NEW YORK: When a White House adviser in the first Trump administration told TV viewers to “Go buy Ivanka stuff,” top government lawyers sprang into action, telling her she had violated ethics rules and warning her not to do it again.
Government ethics experts have varying opinions on whether the 2017 criticism of Kellyanne Conway went far enough, but many agree such violations now might not even draw an official rebuke.
A week after President Donald Trump turned the White House lawn into a Tesla infomercial for Elon Musk’s cars, a second sales pitch by a US official occurred, this time for Tesla stock.
“It will never be this cheap,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday. “Buy Tesla.”
Government ethics experts say Lutnick broke a 1989 law prohibiting federal employees from using “public office for private gain,” later detailed to include a ban on ”endorsements.” Although presidents are generally exempt from government ethics rules, most federal employees are not and are often punished for violations, including rebukes like the one Conway got.
As of Friday, no public action had been taken against Lutnick and it was unclear whether he would suffer a similar fate.
“They’re not even thinking of ethics,” said Trump critic and former Republican White House ethics czar Richard Painter of administration officials.
Painter has equally low expectations of that other possible brake to future violations — public opinion: ”I don’t know if people care.”
In his first term, Trump opened his hotel near the Oval Office to foreign ambassadors and lobbyists in what many legal scholars argued was a violation of a constitutional ban against presidents receiving payments or gifts that could distort public policy for private gain. His company launched a new hotel chain called “America Idea” in hopes of cashing in on his celebrity. Trump even once proposed holding a G-7 meeting of world leaders at his then-struggling Doral golf resort.
The ‘Buy Ivanka’ rebuke
But the reaction to Conway’s “Ivanka stuff” comment suggested certain lines couldn’t be crossed.
Within days of Conway’s TV comments, the head of the federal ethics agency, the Office of Government Ethics, wrote a letter to the White House saying Trump’s adviser may have broken the law and urging a probe. A White House lawyer then met with Conway to remind her of the law and reported to the ethics office that she had assured him she would abide by it in future.
But this time, there is no head of the Office of Government Ethics. He was fired by Trump. Ditto for the inspector generals of various agencies who would head any investigation.
“What is likely to happen now? I really don’t know,” said Kedric Payne, chief lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit watchdog that sent a letter to the government ethics office on Friday calling for an investigation. “We no longer have the head of the Office of Government Ethics to push the Commerce Department to make sure the secretary acknowledges the law.”
Payne said Lutnick’s comment on TV may seem like a small transgression but it could snowball into a bigger problem if not punished.
“It starts with one TV appearance, but can develop into multiple officials asking people to support companies and products,” Payne said. “If there are no consequences, you get into a danger zone of a corruption.”
Trump critics point to other signs that Trump is careless with the law and ethical norms, citing his pardons for Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, a decision to allow his Trump Organization to strike business deals abroad and his attack on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act banning US company bribes abroad to win business.
Jelly beans and airlines
When it comes endorsing products, presidents used to be far more circumspect.
Their comments were mostly quick asides expressing opinions of taste, such as when Harry Truman called Pillsbury flour the “finest” or John F. Kennedy said United Airlines was “reliable.”
Ronald Reagan famously enthused about his jelly beans habit, remarking that they were the “perfect snack.”
Trump had five Teslas lined up in the White House driveway last week as he praised Musk’s company. Then he slipped into a red Model S he had targeted for personal purchase, exclaiming, “Wow. That’s beautiful.”
“Presidents are allowed to have personal opinions on products they like and dislike,” said ethics lawyer Kathleen Clark, referring to the Truman through Reagan examples. ”But what Trump did was transform the White House into a set for advertising the products of a private company.”
“It’s the difference between holding an extravaganza and holding an opinion.”
Calls for Musk investigation
In the aftermath of the Tesla White House event, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and three other senators wrote a letter to the Office of Government Ethics saying that, while presidents are exempt from ethics law banning endorsements, Elon Musk isn’t and calling for an investigation.
A spokeswoman from Warren’s office said the government ethics office had not yet responded about what it planned to do about the White House Tesla endorsement. The Office of Government Ethics itself said it would not comment on either the Warren letter or Lutnick’s TV appearance.
The Commerce Department did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment.
Asked whether Lutnick would be reprimanded or an investigation opened, White House spokesman Kush Desai defended Lutnick, lauding “his immensely successful private sector career” and his “critical role on President Trump’s trade and economic team.”
Former White House ethics chief Painter says Democrats have also played loose with the ethics law.
He is harshly critical of the Clinton charity, the Clinton Foundation, which was taking donations from foreign governments when Hillary Clinton was the country’s chief diplomat as secretary of state. Painter also blasts former President Joe Biden for not removing his name from a University of Pennsylvania research institute when he was in office even though it appeared to be helping draw donations overseas.
But Painter says the slide from caring about ethics laws and norms to defiance has hit a new low.
“There’s been a deterioration in ethics,” he said. “What Biden did wasn’t good, but this is worse.”
Legal experts say Trump official broke law by saying ‘Buy Tesla’ stock but don’t expect a crackdown
https://arab.news/9wftb
Legal experts say Trump official broke law by saying ‘Buy Tesla’ stock but don’t expect a crackdown
- “It will never be this cheap,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday. “Buy Tesla.”
Trump says Boeing ‘should default China’ for not taking planes
- Chinese customers started rejecting Beoing jet deliveries amid a trade war sparked by Trump
- Boeing poised to resell rejected jets, with Air India in talks with the planemaker to take 10 Max 737s
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized China for backing out of a deal to buy new Boeing planes due to tariffs imposed in the rivals’ trade war.
“Boeing should default China for not taking the beautifully finished planes that China committed to purchase,” Trump wrote on social media, without giving more details.
“This is just a small example of what China has done to the USA, for years,” he added.
US aviation giant Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg said Wednesday confirmed that Chinese customers had stopped taking delivery of aircraft due to the “tariff environment.”
His remarks signaled growing disruption caused by tit-for-tat levies exchanged between the world’s largest economies this month.
New US tariffs have reached 145 percent on many Chinese products, while Beijing has responded with fresh 125 percent duties on imports from the United States.
The tariff blitz — which Trump says is retaliation for unfair trade practices, as well as a bid to restore US manufacturing prowess — has rattled markets and raised fears of a global recession.
Beijing on Thursday threw cold water on Trump’s apparent optimism about a US-China deal to lower tariffs, saying that suggestions of ongoing talks were “groundless.”
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that his country would have a “fair deal with China,” adding when asked if Washington was talking to Beijing that “everything’s active.”
Industry sources said the comments were seen as a signal to Beijing and Washington that the tariff conflict between the world’s two largest economies risked damage as Chinese airlines scramble for capacity and Boeing is left with a new stockpile.
Washington had previously signalled openness to de-escalating the trade war, stating earlier this week that high tariffs between the US and China were not sustainable.
Boeing is one of the largest US exporters and historically sent a quarter of its planes to China, though the share of Chinese airlines in its order backlog now stands at 10 percent after European rival Airbus increased market share.
Airbus has been in on-off negotiations for at least a year to try to grab a huge order of up to 500 jets, though China usually treads carefully over all major purchase decisions at times of geopolitical uncertainty, industry sources said.
Airbus said it never comments on commercial discussions that may or may not be happening.
Potential alternative markets for Boeing jets include India, Latin America and Southeast Asia but discussions have barely begun because of their complexity and uncertainty over who might blink in the tariff standoff, industry sources said.
Reselling
Amid the delivery standoff, Boeing said it is looking to resell potentially dozens of planes locked out of China by tariffs.
The move to prevent a repeat of the costly build-up of undelivered jets seen during past safety and trade crises comes as the planemaker seeks to prevent tensions undercutting its efforts to save cash and pay down debts.
Boeing took the rare step of publicly flagging the potential aircraft sale during an analyst call on Wednesday, saying there would be no shortage of buyers in a tight jet market.
“Customers are calling, asking for additional airplanes,” CFO Brian West said. Such negotiations are usually kept tightly under wraps.
Two sources, who declined to be named as the discussions are private, said Air India was seeking around 10 narrowbody planes from Boeing for its budget carrier Air India Express, which has a fleet of more than 100 aircraft.
Air India, Air India Express and Boeing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Air India is very interested ... if the deal goes through, the planes are expected to be added to the fleet by end of the year,” the first person said, adding the talks were in early stages.
Air India Express has previously taken white tail aircraft — or jets manufactured for one customer but acquired by another.
A third source familiar with talks between Air India and Boeing said any difference in jet configuration between its fleet and the incoming planes meant for Chinese customers may be factored into price negotiations.
The move could be a boost to Air India’s expansion plans as the group’s growth has been constrained by a lack of new aircraft.
Last month, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the airline was a “victim of circumstance,” referring to delivery delays plaguing Boeing and Airbus.
Complex negotiations
However, experts warned that carrying out the threat to divert jets to other buyers would not involve a simple switch.
Finding new customers after planes have been built “can be a costly endeavour,” industry publication Leeham News said.
Experts say many components, such as cabins, are picked by airlines and switching configurations could cost millions of dollars. Doing so may also create a tangle of contractual commitments and need the co-operation of the original buyer.
For its part, China has urged Washington to abandon the tariffs but its airlines are seen as hungry for new planes to meet demand and stay within domestic aircraft age restrictions.
“This will be extremely complicated. Everyone is flexing muscle but nobody completely has the upper hand,” said a senior aircraft finance industry source who requested anonymity.
Boeing’s public stand follows a threat from tariffs to the aerospace industry’s decade-old duty-free trading status. Senior industry officials say, however, there is no clear evidence of a reported official Chinese government ban on US jets.
The move to repatriate and re-market jets stands in contrast to a build-up seen during an almost five-year import freeze on 737 MAX jets into China and previous trade tensions.
“We’re not going to continue to build aircraft for customers who will not take them,” Ortberg told analysts.
Two jets ferried to China in March for delivery to Xiamen Airlines returned to Boeing in Seattle in the past week.
A third 737 MAX flew from Boeing’s Zhoushan completion center near Shanghai to the US territory of Guam on Thursday, Flightradar24 data showed. Guam is one of the stops Boeing delivery flights make on the journey across the Pacific.
The third plane was initially built for Air China , according to Aviation Flights Group. The flag carrier did not respond to a request for comment.
Boeing had planned to deliver around 50 new planes to China over the rest of this year, West said. It is studying options for re-marketing 41 that are already built or in production.
Rulings coming fast and furious in lawsuits over Trump’s policies on immigration, elections and DEI
- The legal disputes playing out across the country are far from over though as administration attorneys are pushing back
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration was handed a rapid-fire series of court losses Wednesday night and Thursday in lawsuits filed over its policies on immigration, elections and its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools.
But the legal disputes playing out across the country are far from over, and administration attorneys pushed back, asking the federal appellate courts and the US Supreme Court to overturn some of the unfavorable decisions.
Here’s a look at the latest developments in some of the more than 170 lawsuits filed over President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
DEI
Judges blocked the administration from enforcing its diversity, equity and inclusion crackdown in education in at least two lawsuits Thursday. The decisions came ahead of a Friday deadline that the Education Department set for states to sign a form certifying they would not use “illegal DEI practices.”
A federal judge in New Hampshire blocked a series of directives from the Education Department, including a memo ordering an end to any practice that differentiates people based on their race, and another asking for assurances that schools don’t use DEI practices deemed discriminatory.
Judges in Maryland and Washington, D.C., also halted portions of the department’s anti-DEI efforts.
Elections
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run, including adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form. Still, the judge allowed other parts of Trump’s sweeping executive order on US elections — including a directive to tighten mail ballot deadlines — to go forward for now.
US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington sided with voting rights groups and Democrats, saying that the Constitution gives the power to regulate federal elections to states and Congress — not the president. She noted federal lawmakers are currently working on their own legislation to require proof of citizenship to vote.
Immigration
The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s order barring it from deporting people from Colorado under a rarely used 1798 law.
Attorneys for the administration filed the appeal in the 10th US Circuit Court, arguing that Denver-based US District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney lacks jurisdiction and that it is legally sound to invoke the Alien Enemies Act against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
In another case out of Maryland, the Trump administration was ordered to facilitate the return of a man who was deported to El Salvador last month despite having a pending asylum application. US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland said the government violated a 2019 settlement agreement when it deported the 20-year-old man, a Venezuelan native identified only as Cristian in court papers. Gallagher cited another federal judge’s order for the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland and was accidentally deported the same day as Cristian.
In a Texas lawsuit, a court document from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official was unsealed, revealing that migrants subject to removal under the Alien Enemies Act are only getting about 12 hours to decide if they want to contest their planned deportation to a prison in El Salvador. Earlier this week, government attorneys in a different Alien Enemies Act lawsuit told a judge in Colorado that migrants were being given 24 hours to make the decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the time period violates a Supreme Court order that allowed the Trump administration to continue deportations but required the government give detainees a “reasonable time” to argue to a judge that they should not be removed.
Yet another federal judge based in San Francisco barred the Trump administration from denying federal funds to “sanctuary” cities that limit immigration cooperation.
US Judge William Orrick said the temporary ban is appropriate because the executive orders are unconstitutional, just like they were in 2017 when Trump announced a similar order. Orrick said the administration can’t freeze any federal funds in San Francisco and more than a dozen other municipalities until the lawsuit brought by those cities is resolved.
Transgender rights
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military, while lawsuits over the ban move forward in court. The high court filing follows a brief order from a federal appeals court that kept in place a court order blocking the policy nationwide.
Trump signed an executive order a week into his term that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness. In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service.
But in March, US District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, ruled for several long-serving transgender military members who say the ban is insulting and discrimin
More than 1,800 migrants expelled from Algeria into Niger, rights group says
- The UK government is struggling to stop undocumented migrants embarking on dangerous boat journeys across the Channel from France
- Ukrainian and Afghan migrants face uncertainty under new policies
ALGIERS: Algerian authorities rounded up more than 1,800 migrants and left them at the Nigerien border in a record expulsion earlier this month, a Niger-based migrant rights group said Thursday.
Alarmphone Sahara, which monitors migration across the region, said the migrants were bused to a remote desert area known as “Point Zero” after being apprehended in Algerian cities.
Abdou Aziz Chehou, the group’s national coordinator, told The Associated Press on Thursday that 1,845 migrants without legal status in Algeria had been counted, arriving in Niger’s border town of Assamaka after the April 19 mass expulsion.
That pushed the total number of expelled migrants arriving in Assamaka this month beyond 4,000, he said.
The figure does not include those who may attempt to return north into Algeria, Chehou added.
The mass deportations come amid rising tensions between Algeria and its southern neighbors, all now led by military juntas that ousted elected governments previously aligned with Algiers. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger withdrew their ambassadors from Algeria earlier this month over border security disputes.
For migrants fleeing poverty, conflict or climate change, Algeria serves as a transit point en route to Europe. Many cross vast stretches of the Sahara en route before attempting dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean. But reinforced maritime patrols have stranded increasing numbers in transit countries with checkered human rights records and limited humanitarian aid.
In 2024, Alarmphone Sahara recorded more than 30,000 migrants expelled from Algeria. Similar pushbacks have also been reported in neighboring Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.
Neither Algerian nor Nigerien officials have commented on the latest expulsions, which are rarely reported in Algerian press. In the past, Nigerien authorities have said such actions appear to violate a 2014 agreement that allows only Nigerien nationals to be deported across the border.
US Congress Republicans seek $27 billion for Golden Dome in Trump tax bill
- Measure adds $150bn to the already approved $886bn national security budget for 2025, with $27bn going to Golden Dome missile defense shield
- Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two partners are frontrunners to win a crucial part that would track incoming missiles as part of the Golden Dome program
WASHINGTON: Republicans in the US Congress plan to introduce a sweeping $150 billion defense package that will give an initial $27 billion boost to President Donald Trump’s controversial Golden Dome missile defense shield and bolstering shipbuilding, according to a document and a congressional aide.
The measure would supercharge the national defense budget with new money to build 14 warships and lift homeland security spending. This will add $150 billion to the already approved $886 billion national security budget for 2025. It will be part of Trump’s sweeping tax cuts bill, which will cut taxes by about $5 trillion and add approximately $5.7 trillion to the federal government’s debt over the next decade.
The Republican leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees hammered out the legislation that will be unveiled as soon as Friday evening, Republican Senator Roger Wicker told Reuters in an interview. He is chairman of the Senate committee.
The measure, details of which have not been previously reported, includes a $27 billion investment in Golden Dome to build more missile interceptors and purchase Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antiballistic missile batteries, according to the congressional aide. THAAD is made by Lockheed Martin.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two partners have emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part that would track incoming missiles as part of the Golden Dome program, Reuters reported last week.
The bill’s focus on strengthening the country’s military presence, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, is a key component of a broader strategy to prevent conflict.
“Strength, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, will make China less eager to break the status quo, which has led to a vast global prosperity among people who’ve never had it before. This is part of a plan to prevent war.”
He said it was designed to address the military’s most pressing needs, with a focus on supercharging key areas such as naval shipbuilding, missile defense, and space sensing.
The bill includes a range of provisions aimed at enhancing the country’s military capabilities. The largest item is $29 billion for the procurement of 14 new ships, and a “historic” investment in unmanned ships, according to the document seen by Reuters.
The legislation also provides significant funding for the development of innovative technologies, including a $5 billion investment in autonomous systems, a substantial increase from the $500 million allocated by the Biden administration.
Additionally, the package includes $20 billion in funding for the production of new munitions, the expansion of the country’s supplier base, and the replenishment of critical minerals stockpiles.
Notably, much of the funding allocated in this package will not expire at the end of the fiscal year, providing a significant boost to the country’s defense capabilities.
The measure will move forward through the process of reconciliation, a parliamentary procedure that allows Congress to pass budget-related bills with a simple majority vote, bypassing the usual 60-vote threshold required for most legislation.
A New York man is charged with hiding his role in the Rwanda genocide to get US citizenship
- Citing witnesses, prosecutors said Faustin Nsabumukunzi set up roadblocks during the genocide to detain and kill Tutsis and participated in killings
- Nsabumukunzi was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted on genocide charges in absentia by a Rwandan court
CENTRAL ISLIP, New York: A New York man told federal agents, “I know I’m finished,” when he was arrested Thursday on charges that he concealed his leadership role in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 in his applications for a green card and US citizenship, prosecutors said.
Faustin Nsabumukunzi, 65, was charged with hiding from US authorities his role as a local leader in Rwanda when the genocide began in 1994. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis were killed during the three-month-long genocide. The indictment of the Bridgehampton man was unsealed in Central Islip on Long Island.
At an initial court appearance, Nsabumukunzi pleaded not guilty to visa fraud and attempted naturalization fraud and was released on $250,000 bail. The bail package requires home detention and GPS monitoring, but he will be allowed to continue working as a gardener.
Evan Sugar, a lawyer for Nsabumukunzi, described his client in an email as “a law-abiding beekeeper and gardener who has lived on Long Island for more than two decades.”
He said Nsabumukunzi was “a victim of the Rwandan genocide who lost scores of family members and friends to the violence.”
Sugar said Nsabumukunzi was rightfully granted refugee status and lawful permanent residence and planned to “fight these 30-year-old allegations” while maintaining his innocence.
In a detention memo seeking detention, prosecutors said interviews of witnesses who knew him in Rwanda indicated that Nsabumukunzi falsely assured Tutsis at public meetings when the genocide began that they would be protected.
But, they said, he then, in private meetings, urged Hutus to begin killing Tutsis, the memo says.
Prosecutors said witnesses told them that Nsabumukunzi not only participated in the killing of Tutsis, including in his administrative offices, but he also encouraged Hutu men to rape Tutsi women as a genocidal tool.
Prosecutors said that when the charges were described to Nsabumukunzi as he was arrested Thursday morning, he responded: “I know I’m finished.”
According to the indictment, Nsabumukunzi was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted on genocide charges in absentia by a Rwandan court. He’d been accused of using his leadership position to oversee the killings of Tutsis in his local area.
He allegedly set up roadblocks during the genocide to detain and kill Tutsis and participated in killings, the indictment says.
In 2003, Nsabumukunzi applied to settle in the US as a refugee and received a green card in 2007 before applying for citizenship in 2009 and 2015, authorities said.
In his applications, they added, he falsely asserted that he was not involved in the genocide.
Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a release that Nsabumukunzi participated in “heinous acts of violence abroad and then lied his way into a green card and tried to obtain US citizenship.”
“For over two decades, he got away with those lies and lived in the United States with an undeserved clean slate, a luxury that his victims will never have,” said US Attorney John J. Durham in Brooklyn.
