treasury Department said that the sanctions would go into effect 21 days after the announcement.
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the three institutions and other affiliates, citing “anti-money laundering concerns” and saying the drop “reflects the imminent negative impact” that the sanctions could have.
“The new ratings reflect the significantly more vulnerable credit profile of these entities in response to the aforementioned warnings, given the potential impact on their ability to meet their financial obligations,” the credit rating agency wrote in a statement.
On Monday, CIBanco announced that Visa Inc. had announced to them with little warning that it had “unilaterally decided to disconnect its platform for all international transactions” through CIBanco. The bank accused Visa of not complying with the 21-day grace period laid out by the sanctions.
“We would like to reiterate that your funds are safe and can be reimbursed through our branch network,” the bank wrote. “We reiterate to our customers that this was a decision beyond CIBanco’s control.”
S&P Ratings also withdrew CIBanco from its ratings index, saying that it was because it had terminated its contracts with the bank following the U.S. Treasury announcement.
FILE – The Treasury Department building is seen, March 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said Tuesday.
The munitions were previously promised to Ukraine for use during its ongoing war with Russia under the Biden administration. But the pause reflects a new set of priorities under President Donald Trump.
“This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a (Defense Department) review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned — just ask Iran.”
The Pentagon review determined that stocks were too low on some items previously pledged, so pending shipments of some items won’t be sent, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide information that has not yet been made public.
To date, the U.S. has provided Ukraine more than $66 billion worth of weapons and military assistance since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Over the course of the war, the U.S. has routinely pressed for allies to provide air defense systems to Ukraine. But many are reluctant to give up the high-tech systems, particularly countries in Eastern Europe that also feel threatened by Russia.
The halt of some weapons comes after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts championed by Trump.
“They do want to have the antimissile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots,” Trump said then. “And we’re going to see if we can make some available. We need them, too. We’re supplying them to Israel, and they’re very effective, 100% effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any other thing.”
Those comments reflect a change of thinking about providing weapons to Ukraine across the administration in recent months.
In opening remarks at a Senate defense appropriations subcommittee hearing in June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has moved quickly to quash wasteful programs and redirect funding to Trump’s top objectives.
Hegseth said a negotiated peace between Russia and Ukraine, which has been promoted for months by Trump, makes America look strong, even though Moscow is the aggressor in the conflict. He also said the budget includes hard choices and “reflects the reality that Europe needs to step up more for the defense of its own continent. And President Trump deserves the credit for that.”
The defense secretary said during that testimony that some U.S. security spending for Ukraine is still in the pipeline, but provided no details. Hegseth also acknowledged that funding for Ukraine military assistance — which has been robust for the past two years — would be reduced.
“This administration takes a very different view of that conflict,” Hegseth said. “We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation’s interests.”
Last month, Hegseth skipped a meeting of an international group to coordinate military aid to Ukraine that the U.S. created three years ago. Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, formed the group after Russia attacked Ukraine, and Hegseth’s absence was the first time the U.S. defense secretary wasn’t in attendance.
Under Austin’s leadership, the U.S. served as chair of the group, and he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff attended monthly meetings, which were both in person and by video. Hegseth had previously stepped away from a leadership role of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — turning that over to Germany and the United Kingdom — before abandoning the gathering altogether.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a speech at the Council of Europe after signing the legal instruments necessary to launch the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, in Strasbourg, eastern France, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI announced Tuesday that it planned to move its Washington headquarters several blocks away from its current five-decade-old home.
The bureau and the General Services Administration said the Ronald Reagan Building complex had been selected as the new location, the latest development in a yearslong back-and-forth over where the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency should have its headquarters.
It was not immediately clear when such a move might take place or what sort of logistical hurdles might need to be cleared in order to accomplish it.
The decision represents a turnabout from plans announced during the Biden administration to move the FBI to a site in Greenbelt, Maryland. The suburban Washington location was selected over nearby Virginia following a sharp competition between the two states.
The FBI’s current Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, was dedicated in 1975. Proponents of moving the headquarters have said the Brutalist-style building, where nets surround the facility to protect pedestrians from falling debris, has fallen into disrepair. Discussions have been underway for years to relocate it.
The FBI and GSA said in a joint statement that moving the headquarters just a few blocks away to an existing property would avert the need to construct a brand-new building in suburban Washington, which they said would have taken years and been costly for taxpayers.
“FBI’s existing headquarters at the Hoover building is a great example of a government building that has accumulated years of deferred maintenance, suffering from an aging water system to concrete falling off the structure,” GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian said in a statement.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is ramping up its plans to revoke the citizenship of immigrants who’ve committed crimes or pose a national security risk, according to a recent memo underscoring the Trump administration’s hardline immigration agenda.
Efforts to identity and go after those suspected of cheating to get their citizenship are not new to this administration.
But the public push is raising concerns from advocates, who have accused the administration of trying to use immigration enforcement for political purposes. It’s receiving increased scrutiny after a Republican member of Congress suggested that Zohran Mamdani, the New York City Democratic mayoral candidate, should be subject to denaturalization proceedings.
Here’s a look at the denaturalization process and what the Justice Department’s memo means:
Denaturalization cases are rare
The U.S. government can strip a naturalized immigrant of their citizenship if they are criminally convicted of naturalization fraud or if the government proves through civil proceedings that they illegally obtained their citizenship through fraud or misrepresented or concealed facts on their application.
For years, the government’s denaturalization efforts focused largely on suspected war criminals who lied on their immigration paperwork, most notably former Nazis. The Justice Department filed just more than 300 total cases between 1990 and 2017.
An initiative that began under the Obama administration called Operation Janus expanded those efforts by seeking to identify people who had used different identities to get green cards and citizenship after they were previously issued deportation orders.
In 2016, an internal watchdog reported that 315,000 old fingerprint records for immigrants who had been deported or had criminal convictions had not been uploaded to a Department of Homeland Security database that is used to check immigrants’ identities. The same report found more than 800 immigrants had been ordered deported under one identity but became U.S. citizens under another.
The first Trump administration made such investigations a bigger priority, creating a Justice Department section focused on denaturalization cases.
But even then, the number of denaturalization cases remained small, as the administration didn’t have the resources to bring many amid an onslaught of legal challenges to immigration policies it had to defend against, said Matthew Hoppock, an attorney in Kansas who represents people in denaturalization cases.
Justice Department says it will prioritize certain cases
The push was announced in a memo from the recently confirmed head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate. Shumate said the cases the department will prioritize include people who “pose a potential danger to national security,” people who commit violent crimes, members of gangs and drug cartels and people who commit Medicaid fraud and other types of fraud.
The benefits of the denaturalization process, Shumate wrote, “include the government’s ability to revoke the citizenship of individuals who engaged in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings, or other serious human rights abuses; to remove naturalized criminals, gang members, or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the United States; and to prevent convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport.”
Hoppock said the memo sort of “blows the doors open” for the administration to file as many as many denaturalization cases as it has the resources to file.
Lawyers raise alarm about the potential impact
The broad language in the memo raises the prospect “that any offense, at any time, may be used to justify denaturalization,” said Christopher Wellborn, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
“It is not difficult to imagine a scenario where the government invokes unsubstantiated claims of gang affiliation or uses an individual’s criminal record to claim that citizenship was illegally procured,” Wellborn said in a statement.
Others worry the administration’s public push will stoke fear among naturalized immigrants.
“The more you talk about it, the more you frame it as ‘we’re coming after your naturalization, we’re coming after you,’ the more of a chilling effect we see on people applying for naturalization,” said Elizabeth Taufa, senior policy attorney and strategist at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “Even those folks that really are eligible for naturalization.”
Critics have accused the Trump administration using immigration enforcement to go after people because of their speech — most notably in the case of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, whom it has sought to deport over his role in pro-Palestinian protests.
“One of our ongoing concerns is will they target these politically, will they start combing through people’s immigration files if they don’t like you or if they think you don’t agree with the government,” Hoppock said.
“I think most Americans would support the idea of stripping someone of citizenship if they got it through fraud and they are also a dangerous person,” he said, but the concern is if they start going through “regular folks’ immigration files to find a T that is not crossed or an I that is not dotted so they can use it as a weapon.”
Justice Department recently secured denaturalization in one case
The department last month announced that it had successfully secured the denaturalization of a man who was convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material.
The British man had become a U.S. citizen after enlisting in the U.S. Army under a provision that provides a pathway to citizenship for U.S. service members, officials said. He only listed a speeding ticket when asked on his naturalization application if he had “ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested,” and he became a U.S. citizen in 2013.
Months later, he was arrested in Louisiana on child sexual abuse material charges and convicted, according to the department.
“The laws intended to facilitate citizenship for brave men and women who join our nation’s armed forces will not shield individuals who have fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship by concealing their crimes,” Shumate said in a statement at the time. “If you commit serious crimes before you become a U.S. citizen and then lie about them during your naturalization process, the Justice Department will discover the truth and come after you.”
FILE – The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium before a press conference with Attorney General Pam Bondi, May 6, 2025, at the Justice Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
Running on a platform of expanding skilled trades, making it easier to start a business, offering legal aid to senior citizens facing foreclosure and more, he says he would bring something new and different to the city.
“I’m running for mayor because I feel the city…all too often we vote for people that have name recognition or people that are career politicians,” Boyd said. “It’s time for the city to vote for people that come from their own.”
Boyd joined The Metro on Tuesday to share more details about his vision for Detroit and how he plans to achieve it.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
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Detroit’s rating went up one notch from Baa2 to Baa1 with a positive outlook, the city reported. The city’s financial resiliency and its operating performance over time were key reasons behind this year’s upgrade, Moody’s said in a statement.
Moody’s cited key projects underway — such as the new Hudson’s development, the expansion of Henry Ford Hospital’s campus, and the new Water Square development — as positives, adding that the city’s tax base has more than doubled in the past five years.
The city’s credit rating hit an all-time low at Caa3 — considered “junk bond” status — in June 2013 after declaring bankruptcy.
“This is what happens when elected leaders set aside us-versus-them politics and work together,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement. “Our CFO team, department heads and City Council all have demonstrated tremendous fiscal discipline over the past 11 years to help bring us to where we are today and to lay a strong foundation for years to come.”
Other headlines for Tuesday, July 1, 2025:
Residents on Detroit’s east side are speaking out about gun violence after two young people were killed at a city playground near Denby High School on Friday. Police are still investigation the shooting, which claimed the lives of 4-year-old Samir Grubbs and 18-year-old Daviyon Shelmonson-Bey and left another teenager wounded. No suspects are in custody.
The Motown Museum has reopened its “Motown Mile” art installation along the Detroit riverfront with a new exhibition honoring the legacy of Motown Museum founder Esther Gordy Edwards, titled “Keeper of the Dream.”
Detroit’s neighbors across the river are celebrating Canada Day on Tuesday, commemorating the country’s “confederation.” Windsor residents celebrated with a parade down Ouelette Avenue late Tuesday morning.
Detroit is getting a new WNBA team. The league announced the new team on Monday. Tom and Holly Gores will be the controlling owners of the new franchise, set to play in 2029. Other expansion teams will also be launched in Cleveland and Philadelphia that year. Detroit’s previous WNBA team — the Detroit Shock — played from 1998 until 2009, winning three championships during that time.
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A ballot campaign plans to launch in July to ask voters to ban political donations from committees affiliated with utility monopolies and from businesses with substantial state contracts.
A coalition of progressive organizations are behind the campaign for a voter-initiated law to reign in the influence of utilities and insurance companies with market dominance as well as contractors that do more than $250,000 in business annually with the state, which would appear to include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan — a prolific political donor.
“This isn’t just another policy tweak,” said Sean McBrearty, Michigan director for Clean Water Action, one of the groups backing the proposal. “It’s a line in the sand. We want to stop corporations from buying off our democracy.”
The Michiganders for Money Out of Politics campaign said Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, in particular, have used their clout to fend off efforts to award bigger paybacks to customers for power losses.
“One of the biggest reasons we don’t see progress in Lansing is because too many politicians are bought and paid for,” said Ken Whittaker with Michigan United. “The political will to fix this mess just isn’t there, but that’s by design. We’re not new to this.”
But they say it will be very similar to legislation that has stalled in the Legislature already.
The campaign said utility influence has held back reforms that would improve service and make rates more affordable. Spokespersons for two large Michigan utilities said their companies behave ethically. They said donation decisions are made independently by political action committees run by employees and shareholders.
Statements from Consumers Energy and DTE Energy said they and their corporate political action committees strictly abide by existing campaign finance laws. DTE spokesperson Ryan Lowry noted the utility agreed to publicly disclose all political donations of $5,000 or more as part of a 2023 rate settlement agreement with the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Lowry also said political action committee decisions are made by employees and shareholders.
“These disclosures showcase DTE’s commitment to our customers and communities we serve, helping us meet our aspiration of being best in the world and best for the world,” he said in an emailed statement. “The political contributions the company makes are supported by the DTE voluntary employee PAC or DTE shareholders — not from customer revenue.”
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The U.S. Supreme Court could decide if a case involving the Line 5 oil pipeline stays in Michigan court or goes back before federal judges.
The case began in 2019 when Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sued in state court to partially shut down Line 5. Nessel cited three state laws to make an environmental case for stopping the project.
It then got moved to federal court in 2021 at the request of Enbridge, the Canadian company that operates the pipeline. That request came much later than a 30-day window to do so, partly because Enbridge says it was waiting on the result of a similar lawsuit from Michigan’s governor.
A lower federal court granted an exception to the timeline. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, didn’t buy that argument and sent the case back to the 30th Circuit Court in Ingham County where a hearing was held in January.
The Supreme Court, on Enbridge’s appeal, will decide whether there are exceptions to the 30-day period to remove a case to federal court.
Enbridge argues, while the Sixth Circuit took a narrow view of that time frame, other appellate courts have allowed exceptions. It believes the case belongs in federal court because the matter butts up against international treaty law and some federal laws as well.
“The District Court cited the important federal issues in this case, including U.S.-Canada Treaty issues, and the fact that litigation of these issues was already pending in another case in federal court.
However, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, deciding that district courts have no authority to give exceptions to the 30-day time limit.
The Sixth Circuit’s remand decision is in conflict with decisions from two other federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, which both held that there can be exceptions to the 30-day limit. The Supreme Court review will resolve this conflict in the courts of appeals,” Duffy said in an email.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s office is maintaining its position.
“The Department’s lawsuit is based on state claims and law, and it belongs before a Michigan court. We remain undeterred in our commitment to protect the Great Lakes, especially from the devastating catastrophe a potential Line 5 rupture would wreak upon all of Michigan,” a written statement from AG spokesperson Kimberly Bush said.
If the case goes back to federal court, the proceedings that have happened in state court may be moot. Meanwhile, the legal fight between Enbridge and the governor is already playing out in federal court.
All this is happening as Enbridge tries to move forward with a project to build a tunnel around a replacement section of the Line 5 pipeline that runs through the Straits of Mackinac. That project is currently in the permitting process.
Enbridge says the tunnel would make the pipeline safer by protecting it from anchor strikes. Environmental groups are fighting it, saying it could potentially rupture and dump massive amounts of oil into the Great Lakes.
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In Detroit, three of the city’s seven city council districts have a community advisory council (CAC). The body helps advocate for residents’ issues and gives them direct access to city council members.
Unfortunately, due to confusion around filing deadlines in the city clerks’ office, anyone who wants to run for a CAC will have to run as write-in candidate because their names won’t appear on the ballot. This includes incumbent candidates who have been serving on these councils for several years.
To help us break down what CACs are, why only some distracts have them and what exactly happened that led to candidates missing the filing deadline, Metro Producer Jack Filbrandt spoke with Detroit Documenters Coordinator Noah Kincade and Outlier Media Civic Life Reporter Briana Rice.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
More than 6,000 signatures have been collected by a group seeking to change Dearborn’s city council format from an at-large body to holding district-based council elections.
Dearborn Wants Wards filed the petition with the Dearborn City Clerk’s Office on June 18. If the language is approved, the city would have council members per district and only two at-large seats, for a total of nine council members.
If the language is approved, the city would have council members per district and only two at-large seats, for a total of nine council members.
Campaign spokesperson Mona Mawari says the changes are overdue and necessary for equal representation of the city’s east and south sides.
“So most of the seats are won by folks from the west side; and the East End has only one person on city council, and the South End has none,” she said. “So that’s when I decided to create this campaign where we will be going to change the structure of city council to a more equitable structure.”
If all the signatures are certified and election language is approved, voters in Dearborn will see the measure on their ballot in November.
Changes to the city council and charter commission would go into effect in 2029.
Other headlines for Monday, June 30, 2025:
A series of bills were introduced in the state Senate that aim to make renting more accessible. The bills would cap rental application fees at $25, eliminate junk fees that occur after a lease is signed, and seal eviction records.
The city of Dearborn will be increasing its police presence this Fourth of July weekend to combat a rise in illegal fireworks usage. Parents of children caught mishandling and using illegal fireworks will also receive citations as well. Police are reminding residents that fireworks are only allowed on private property from 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. between June 29 and July 5.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
This week on MichMash, WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow explain the brewing tensions surrounding the MSP director. Then later, Michigan Association of State Universities CEO Dan Hurley stops by to discuss the various challenges state universities have faced in the last several months.
What led to the no-confidence vote of Col. James Grady II
How state universities are navigating recent funding challenges
A breakdown of how public universities receive funding
Earlier this month, two police unions representing state troopers and MSP command officers announced that more than 90% of their members voted no confidence in Grady and his second in command, Lt. Col. Aimee Brimacombe.
The vote was the latest in a series of tensions that have arisen since Grady’s appointment by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2023.
Now lawmakers are getting involved, with Republican legislators beginning to call for Grady’s resignation, saying “he’s lost the confidence of his employees.”
“This week, leadership of the House Oversight Committee began deposing some members of the state police behind closed doors, in what appeared to be an effort to get sworn testimony about Grady’s performance,” Roth said, adding that Grady and the Attorney General’s office are saying the body has “no authority” to depose members of the executive branch.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers are rallying behind Grady, Roth said, with the legislative Black Caucus this week calling Grady’s criticism “unwarranted, given Grady’s qualifications,” suggesting that he is getting criticism that a white leader of the department would not get.
Whitmer’s office has also expressed support for Grady.
“In the past when Republicans have called for a department director to resign, the governor and her staff tend to turn the other cheek thinking they don’t want to dignify those types of requests,” Gorchow said. “But her press office is making clear that Gov. Whitmer stands behind Grady.”
Roth and Gorchow also spoke with Dan Hurley, CEO and executive director of the Michigan Association of State Universities, about the recent reductions in funding for state universities, crackdowns on DEI policies, and other challenges education institutions are currently facing.
“The one thing the universities need are sustainability, stability, and good forecasting,” he said, “and their model has been shaken up.”
Hurley said despite the added pressures from the current administrations, these universities, collectively, have been around for a while and will weather the storm.
The Trump administration continued to reshape U.S. health policy in recent days with several moves that could change what vaccines people can get to protect themselves from common illnesses.
Doctors’ groups have expressed alarm at the moves made by Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, and his appointees, who at times have ignored well-established science. Nearly 80 medical groups, including the American Medical Association, issued a statement backing vaccines against common respiratory ailments as “among the best tools to protect the public.”
“We come together as physicians from every corner of medicine to reaffirm our commitment to these lifesaving vaccines,” the groups wrote.
Here’s what to know about some of the recent vaccine policy changes:
Flu shots and thimerosal
On Thursday, a vaccine advisory group handpicked by Kennedy recommended that just about every American get a flu shot this fall.
But the group also said people should avoid shots containing thimerosal, a preservative used only in large multi-dose vials that has been proven to be safe. The ingredient isn’t used in single-dose flu shots, the type of syringe used for about 95% of U.S. flu shots last season.
Status: Kennedy must sign off on the recommendations. Read more AP coverage here.
How to get a COVID-19 shot
Universal access to updated COVID-19 shots for the fall remains unclear, even after Kennedy’s vaccine advisers were shown data showing how well the vaccines are working.
Kennedy changed CDC guidance last month, saying the shots are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women — even though doctors groups disagree. And the Food and Drug Administration has moved to limit COVID-19 vaccinations among healthy people under age 65.
Status: Upcoming advisory meetings, regulatory decisions and policies from insurers and employers are likely to influence access. Read more AP coverage here.
Expanded warnings on COVID-19 vaccine labels
At the request of the FDA, makers of the two leading COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday expanded existing warnings about a rare heart side effect mainly seen in young men.
Prescribing information from both Pfizer and Moderna had already advised doctors about rare cases of myocarditis, a type of heart inflammation that is usually mild. The FDA had asked the drugmakers to add more detail about the problem and to cover a larger group of patients.
Status: Labels are being updated now. Read more AP coverage here.
Changes considered for the childhood vaccine schedule
On Wednesday, Kennedy’s vaccine advisers said they would be evaluating the “cumulative effect” of the children’s vaccine schedule — the list of immunizations given at different times throughout childhood.
The announcement reflected vaccine skeptics’ messaging: that too many shots may overwhelm kids’ immune systems. Scientists say those claims have been repeatedly investigated with no signs of concern.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said it would continue publishing its own vaccine schedule for children but now will do so independently of the government advisory panel, calling it “no longer a credible process.”
Status: The examination is in its early stages. Read more AP coverage here.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Fox News on Friday over alleged defamation, saying the network knowingly aired false information about a phone call he had with President Donald Trump around the time the National Guard was sent Los Angeles.
The lawsuit alleges Fox News anchor Jesse Watters edited out key information from a clip of Trump talking about calling Newsom, then used the edited video to assert that Newsom had lied about the two talking.
Newsom is asking for $787 million in punitive damages in his lawsuit filed in Delaware court where Fox is incorporated. That’s the same amount Fox agreed to pay in 2023 to settle a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. The company said Fox had repeatedly aired false allegations that its equipment had switched votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 election, and the discovery process of the lawsuit revealed Fox’s efforts not to alienate conservatives in the network’s audience in the wake of Biden’s victory.
“If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump’s behalf, it should face consequences — just like it did in the Dominion case,” Newsom said in a statement. “I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet.”
He asked a judge to order Fox News to stop broadcasting “the false, deceptive, and fraudulent video and accompanying statements” that Newsom said falsely say he lied about when he had spoken to Trump regarding the situation in Los Angeles, where protests erupted on June 6 over Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Fox News called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
“Gov. Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed,” the company said in a statement.
The law makes it difficult to prove defamation, but some cases result in settlements and, no matter the disposition, can tie up news outlets in expensive legal fights.
Particularly since taking office a second time, Trump has been aggressive in going after news organizations he feels has wronged him. He’s involved in settlement talks over his lawsuit against CBS News about a “60 Minutes” interview last fall with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris. This week, Trump’s lawyers threatened a lawsuit against CNN and The New York Times over their reporting of an initial assessment of damage to Iran’s nuclear program from a U.S. bombing.
Newsom’s lawsuit centers on the details of a phone call with the president.
Both Newsom and the White House have said the two spoke late at night on June 6 in California, which was already June 7 on the East Coast. Though the content of the call is not part of the lawsuit, Newsom has said the two never discussed Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard, which he announced the next day. Trump said the deployment was necessary to protect federal buildings from people protesting increased immigration arrests.
On June 10, when 700 Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area, Trump told reporters he had spoken to Newsom “a day ago” about his decision to send troops. That day, Newsom posted on X that there had been no call.
“There was no call. Not even a voicemail,” Newsom wrote.
On the evening of June 10, the Watters Primetime show played a clip of Trump’s statement about his call with Newsom but removed Trump’s comment that the call was “a day ago,” the lawsuit said. Watters also referred to call logs another Fox News reporter had posted online showing the phone call the two had on June 6.
“Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?” Watters asked on air, according to the lawsuit. The segment included text across the bottom of the screen that said “Gavin Lied About Trump’s Call.”
Newsom’s suit argues that by editing the material, Fox “maliciously lied as a means to sabotage informed national discussion.”
Precise details about when the call happened are important because the days when Trump deployed the Guard to Los Angeles despite Newsom’s opposition “represented an unprecedented moment,” Newsom’s lawyers wrote in a letter to Fox demanding a retraction and on-air apology.
“History was occurring in real time. It is precisely why reporters asked President Trump the very question that prompted this matter: when did he last speak with Governor Newsom,” the letter said.
Associated Press journalist David Bauder contributed to this report.
FILE – Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer granted an emergency temporary restraining order to stop President Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard, Thursday, June 12, 2025, at the California State Supreme Court building in San Francisco. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court on Friday ruled that individual judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions, but the decision left unclear the fate of President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship.
The outcome was a victory for the Republican president, who has complained about individual judges throwing up obstacles to his agenda.
But a conservative majority left open the possibility that the birthright citizenship changes could remain blocked nationwide. Trump’s order would deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally.
The cases now return to lower courts, where judges will have to decide how to tailor their orders to comply with the high court ruling, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion. Enforcement of the policy can’t take place for another 30 days, Barrett wrote.
The justices agreed with the Trump administration, as well as President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration before it, that judges are overreaching by issuing orders that apply to everyone instead of just the parties before the court.
The president, making a rare appearance to hold a news conference in the White House briefing room, said that the decision was “amazing” and a “monumental victory for the Constitution,” the separation of powers and the rule of law.
In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “The court’s decision is nothing less than an open invitation for the government to bypass the Constitution.” This is so, Sotomayor said, because the administration may be able to enforce a policy even when it has been challenged and found to be unconstitutional by a lower court.
Rights groups that sued over the policy filed new court documents following the high court ruling, taking up a suggestion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh that judges still may be able to reach anyone potentially affected by the birthright citizenship order by declaring them part of “putative nationwide class.” Kavanaugh was part of the court majority on Friday but wrote a separate concurring opinion.
States that also challenged the policy in court said they would try to show that the only way to effectively protect their interests was through a nationwide hold.
“We have every expectation we absolutely will be successful in keeping the 14th Amendment as the law of the land and of course birthright citizenship as well,” said Attorney General Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts.
In a notable Supreme Court decision from 1898, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the court held that the only children who did not automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon being born on U.S. soil were the children of diplomats, who have allegiance to another government; enemies present in the U.S. during hostile occupation; those born on foreign ships; and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes.
The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil” — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them.
Trump and his supporters have argued that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen, which he called “a priceless and profound gift” in the executive order he signed on his first day in office.
The Trump administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, a phrase used in the amendment, and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.
But states, immigrants and rights groups that have sued to block the executive order have accused the administration of trying to unsettle the broader understanding of birthright citizenship that has been accepted since the amendment’s adoption.
Judges have uniformly ruled against the administration.
The Justice Department had argued that individual judges lack the power to give nationwide effect to their rulings.
The Trump administration instead wanted the justices to allow Trump’s plan to go into effect for everyone except the handful of people and groups that sued. Failing that, the administration argued that the plan could remain blocked for now in the 22 states that sued. New Hampshire is covered by a separate order that is not at issue in this case.
The justice also agreed that the administration may make public announcements about how it plans to carry out the policy if it eventually is allowed to take effect.
The years-in-the-making plan would have created a federal tax credit supporting scholarships to help families send their children to private schools or other options beyond their local public schools. But in an overnight announcement, the Senate parliamentarian advised against including the proposal in President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill.
It added to mounting problems for Republicans as key proposals were deemed ineligible for the filibuster-proof reconciliation package. The parliamentarian’s rulings are advisory but are rarely, if ever, ignored. It’s unclear if Republicans will try to rewrite the provisions or simply drop them from the bill.
Another education plan deemed ineligible for reconciliation would have exempted religious colleges from a federal endowment tax. The proposal sought to raise the tax rate on wealthier colleges’ endowments while carving out religious institutions like Hillsdale College, a conservative, Christian school in Michigan and an ally of the Trump administration.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said, “We have been successful in removing parts of this bill that hurt families and workers, but the process is not over, and Democrats are continuing to make the case against every provision in this Big, Beautiful Betrayal of a bill that violates Senate rules.”
School voucher provision had been seen as a win for supporters
The school voucher provision was seen as a breakthrough victory for proponents who have been pushing the idea for years. A similar plan failed to gain support from Congress in 2019 when it was championed by Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during Trump’s first term. Campaigning for his second term, Trump again promised to deliver some form of “universal school choice.”
Under the reconciliation plan, donors who gave money or stock to K-12 scholarship programs would receive 100% of the contribution back in the form of a discount on their tax bills. It would allow stock holders to avoid paying taxes they would usually face if they donated or transferred their stock.
Nearly all families would qualify to receive scholarships except those making more than three times their area’s median income.
A House version of the bill allowed up to $5 billion in tax credits a year, running through 2029. The Senate version reduced it to $4 billion but included no end date.
Supporters said the proposal would expand education options for families across the country, offering alternatives to students in areas with lower-performing public schools. Opponents said it would siphon money from public schools and open the door for fraud and abuse.
Republican-led states have similar programs
Similar scholarship and voucher programs have proliferated in Republican-led states such as Texas, which recently passed a $1 billion program. States have increasingly offered vouchers to families beyond only the neediest ones, contributing to budget concerns as expenses rapidly pile up.
The Senate’s college endowment proposal sought to raise a tax on schools’ investment income, from 1.4% now to 4% or 8% depending on their wealth. It would apply only to colleges with endowments of at least $500,000 per student, and it excluded all religious institutions. It would have exempted a small number of colleges, including Hillsdale, which lobbied against it.
Some small colleges that would have been hit hard by the proposal are now hopeful that Republicans will carve out an exemption for all smaller schools.
“The religious schools exemption showed senators were concerned about the endowment tax hike’s impact on small colleges,” said Lori White, president of DePauw University, a private liberal arts school in Indiana. “After the parliamentarian’s rulings, the best way to protect those and other small institutions from that impact is now to exempt all colleges with fewer than 5,000 undergraduate students.”
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
The office of Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is seen at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Weather experts are warning that hurricane forecasts will be severely hampered by the upcoming cutoff of key data from U.S. Department of Defense satellites, the latest Trump administration move with potential consequences for the quality of forecasting.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it would discontinue the “ingest, processing and distribution” of data collected by three weather satellites that the agency jointly runs with the Defense Department. The data is used by scientists, researchers and forecasters, including at the National Hurricane Center.
It wasn’t immediately clear why the government planned to cut off the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s microwave data by Monday. The Defense Department referred questions to the Air Force, which referred them to the Navy, which did not immediately provide comment. NOAA did not immediately respond to a message.
Unlike traditional weather satellites, the microwave data helps peer under a regular image of a hurricane or a tropical cyclone to see what is going on inside the storm, and it is especially helpful at night.
The news is especially noteworthy during the ongoing hurricane season and as lesser storms have become more frequent, deadly and costly as climate change is worsened by the burning of fossil fuels.
Microwave imagery allows researchers and forecasters to see the center of the storm. Experts say that can help in detecting the rapid intensification of storms and in more accurately plotting the likely path of dangerous weather.
“If a hurricane, let’s say, is approaching the Gulf Coast, it’s a day away from making landfall, it’s nighttime,” said Union of Concerned Scientists science fellow Marc Alessi. “We will no longer be able to say, OK, this storm is definitely undergoing rapid intensification, we need to update our forecasts to reflect that.”
Other microwave data will be available but only roughly half as much, hurricane specialist Michael Lowry said in a blog post. He said that greatly increases the odds that forecasters will miss rapid intensification, underestimate intensity or misplace the storm.
That “will severely impede and degrade hurricane forecasts for this season and beyond, affecting tens of millions of Americans who live along its hurricane-prone shorelines,” he said.
University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy called the loss of data “alarmingly bad news” in a post on Bluesky.
“Microwave data are already relatively sparse, so any loss — even gradual as satellites or instruments fail — is a big deal; but to abruptly end three active functioning satellites is insanity.”
NOAA and its National Weather Service office have been the target of several cuts and changes in President Donald Trump’s second term. The Department of Government Efficiency gutted the agency’s workforce, local field offices and funding.
“What happened this week is another attempt by the Trump administration to sabotage our weather and climate infrastructure,” Alessi said.
Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
FILE – A property owner, who preferred not to give his name, peers into the remains of the second floor unit where he lived with his wife while renting out the other units, on Manasota Key, in Englewood, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
ENOLA, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania isn’t even up for reelection until 2028, but already a one-time primary foe, former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, is crisscrossing Pennsylvania and social media, looking and sounding like he’s preparing to challenge Fetterman again.
At town hall after town hall across Pennsylvania, Democrats and allied progressive groups aren’t hearing from Fetterman in person — or Republicans who control Washington, for that matter.
But they are hearing from Lamb, a living reminder of the Democrat they could have elected instead of Fetterman. The former congressman has emerged as an in-demand town hall headliner, sometimes as a stand-in for Fetterman — who just might bash Fetterman.
“I thought I was going to play Senator Fetterman,” Lamb joked as he sat down in front of a central Pennsylvania crowd last Sunday.
Conor Lamb listens to a participant after he spoke to the crowd at a town hall-style event organized by progressive groups at Central Penn College, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Enola, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., left, and Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., right, greet before participating in a debate moderated by Fox News anchor Shannon Bream, not shown, Monday, June 2, 2025, at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, Monday, June 2, 2025, in Boston, as livestreamed on Fox Nation. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Conor Lamb pauses while speaking to the crowd at a town hall-style event organized by progressive groups at Central Penn College, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Enola, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)
Conor Lamb speaks to the crowd at a town hall-style event organized by progressive groups at Central Penn College, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Enola, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)
Conor Lamb speaks to the crowd at a town hall-style event organized by progressive groups at Central Penn College, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Enola, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)
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Conor Lamb listens to a participant after he spoke to the crowd at a town hall-style event organized by progressive groups at Central Penn College, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Enola, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)
Lamb’s reemergence comes at an in-between moment, roughly halfway through Fetterman’s six-year term, and is helping define the struggle facing Democrats in swing-state Pennsylvania.
There, Democrats figure prominently in their national effort to push back on President Donald Trump, but also in their struggle to figure out what to do about Fetterman, who is under fire from rank-and-file Democrats for being willing to cooperate with Trump.
Frustration with Fetterman has been on display on social media, at the massive “ No Kings ” rally in Philadelphia and among the Democratic Party’s faithful. The steering committee of the progressive organization Indivisible PA last month asked Fetterman to resign.
It’s quite a turnabout for the hoodies-and-shorts-wearing Fetterman, elected in 2022 with an everyman persona and irreverent wit, who was unafraid to challenge convention.
For some progressives, frustration with Fetterman began with his staunch support for Israel’s punishing war against Hamas in Gaza, an issue that divides Democrats.
It’s moved beyond that since Trump took office. Now, some are wondering why he’s — as they see it — kissing up to Trump, why he’s chastising fellow Democrats for their anti-Trump resistance and whether he’s even committed to their causes at all.
Most recently, they question his support for Trump’s bombing of Iran.
“It hurts,” said John Abbott, who attended Sunday’s event in suburban Harrisburg.
Speaking at the flagship “No Kings” rally in Philadelphia, Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg name-checked Fetterman.
“We’re looking to the leaders who will fight for us, because even today there are folks among the Democratic Party who think we should roll over and play dead,” Greenberg said. “Anyone seen John Fetterman here today?”
The crowd booed.
Why is Conor Lamb crisscrossing Pennsylvania again?
In Pittsburgh, progressives trying to land an in-person town hall with Fetterman or first-term Republican Sen. David McCormick noticed when the two senators advertised an event together at a downtown restaurant to celebrate the release of McCormick’s new book.
Progressive groups organized to protest it and — after it got moved to a private location with a private invite list — went ahead with their own town hall. They invited Lamb and a local Democratic state representative instead.
More invitations for Lamb started rolling in.
By his count, he’s now attended at least a dozen town halls and party events, easily clocking more than 2,000 miles to appear in small towns, small cities and suburbs, often in conservative areas.
“Showing up matters and it really does make a difference,” said Dana Kellerman, a Pittsburgh-based progressive organizer. “Is that going to matter to John Fetterman? I really don’t know. I don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t know if he’s always been this person or if he’s changed in the last two years.”
Fetterman has brushed off criticism, saying he’s a committed Democrat, insisting he was elected to engage with Republicans and — perhaps hypocritically — questioning why Democrats would criticize fellow Democrats.
At times, Fetterman has criticized Trump, questioning the move to “punch our allies in the mouth” with tariffs or the need for cuts to social-safety net programs in the GOP’s legislation to extend 2017’s tax cuts. Fetterman’s office didn’t respond to an inquiry about Lamb.
Is Conor Lamb running for Senate?
For his part, Lamb — a former U.S. Marine and federal prosecutor — says he isn’t running for anything right now, but he’ll do whatever he can to “stop this slide that we’re on toward a less democratic country and try to create one in which there’s more opportunity for people.”
To some Democrats, he sounds like a candidate.
“That he’s doing these town halls is a good indication that he’ll be running for something, so it’s a good thing,” said Janet Bargh, who attended the event in suburban Harrisburg.
Aside from the town halls, he spoke at the Unite for Veterans event on the National Mall. He has also been active on social media, doing local radio appearances and appearing on MSNBC, where he recently criticized the June 14 military parade ordered up by Trump.
Suddenly, Lamb was ascendant. Then he ran for Senate and lost handily — by more than two-to-one — to Fetterman in 2022’s primary.
People often ask Lamb if he’s going to challenge Fetterman again. Lamb said he reminds them that Fetterman has three years left in his term and pivots the conversation to what Democrats need to do to win elections in 2025 and 2026.
Still, Lamb is unafraid to criticize Fetterman publicly. And, he said, he’s a magnet for Democrats to air their unhappiness with Fetterman. What he hears, over and over, is frustration that Fetterman spends too much time attacking fellow Democrats and not enough time challenging Trump.
“And that is, I think, what’s driving the frustration more than any one particular issue,” Lamb said.
At the town hall, Lamb wasn’t afraid to admit he’d lost to Fetterman. But he turned it into an attack line.
“When I watch the person who beat me give up on every important issue that he campaigned on … the more I reasoned that the point of all of this in the first place is advocacy for what’s right and wrong,” Lamb told the crowd. “And advocacy for not just a particular party to win, but for the type of country where it matters if, when you stand up, you tell the truth.”
Conor Lamb speaks to the crowd at a town hall-style event organized by progressive groups at Central Penn College, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Enola, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)
ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) — Pounding away on a prison typewriter, Chad Scott seemed worlds apart from President Donald Trump.
But when the disgraced narcotics agent wrote the White House seeking clemency for his corruption conviction, Scott sought to draw Trump’s attention to what they have in common.
Both men had survived a bullet wound to the ear, Scott wrote, and had been convicted of falsifying records. They were also each a victim of “political persecution,” the type of catchphrase the former agent hoped would resonate with a man who has long complained of witch hunts.
By helping him, Scott argued, Trump would be showing he had “the back of law enforcement.”
“Chad Scott is a hero in this country’s war on drugs,” his attorney wrote in a clemency petition reviewed by The Associated Press, adding it would be a “gross waste of taxpayer money” to house and feed the former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent for six more years.
FILE – This booking photo provided by the St. Charles, La., Parish Sheriff’s Office shows former DEA agent Chad Scott. (St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)
This photo provided by his attorneys shows former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Chad Scott with a service dog he is training, named “Trump,” at the Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Ky., in December 2024. (Michelle Scott via AP)
FILE – Former DEA agent Chad Scott walks to the Hale Boggs Federal Building on the first day of a retrial regarding federal charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and falsification of government records in New Orleans, on Monday, Aug. 19, 2019. (Max Becherer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP, File)
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FILE – This booking photo provided by the St. Charles, La., Parish Sheriff’s Office shows former DEA agent Chad Scott. (St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)
Scott’s application is hardly unique, according to prisoners, defense attorneys and officials. The White House and the Justice Department have received a wave of such requests — all carefully crafted to capture the attention and fancy of Trump or those who know his inclinations.
The flurry, legal experts said, has been sparked by Trump’s frequent and eyebrow-raising grants of clemency since retaking office in January. The Republican president has pardoned and commuted the sentences of more than 1,600 people, including many political allies, former GOP officeholders and hundreds charged or convicted in the 2021 Capitol riot. He even pardoned a pair of reality TV stars who were serving time for bank fraud and tax evasion.
In doing so, Trump has largely cast aside a process that historically has been overseen by nonpolitical personnel at the Justice Department who spent their days poring over clemency applications — thick packets filled with character references attesting to applicants’ atonement and good deeds. Only those meeting strict criteria were then passed along to the White House.
Those procedures appear to have been replaced by the caprice of a president known for his transactional approach to governance, his loyalty to supporters and his disdain for perceived enemies.
It’s created “a free-for-all” for those seeking clemency, said Liz Oyer, the Justice Department’s former pardon attorney, who was fired in March. “The traditional process and practices,” she told the AP, “all seem to have fallen by the wayside.”
Inmates believe Trump might hear them out
That has left an opening for prisoners like Eric Sanchez Chaparro, who is seeking a commutation for a drug and weapons conviction that carries a 19-year prison sentence. The optimism, he said, has never been higher for those behind bars.
“In many ways I feel like he has the same point of view that we’ve got,” Chaparro said in a telephone interview, noting that both he and the president were convicted of felonies. Trump was convicted last year on New York state charges of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to a porn star but was sentenced to no punishment.
“Even though people try to put him down,” Chaparro added, “he kept on pushing for his goal.”
FILE – This photo provided by the Santa Rose County Jail in Milton, Fla., shows Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as “Joe Exotic.” (Santa Rosa County Jail via AP, File)
The Trump administration did not disclose how many people have reached out to Trump or White House officials to seek clemency, though some have boasted of doing so in colorful ways. Last week, Joe Exotic, the former zookeeper known as the “Tiger King,” posted a song he said he wrote for Trump on social media, claiming he was “paying the time for a crime I didn’t do.” He’s serving a 21-year sentence for the failed murder-for-hire of an animal-welfare activist.
Wave of pardon applications lands at Justice Department
Since Trump retook office five months ago, his Justice Department has received more than 9,300 petitions seeking commutations of sentences or pardons. At that pace, the tally would blow past the approximately 15,000 petitions filed during the four years of President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration. The Justice Department received about 12,000 petitions in Trump’s first term.
Clemency is perhaps the most unchecked power enjoyed by a president, as actions cannot be undone by courts or other officials. Presidents can commute sentences — reducing or eliminating them — or bestow a pardon that wipes away convictions or criminal charges.
Trump is hardly the first president to generate controversy over how he has handled such powers. Biden prompted bipartisan outrage in December when he pardoned his son Hunter, sparing him a possible prison sentence for felony gun and tax convictions. And Biden was sharply criticized — mainly by Republicans — for issuing preemptive pardons to protect lawmakers, former officials and his family members from what he described as a potentially vindictive Trump administration.
Trump’s handling of pardons is unprecedented, experts say
Even so, legal scholars say, Trump’s approach to clemency has veered into unprecedented territory.
The president, for example, tapped a vociferous political supporter, Ed Martin Jr., to be the Justice Department’s pardon attorney. Martin is a former defense lawyer who represented Jan. 6 rioters and promoted false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen by Democrats. Trump gave Martin the post after pulling his nomination to be the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in the face of bipartisan concerns over his divisive politics. Martin did not respond to requests for comment.
FILE – Ed Martin speaks at an event at the Capitol in Washington, on June 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)
Much of Trump’s mercy has gone to political allies, campaign donors and fraudsters who claimed they were victims of a “weaponized” Justice Department. The pardons that have drawn the most attention include one issued to a tax cheat whose mother raised millions of dollars for Republican causes.
There was the pardon of a prolific straw donor for foreign contributions who gave $900,000 to Trump’s first inaugural committee. Trump voided the conviction of Scott Jenkins, a Virginia sheriff and vocal Trump supporter, sentenced to 10 years for deputizing several businessmen in exchange for cash payments.
“What these pardons signal — together with everything else — is that all bets are now off,” said Frank Bowman, a legal historian and professor emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Law who is writing a book on pardons. “It’s a grotesque misuse of constitutional authority of a kind that has never been seen in American history.”
Administration officials say Trump decides on clemency requests after they’re vetted by the White House Counsel’s Office, the White House pardon czar and the Justice Department. Reviewers have been focusing on nonviolent, rehabilitated criminals with compelling references, the officials said. The White House is also considering petitions from those serving unjustified sentences and what the administration deems “over-prosecution.”
“President Trump doesn’t need lectures from Democrats about his use of pardons, especially from those who supported a president who pardoned his corrupt son, shielded Dr. Fauci from accountability for the millions who suffered under his failed COVID leadership and backed the infamous ‘kids-for-cash’ judge who profited from incarcerating children,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in an email. “President Trump is using his pardon and commutation powers to right many wrongs, acting reasonably and responsibly within his constitutional authority.”
Felons say they have a kinship with Trump, a fellow felon
All the while, Trump’s approach has spread hope among lesser-connected prisoners who long ago exhausted their appeals, a half dozen federal prisoners told the AP in interviews.
A remedy long likened to winning the lottery seems more attainable in an administration that has dispensed with many of the traditional criteria considered in clemency, including remorse, the severity of the crime and the amount of time a prisoner has already served.
Jonathan E. Woods, an early Trump supporter and former Arkansas state senator, is serving an 18-year sentence for a bribery conviction.
The former legislator believes he has a legitimate shot at winning a commutation because, he wrote to the AP, “President Trump is viewed as someone as having a big heart, nonjudgmental and someone who has been put through hell by a very imperfect legal system.”
“Inmates view him as someone who will listen to them in hopes of going home early to their loved ones,” Woods added.
Woods, who is serving time in a prison in Texas, has also raised allegations he hopes will resonate with the president: evidence of misconduct by an FBI agent who investigated the former state senator. That agent pleaded guilty to “corruptly destroying” his government hard drive in Woods’ case.
Trump spent years blasting the FBI, particularly for how it investigated him over allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and its role in the Justice Department’s ill-fated prosecutions of Trump in the Capitol riot and his retention of classified documents at his Florida resort.
Pardon czar is playing a key role
Less political appeals have also been fruitful — thanks to the president’s advisers.
Those working to land pardons for Eddie and Joe Sotelo didn’t give up after Biden rejected their application. Instead, advocates turned to help from Alice Marie Johnson, whom Trump recently tapped as his pardon czar after commuting her sentence for federal drug and money laundering charges in 2018.
FILE – President Donald Trump holds up a full pardon for Alice Marie Johnson, left, in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
It was Johnson who intervened on behalf of the brothers, who had been serving life prison terms for a drug-trafficking conspiracy, said Brittany Barnett, founder of the Buried Alive Project, a nonprofit advocacy group that took up the Sotelos’ case. The brothers were freed late last month.
Johnson “knows firsthand the weight of a life sentence,” Barnett said. “These men were serving the same sentence as the Unabomber — on drug charges.”
Trump’s open-mindedness has sent “shock waves of hope through the prison walls for the thousands of people still serving extreme sentences,” Barnett said.
No commutation seems out of the question in prisons like FCI Ashland, the Kentucky lockup where Scott, the former DEA agent, has been held nearly four years.
Once hotshot DEA agent fell from grace
Scott, 57, was exercising in March with Brian Kelsey, when the former Tennessee state senator received word he had been pardoned just two weeks into a 21-month sentence for campaign finance fraud. Kelsey called his release a “victory for every American who believes in one impartial justice system for all.”
FILE – Former Republican state Sen. Brian Kelsey, center, arrives at federal court, Nov. 22, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE – Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, center, speaks during a news conference in Cincinnati on Feb. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)
FILE – The Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Ky., is seen Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/John Flavell, File)
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FILE – Former Republican state Sen. Brian Kelsey, center, arrives at federal court, Nov. 22, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
Last month, the president pardoned another former Ashland prisoner, P.G. Sittenfeld, a former Cincinnati city councilman who not only won office as a Democrat but sharply criticized Trump. It is unclear why Trump pardoned Sittenfeld, who also seemed surprised by the grant of clemency. “I was as stunned as I suspect you were,” he wrote supporters this month, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.
In his own application for a commutation, Scott sought to draw Trump’s attention not only to his ear wound — sustained in a shooting that predated his law enforcement career — but also the prosecutor who handled his case. That prosecutor went on to work for special counsel Jack Smith, whose team twice indicted Trump. The charges were dropped after Trump won the November election.
“Though I do not claim to be a saint, I DID NOT commit the crimes for which I have been convicted,” Scott wrote to the president, even using all caps like Trump does on social media.
Scott had been among the most prolific narcotics agents in the country during his 17-year career at the DEA and won several awards for his work.
His downfall began in 2016, when two members of his New Orleans-based task force were arrested for stealing and using drugs, prompting a yearslong FBI inquiry. A federal jury convicted Scott in 2019 of orchestrating false testimony against a trafficker. He also was found guilty of falsifying DEA paperwork to acquire a pickup truck and, following a separate trial, stealing money and property from suspects.
Scheduled for release in 2031, he has exhausted every possible appeal. Clemency from Trump, Scott told the AP, is his “last resort.”
By all accounts, Scott has been a model prisoner and has been awarded sought-after privileges. He spends his days as FCI Ashland’s “town driver,” chauffeuring newly released prisoners to bus stops, halfway houses, hospitals and doctors’ offices in nearby cities.
And he has participated in a program called Pawsibilities Unleashed, in which he raises and trains service and therapy dogs behind bars.
He named one of his most recent canines, a Labradane, Trump.
Camron Michael Amin, a professor of Middle East and Iranian diaspora studies at University of Michigan-Dearborn, says some people were not able to get in touch with their loved ones due to an internet outage in Iran.
“Communication seems to have improved over the course of the week, but many people couldn’t reach anybody starting sort of a week ago,” he said. “Sunday, it was hard to reach people, and that seems to have been largely driven by internet outages.”
Amin says many Iranian Americans are nervous about any escalations in the war, especially those with loved ones in Iran.
“I can’t speak for everybody, obviously, but generally speaking, Iranian Americans are nervous about and wary of anything that escalates and prolongs the war. However they feel about the Iranian government, however they feel about the issues between Iran and the United States… because they have people they know or people they care about in Iran that might be at risk they themselves visit when they can,” he said.
Amin says recent polling shows that Iranian Americans frequently keep in contact and travel to Iran as tourists or to visit family.
“So anything that makes that more dangerous or more fraught is unwelcome,” he said.
Amin says one concern is getting dual-national Iranian Americans out of Iran during the conflict.
“Certainly, dual nationals in Israel, from several countries, including the U.S., have ways to get out of that country during the fighting. And I think there’s a similar concern about dual nationals, who are Iranian Americans, who might be stuck in harm’s way during the fighting right now,” he said.
Amin says Iranian Americans are looking to policymakers and legislators to prioritize helping people stuck in Iran.
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