Donald Trump has overturned a 1965 executive order signed by Lyndon B Johnson requiring federal contractors — private businesses paid with taxpayer dollars — to enforce rules against segregation in their workplaces. This conflicts with federal and state anti-discrimination laws, including the Civil Rights Act.
Meanwhile, the president promised that his administration will not openly defy court orders, despite top aides saying they do not care about judges’ decisions, amid a slew of rulings across the country against deportations and federal firings.
Speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, the president insisted his team would not flout court orders from judges who have ordered his administration to stop deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act 1798 or blocked other divisive policies arising from his executive orders.
Trump also griped that courts are ruling against him because of “very bad judges” who “shouldn’t be allowed” to make decisions that impinge on his powers.
Earlier, Trump was rebuked by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for calling for the impeachment of a judge.
The administration suffered several more legal setbacks this week, including Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s move to scrap the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) being found unconstitutional.
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Key Points
- Trump executive order rescinds ban on ‘segregated’ facilities for federal contractors, conflicting with federal law
- Trump says he won’t defy judges after multiple setbacks in court cases
- Chief Justice hits back after Trump calls for impeaching judge
- Musk and DOGE ‘likely violated the Constitution’ by shutting down USAID
- Putin agrees to pause strikes on Ukraine energy targets in Trump call – but promise already broken
- Trump releases deluge of new documents on JFK assassination
How Americans really feel about DEI programs and political correctness
13:50
,
Joe Sommerlad
U.S. citizens are deeply divided when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and political correctness, according to a poll from NBC News.
The divisions have emerged along partisan and racial lines, with the poll coming as Trump continues his push to dismantle DEI programs.
In the poll, 49 percent of registered voters agreed that DEI programs should end as “they create divisions and inefficiencies in the workplace by putting too much emphasis on race and other social factors over merit, skills, and experience.”
Meanwhile, 48 percent said DEI programs should remain “because diverse perspectives reflect our country, create innovative ideas and solutions, encourage unity, and make our workplaces fair and inclusive.”
Fox host complains that plunging stock market and recession fears are a ‘media creation’
13:35
,
Joe Sommerlad
Amid a multi-week Wall Street sell-off that has seen the major stock market indexes approach correction territory over economic uncertainty largely spurred by Trump’s chaotic trade war, Fox Business anchor Charles Payne grumbled that this was all the media’s fault.
With the Dow Jones index down hundreds of points on Tuesday afternoon, breaking a brief two-day comeback, Payne appeared on Fox’s America Reports to discuss investors’ continued apprehension and the White House’s attempts to tout the “success” of its economic policies.
“As we have said for years as market watchers, markets do not like uncertainty,” anchor Sandra Smith noted.
“Even if the decision is to go forward with an unpopular policy, or economic plan, the markets can accept that as long as they know what’s coming. It is that uncertainty that continues to weigh on markets.”
Payne, however, trumpeted the Trump administration’s long-term vision while blasting the mainstream press for being biased against the president and far too gloomy with its economic coverage.
“Yeah, but what we’re seeing in the last couple of weeks is a media creation,” he groused.
“The media has gone to war with President Trump to make tariffs the scariest thing in the world.”
Justin Baragona has more.
Mahmoud Khalil: Detained Columbia student's case moved out of Louisiana
13:20
,
Oliver O'Connell
Detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s case is being moved from Louisiana to New Jersey per a judge’s order.
Judge Jesse Furman also denied the Trump administration’s move to dismiss the case altogether.
He wrote in part:
These are serious allegations and arguments that, no doubt, warrant careful review by a court of law; the fundamental constitutional principle that all persons in the United States are entitled to due process of law demands no less. But before the Court may review Khalil’s allegations and arguments, it must confront a threshold question: whether it is the proper tribunal to even consider Khalil’s Petition.
Trump to speak with Zelensky at 10 a.m. ET
13:15
,
Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy at 10 a.m. ET, Axios reports.
Their conversation follows yesterday’s call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley offers this analysis of that call:
FBI’s joint terrorism task force investigating latest arson attack on Tesla facility
13:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
With Donald Trump and Elon Musk saying that anti-Tesla protests amount to domestic terrorism, as we saw a little while earlier, officials have revealed that an investigation into another arson attack on Musk’s vehicles has been elevated to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Trump began issuing threats against people caught engaging in attacks against Teslas at the White House last week as he promoted his friend’s car range, telling the press: “Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them.”
Trump executive order rescinds ban on ‘segregated’ facilities for federal contractors, conflicting with federal law
12:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
The president has overturned an executive order signed by Lyndon B Johnson in 1965 to jettison a requirement that federal contractors must enforce rules against segregation in their workplaces.
The General Services Administration last month issued a memo to all federal agencies pointing out that Trump’s order no longer requires businesses paid with taxpayer dollars in contracts to ensure they won’t have facilities like segregated dining areas for Black and white employees.
State and federal laws still outlaw segregation in all companies, including government contractors, but New York University constitutional law professor Melissa Murray told NPR that Trump’s message in lifting the ban is significant and disturbing.
“It’s symbolic, but it’s incredibly meaningful in its symbolism,” she said, noting that the changes conflict with laws established by the government in the 1950s and 1960s “that led to integration.”
The “fact that they are now excluding those provisions from the requirements for federal contractors speaks volumes,” Murray told NPR.
Graig Graziosi has more.
Chuck Schumer grilled on The View: ‘I don’t think you showed the fight this party needs right now’
12:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
The top Democrat and Senate Minority Leader was interviewed on the ABC panel show yesterday and endured a pretty torrid time of it, facing accusations that he “caved” on Republican pressure to support its spending bill last week in order to avoid his party being blamed for an ensuing government shutdown.
oh my goodness Schumer was getting death stares on The View today pic.twitter.com/LpIDWy8sZd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 18, 2025
BEHAR: Trump publicly congratulated you. Was he trying to trick you?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 18, 2025
SCHUMER: He was trolling me! pic.twitter.com/vuqZztQIPo
"I think you caved. I don't think you showed the fight this party needs right now, because you're playing by a rulebook where the other party has thrown that rulebook away" -- here's the full clip of Sunny Hostin confronting Schumer today on The View pic.twitter.com/Q0pQ6dxnSh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 18, 2025
Adam Kinzinger dares Trump to arrest him after president claims Biden pardons are ‘void’
12:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
The former Republican Illinois representative has dared the president to arrest him after the commander-in-chief erroneously claimed that the pardons issued by his predecessor Joe Biden were “void” because of the use of an autopen.
Kinzinger was one of two Republicans on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 2021 Capitol riot and was pardoned by Biden amid fears that Trump would go after those who probed the insurrection that led to his historic second impeachment.
In a recent rant, Trump indicated that he may have an appetite to come after individuals such as Kinzinger.
He then said on Sunday that the pardons were “void” because of claims that they were signed using an autopen.
Kinzinger duly appeared on CNN on Monday night, daring Trump to take action.
Gustaf Kilander was watching.
Watch: Putin jokes about Trump phone call
11:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
The Russian president making fun of his call with the White House before it began, as he did on stage at a conference in Moscow yesterday, should give you an indication of how seriously he is taking the Trump administration’s attempts to end the Ukraine war.
Trump administration says ‘many’ Venezuelans deported to El Salvador prison have no criminal record
11:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
While that might strike you as a shocking admission, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official has rationalised it in court documents by arguing that a lack of a criminal record “does not indicate they pose a limited threat.”
A “lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose,” according to ICE official Robert Cerna.
“It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile,” he wrote.
The extraordinary statement was included in court filings from the Trump administration calling on a judge to reverse his order that temporarily blocks deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, a move that government lawyers called “an affront to the President’s broad constitutional and statutory authority to protect the United States from dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people.”
Alex Woodward has more.
Judge blocks Trump’s ban on transgender service members for now
11:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
In another legal setback for the president yesterday, a federal judge issued a nationwide injunction that blocks his administration from removing transgender service members in all U.S. military branches after a lawsuit challenged his sweeping command to remove all trans troops, end their gender-affirming healthcare and deny new trans recruits.
Tuesday’s order from District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocks the president’s ban as well as a Pentagon memo with additional guidance.
She gave the administration until 10am on March 21 to appeal. One minute after that deadline, the order will automatically take effect, she said.
Trump and Musk take to Fox to hit out at anti-Tesla ‘terrorism’
10:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
The president used his interview with Laura Ingraham to talk Canada and Russia but also hit out at protesters targeting Elon Musk and his Tesla electric car brand in response to the billionaire’s role in sacking federal workers, demonstrations Trump agreed amounted to “domestic terrorism.”
Ingraham: You’re tougher with Canada than you are with some of our biggest adversaries
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2025
Trump: Only because it’s meant to be our 51st state. One of the nastiest countries to deal with is Canada pic.twitter.com/iIeCVzq0L7
Trump says he'd like to do more trade with Russia pic.twitter.com/i86Y9nhhF5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 18, 2025
Ingraham: Do you consider this an act of domestic terrorism?
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2025
Trump: Sure. I think so.
Ingraham: Why?
Trump: If and when they catch the people… I think you will find out they are paid by people very highly political on the left pic.twitter.com/4hYwq6fK4U
That thread was picked up in Musk’s own interview with Sean Hannity on the same network in which he said his increasingly hard-hit business was suffering “extreme amounts of hatred and violence” from “bad people,” hinting darkly that there might be “larger forces at work.”
Musk: I always thought that Democrats were supposed to be the party of empathy.. I’ve never done anything harmful, I’ve only done productive things: this doesn't make any sense. I think there are larger forces at work. pic.twitter.com/9U3MqiJvcE
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 19, 2025
Musk: They want to hurt Tesla because we are stopping the terrible waste and corruption in the government. I guess they are bad people. Bad people do bad things. pic.twitter.com/NtlH49K1YO
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 19, 2025
Musk: The reason we are seeing this extreme amount of hatred and violence is because we are actually succeeding in getting rid of corruption and waste. If we weren't succeeding in getting rid of corruption and waste they wouldn't care pic.twitter.com/pAsJL3IDyu
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 19, 2025
Trump releases massive number of new documents on JFK assassination
10:20
,
Joe Sommerlad
The administration yesterday released what are believed to be all the U.S. government's remaining classified files on the assassination of President John F Kennedy in 1963.
For the first time, thousands of previously unseen pages of government documents are now available regarding the former president's violent, untimely death in Dallas’s Dealey Plaza.
The document dump also includes details relating to the assassinations of Senator Robert F Kennedy and civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Graig Graziosi has more.
Recap: Vladimir Putin agrees to pause strikes on Ukraine energy targets in Trump call – but promise already broken
10:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
The American and Russian presidents agreed in a 90-minute phone call yesterday to begin “the movement to peace” in Russia’s three-year-old war against Ukraine, starting with a 30-day ceasefire on energy targets, according to the White House.
But that promise already appears to have fallen by the wayside, judging by last night’s ongoing assaults on Ukraine.
This is how Trump reflected on the call on Truth Social yesterday afternoon and during last night’s interview:
My phone conversation today with President Putin of Russia was a very good and productive one. We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this…
— Trump Posts on (@trump_repost) March 18, 2025
Ingraham: Putin agreed to ceasefire on energy infrastructure but not to a 30 day ceasefire
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2025
Trump: And a ceasefire, without going a little bit further, would have been tough. Russia has the advantage, as you know. They have encircled about 2500 soldiers. They are nicely encircled… pic.twitter.com/WgPqT8bu2D
Elon Musk and DOGE ‘likely violated the Constitution’ by shutting down USAID
09:40
,
Joe Sommerlad
The administration suffered several more legal setbacks on Tuesday, including Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s move to scrap the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) being found unconstitutional.
Trump also addressed that point with the Fox anchor, insisting that DOGE had uncovered mass fraud at USAID, a claim for which we have seen no evidence so far.
Trump on USAID: "Look at the fraud that we've caught. We've caught so much fraud." (DOGE in fact has not caught any fraud: https://t.co/ZEclkzxBEP) pic.twitter.com/vii7UUAWIT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 18, 2025
Here’s more from Alex Woodward.
Chief Justice hits back after Trump calls for impeaching judge
09:21
,
Joe Sommerlad
Trump’s remarks to Ingraham on the judiciary came after he had called for District Court Judge James Boasberg to be impeached earlier in the day as punishment for ruling against him on the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members.
That led Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, a fellow conservative, to hit back in a rare public statement, declaring that impeachment isn’t an appropriate response to disagreements with judges’ rulings.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said.
“The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Asked about it by Ingraham, Trump brushed it aside on the laughable basis that Roberts did not actually name him in the statement, suggesting he may not have been referring to the president himself after all.
Trump responds to Chief Justice Roberts’ statement: didn't mention my name in the statement. I just saw it quickly. He didn't mention my name. pic.twitter.com/fEz1xZE8mC
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2025
Donald Trump says he won’t defy judges after multiple setbacks in court cases
09:00
,
Joe Sommerlad
Good morning!
The president has claimed his administration would not openly defy court orders – despite declarations from top aides to not care about judges’ decisions amid a slew of rulings across the country against immigrant deportations and federal firings.
Trump appeared to take the multiple court losses personally.
He told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an interview last night that nobody “has been through more courts than I have,” citing his experience as a criminal defendant in multiple court cases and countless civil lawsuits over the years, and complained he has had “the worst judges” in the various cases.
But when pressed by Ingraham on whether his administration would flout court orders from judges who have ordered his administration to stop deporting people under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and on other court orders blocking his administration’s effort to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development and fire tens of thousands of federal workers, Trump insisted that he “never did defy a court order” as president.
Ingraham: Would you defy a court order?
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2025
Trump: No, you can’t do that. However.. I think at a certain point you have start looking at what do you do when you have a rogue judge pic.twitter.com/WFUZliGqeN
But the president also claimed that the courts are ruling against him because they are staffed by “very bad judges” who “shouldn’t be allowed” to make decisions that impinge on what he has claimed to be part and parcel of his authority as president.
Trump: You have local judges, local federal judges, local judges, period, and DAs and prosecutors… that want to really take over. They love the publicity. All of the sudden they are on the front page of every newspaper but they have no right to be. pic.twitter.com/McNZy69Aeg
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2025
Later, on his Truth Social platform, Trump continued to rail against America’s judiciary, warning that the country will be in “very bad trouble” if “radical left lunatics” who aspire to overrule the commander-in-chief.
If a President doesn't have the right to throw murderers, and other criminals, out of our Country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our Country is in very big trouble, and destined to fail!
— Trump Posts on (@trump_repost) March 19, 2025
Andrew Feinberg has this report.
Collapse of Gaza ceasefire and threats against Iran unmaskTrump’s ‘anti-war’ image
08:40
,
Oliver O'Connell
John Bowden reports:
The image of Donald Trump as an anti-war president is crumbling in real time.
Whether winning votes or merely demotivating support for his opponent, Kamala Harris, Trump fed on American frustrations in both parties to — once again — win election victory with a promise of ending or withdrawing American support for bloody and costly conflicts around the world.
Continue reading...
Minnesota Republican accused of soliciting a minor same day he introduced ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ bill
08:20
,
Oliver O'Connell
On Monday, a Minnesota State Senator made headlines as he introduced a bill to label “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a mental illness.
Hours later, he was arrested.
Katie Hawkinson reports.
Like Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy wants to rename a body of water
07:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate now vying to be Ohio’s governor, wants to follow in President Donald Trump’s footsteps and rename yet another body of water.
The biotech entrepreneur was speaking to the Lucas County Republican Party last week when he pitched the idea to rename Lake Erie, one of the five Great Lakes, to “Lake Ohio.”
Katie Hawkinson has the story.
Here’s why Ramaswamy might reconsider:
I'm 100% in favor of this as it would change the well known acronym for the Great Lakes, "HOMES" to "HOMOS" https://t.co/4O7sW1u7l6
— Will Menaker (@willmenaker) March 18, 2025
‘Beat a Republican, and then I will have respect for you’
07:00
,
Oliver O'Connell
Former senior Bill Clinton adviser James Carville appeared on NewsNation on Monday night, seemingly giving up on the current iteration of the Democratic Party after some senators buckled and voted with Republicans to avoid a government shutdown.
Carville said political parties “exist for one reason, and that is to win elections.”
“When they lose elections, people lose faith in them,” said the strategist.
Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, D.C.
Can Tucker Carlson talk Trump down from escalating war with Iran?
05:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News star who is deeply embedded within Donald Trump’s inner circle, warned the president this week that a strike on Iran “would certainly result” in a war that would cost billions of dollars and lead to “thousands of American deaths” in the region.
Justin Baragona has the story.
Trump administration may make major cuts to domestic HIV prevention, report says
04:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
The Health and Human Services Department is weighing plans to drastically cut the federal government’s funding for domestic HIV prevention, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.
The plans could be announced within a day, according to sources, but they haven’t been finalized and could be pulled back or adjusted.
The discussions arise as the Trump administration prepares for significant personnel cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of an agency reorganization, people familiar with the planning said.
The cuts and reorganization aim to exploit a weakness in the agency’s legal framework: No single law defines its purposes and authorizes its various programs.
The CDC has a department focused on preventing HIV and other infectious diseases. This department funds state and local surveillance programs for HIV, syringe services, and community outreach initiatives.
The agency reported spending approximately $1.3 billion on preventing HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis during the 2023 fiscal year, as stated on its website.
The Health Department said it is following the administration’s guidance and taking a careful look at all divisions to see where there is overlap that could be streamlined to support the president’s broader efforts to restructure the federal government.
“No final decision on streamlining CDC’s HIV Prevention Division has been made,” a department spokesman to the Journal.
Plunging stock market and recession fears are a ‘media creation’, complains Fox host
02:00
,
Oliver O'Connell
Amid a multi-week Wall Street sell-off that has seen the major stock market indexes approach correction territory over economic uncertainty largely spurred by President Donald Trump’s chaotic trade war, Fox Business anchor Charles Payne grumbled that this was all the media’s fault.
With the Dow Jones index down hundreds of points on Tuesday afternoon, breaking a brief two-day comeback, Payne appeared on Fox News’ America Reports to discuss investors’ continued apprehension and the White House’s attempts to tout the “success” of its economic policies.
Justin Baragona reports.