President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed. The high court filing follows an appellate ruling that keeps blocking the policy nationwide.
Other judges on Thursday blocked Trump’s orders to end DEI in K-12 public schools, to deny funds to ‘sanctuary’ cities, to deport people from Colorado under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and to require proof of citizenship before registering to vote.
State and local election officials from across the country are meeting to consider Trump’s executive order that seeks major changes to how elections are run, the first time those in charge of the nation’s voting will formally gather to weigh in on its implications.
Here's the latest:
Wall Street rallies for a third straight day, sending S&P 500 up 2%
U.S. stocks rallied further as better-than-expected profits for U.S. companies piled up, though CEOs say they’re unsure whether it will last because of uncertainty created by Trump’s trade war.
The S&P 500 jumped 2% Thursday for its third straight day of big gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2.7%.
ServiceNow surged after the AI platform company delivered a stronger profit for the start of 2025 than expected.
Southwest Airlines likewise reported stronger-than-expected results, but it joined a lengthening list of companies that have pulled financial forecasts because of uncertainty around tariffs.
Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes has formal support of 2 leading federal cultural agencies
The National Endowment for the Humanities announced Thursday that, along with the National Endowment for the Arts, it is committing $30 million this year to “enable the creation of statues in marble, granite, bronze, copper, or brass depicting historical figures tied to the accomplishments of the United States.”
Trump issued an executive order at the end of his first term calling for a “new monument to our country’s greatness.” He cited hundreds of Americans he considered worthy, from Benjamin Franklin and James Madison to Kobe Bryant and Shirley Temple.
Back in office, he has targeted the NEH, the Kennedy Center and other organizations for vast cuts and restructuring, accusing them of advancing a “woke” and anti-patriotic agenda. At the same time the NEH is offering money for the garden of heroes, it has cut off millions of dollars in grants.
The garden is scheduled to open in July 2026, timed to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Eric Trump promotes third-term Trump Organization merch
The U.S. Constitution says Trump can only be elected to two terms as president. That’s not stopping his family from promoting a third campaign.
Eric Trump shared a photo on Instagram of himself wearing a red “Trump 2028” hat, now sold by the Trump Store.
Trump, who would turn 82 in 2028, has said he is considering how to breach the constitutional prohibition. He had previously made jokes about it before telling NBC news he’s serious and that “there are methods which you could do it.”
The 22nd Amendment was adopted after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times. He died at 63, before the 100th day of his fourth term, on April 12, 1945.
Trump says it’s ‘physically impossible’ to conduct detailed trade negotiations with all countries
Trump has threatened to reimpose his steep ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on nearly all U.S. partners in a manner of months if they don’t negotiate separate deals with his administration. At some point, he said, his administration will “just set prices” for each partner that doesn’t come to the table.
“I can’t think of one country that doesn’t want to negotiate a deal, and they either negotiate a deal or we set a deal that we think is fair,” Trump said. But he said one-on-one talks will end at some point because only a “very small group” understands the issues.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said bilateral talks with South Korea may be “moving faster than we thought” after meetings earlier Thursday, with an agreement possible as soon as next week.
Swiss diplomat says entire world has to join together to talk trade with the US
Switzerland’s foreign minister in China says the sweeping Trump tariffs are like an earthquake that has hit “all the other countries on the planet” and thrust them into “a sort of coalition” to reach a deal with the United States.
Ignazio Cassis spoke to reporters in Beijing on Thursday after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
“We have to convince the United States to come back to a multilateral discussion -- which for now is not a given,” the Swiss diplomat said.
Trump has imposed 31% tariffs on Swiss goods — far higher than the 20% faced by its European Union neighbors — but Switzerland is among the many places now subject to a 90-day pause.
Trump says that by not taking all of Ukraine, Russia has made a ‘pretty big concession’ to end the war
Ukraine and much of Europe have fiercely pushed back against this notion, arguing that it’s hardly a concession for Russia to pause its land grab.
Earlier Thursday, Trump posted what for him is a rare rebuke of Putin after Russia struck Kyiv for hours with missiles and drones that killed at least 12 people and injured 90 in the deadliest assault on the city since July.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
“I didn’t like last night,” Trump said. “I wasn’t happy with it.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pledges protection against Trump’s ‘chaos’
Walz’s first major address to a statewide audience since he was Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate last year is getting attention.
Republican House floor leader Harry Niska called the Wednesday night speech an “angry rant about Donald Trump.”
But Walz urged state lawmakers to prove there’s a better way to govern.
“This current administration in Washington, they’re not forever,” Walz said. “These small, petty men will disappear into the dustbin of history. And when they do, there will be an opportunity and an obligation to actually rebuild government so that it works for working people.”
▶ Read more about Walz’s speech on governing in the Trump era
Federal judge blocks Trump’s proof-of-citizenship mandate for voter registration
The order blocks the Trump administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run.
Trump’s executive order argued that the U.S. “fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections” that exist in other countries.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sided with voting rights groups and Democrats to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the citizenship requirement from moving forward while the lawsuit plays out.
She also blocked a requirement that public assistance enrollees have their citizenship assessed before getting access to the federal voter registration form. But she denied other requests from the Democratic plaintiffs, including refusing to block Trump’s order to tighten mail ballot deadlines.
▶ Read more about the case against Trump’s federal elections changes
US filings for jobless benefits inch up as labor market remains strong despite fears of downturn
Jobless claim applications inched up by 6,000 to 222,000 for the week ending April 19, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s just barely more than the 220,000 new applications analysts forecast.
Trump has paused or pulled back on many of his tariff threats but concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that could upend what has been an historically resilient labor market.
It’s not clear when federal job cuts will surface in the weekly layoffs data. Despite showing some signs of weakening during the past year, the labor market remains healthy with plenty of job openings and relatively few layoffs.
▶ Read more about the latest U.S. job market numbers
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pledges protection against Trump’s ‘chaos’
Walz’s first major address to a statewide audience since he was Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate last year is getting attention.
Republican House floor leader Harry Niska called the Wednesday night speech an “angry rant about Donald Trump.”
But Walz urged state lawmakers to prove there’s a better way to govern.
“This current administration in Washington, they’re not forever,” Walz said. “These small, petty men will disappear into the dustbin of history. And when they do, there will be an opportunity and an obligation to actually rebuild government so that it works for working people.”
▶ Read more about Walz’s speech on governing in the Trump era
Trump appeals order not to deport people from Colorado under rarely used 1798 law
The order on Tuesday from Denver-based federal Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney also requires the administration to inform all people they seek to deport under the Alien Enemies Act that they have 21 days to appeal.
It’s one of a series of orders halting deportations under the provision, only invoked three times in U.S. history, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the people targeted can appeal.
The Trump administration’s filing at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals argues that Sweeney lacks jurisdiction and that it’s legally sound to invoke the statute against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Trump says he has his ‘own deadline’ to forge Ukraine-Russia peace deal
The president offered a more optimistic tone about prospects for an agreement than he did in social meeting postings earlier Thursday, when he leveled rare criticism against Russian President Vladimir Putin, or on Wednesday, when he sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who pushed back against a U.S. proposal that included Kyiv ceding the territory Russia has seized.
“There’s a lot of very bad blood, a lot of distrust, but … I hope we’re going to get there for the sake of a lot of young people that are dying,” the president said at the start of a lunch with visiting Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
“I have my own deadline, and we want it to be fast,” Trump added.
Trump administration fast-tracks energy project permitting, but not for solar or wind
Solar is the fastest-growing source of electricity generation in the United States, even though green energy proponents have argued that slow and inefficient permitting significantly hinders the transition to clean sources of power.
Trump’s Interior Department says its alternative process will shorten environmental impact statement approvals from about two years to about 28 days. The new procedures apply to to energy sources including oil, natural gas, petroleum, uranium, coal, biofuels and critical minerals, and to geothermal and hydropower. But not solar or wind.
The Sierra Club said this basically turns public input into lip service.
Tariffs impact: Here’s what some corporations are telling investors:
1. Procter & Gamble said Thursday it’s doing whatever it can to reduce higher costs from Trump’s tariffs, but will likely have to raise prices for consumer products as early as July.
2. PepsiCo lowered its full-year earnings expectations, citing a pullback in consumer spending and Trump’s 25% tariff on imported aluminum.
3. Merck trimmed its earnings forecast. The pharmaceutical giant gets half its revenue in the U.S. market and expects tariffs implemented so far to cost the company about $200 million.
4. American Airlines withdrew its earnings forecast for the year as economic uncertainty prompts consumers to cut back on travel.
▶ Read more on corporate outlooks in today’s earnings reports
Trump insists US and China are talking on trade despite Beijing’s denials
“They had a meeting this morning,” Trump said, then added: “It doesn’t matter who they is.”
Trump is seeking to climb down from his 145% tariffs on Chinese goods amid growing business and consumer concerns that the import taxes will drive up inflation and potentially send the economy into a recession. China hit back with 125% tariffs on U.S. products.
Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said during a daily briefing on Thursday that for all he knows, “China and the U.S. are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, still less reaching a deal.”
A spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry, He Yadong, said “any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis.”
▶ Read more on the state of US-China trade negotiations
Trump says he’ll meet with journalist who was mistakenly texted about US military strikes
Trump says he’ll do a sit-down interview with The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, and two other writers at the magazine.
Goldberg is the journalist who reported in 2020 that Trump had privately referred to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France as “losers” and “suckers,” a story that still angers Trump.
In a social media post Thursday, the president called Goldberg “the person responsible for many fictional stories about me” but said his reporting about being inadvertently added to the Signal chat on pending airstrikes on Yemen was “somewhat more ‘successful.’”
Trump said he’s doing the interview “out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it’s possible for The Atlantic to be ‘truthful.’”
Wall Street rallies as companies keep piling up profits, for now at least
Markets are up on better-than-expected profits, but CEOs say they’re unsure whether it will last amid of uncertainty created by Trump’s trade war.
The S&P 500 was 1.3% higher at midday Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 265 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.7% higher.
Southwest Airlines reported stronger than expected first-quarter results, but its stock was flipping between losses and gains after it became the latest U.S. carrier to say the economic outlook is too cloudy to predict some of this year’s finances. CEO Bob Jordan said the company is reducing flights and “controlling what we can control.”
▶ Read more on today’s market movements
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s push to end DEI in K-12 public schools
The legal challenge by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union accused the Republican administration of violating teachers’ due process and First Amendment rights by forbidding their efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
Trump’s Education Department told schools and colleges to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race or risk losing federal grants and contracts. The department gave states until Thursday to gather signatures from each local school systems certifying compliance. Some refused, saying there is nothing illegal about DEI.
▶ Read more on this legal battle over DEI in public schools
Judge bars Trump from denying federal funds to ‘sanctuary’ cities that limit immigration cooperation
U.S. Judge William Orrick said a preliminary injunction was appropriate because the executive orders were unconstitutional just as they were in 2017 when Trump announced a similar order.
Orrick issued the injunction sought by San Francisco and more than a dozen other municipalities that sued over a pair of executive orders the Republican president issued targeting local municipalities that limit cooperation with federal immigration efforts.
Orrick, based in San Francisco, wrote that defendants are restrained and enjoined “from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds” and the administration must provide written notice of his order to all federal departments and agencies by Monday.
▶ Read more about Trump and sanctuary cities
Trump science cuts roil university labs, targeting bird feeder research, AI literacy work and more
Hundreds of university researchers had their National Science Foundation funding abruptly canceled Friday to comply with Trump’s directives to end support of research on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the study of misinformation. It’s the latest front in Trump’s anti-DEI campaign that has also gone after university administrations, medical research and the private sector.
More than 380 grant projects have been cut so far, including work to combat internet censorship in China and Iran and a project consulting with Indigenous communities to understand environmental changes in Alaska’s Arctic region. One computer scientist was studying how artificial intelligence tools could mitigate bias in medical information, and others were trying to help people detect AI-generated deepfakes. A number of terminated grants sought to broaden the diversity of people studying science, technology and engineering.
NSF has a $9 billion budget that can be a lifeline for resource-strapped professors and the younger researchers they recruit to their teams. It has shifted priorities over time but it’s highly unusual to terminate so many midstream grants.
▶ Read more about National Science Foundation funding cuts
After criticism, Trump Organization ‘moving in a different direction’ on outside ethics adviser
The Trump Organization says it’s “moving in a different direction” with regard to its hand-picked outside ethics adviser following strong criticism from President Trump about the prominent lawyer who was selected for the role months ago.
Trump on Thursday lambasted William Burck, who is one of the lawyers representing Harvard University in a high-stakes court fight with the Trump administration. Burck was also named in January to serve as an outside ethics adviser for the Trump Organization to vet deals that could pose conflicts with public policy.
Trump in a Truth Social post said Burck “should therefore be forced to resign, immediately, or be fired.” He called on his sons, who now run the company, to part ways with Burck, though he didn’t mention the attorney by name. Soon after, Eric Trump said in a statement provided to The Associated Press that: “I view it as (a) conflict and I will be moving in a different direction.”
Trump asks Supreme Court to let ban on transgender members of military take effect
The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed.
The high court filing follows a brief order from a federal appeals court that kept in place a court order blocking the policy nationwide.
Trump signed an executive order a week into his term that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness.
In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service.
But in March, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, ruled for several long-serving transgender military members who say the ban is insulting and discriminatory.
▶ Read more about the ban on transgender people in the military
Vance autographs the kegerator he used to pour beers
While serving beer on the air base, Vance was using a special kegerator which was constructed by Air Force Master Sgt. Anthony Davis.
After Vance had poured drafts from the kegerator — typically a small refrigerator modified to dispense beer from kegs — Davis asked the vice president to autograph it.
“To Anthony, this is great! A work of genius!! JD Vance,” he wrote while signing the contraption.
He used Davis’ kegerator to serve Benediktiner Hell lager beer.
Davis fundraised for and built the kegerator for an event for the 86th Maintenance Group at the base where Vance was on a refueling stop, Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Davis added that Vance said, “This thing is awesome” when Davis asked him to sign it.
Vice President JD Vance marks refueling stop in Germany by serving beer to US service members
Vance and is family are returning to Washington form a trip to Italy and India and stopped at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“I have no idea what the hell day it is, what time it is,” Vance joked.
Service members around him were drinking beer and eating hot dogs, and Vance held up a classic German painted stein with a metal lid.
He joked that he should chug a beer but added, “That would go viral, and not in a good way, my friends.”
Instead, Vance took a regular sip before handing out cups of beer he served from a keg.
President criticizes lawyer who’s representing Harvard in its dispute with the White House
Trump is lambasting a lawyer who represents Harvard University in its dispute with the White House and who also was tapped by the president’s company to serve as an outside ethics adviser.
Trump did not name the attorney he was referring to in his Truth Social post Thursday but it was clear from the context that he was talking about William Burck.
In his post, he wrote that he hopes the Trump Organization, which is now run by his sons, “gets rid of him ASAP.”
Burck is one of the lawyers who sued the Trump administration this week on behalf of Harvard to halt a federal freeze of more than $2.2 billion. He’s well known inside the Trump orbit, having represented multiple Trump allies during special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to ‘meet soon’ with Trump to discuss strained relations
Ramaphosa said he’d spoken to Trump and the two leaders had also agreed to discuss the peace process in Ukraine and the end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We both agreed that the war should be brought to an end as soon as possible to stop further unnecessary deaths. We both agreed to meet soon to address various matters regarding U.S.-South Africa relations,″ Ramaphosa said in a post on social media platform X.
“We also spoke about the need to foster good relations between our two countries,” he added.
Ramaphosa did not indicate when the meeting with Trump was likely to take place.
Relations between South Africa and the U.S. have deteriorated since Trump took office earlier this year.
▶ Read more about relations between the U.S. and South Africa
China says there are no negotiations with the US over tariffs
China on Thursday denied Trump’s assertion that the two sides were involved in active negotiations over tariffs, saying any suggestion of progress in this matter was as groundless as “trying to catch the wind.”
China’s comments come after Trump said Tuesday that the final tariff rate on China’s exports would come down “substantially” from the current 145%.
“China’s position is consistent and we are open to consultations and dialogues, but any form of consultations and negotiations must be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and in an equal manner,” said Ministry of Commerce spokesman He Yadong. “Any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis.”
Trump had told reporters earlier in the week that “everything’s active” when asked if he was engaging with China, although his Treasury Secretary had said there were no formal negotiations.
▶ Read more about tariffs between the U.S. and China
NATO’s Secretary General arrives at the Pentagon as Signal questions linger for Hegseth
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrived Thursday morning for a day of meetings as the White House has signaled it’s lost patience with peace talks between Ukraine and Russia and is prepared to step away from the table.
At the Pentagon, Rutte met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine, and he’s scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz later in the day.
Rutte’s meetings at the Pentagon come at a time that Hegseth’s use of the Signal app to discuss military operations remains under scrutiny. Hegseth did not answer a shouted question as to whether he was still using the Signal app in his daily duties.
IMF chief urges countries to move ‘swiftly’ to resolve trade tensions that threaten global growth
The head of the International Monetary Fund urged countries to move “swiftly’’ to resolve trade disputes that threaten global economic growth.
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the unpredictability arising from Trump’s aggressive campaign of taxes on foreign imports is causing companies to delay investments and consumers to hold off on spending.
“Uncertainty is bad for business,’’ she told reporters Thursday in a briefing during the spring meetings of the IMF and its sister agency, the World Bank.
Georgieva’s comments came two days after the IMF downgraded the outlook for world economic growth this year.
▶ Read more about the International Monetary Fund and the global economy
In rare criticism of Putin, Trump urges the Russian leader to ‘STOP!’ after a deadly attack on Kyiv
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying,” Trump said Thursday in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
Russia struck Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones. At least nine people were killed and more than 70 injured in the deadliest assault on the city since last July. The strikes took place just as peace efforts are coming to a head.
▶ Read more about Trump and the war in Ukraine
Trump’s Thursday schedule
On Trump’s public schedule today, he will greet and then have lunch with the Prime Minister of Norway, who’s visiting Washington, at noon. They will then have a meeting in the Oval Office at 1 p.m.
At 4:30 p.m., he will sign more executive orders.
Later this evening, at 6:30 p.m., Trump will travel to his golf club in Washington, D.C., where he will attend a MAGA Inc. dinner.
Election officials from across the US meet to consider Trump’s order overhauling election operations
State and local election officials from across the country are meeting Thursday to consider Trump’s executive order that seeks major changes to how elections are run, the first time those in charge of the nation’s voting will formally gather to weigh in on its implications.
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Standards Board, which is holding a public hearing in North Carolina, is a bipartisan advisory group of election officials from every state that meets annually.
The commission, an independent federal agency, is at the center of Trump’s executive order. The March 25 order directs the commission to update the national voter registration form to include a proof-of-citizenship requirement, revise guidelines for voting systems and withhold federal money from any state that continues to accept ballots after Election Day.
▶ Read more about the meeting of election officials
The Associated Press
