Anti-Trump protesters collect nationwide in ‘Hands Off’ rallies as president golfs in Florida: Live updates
Millions of protesters gathered at 1,300 “Hands Off” demonstrations across the country calling for the Trump administration to stop what organizers describe as “the most brazen power grab in modern history.”
Protesters opposed the Department of Government Efficiency by staging demonstrations at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and more than 1,000 places nationwide, asking for President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to get their “hands off” Medicaid, Medicare, public lands, immigrants, LGBTQ+ rights, cancer research and more.
“Turnout far exceeded expectations, underscoring the nationwide groundswell of opposition to Trump and Musk’s attempts to harm everyday people in America,” the organizers said in a shared statement.
DOGE has executed mass layoffs across the federal workforce, slashed contracts, and made strides to reduce the federal government’s real estate footprint. Meanwhile, in recent weeks, the administration ordered many immigrants to be deported from the U.S., cut funding for health programs, and taken steps to shutter federal agencies.
Speaking to a crowd in DC, Rep. Jamie Raskin described Trump as “an economy-crushing dictator who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
The demonstrations come one day after the stock market closed with a bloodbath on Friday as investors are spooked about the impact of Trump’s tariff plan that he unveiled Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the White House said the president won his second-round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, Florida and advances to the Championship Round Sunday.
Jaguar Land Rover pauses US shipments after Trump rolls out tariff plan
Sir Keir was “clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest” and officials would “calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate”, a No 10 spokesperson said.
On Saturday afternoon, Jaguar said it was “taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans”.
Archie Mitchell the full story.
DOJ lawyers file emergency appeal on order requiring return of Maryland man mistakenly sent to El Salvador
The Trump administration is arguing that a federal judge didn’t have the authority to order the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, a Saturday filing reveals.
On Friday. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. by late Monday night. On Saturday, government lawyers filed in an emergency appeal, requesting the court pause the judge’s order.
“A judicial order that forces the Executive to engage with a foreign power in a certain way, let alone compel a certain action by a foreign sovereign, is constitutionally intolerable,” the attorneys wrote in a filing in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The United States does not have control over Abrego Garcia. Or the sovereign nation of El Salvador. Nevertheless, the court’s injunction commands that Defendants accomplish, somehow, Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States in give or take one business day,” they continued. “That order is indefensible.”
The appeals court asked Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to respond to the government’s filing by Sunday afternoon, according to the Associated Press.
Here’s more on the case.
VOICES: Donald Trump is the Liz Truss of US economic policy
It took Liz Truss 10 days after the mini-Budget to accept that her economic policy could not survive its contact with reality. It may take Donald Trump a little longer because the US economy is so powerful, and he may be better at pretending that he hasn’t reversed course, but he too will have to accept that he cannot beat the markets.
It was significant that his declaration of a global trade war on Wednesday was made at 5pm Eastern Time, after the markets had closed. The only reason for the timing was that someone in the White House had realised that, if the speech had been delivered during the day, the TV channels could have run a ticker along the bottom of the screen with live prices on Wall Street turning red.
When the markets reacted as they were bound to do, the show was over, and President Trump waved away the bad news the next time he was in front of the cameras, saying: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
Read John Rentoul’s opinion.
Ben Shapiro slams Trump over tariffs in new video
While many conservative media figures are insisting that the stock market’s dive in reaction to Donald Trump’s tariff policies is actually a positive.
Ben Shapiro, a podcaster long known for his strict adherence to conservative politics, is not one of them.
On Friday, during an episode of his podcast, Shapiro said Trump’s tariffs are “probably unconstitutional” and called them “pretty crazy.”
Shapiro is no never-Trump Republican; he has supported and even fundraised for the president. But the recent massive loss of value to global stock markets has left market analysts — and some conservatives — shocked at the president’s actions.
“The president’s vision of international trade is, I’m sorry to say, mistaken,” Shapiro said.
Graig Graziosi has the story.
In photos: ‘Hands Off’ protesters take to the streets across the US to stand up to Trump administration
Millions turn up for ‘Hands Off’ protests opposing Trump-Musk agenda, organizers say
Millions of ‘Hands Off’ demonstrators took to the streets all across the country in opposition to a “power grab” by President Donald Trump and world’s richest man-slash-senior adviser Elon Musk, organizers say.
“Turnout far exceeded expectations, underscoring the nationwide groundswell of opposition to Trump and Musk’s attempts to harm everyday people in America,” organizers said in a shared statement.
The demonstrations took place outside of state capitols, federal buildings, and at DC’s National Mall, where Reps. Jamie Raskin and Maxwell Frost addressed the crowd. Others even cropped up around the world, including in London, Paris and Berlin.
“What we witnessed today was nothing short of extraordinary. Across the country and around the world, people came together to say: we will not be silent while our rights, our futures, and our democracy are under attack,” said Rahna Epting, Executive director of MoveOn. “This peaceful movement is powered by everyday people—nurses, teachers, students, parents—who are rising up to protect what matters most. We are united, we are relentless, and we are just getting started.”
Today’s protests marked the “largest day of collective action” since Trump’s second inauguration, the organizers said.
ICYMI: Prosecutors seek 87-month sentence for former GOP Rep. George Santos
The Department of Justice is seeking an 87-month sentence for former New York Republican Rep. George Santos after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft last August.
“Santos’ history and characteristics are troubling in the extreme. Santos is a pathological liar and fraudster,” states the 26-page sentencing memo from the department. “For years, Santos manufactured and promoted a fictionalized biography, one that depicted himself as a highly educated, independently wealthy, successful businessman, all premised on a heap of lies.”
Santos was elected in the 2022 midterms when he flipped a Democratic district covering parts of Long Island and Queens.
His life story, however, was quickly found to be largely fabricated. His claims that he worked at top firms on Wall Street and had attended a particular college were debunked, and the financing of his campaign raised questions.
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
DHS claims these tattoos show Venezuelan gang membership, but tattoo artists disagree
In its sweeping deportation campaign against Venezuelan immigrants, the Trump administration has repeatedly relied on tattoos to determine whether someone is a member of the feared criminal syndicate Tren de Aragua.
But The Independent has found that the U.S. government’s examples of TDA tattoos, created under the Biden administration, include art by artists in the UK and India, who say the tattoos they etched had innocent meanings. One honored the birth of a child, while another appears to commemorate the Aussie rock band AC/DC.
“It is mind-blowing that this is being used as an example of gang tattoos. It makes no sense at all,” the British artist whose clock tattoo appears in a 2024 Department of Homeland Security briefing on “detecting and identifying” TDA members told The Independent. “I have no relationship to Venezuelan gangs, and my art has nothing to do with them.”
Io Dodds has the story.
Tufts PhD student scores legal win against Trump administration
A federal judge has rejected a request from Donald Trump’s administration to throw out a Tufts University doctoral student’s legal challenge to her arrest and imprisonment.
Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk — who is currently imprisoned in a Louisiana detention center where several other international students are detained — was arrested outside her apartment in Massachusetts after masked and hooded plaint-clothes immigration agents grabbed her off the street.
On Friday, District Judge Denise Casper agreed to move her case to Vermont, where she was when her lawyers initially petitioned the court for her release. Her attorneys have argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement deliberately and secretly moved her case into another jurisdiction where the Trump administration would have a more favorable outcome.
Alex Woodward has the story.
Democratic Senator slams Trump’s TikTok extension as ‘illegal’
On the eve of the deadline of TikTok’s potential ban or acquisition, the president announced a 75-day extension — a move that one Senate Democrat has described as “illegal.”
The Trump administration has been fielding offers from a variety of companies and investors and is working to secure a deal to “SAVE TIKTOK,” as President Donald Trump put it.
“The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“This is 100 [percent] illegal,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut wrote on X on Saturday.
“Trump seems to be biding time to work out a deal where one of his political allies takes over TikTok and turns it into a MAGA propaganda machine. Rumors are that China will stay in partial control,” he added.
The president has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing related to this deal.
A deal had been finalized Wednesday but was derailed after Trump unveiled his sweeping tariff plan on Wednesday, according to reports.
TikTok owner ByteDance informed the White House that Beijing would not accept a deal until there could be negotiations around trade and tariffs, a source told NBC News.
Source: independent.co.uk
