The Trump administration has hit out at a Democratic senator trying to return a wrongly-deported Maryland resident to the U.S.
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday to meet with the country’s vice president and push to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavittt reiterated the administration's position that Garcia would not be returned to America.
"It's appalling and sad that Sen. Van Hollen and the Democrats applauding his trip to El Salvador today are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens," Leavitt said on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariffs on U.S. trading partners have also put the Federal Reserve in a tricky position, chair Jerome Powell said.
Powell warned the tariffs, including the threat of 245 per cent duties on Chinese goods, were “significantly larger than anticipated” and would likely drive inflation up and slow economic growth.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is visiting Trump on Thursday, joining American trading partners from around the world to push for better tariffs after the president paused higher duties for 90 days.
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Key Points
Watch: Donald Trump hugs mother of murdered Rachel Morin
10:02
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Rachel Clun
In a special White House meeting, Donald Trump comforted Patty Morin, whose daughter was raped and murdered while out hiking. Her killer, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, a fugitive from El Salvador, was convicted of the crime.
Trump invited Mrs Morin to the White House as part of his push to defend his strict deportation policies.
President says courts ‘hate Trump’
09:46
,
Rachel Clun
Donald Trump has lashed out at the country’s courts saying they ‘hate’ him.
The spray comes after federal judge James Boasberg said in a ruling yesterday that the presidents administration could be held in criminal contempt for ignoring a court order to turn planes carrying Venezuelan immigrants back to the U.S.
Those alleged Venezuelan gang members were instead sent to a brutal El Salvadoran prison, under the president’s use of a wartime law.
In a ruling yesterday Boasberg said the government’s failure to return those flights demonstrates “a willful disregard” that is “sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt.”
The same day, Trump hit out at the U.S. court system on social meda.
“A Judge ruled against us on 530,000 Illegal Migrants … saying that they can’t be looked at as a group, but that each case has to be tried individually. Based on the Court System, that would take approximately 100 years,” he wrote.
“What is going on with our Courts? They are totally OUT OF CONTROL. They seem to hate “TRUMP” so much, that anything goes!”
Trump officials won’t share evidence backing up claim of ‘human trafficking’
09:30
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Rachel Clun
Officials in Donald Trump’s administration have claimed a wrongfully deported Maryland man is “involved in human trafficking”.
But government lawyers haven’t raised those claims in court, and officials have refused to share any evidence supporting the claims.
The allegations appear to have been firse introduced publicly during a White House press conference two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated the claims, labelling Abrego Garcia “a foreign terrorist” and an “MS-13 gang member” who “engaged in human trafficking.”
Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told ABC News the same day it “would be insane” to share any reports detailing intelligence linking Garcia to trafficking – an allegation his lawyers and family flatly deny.
“We’re not going to give out our national security documents every time a terrorist denies they are a terrorist,” McLaughlin said.
Watch: El Salvador's president says he won't return Maryland man to U.S.
09:14
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Rachel Clun
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said earlier this week in a visit to the White House that he would not return wrongly-deported man Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
How was Abrego deported, and what has happened since?
08:59
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Rachel Clun
Kilmar Abrego Garcia should never have been deported to El Salvador.
In 2019, a judge granted a withholding order that prevents his removal from the country for humanitarian reasons.
Since his extradition to a notorious jail ini El Salvador in March, the Trump administration has repeatedly admitted he was sent there due to an “administrative error.”
The Supreme Court has since ruled that the administration must “facilitate” Garcia’s return to the U.S.
But the White House has said it cannot force El Salvador to return him, and the Trump administration has refused to ask El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele to return Garcia.
Following an Oval Office visit earlier this week, Bukele said he would not be sending Garcia back to America.
Now, Garcia’s lawyers have been allowed to depose administration officials to determine whether they complied with the high court order.
Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, told a crowd of protesters in Maryland that she “will not stop fighting” until she sees her husband alive.
Maryland senator speaks after El Salvador trip
08:44
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Rachel Clun
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador did not go as he had planned.
He traveled there to meet with the country’s deputy president but was later denied a meeting with wrongly-deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and was not allowed a phone call either. He was also not permitted to meet with Garcia’s family.
Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March despite a court order preventing his deportation. The White House has since said that the Slavadoran citizen has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his lawyers say the government has not provided evidence to prove it.
Van Hollen said it was an “unjust situation”.
"The Trump administration is lying about Abrego Garcia. The American courts have looked at the facts,” he said.
Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
08:30
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Rachel Clun
Abrego Garcia grew up in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador. He moved with his family to Guatemala after a long campaign of extortion from local gang, Barrio 18, against himself and other members of his family.
Garcia later fled to the U.S. illegally when he was 16 to join his older brother Cesar who had also moved to escape gang threats in El Salvador.
Garcia later met Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, and after she learnt she was pregnant he moved in with her and her two children.
In 2019 he ended up being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Abrego Garcia later told an immigration judge that he would seek asylum and asked to be released. Vasquez Sura was five months into a high-risk pregnancy.
ICE argued Garcia was a certified gang member, alleging he belonged to a New York chapter of the MS-13 gang. Garcia has never lived in New York.
Garcia checked in with ICE yearly, and was issued a work permit, and had been raising three children with Vasquez Sura including their 5-year-old son.
Democrat senator labeled 'disgusting' and 'sad' for El Salvador trip
08:07
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Rachel Clun
The Trump administration has hit out at an “appalling” attempt by a Democratic senator to return Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador.
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to meet with the country’s vice president on Wednesday and push to free Garcia. The senator was then derided by various members of the Trump administration.
"It's appalling and sad that Sen. Van Hollen and the Democrats applauding his trip to El Salvador today are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens," White House press secretary Karoline Leavittt said on Wednesday.
White House communications director Steven Cheung called Van Hollen a “complete disgrace to his office” and said he “should be thoroughly shamed for his disgusting actions.”
“Chris and his bedwetting friends have shown more concern and sympathy for an illegal MS-13 gang member than victims of horrific migrant crimes,” he wrote.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan called the trip “disgusting” on Fox News.
Japan and U.S. make “big progress” in trade talks, Trump says
07:42
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Rachel Clun
The U.S and Japan have agreed to hold a second round of trade talks later this month after a preliminary discussion at the White House on Wednesday.
The President surprised Japan by announcing he would attend yesterday’s talks and expanded their scope to include issues such as how much Japan should pay to host U.S troops.
"A Great Honor to have just met with the Japanese Delegation on Trade. Big Progress!" Trump wrote on social media, without detailing the discussion.
Japan had sent the relatively junior cabinet minister Ryosei Akazawa for the first round of talks, as the country hopes to talk America down from introducing broad 24 percent tariffs on all its exports to the U.S.
Speaking after the talks, Akazawa said the countries had agreed to hold a second meeting later this month, and that Trump had said securing a deal with Japan was a “top priority”.
Fed chair says Trump trade war risks higher inflation
07:35
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Rachel Clun
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has warned that the Trump administration’s shifting tariff policies were putting the central bank in a difficult position.
Powell said the bank may find its dual mandates of maintaining high employment and price stability could end up in tension, in a speech in Chicago on Wednesday.
He warned the tariffs were "significantly larger than anticipated” and will likely cause “higher inflation and slower growth.”
The changing tariffs also give the Fed little room to move. Cutting benchmark interest rates from their current 4.25 - 4.5 percent could stimulate economic growth, but it could also drive inflation back up.
Powell said the central bank will take a wait-and-see approach before making any major changes.
“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”