Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an unprecedented order Thursday evening appointing Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terrence Cole as the District’s “emergency police commissioner,” stripping local control over the Metropolitan Police Department and rescinding sanctuary city protections. The legality of Bondi’s action now poses a separate constitutional question. In Order No. […]
Federal
State Department Releases Scaled-Back Human Rights Report, Removes Sections on Women and LGBTQ Rights, Among Others
The Trump administration has released the annual State Department human rights report. The document has been scaled back to just one-tenth the length of its 2023 predecessor. The report eliminates entire sections on abuses against women and LGBTQ people while softening criticism of nations aligned with the Trump administration. According […]
Wholesale Inflation Surges to Three-Year High as Tariffs Drive Price Pressures
The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) experienced its largest monthly increase in three years during July, rising 0.9% compared to the previous month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that this jump far exceeded economists’ expectations of just 0.2% growth, while the annual inflation rate at the wholesale level […]
Federal Appeals Court Allows Trump Administration to Withhold Billions in Foreign Aid Funding
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the government can continue withholding billions of dollars in foreign aid funding that Congress had appropriated for fiscal year 2024. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted 2-1 to overturn a district court injunction that had required the State Department and U.S. Agency […]
U.S. National Debt Surpasses Historic $37 Trillion Milestone
The U.S. government’s gross national debt has crossed the $37 trillion threshold for the first time in American history. The Treasury Department’s latest daily financial report confirmed this historic high on August 12, revealing that the debt reached $37,004,817,625,842.56. This moment arrives years ahead of pre-pandemic projections, as the Congressional […]
Scientists Counter Kennedy Administration with Evidence-Based Health Report
In direct response to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial health policies, a coalition of scientists and public health experts released an evidence-based alternative report titled “Improving the Health of Americans Together” (IHAT), challenging what they characterize as Kennedy’s “fake MAHA agenda” built on pseudoscience and […]
Fourth Circuit Court Strikes Down DOGE Data Access Protections in Split Decision
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a preliminary injunction that had blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive personal data held by three major federal agencies. In the 2-1 decision issued August 12, the appeals court ruled that labor unions and federal employee groups were […]
Federal Judge Denies Justice Department’s Bid to Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Records
A federal judge in Manhattan delivered a scathing rebuke to the Trump administration on Monday, denying the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer dismissed the DOJ’s motion in a 31-page […]
Trump Cites False Crime Statistics to Justify Takeover of D.C.
President Donald Trump, who was convicted of 34 felony counts and found legally liable for sexual abuse and defamation, announced Monday that he is placing Washington D.C.’s police department under federal control and deploying National Guard troops to the nation’s capital, claiming the city faces a “crime emergency” despite official […]
Trump’s Non-Binding $750 Billion EU Energy Deal
President Donald Trump on July 27 touted a sweeping trade agreement that he said would see the European Union purchase $750 billion worth of American energy over the next three years. The deal, according to Trump, also includes a 15% tariff on most EU exports to the United States. But […]