Highlights from May 9, 2025
- President Donald Trump said this morning that decreasing tariffs on China from 145% to 80% "seems right," adding that any reduction would be "up to" Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Bessent are holding trade talks with Chinese officials tomorrow in Switzerland.
- Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka — a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the state — was arrested today at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility for allegedly trespassing.
- White House adviser Stephen Miller said the Trump administration is "looking at" ways to end due process protections for unauthorized immigrants who are in the country.
- Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene said today that she will not run for U.S. Senate next year, as Republicans eye Sen. Jon Ossoff's seat.
Federal judge pauses Trump's effort to reduce the size of the federal government
A federal judge tonight order agencies to pause for two weeks the implementation of an executive order signed by Trump to drastically reduce the size of the government.
The specific order served as the basis of the massive work force reductions the Trump's administration has overseen and also empowered Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to hasten the terminations.
A collection of unions and non-profit organizations sued the administration over the job reductions, arguing that "the executive branch cannot lawfully implement large-scale reductions in the federal workforce without the participation of Congress," an argument with which District Court Judge Susan Illston appeared to agree.
"It is the prerogative of presidents to pursue new policy priorities and to imprint their stamp on the federal government. But to make large-scale overhauls of federal agencies, any president must enlist the help of his co-equal branch and partner, the Congress," the judge wrote.
"Federal courts should not micromanage the vast federal workforce, but courts must sometimes act to preserve the proper checks and balances between the three branches of government," she added.
In granting a temporary restraining order, the Court found "the irreparable harm that plaintiffs will suffer in the absence of injunctive relief outweighs any burden placed on the government by this two-week pause."
Trump signs proclamation formalizing self-deportation program for undocumented immigrants
Trump signed a proclamation today formalizing a self-deportation program announced by the Department of Homeland Security that provides financial incentives to undocumented immigrants who leave the country on their own volition.
Trump's proclamation established that effort as "Project Homecoming" and said it would "facilitate the rapid departure of illegal aliens from the United States."
"We are making it as easy as possible for illegal aliens to leave America. Any illegal alien can simply show up at an airport and receive a free flight out of our country," Trump said in a video he released after signing the proclamation.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, undocumented immigrants who use the CBP Home App to self-deport will receive a stipend of $1,000 once their return to their home country has been confirmed through the app.
Despite providing free flights and a stipend, Trump said the program will save American citizens "billions of dollars."
Trump also warned undocumented immigrants who opt to stay in the country will "face severe consequences."
"Illegal aliens who stay in America face punishments, including significant jail time, enormous financial penalties, confiscation of all property, garnishment of all wages, imprisonment and incarceration and sudden deportation in a place and manner solely of our discretion," Trump said.
U.S. spy agencies told to gather intelligence on Greenland
U.S. officials have ordered spy agencies to ramp up efforts to gather intelligence on Greenland, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, in a sign Trump apparently remains focused on acquiring the island.
The directive was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The move has drawn objections from Denmark, a NATO ally which rules the semi-autonomous island.
Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, has said he will summon the American ambassador over the report. “It worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends,” Rasmussen said, according to the Ritzau news agency.
Inside the salacious scandal that derailed Jeanine Pirro’s political career
Long before she was a Fox News host who pushed pro-Trump election conspiracy theories, Jeanine Pirro was an ambitious New York politician whose career stalled after she was recorded plotting to bug her then-husband’s boat to catch him in an affair.
The revelation rocked Pirro’s campaign for New York attorney general nearly 20 years ago, resulting in days of front-page headlines in the city’s tabloids (“BUG THIS LOVE BOAT!” blared the Daily News cover).
The conversation took place in 2005 between Pirro and the former commissioner of the New York Police Department, Bernard Kerik, a close ally of Rudy Giuliani’s.
“What am I supposed to do, Bernie? Watch him f--- her every night?” Pirro said, according to a transcript obtained by WNBC-TV’s Jonathan Dienst in 2006. “What am I supposed to do? I can go on the boat. I’ll put the f-----g thing on myself.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she won’t run for U.S. Senate
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said definitively today that she will not enter the U.S. Senate race, as Republicans eye Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s seat in the battleground state of Georgia as a crucial pickup to expand their three-seat majority next year.
“Someone once said, ‘The Senate is where good ideas go to die.’ They were right. That’s why I’m not running,” Greene wrote in a post on X.
“I won’t fight for a team that refuses to win, that protects its weakest players, and that undermines the very people it’s supposed to serve,” she added.
Greene’s announcement comes a day after another Trump ally, Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., announced his candidacy for the Senate, making him the first major Republican candidate to challenge Ossoff.
The Trump administration is chartering a plane to bring the first white South Africans to the U.S. as refugees
A group of white South Africans will be arriving in Washington, D.C., on Monday by way of a State Department-chartered plane to be resettled in the U.S. as refugees, a source familiar with their arrival told NBC News.
Their resettlement comes even though Trump suspended the State Department’s refugee admissions program through an executive order on the first day of his second term.
Treasury Dept. asks Congress to raise debt ceiling before August to avert default
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told congressional leaders today that the U.S. will likely run out of borrowing authority by August.
In a May 9 letter, he urged them to extend the debt ceiling by July, before Congress leaves for its annual August recess, in order to avert economic calamity.
Bessent said there is “significant uncertainty” in the exact date.
“However, after receiving receipts for the recent April tax filing season, there is a reasonable probability that the federal government’s cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted in August while Congress is scheduled to be in recess,” Bessent wrote. “Therefore, I respectfully urge Congress to increase or suspend the debt limit by mid-July, before its scheduled break, to protect the full faith and credit of the United States.”
Trump to deliver speech to U.S. troops in Qatar next week
Trump is expected to give a speech to American troops during a stop at al-Udeid air base in Qatar next week as part of a planned trip to the region.
After the speech, Trump is expected to talk to troops, according to two U.S. officials.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to accompany Trump during his stop at the base.
A big announcement is not expected during the speech, according to one U.S. official.
New York mayor says he had a 'productive' meeting with Trump
New York Mayor Eric Adams said he met with Trump in the Oval Office this afternoon to discuss "critical infrastructure projects" and the "preservation of essential social services," among other topics.
The meeting, which Adams called productive, is at least the third discussion between the two leaders since Trump's November election and comes as the mayor seeks reelection as an independent candidate.
Adams said his latest meeting with Trump "laid a strong foundation for continued discussions about New York City’s top priorities."
"A good leader finds common ground to get things done, and that’s why I remain committed to working with this administration wherever collaboration helps make New York City the best place in the world to raise a family," Adams said in a statement.
Trump meanwhile said the primary purpose of the meeting was for Adams to express his gratitude.
"I think he came in to thank me, frankly," Trump said. "But he, he was very nice. He’s a nice man, but I think he actually came in to thank me."
Adams has refrained from criticizing Trump and has appeared several times with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan amid the administration’s efforts to target migrants in sanctuary cities.
Trump's Justice Department in February moved to dismiss corruption charges against Adams, which resulted in several resignations from prosecutors involved in the case.
New Jersey attorney general reacts to arrest of Newark Mayor at ICE facility
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin called the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka during a protest at an ICE detention facility "deeply troubling."
“Arresting public officials for peacefully protesting violates the most basic principles of our democracy," Platkin said in a statement. "People peacefully exercising their right to free speech and assembly should never be targeted for opposing the government’s policies."
Platkin said to his knowledge, no state or local law enforcement were involved in Baraka's arrest.
Delaney Hall, the ICE facility at which Baraka was arrested, began housing detained immigrants this month, and is the first detention center to open under the Trump administration.
The facility is operated by a private prison company, the GEO Group, which Platkin in his statement said is illegal.
"My office has remained steadfast in our defense of the state law prohibiting private immigration detention centers in our communities. We defended that law before a federal appeals court last week, and we will continue to stand up for the civil rights of our residents," Platkin said.
