Texas Democrat says Trump trying to ‘shift news’ from tariffs ‘disaster’ with military deployment
Reacting to the news that Donald Trump has authorized the military to occupy and take jurisdiction over public land along the southern border, Rep. Greg Casar has accused the president of wanting to change the dominant story of the week — that of the tariffs debacle.
In a presidential memorandum released on Friday evening, Trump says it will be a “phased implementation” that begins on a “limited sector of federal lands” chosen by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but it can be expanded at any time.
Casar, a Texas Democrat, wrote on X: “Trump wants to shift the news off his tariff economic disaster, so he’s deploying the military into our own country and targeting immigrants.”
Oliver O’Connell12 April 2025 13:34
Watch: Man with umbrella vs. doorway
As he departed a rainy Washington, D.C., for Florida on Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump climbed the steps of Air Force One holding a very large umbrella.
Here’s what happened when he got to the top of the steps to board the plane:
Oliver O’Connell12 April 2025 13:00
Law firm Susman Godfrey sues U.S. government after being targeted by Trump
Law firm Susman Godfrey is suing the U.S. government after being targeted by President Donald Trump in an executive order.
The firm is representing Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation case against Newsmax.
The complaint reads in part:
In America we have, in the words of John Adams, a government of laws and not men. President Trump’s campaign of Executive Orders against law firms and others, including the Executive Order he signed on April 9, 2025 against Susman Godfrey, is a grave threat to this foundational premise of our Republic. The President is abusing the powers of his office to wield the might of the Executive Branch in retaliation against organizations and people that he dislikes. Nothing in our Constitution or laws grants a President such power; to the contrary, the specific provisions and overall design of our Constitution were adopted in large measure to ensure that presidents cannot exercise arbitrary, absolute power in the way that the President seeks to do in these Executive Orders.
Unless the Judiciary acts with resolve—now—to repudiate this blatantly unconstitutional Executive Order and the others like it, a dangerous and perhaps irreversible precedent will be set. Whatever opinions one may hold about President Trump, or about Susman Godfrey’s litigation on behalf of its clients, someday a different president with an entirely different set of policy priorities and personal grievances will sit behind the Resolute Desk. That future president may genuinely believe that an entirely different set of organizations or people have “engage[d] in activities detrimental to critical American interests,” to quote the accusation President Trump has leveled at Susman Godfrey. If President Trump’s Executive Orders are allowed to stand, future presidents will face no constraint when they seek to retaliate against a different set of perceived foes. What for two centuries has been beyond the pale will become the new normal.
Put simply, this could be any of us.
Here’s Justin Baragona with the background on the case:
Oliver O’Connell12 April 2025 11:30
Trump replaces Obama’s White House portrait with painting of his own assassination attempt
Visitors to the White House on Friday were greeted with a new addition to the executive mansion’s art collection — a painting depicting the now-iconic photograph of President Donald Trump raising his fist just moments after a bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.
White House staff installed the painting just outside the East Room, in the main foyer of the White House, at a location traditionally reserved for a painting depicting the most recent president to have his official portrait unveiled.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, D.C.
Oliver O’Connell12 April 2025 10:30
Will the bond market bring down Donald Trump like it did Liz Truss?
US bond markets erupted on Wednesday as panicked investors scrambled to cash them in in the wake of Donald Trump‘s tariffs and the trade war that followed.
The yield, or interest rate, for US government 30-year bonds spiked – a possible indicator of economic downturn – forcing the US president to perform a dramatic U-turn that saw him announce a temporary pause on tariffs for all countries but China.
“The bond market is very tricky, I was watching it. But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” said Mr Trump as he laid out a 90-day pause on retaliatory levies.
The humiliating backtrack has striking similarities with Liz Truss’s rapid downfall as prime minister – also prompted by the bond market response to her disastrous mini-budget.
Here The Independent looks at the financial turmoil caused by both and what it might mean for Mr Trump’s future in the White House.
Oliver O’Connell12 April 2025 08:30
BlackRock CEO thinks we might already be in a recession
As the stock market turbulence prompts fears that the U.S. could soon be in a recession, an investment management firm executive believes we’re already there.
Kelly Rissman reports on comments made by Blackrock’s Larry Fink.
Oliver O’Connell12 April 2025 07:30
After he pulled the plug on tariffs, Trump brags in Oval Office that his billionaire pals made a killing
In a video clip circulating social media, President Donald Trump gleefully recounted how much money his billionaire pals made on the stock market after he suddenly suspended most of his worldwide tariffs.
Mary Papenfuss has the story.
Oliver O’Connell12 April 2025 06:30
Why Trump’s tariff pause has not stopped the risk of global recession
Economic experts have told The Independent the risk of a global recession remains despite the 90-day delay in Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff increases.
Trump made an abrupt U-turn on Wednesday when he announced the three-month pause to all affected countries bar China, following economic meltdown and widespread backlash.
Oliver O’Connell12 April 2025 05:30