16 state attorneys general sue over Trump administration's delays, cancellations of NIH research funding
A group of 16 state attorneys general are suing the Trump administration over disruptions to grant funding for research from the National Institutes of Health.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts on Friday, says that the Trump administration has “engaged in a concerted, and multi-pronged effort to disrupt NIH’s grants” through “across-the-board delays” in reviewing pending grant approvals and “widespread terminations of already-issued grants.”
The slowdown in grant approvals has left researchers across the country uncertain if they would receive funding. It has prompted layoffs and furloughs and disrupted ongoing studies.
Those effects have trickled down to students. The lawsuit says that UMass Amherst has had to reduce its graduate admissions by nearly 30% and rescind financial awards to graduate students as a result of the funding disruptions.
The university has had four grants terminated. But 353 applications for NIH funding remain waiting for review, representing about $848 million in potential funding.
The lawsuit is the second this week taking aim against NIH grant disruptions.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a similar lawsuit Wednesday alleging that the NIH has conducted an “ongoing ideological purge of critical research projects.”
Neither the National Institutes of Health nor the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services immediately responded to a request for comment.
Trump’s trade war targets an island full of penguins, but Russia faces no new tariffs
Aside from climate change and pollution, penguins are now facing one more threat from humanity: Trump’s tariffs.
Trump on Wednesday announced expansive tariffs on more than 180 countries and regions to retaliate against what he characterized as unfair trade practices by other countries.
While Vladimir Putin’s Russia was left out of the long list, Trump slapped 10% tariffs on Heard Island and McDonald Islands, a mostly barren, tiny outpost largely populated by penguins.
Trump administration announces team to probe compliance with transgender athletes ban
The departments of Justice and Education are launching a special investigations team to enforce compliance with Trump's executive order aimed at banning transgender women from participating in women's and girls sports, the departments said in a news release.
The "specialized team of investigators" from both departments is tasked with investigating Title IX violations in schools, it said. Title IX is the federal civil rights law that bans sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
Trump has signed an executive order aimed at barring transgender athletes from competing in girls and women's sports and instructed his administration to define noncompliance as a Title IX violation.
"This collaborative effort with the Department of Education will enable our attorneys to take comprehensive action when women’s sports or spaces are threatened and use the full power of the law to remedy any violation of women’s civil rights," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the release.
The Trump administration has begun withholding federal grant money to higher education institutions that it alleges have not complied with the transgender athlete order. Last month, Trump paused $175 million in grant funding to the University of Pennsylvania, alleging the Ivy League university’s policies are "forcing women to compete with men in sports."
GOP concerns about tax cut strategy and Medicaid loom over Senate budget
Senate Republicans managed to proceed to debate their massive budget plan last night, but not before an unexpected delay caused by some of their own who have concerns about their strategy on tax cuts and potential cuts to Medicaid.
The delay occurred as those Republicans met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to talk through their concerns. Some more centrist senators are worried about a budget change the party is using to slap a zero-dollar price tag on extending Trump’s tax cuts, which are estimated by the official scorekeeper in Congress to cost $4.6 trillion over a decade.
Trump prosecutor compares use of Jan. 6 charge to internment of Japanese Americans
Ed Martin, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, compared the use of an obstruction of an official proceeding charge against Jan. 6 defendants to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, according to an email obtained by NBC News.
Martin, a “stop the steal” organizer and advocate for Jan. 6 defendants who lacked any prosecutorial experience when Trump named him D.C.’s chief federal prosecutor on an interim basis, has also been nominated to take over the position on a permanent basis. In an email this morning, he said the “special project” he launched into the use of an obstruction statute against Jan. 6 defendants was broadening.
“The 1512 Project is expanded [sic] in scope,” Martin wrote. “We continue to look at exactly how and why so many Jan 6th cases were charged using 1512 which led to the dramatic failure before the Supreme Court. We have contacted lawyers, staff and judges about this — and sought their feedback. One called the bi-partisan rejection of the 1512 charge the ‘greatest failure of legal judgement since FDR and his Attorney General put American citizens of Japanese descent in prison camps — and seized their property.’ I agree and that’s why we continue to look at who ordered the 1512 and why. A lot to do.”
The reference to the internment of Japanese Americans and the Korematsu v. United States case was “grotesque,” one former Jan. 6 prosecutor told NBC News.
“That he would compare the internment of thousands of Americans solely based on their ethnicity to the targeted arrest of individuals who committed crimes on video is sickening,” the former Jan. 6 prosecutor said.
The internment of Japanese Americans was the last time that the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was used until this year, when it was invoked by the Trump administration to justify the deportation of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members to El Salvador. That case is currently making its way through the court system.
Martin also wrote that they have “been asked to look into leaks that took place during January 6th prosecutions,” and claimed that “leaks of evidence, tactics, and other aspects of the effort damaged the parties, witnesses, and LEOs and all of this was used by the media and partisans as misinformation.”
“It was bad all around. (One participant said she believed the media was in a frenzy for attention like during the OJ Simpson trial.),” he wrote.
Martin represented several Jan. 6 defendants and was on the grounds of the Capitol on Jan. 6. The day before the attack, he gave a speech in front of the Capitol saying that "die-hard true Americans" would fight until their “last breath” to “stop the steal.”
Newsom asks U.S. trading partners to exempt California from retaliatory tariffs
Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking California's long-standing trading partners to exclude his state's products from their retaliatory measures they they react to Trump's sweeping new tariffs by hiking their own.
"California is not Washington, D.C.,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in an announcement on his request.
"California leads the nation as the #1 state for agriculture and manufacturing — and it’s our workers, families, and farmers who stand to lose the most from this Trump tax hike and trade war," Newsom said in the release. "To our international partners: As the fifth largest economy in the world, the Golden State will remain a steady, reliable partner for generations to come, no matter the turbulence coming out of Washington."
Newsom argued Trump's imposition of high tariffs will ultimately lead to higher priced products, meaning consumers will be forced to foot the bill.
Stocks tumble again after China fires back in trade war
The major U.S. stock indexes dropped sharply just minutes into trading today as Trump’s historic tariffs announcement — and fresh retaliatory duties imposed by China — sent further shock waves through the global economy.
The S&P 500 fell more than 3%, deepening a decline that began in February. The index, which tracks 500 of the leading U.S. companies, is now down almost 15% from its peak.
DNC launches ‘People’s Cabinet’ to counter Trump’s agenda
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin announced today the launch of the “People’s Cabinet,” a new initiative bringing together policy experts, lawmakers and other leaders to offer counterarguments to the Trump administration’s agenda.
The initiative plans to give briefings to the press and coalition partners, speak with Americans across the country at town halls, produce digital content and engage in rapid response “to counter the lies and disinformation from the Trump administration,” according to a news release.
“Trump has stacked his Cabinet with out-of-touch billionaires and know-nothing loyalists who are wreaking havoc on the lives of working people across this country,” Martin said in the release. “The People’s Cabinet is made up of experts, leaders, and everyday Americans from across the country who will equip communities with the reliable, accurate information they need to fight back against the worst of the Trump and Republican agenda.”
The DNC will announce additional members and programming for the People’s Cabinet in the coming weeks.
Trump ‘cannot annex another country’ Danish leader says as she visits Greenland
Denmark’s prime minister is wrapping up a three-day visit to Greenland today after telling the U.S. “you cannot annex another country,” even with the argument that international security is at stake.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen traveled to the strategically critical Arctic island as Trump seeks control of Greenland. He argues that Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark, is critical to U.S. security.
Inside the political fallout in Washington over Trump’s trade war
Some Republicans are expressing reservations about Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs, including Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, who warned that keeping high tariffs in place for an extended period would not be good economic policy. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports for "TODAY."