Rubio says South African ambassador 'no longer welcome' in the U.S. after criticism of Trump
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that South Africa's Ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool is "no longer welcome in our great country," after Rasool criticized Trump during remarks at a foreign policy summit.
"Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS," Rubio wrote in a post on X. "We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA."
The South African Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment.
Rubio made the post in response to Rasool's criticism of Trump during an address to the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection in Johannesburg.
Rasool accused Trump of launching "an assault" on "incumbencies," including G-20, NATO, and current elected officials worldwide, fueled in part by "supremacist" beliefs.
"We see it in the domestic politics of the USA, the MAGA movement," Rasool said. "A response not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA in which the voting electorate in the USA is projected to become 48% white and that the possibility of a majority of minorities is looming on the horizon."
The shifting demographics "needs to be factored in, so that we understand some of the things that we think are instinctive, nativist, racist things," Rasool said, pointing to Trump's ongoing effort to increase deportations.
The ambassador also called Elon Musk's outreach to Trump and other European leaders as a "dog whistle" designed to protect "apparently embattled white communities."
"It’s no accident that Elon Musk has involved himself in UK politics, and elevated a Nigel Farage and the Reform movement," Rasool said, comparing Musk's outreach to Vice President JD Vance efforts to strengthen Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party's election campaign.
Musk was born in South Africa.
Rubio last month skipped a G20 summit in Johannesburg, accusing South African organizers of "anti-Americanism" for promoting "solidarity, equality and sustainability."
Vance discusses Elon Musk’s ‘mistakes’ and ‘incremental progress’ on the economy in NBC News interview
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged today that Elon Musk has made “mistakes” while executing mass firings of federal employees and emphasized that he believes there are “a lot of good people who work in the government.”
“Elon himself has said that sometimes you do something, you make a mistake, and then you undo the mistake. I’m accepting of mistakes,” Vance said in an interview with NBC News.
“I also think you have to quickly correct those mistakes. But I’m also very aware of the fact that there are a lot of good people who work in the government — a lot of people who are doing a very good job. And we want to try to preserve as much of what works in government as possible, while eliminating what doesn’t work.”
Vance’s gentler tone represented a contrast from the chainsaw approach that Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, has taken as he leads Trump’s initiative to slash federal spending and reorient the federal bureaucracy. The firings of thousands of government employees has been the centerpiece of Musk’s work over the first seven weeks of Trump’s second White House administration, with the cuts yielding lawsuits and pushback from judges. Musk has broadly characterized federal workers as “fraudsters“ who can’t be trusted to do their jobs.
Senate passes bill that seeks to keep D.C. government’s use of local tax dollars intact
The Senate unanimously passed a bill tonight that aims to fix language in the government funding legislation that, if left untouched, would restrict how Washington, D.C., spends local tax dollars.
The bipartisan bill, introduced by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., would authorize the District of Columbia to continue spending its local funds this fiscal year. The newly passed government funding bill that avoids a shutdown includes a provision requiring the city to return to last year’s budget levels, which would lead to D.C. losing about $1 billion of its own taxes.
A spokesperson for Collins said she spoke to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser about the fix Thursday.
Washington’s budget is typically based on its own revenue and not dictated by federal appropriations bills, raising questions about whether the language that resulted in this cut might have been an oversight.
'There was no leverage': Democratic Rep. Jared Golden defends funding bill vote
Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, defended his vote this week in favor of the Republican funding bill, arguing Democrats had no leverage and that they would likely have had to make even greater concessions to reopen the government following a shutdown.
"The fact of the matter is, there was no leverage here," Golden said during an interview today on NBC News' "Meet the Press NOW."
"If Republicans needed the votes, then we would have had leverage. Fact of the matter is they didn’t," he said.
Golden, the lone House Democrat to support the bill, also defended Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is taking heat from Democrats for voting with Republicans to advance the bill.
"I think he’s making the hard choice, and I think he’s being honest and truthful with the American people, that this is the best path forward for the country at this moment," Golden said.
He also suggested that a shutdown had the potential to enable "expanded authority in the hands of the president, and his allies, like Elon Musk, to go ahead and furlough the federal government, send workers home without pay, and start to dissemble government services for the American people."
Judge denies emergency orders in Guantánamo Bay cases because no immigrants are currently held there
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled today that he will not at this stage prevent 10 detained immigrants with final removal orders for deportation and who are concerned about a potential transfer to Guantánamo Bay from being transferred to the notorious military base in Cuba.
Nichols said while delivering his decision this afternoon in Washington that the pure “possibility” of being transferred to Guantánamo is not the “likelihood” he would need in order to issue the emergency stay that the plaintiffs had requested.
There was a failure to establish “immediate irreparable harm,” Nichols said, a requirement for obtaining the stay, and said it was “almost impossible” for plaintiffs to succeed in that request because there are no immigrants currently detained at Guantánamo Bay, and therefore any harm faced by the immigrants in this case is speculative in nature.
Lee Gelernt, the attorney for the plaintiffs, had argued for the stay noting the shackling, strip searches and confinement chairs that are reported to have been used at the detention centers on the military base.
Nichols also denied a separate temporary restraining order requested by Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center related to the legal access available for detainees at Guantánamo Bay, particularly the ability for counsel to have in-person visits with immigrants held there — something the Government said was difficult to make happen to because of logistical issues and security concerns.
Nichols’ reasoning, again, centered around the idea that because there are no immigrants currently at the detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, there is also no one suffering immediate irreparable harm and in need of the judge to intervene.
The government says it plans to move to dismiss these cases.
Senate passes government funding bill, averting shutdown
The Senate voted 54-46 to pass a GOP-crafted government funding bill, sending the measure to Trump’s desk for his signature just hours before funding is set to expire at the end of today.
The bill, which funds the government through Sept. 30, only needed a simple majority to pass. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., crossed the aisle to vote for the measure, while Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., bucked his party and opposed the legislation.
Several more Democrats voted to advance the bill earlier today.
Trump calls for jailing his perceived opponents in Justice Department speech
Trump defended his allies today while calling for his political opponents to be jailed during a speech at the headquarters of the Justice Department that was prosecuting him just months ago.
Trump called U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who helped dismiss his classified documents case, a “brilliant” judge, while condemning “horrible human beings” whom he accused of disparaging Cannon.
“It’s totally illegal what they do. I just hope you can all watch for it, but it’s totally illegal, and it was so unfair what they were doing to her,” Trump said.
After deeming the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 as “the most humiliating time in this history of our country,” Trump called for the people behind the decision, officials from the Biden administration, to be imprisoned.
Senate advances Republican funding bill to avoid a shutdown
The Senate cleared a key 60-vote threshold to advance the House-passed Republican-crafted government funding bill.
Ten Democrats joined all but one Republican — Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — in the 62-38 vote.
The Democrats who voted yes include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.; and Sen Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
A vote on final passage is expected this evening, hours before the midnight deadline to avoid a shutdown.
Trump defends Judge Aileen Cannon against attacks from 'horrible human beings'
Trump, in remarks at the Justice Department this afternoon, praised federal Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw his classified documents case, against claims that she had favored Trump in her rulings and lacked the experience necessary to conduct the trial, which she ultimately dismissed.
"We had an amazing judge in Florida, and her name is Aileen Cannon, and I didn’t know her," Trump began. "I don’t believe I ever spoke to her, even during the trial, but I did appoint her federal judge."
Trump claimed Cannon was disparaged by "horrible human beings" attempting to influence the outcome of his trial.
"They were saying 'she was slow', 'she wasn’t smart', 'she was totally biased', 'she loved Trump,'" Trump said. "I thought her decorum was amazing."
"It was whatever they could say bad about a human being, all made up, because actually, she was brilliant. She moved quickly. She was the absolute model of what a judge should be, and she was strong and tough," Trump added.
Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump last July on grounds that the appointment of and funding for special counsel Jack Smith were illegal.
Trump praised the dismissal during his remarks.
"The case against me was bulls---, and she correctly dismissed it," he said.
Trump says he has 'great respect' for Schumer's decision to back Republican funding bill
Trump praised Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., today for saying he would advance a Republican bill to fund the government through September and stave off a shutdown this weekend.
"I have great respect, by the way, for what Schumer did," Trump said during remarks at the Justice Department. "He went out and he said that they have to vote with the Republicans because it's the right thing to do. I couldn't believe what I heard, but, you know, I think he's going to get some credit for it."
Schumer has faced fierce backlash from congressional Democrats for saying he would advance the Republican funding measure and abandoning a pitch by Democratic lawmakers to instead support a shorter-term funding bill.
Yesterday, Schumer said supporting the Republican measure was a better option than a potential government shutdown, which he said would further empower Trump and Musk as they reshape the federal government.
Prominent Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, have rejected that idea and called on Schumer to reverse course.
“Appropriations leaders Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray have eloquently presented the case that we must have a better choice: a four-week funding extension to keep [the] government open and negotiate a bipartisan agreement. America has experienced a Trump shutdown before — but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse," Pelosi said in a statement.