Trump information at present: President slaps 25 % tariff on all non-US automobiles as commerce conflict escalates
Donald Trump’s administration remains under fire over the alarming security breach that saw Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, added by mistake to a Signal group chat in which the president’s most senior security officials discussed upcoming military action.
The magazine published their text exchange in full on Wednesday after the administration denied classified information was compromised.
Trump said his National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has nothing to apologize for and has attempted to shift the blame towards an unnamed “lower level” White House employee instead, despite Waltz himself saying he takes “full responsibility” for the disaster.
Also swept up in the scandal centered on an operation targeting Houthi positions in Yemen are Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance. Hegseth shared strike times and other details in the chat and is facing calls for his resignation from Democrats. The White House is pushing back by claiming there is a difference between “attack plans” and “war plans,” as well as blaming the media.
As the Signal scandal continued to roil Washington, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on Wednesday on all imports of fully-assembled vehicles.
Trump shares clip of CNN touting his favorability ratings, despite ‘fake news’ name-calling
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office last week, the president said that both CNN and MSNBC may be “turned off,” calling their journalism “dishonest” and stating their ratings are doing “horribly.”
On Wednesday morning, Trump took to Truth Social to share a video from the very outlet he attempted to discredit in the midst of the fallout over the Signal text leak.
James Liddell reports.
Noem looks to scrap FEMA and eliminate funding for emergency prep and long-term rebuilding
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees the agency, discussed the administration’s plans during a Tuesday meeting with FEMA officials and Corey Lewandowski, E&E News reports.
Read on…
Democrats mock Republican hysteria over PBS and NPR in DOGE committee hearing
Republicans on a congressional subcommittee supporting Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE efforts dragged NPR and PBS leadership to a public hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to accuse the publicly supported outlets of turning into “radical, left-wing echo chambers” with “anti-American” bias.
Democrats reacted accordingly, as Alex Woodward reports.
Trump admin security breach raises concerns among some military spouses and veterans
When Alyssa Myatt’s husband served on an aircraft carrier last year, she and other U.S. Navy spouses had to follow strict security protocols that meant driving to the ship’s home port just to learn that its deployment was being extended.
“It was not information that they would send in an email or share over the phone,” Myatt said. “They wouldn’t even stream it. You had to physically come and be present in a location with them to hear the information.”
Now Myatt is among some military spouses and veterans questioning the White House’s own adherence to security safeguards after President Donald Trump’s national security adviser added a journalist to a group chat about striking Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Read on…
Jesse Watters floats bizarre conspiracy theory about Signalgate
Graig Graziosi has the story.
Full story: Trump announces 25 percent tariffs on all vehicle imports
President Donald Trump announced his latest round of tariffs on Wednesday, telling reporters at a press conference that the US would levy duties of 25 percent on all imports of fully-assembled vehicles.
John Bowden reports from Washington, D.C.
Could Pornhub’s Canadian owners block US access to protest Trump’s takeover hopes?
Not with its own retaliatory tariffs, or shutting down every branch of Tim Horton’s and Lululemon in the U.S. — but by banning access to the Canadian-owned adult entertainment website Pornhub.
“If Canada could ban Pornhub in the States, we win the trade war. That’s it. There is no trade war,” Toronto-based comedian Matthew Puzhitsky joked to the New York Post earlier this month, referring to it as “Canada’s nuke.”
Rhian Lubin reports.
Trump open to China tariffs reduction over TikTok deal
During his Oval Office tariffs announcement, President Donald Trump said that he might give China a little reduction in tariffs to get a deal related to Chinese-owned TikTok done, while adding that he was likely to extend a deadline if an agreement over the social media app was not reached.
“With respect to TikTok, and China is going to have to play a role in that, possibly in the form of an approval, maybe, and I think they’ll do that. Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” Trump told reporters.
Source: independent.co.uk
