Trump's USA

LGBT rights in the USA
Trump threatens California: Stop trans athletes or lose support

Donald Trump is threatening to cut "large-scale federal funding" to California, the president writes on Truth Social. The reason is that the state allows trans women to compete against women in sports.

"This is unfair and completely demeaning to women and girls," Trump writes.

Trump is referring to a high school long jump competition in the state that a transgender person won on Saturday. The American president writes that he will talk to California Governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, "to find out which way he wants to go."

Justice
Prisoner pardoned - mother attended expensive Trump dinner

American Paul Walczak, who was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison and a multi-million dollar fine for tax crimes, has been pardoned by Donald Trump after his mother attended a fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago. The New York Times reports.

In her application for clemency, Walczak highlighted the fact that the mother Elizabeth Fago donated millions to Trump and other Republican campaigns, and her attempt to sabotage Joe Biden's 2020 campaign by publishing his daughter Ashley's diary about addiction.

Fago was then invited to a fundraising dinner at Trump's compound. The price was one million dollars per guest, and included a personal meeting with the president.

Less than three weeks later, her son was pardoned for all crimes.

Turbulence in Trump's team
White House and Pentagon in dispute over illegal wiretapping

The White House says it has lost confidence in an internal Pentagon investigation that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used as a basis for firing three high-ranking employees, The Guardian reports.

Hegseth's lawyer Tim Parlatore claimed that these people had been exposed through illegal, secret wiretapping by the NSA (National Security Agency). However, when White House counsel reviewed the case, it turned out that the claim was not true and they accused Parlatore of sharing misleading information.

Parlatore himself denies that he ever talked about illegal NSA wiretapping and claims that the information came from other people within the Pentagon.

The investigation concerned a top-secret document on possible military measures to retake the Panama Canal that was leaked to a journalist. Hegseth's senior adviser Dan Caldwell and the chiefs of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll were accused of the leak.

Conflict with universities
Trump wants to cut off all federal aid to Harvard

The Trump administration wants to cancel all remaining federal contracts with Harvard, which are worth a total of $100 million, writes the New York Times.

The administration will send a letter to agencies later today asking them to “identify any contracts with Harvard and whether they can be terminated or redirected elsewhere,” a senior official told NBC News.

The letter instructs agencies to respond by June 6 with a list of terminated contracts.

The US to review the social media of foreign students

The Trump administration plans to begin reviewing the social media of foreign students when they apply for student visas in the United States, according to a cable sent to the country’s embassies and consulates, and seen by Politico.

In preparation for the new regulations, embassies and consulates have been ordered to pause all interviews for new student visas.

Previously, some social media review was required, but it was limited to returning international students suspected of protesting Israel’s war in Gaza.

It is not clear exactly what will be reviewed, but the telegram refers to presidential orders aimed at countering terrorism and anti-Semitism.