The Latest: Federal court blocks Trump's sweeping tariffs, citing economic chaos

A federal trade court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law. The ruling from a three-judge panel came after several lawsuits arguing Trump has exceeded his authority, left U.S. trade policy dependent on his whims and unleashed economic chaos.

At least seven lawsuits are challenging the levies, the centerpiece of Trump's trade policy. Tariffs must typically be approved by Congress, but Trump says he has the power to act because the country's trade deficits amount to a national emergency.

Here's the latest:

Court says Trump's tariffs exceed his presidential authority

''The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,'' the court wrote, referring to the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The Trump administration is expected to appeal.

At least seven lawsuits are challenging the levies, the centerpiece of Trump's trade policy.

Tariffs must typically be approved by Congress, but Trump says he has the power to act because the country's trade deficits amount to a national emergency. He imposed tariffs on most of the countries in the world at one point, sending markets reeling.

TV star Todd Chrisley is released from prison after Trump's pardon

Reality TV star Todd Chrisley was released Wednesday from federal prison after being pardoned by Trump, a spokesperson for his defense lawyer said.

Chrisley, 57, best known for the TV series ''Chrisley Knows Best,'' was freed from a minimum-security prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, where he was imprisoned after being convicted three years ago of bank fraud and tax evasion.

His wife and TV co-star, Julie Chrisley, 52, also was pardoned by Trump. It was not immediately known when she would be released from a prison facility in Lexington, Kentucky.

▶ Read more about Todd Chrisley's release

Trump issues pardons for a former army officer and a rapper

Trump has pardoned a former Army officer who was convicted of violating health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic and a rapper convicted on gun charges.

Lt. Mark Bradshaw was found guilty in 2022 for refusing to undergo a COVID-19 test. A White House official said he'd received a pardon Tuesday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that have not yet been made public.

The official also confirmed a pardon being received by Kentrell Gaulden, the rapper known as NBA YoungBoy, who was convicted on gun-related charges in Louisiana and pleaded guilty to being part of a prescription drug fraud ring in Utah.

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Associated Press reporter Will Weissert contributed to this report.

Ex-Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, who resigned amid a corruption scandal, is pardoned by Trump

Former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal, has been pardoned by Trump.

The Republican governor, who served from 1995 until 2004, was among a number of prominent figures the Republican president granted clemency on Wednesday.

A White House official confirmed the pardon but spoke only on background to discuss matters that have not yet been made public.

Rowland called it a ''wonderful final resolution'' in a statement to local news outlets in Connecticut.

Rowland was elected governor three times before resigning amid a federal corruption investigation into gifts and favors that he accepted from state contractors.

▶ Read more about the former governor's pardon

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Associated Press reporter Philip Marcelo contributed to this report

Federal court blocks Trump's sweeping tariffs, citing econom

ic chaos

A federal trade court is blocking Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law.

The ruling from a three-judge panel came after several lawsuits argued Trump exceeded his authority, left U.S. trade policy dependent on his whims and unleashed economic chaos. At least seven lawsuits are challenging the levies, the centerpiece of Trump's trade policy.

Trump has said he has the power to act because the country's trade deficits amount to a national emergency. The court found the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the use of tariffs.

▶ Read more about the ruling

US to begin revoking visas of some Chinese students, secretary of state says

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. will begin revoking the visas of Chinese students, ''including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.''

His announcement on the social platform X added to the uncertainty for America's international students, who have faced intensifying scrutiny from Trump's administration.

▶ Read more about the latest announcements about student visas

Trump pardons ex-Rep. Michael Grimm, who was convicted of tax fraud

Trump has pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction.

The pardon was disclosed Wednesday by a White House official who requested anonymity before an official announcement.

Grimm, a former Marine and FBI agent, pleaded guilty in late 2014 to underreporting wages and revenue at a restaurant he ran in Manhattan. He resigned from Congress the following year and served eight months in prison. Grimm tried to reenter politics in 2018 but lost a primary for his old district.

▶ Read more about the pardon

Trump's son didn't apply to Harvard, first lady's spokesperson says

Harvard wasn't among the schools that Trump's son Barron considered when he was figuring out where he wanted to go to college, said Nicholas Clemens, a spokesperson for Barron's mother, first lady Melania Trump.

Some social media speculation is that the president is cutting billions of dollars in federal grants and funding to the Ivy League institution because it rejected his son as a student.

Clemens said such speculation is wrong.

''Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false,'' Clemens said.

Barron, 19, is a student at New York University's business school.

NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar defends Harvard president in graduation event speech

Speaking at a graduation event at Harvard University on Wednesday, NBA Hall of Famer and activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar got his biggest applause when he came to the defense of the university's president, Alan Garber.

Garber has pushed back against the Trump administration, which earlier this week asked federal agencies to cancel about $100 million in contracts with the Ivy League school. The government already canceled more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants, moved to cut off Harvard's enrollment of international students and threatened its tax-exempt status.

''When a tyrannical administration tried to bully and threaten Harvard, to revoke their academic freedom and to destroy free speech, Dr. Alan Garber rejected the illegal and immoral pressures,'' Abdul-Jabbar said to wide applause.

Some Republican lawmakers share Musk's concerns about Trump's big bill

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said he was ''pretty confident'' there was enough opposition ''to slow this process down until the president, our leadership, gets serious'' about reducing spending. He added that there was no amount of pressure Trump could put on him to change his position.

Speaker Mike Johnson has asked senators to make as few changes to the legislation as possible, saying that House Republicans reached a ''very delicate balance'' that could be upended with major changes. The narrowly divided House will have to vote again on final passage once the Senate alters the bill.

On Wednesday, he thanked Musk for his work and promised to pursue more spending cuts in the future.

Trump rejects claim he's ‘chickening out' on tariffs

Trump wants the world to know he's no ''chicken'' just because he's repeatedly backed off high tariff threats.

The president's tendency to levy extremely high import taxes and then retreat has created what's known as the ''TACO'' trade. It's an acronym coined by The Financial Times' Robert Armstrong that stands for ''Trump Always Chickens Out.''

Trump was visibly offended when asked about the phrase Wednesday. He said it's not ''chickening out,'' it's negotiation.

▶ Read more about Trump's reaction

Former Chicago gang leader gets commutation

Trump commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, a former Chicago gang leader serving a life sentence at a supermax prison in Colorado.

The commutation, first reported by the news website NOTUS, was confirmed by a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity because it had not been formally announced.

Hoover was imprisoned in connection with a murder in 1973, and he was convicted for running a criminal enterprise in 1998. He later renounced his criminal past and petitioned for a reduced sentence.

Judge refuses to block Trump's removal of US Copyright Office head

A federal judge refused Wednesday to temporarily block the Trump administration from removing and replacing the director of the U.S. Copyright Office.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled from the bench that the office director, Shira Perlmutter, hasn't met her legal burden to show how removing her from the position would cause her to suffer irreparable harm.

Kelly's refusal to issue a temporary restraining order isn't the final word in the lawsuit Perlmutter filed last week. If Perlmutter decides to seek a preliminary injunction, the judge is giving her attorneys and government lawyers until Thursday afternoon to present him with a proposed schedule for arguing and deciding the matter.

Perlmutter's attorneys say she is a renowned copyright expert who also has served as register of copyrights since the librarian of Congress appointed her to the job in October 2020.

Trump flexes pardon power

In addition to Michael Grimm, the president signed pardons for Todd and Julie Chrisley.

They starred in a television show ''Chrisley Knows Best,'' which spotlighted their extravagant lifestyle. However, they were convicted of conspiring to defraud banks in the Atlanta area out of more than $30 million in loans by submitting false documents.

Trump disclosed his pardon plan in a call with their daughter on Tuesday.

''Your parents are going to be free and clean and I hope that we can do it by tomorrow,'' he said, according to a video posted online by a White House aide.

Trump pardons former New York congressman

The president issued a pardon for Michael Grimm, who resigned from Congress after being convicted of tax fraud.

The pardon was disclosed by a White House official who requested anonymity before an official announcement.

Grimm won reelection in 2014 despite being under indictment for underreporting wages and revenue at a restaurant he ran. However, he resigned the following year after pleading guilty and he served eight months in prison.

A comeback attempt fell short in 2018.

Last year he was paralyzed from the chest down when he was thrown off a horse during a polo tournament.

Trump considering pardoning the men convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer

Trump said Wednesday that he's considering pardoning the men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer.

''I will take a look at it. It's been brought to my attention,'' Trump told reporters when asked about the matter.

The Republican president said he watched the trial and ''it looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job.'' He said the men ''were drinking and I think they said stupid things.''

Two men were convicted in 2022 of organizing a plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election and kidnap Whitmer.

Trump calls for a cap on international students and making sure they ‘love our country'

The president argued Wednesday that Harvard University, where international students make up more than a quarter of the student body, should limit that percentage to about 15%.

''I want to make sure the foreign students are people that can love our country,'' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump says he's not ‘chickening out' by retreating on high tariffs

President Donald Trump rejected the idea that he's ''chickening out'' after setting destructively high tariff rates and then pulling them back.

''It's called negotiation, you set a number,'' said Trump, adding that the question from a reporter was ''nasty.''

The question was a reference to what's known as the ''TACO trade,'' a term coined by The Financial Times' Robert Armstrong that stands for ''Trump Always Chickens Out.'' The idea is that Trump spooks the markets with his tariff hikes and then retreats, causing the markets to recover.

Trump defended his approach of jacking up tariff rates to 145% on Chinese goods, only to pull it back to 30% for 90 days of negotiations. He said that approach has led to $14 trillion in new investment in the U.S., a figure that appears to be artificially high and has not been fully verified in any of the economic data.

''Don't ever say what you said,'' Trump said, referring to the question about whether he was chickening out.

Trump says he's holding off on Russia sanctions because of his push for negotiations

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is holding off on new sanctions on Russia because he doesn't want to interfere with his attempts to negotiate an end to its invasion of Ukraine.

''If I think I'm close to getting a deal, I don't want to screw it up by doing that,'' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He said he will know in about two weeks if Russia was willing to reach a deal to end the three-year-old war.

Trump says he warned Netanyahu to hold off on Iran strike to give US more time for nuclear talks

Trump said Wednesday that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on an Iran strike to give his administration more time time to push for new nuclear deal with Tehran.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he told Netanyahu a strike ''would be inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution.''

Trump's comments came as the head of the U.N.'s atomic watchdog group said that ''the jury is still out'' on negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. But Rafael Mariano Grossi described the continuing negotiations as a good sign.

JUST IN: Trump says he told Israel's Netanyahu to hold off on Iran strike as US leader pushes for new nuclear deal

White House close to submitting a new proposal on Israel-Hamas ceasefire

Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the president's administration is close to issuing a new ''term sheet'' to Israel and Hamas that would set the parameters for a temporary ceasefire.

Speaking with Trump at his side after the ceremonial swearing-in of Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Witkoff said that the outlines of the U.S. proposal could be delivered later Wednesday.

''I have some very good feelings about getting to a long term resolution — a temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution of that conflict,'' Witkoff said.

Trump ceremonially swears in Washington, DC's new US attorney

Trump praised former Fox News Channel host Jeanine Pirro at the White House on Wednesday, as she replaces his first nominee to serve as the top federal prosecutor in the nation's capital.

Pirro is a former county prosecutor and elected judge who joined Fox News in 2006.

Trump withdrew Ed Martin's nomination after Republicans and Democrats signaled they wouldn't support the conservative activist, who faced questions about his legal background and his support for the Jan. 6 rioters.

White House wants to turn DOGE cuts into law

The Trump administration is taking the next step to solidify Elon Musk's work on downsizing the federal government.

According to a White House official, the administration is sending proposed rescissions to Congress. Rescissions are used to cancel funding that was already approved.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity before a formal announcement. The step was previously reported by Politico.

It's unclear how extensive the rescissions will be, but it's expected to be a modest package.

▶ Read more about the DOGE cuts

Rubio: Administration to take action against foreign officials who censor US companies and citizens

The Trump administration says it will begin imposing travel bans on foreign officials who it believes are censoring U.S. companies and citizens abroad for speech protected in the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Wednesday that he was taking the action to combat what the administration believes are unfair and unjust restrictions on freedom of expression.

The statement didn't identify any immediate targets of the new policy, which Rubio said would be directed at foreign officials who ''issue or threaten arrest warrants on U.S. citizens or U.S. residents for social media posts on American platforms while physically present on U.S. soil.''

''Even as we take action to reject censorship at home, we see troubling instances of foreign governments and foreign officials picking up the slack,'' he said. ''In some instances, foreign officials have taken flagrant censorship actions against U.S. tech companies and U.S. citizens and residents when they have no authority to do so.''

A judge refuses to toss states' lawsuit against Elon Musk and DOGE

The federal judge has refused to throw out the lawsuit that accuses billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency of illegally accessing government data systems, canceling government contracts and firing federal employees.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Tuesday that 14 states can proceed with their claims against Musk and DOGE. The states, through their attorneys general, sued in February over the defendants' alleged constitutional violations.

The states had asked Chutkan to temporarily block DOGE from accessing any data systems or terminating any federal employees. But the judge denied that request on Feb. 18. She found there were legitimate questions about Musk's authority but said there weren't grounds to justify a temporary restraining order.

Chutkan agreed Tuesday to dismiss President Trump as a defendant in the lawsuit, but she refused to dismiss the claims against Musk and DOGE.

▶ Read more about the lawsuit against Musk and DOGE

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth heads to Asia, saying the US will work with allies to deter China

Speaking in a rainy Washington on Wednesday before getting on a flight to Singapore, Hegseth said the U.S. seeks ''no conflict with anybody, including the Communist Chinese, but we will deter that. We will stand strong for our interests. And that's a big part of what this trip is all about.''

Hegseth is heading to the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference, which brings together military and government representatives from around the world.

''We're going out to Singapore to hold a series of meetings to ensure that region understands America will be strong,'' he said.

Jeanine Pirro to be sworn in as Washington, DC's top federal prosecutor

Trump turned to Pirro after his first choice, conservative activist Ed Martin Jr., lost the support of a key Republican senator he needed to win Senate confirmation for the post.

Trump then withdrew Martin's nomination and tapped Pirro, a former New York county prosecutor and elected judge, to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation's capital.

She's set to be sworn into office during an Oval Office ceremony at midday Wednesday, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss events not yet publicly announced.

Pirro, 73, is a former Fox News host who joined the network in 2006 and co-hosted ''The Five'' on weekday evenings until she accepted Trump's offer.

She was elected as a judge in New York's Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county's elected district attorney.

— Darlene Superville

Trump's Wednesday schedule, according to the White House

At 2 p.m., the president will sign executive orders.

Musk is ‘disappointed' in Trump's ‘big, beautiful' tax cut and spending bill

Elon Musk, who's been leading the Republican president's effort to cut government spending, said the bill increases the deficit and undermines his cost-cutting work at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

''I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,'' Musk told CBS News in an interview set to air Sunday.

The House-passed bill would extend expiring tax cuts Trump enacted during in his first term and increase spending on the military and border enforcement. Some savings would come from proposed changes to Medicaid and the food stamp program.

The Congressional Budget Office said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion over the decade.

The ''One Big, Beautiful Bill Act'' still needs to be passed by the Senate before Trump can sign it into law.

Said Musk, ''I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion.''

UN nuclear watchdog chief says ‘jury is still out' on Iran-US talks

The head of the United Nations' atomic watchdog was speaking Wednesday about negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, but described the continuing negotiations a good sign.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described himself as being in near-daily conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, as well as talking to Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Middle East envoy.

Grossi acknowledged one of his deputies was in Tehran on Wednesday. Iranian officials identified the official as Massimo Aparo, the head of the IAEA's safeguards arm. That's the division that sends inspectors into Iran to monitor its program, which now enriches uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

''For the moment, the jury is still out. We don't know whether there's going to be an agreement or not,'' Grossi told journalists attending a weeklong seminar at the agency in Vienna.

▶ Read more about nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran

US stops scheduling visa interviews for foreign students while it expands social media vetting

The State Department has halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students hoping to study in the U.S. while it prepares to expand the screening of their activity on social media, officials said.

A U.S. official said Tuesday the suspension is intended to be temporary and does not apply to applicants who already had scheduled their visa interviews. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal administration document.

A cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by The Associated Press says the State Department plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting.

''Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consulate sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity'' until the guidance is issued, the cable says.

The move, first reported by Politico, is the latest in the Trump administration's crackdown on international students.

▶ Read more about the pause in visa interviews

Trump administration moves to cut $100 million in federal contracts for Harvard

The Trump administration asked federal agencies Tuesday to cancel contracts with Harvard University worth about $100 million, intensifying the president's clash with the nation's oldest and wealthiest university.

The government already has canceled more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants for the Ivy League school, which has pushed back on the administration's demands for changes to several of its policies.

A letter sent Tuesday from the General Services Administration, which oversees contracting and real estate for the federal government, directed agencies to review contracts with the university and seek alternate arrangements.

The New York Times first reported on the letter.

▶ Read more about the funding cut