The infighting and backstabbing that plagued Trump’s first term have returned as a threat to his second, with deepening fissures over trade, national security and questions of personal loyalty.
The latest turmoil threatens to engulf the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out top advisers and faces fresh controversy over sharing sensitive information about airstrikes in Yemen outside of classified channels. Hegseth on Tuesday denied that the information was classified, despite reports that it was pulled from secure communications from the head of U.S. Central Command.
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday called for enhanced engagement with India and said that the South Asian country should buy more defense equipment and energy from the U.S. and allow Washington greater access to its market, lending momentum to an expected bilateral trade deal.
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White House press secretary Leavitt said at Tuesday’s briefing that she spoke with President Trump about the tariffs on China, saying that the president told her to say “we’re doing very well” regarding a “potential trade deal with China.”
Leavitt said the Trump administration has received 18 proposals from other countries for trade deals with the U.S., adding that “everyone involved wants to see a trade deal happen.”
Leavitt said Hegseth is doing “a tremendous job” and “is bringing a monumental change to the Pentagon,” which she said had prompted a “smear campaign” against him.
She was asked by a reporter to square her comments that some of the recently departed officials from the Pentagon were disgruntled and working against Hegseth with the fact that they were part of his inner circle.
“They were Pentagon employees who leaked against their boss,” Leavitt said.
The dismissed employees have said their character is being slandered.
The presidents of nearly 200 U.S. colleges and universities are calling on the Trump administration to stop “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.”
A statement issued Tuesday by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and signed by university presidents came a day after Harvard said it was suing the Trump administration to halt a federal freeze on billions of dollars in research funding.
The administration argues its campaign against Harvard, Columbia and other schools is a fight against antisemitism.
In their statement, university presidents said they were speaking with one voice to “reject the coercive use of public research funding” by the government.
Those signing the statement included presidents of private and public universities, community colleges and Christian campuses.
Leavitt announced Trump will meet at the White House on Thursday with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
The meeting comes as Trump is seeking to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and pressure members of NATO, of which Norway is a member, ...
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