Trump’s story of gift airplane called into question
CNN reports this morning that sources have cast doubt on the story told by Donald Trump that the government of Qatar offered to give him a gift of a Boeing 747 to use as a new Air Force One. CNN reports that actually Trump had assigned his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to find airplanes that could be purchased or leased since Boeing would not have the new Air Force One it is building ready for a couple of more years. CNN reported that one of the planes identified as being available was the Qatar luxury Boeing 747 and Qatar offered to sell it to the U.S. Another source told CNN that there were initial discussions about Qatar leasing the plane to the U.S. CNN reported that Trump had been on Qatar’s plane when it was in Florida in February and commented about how luxurious it is.
Trump’s Putin and Zelenskyy phone calls
President Trump spent two hours on the phone with Vladimir Putin on Monday, hoping to learn when the Russian leader was going to end his war in Ukraine. However, no timeline was offered. Afterward, Trump posted on social media that Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to “immediately start negotiations” toward a ceasefire — although a Kremlin spokesperson said Trump and Putin did not discuss a timeframe for a possible truce. Despite Trump’s repeated assertions during his presidential campaign that he could end the war “in 24 hours,” he is now backing away from a direct mediating role, saying that negotiating the conditions for a ceasefire would be left to Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also spoke with Trump on Monday, said his goals were clear: full ceasefire without any conditions or preconditions, an exchange of prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia. Overnight, Ukraine and Russia accused each other of launching even more attack drones.
Israel pressured to halt military actions in Gaza
Canada, France and the United Kingdom are threatening to take “concrete actions” — including targeted sanctions — if Israel doesn’t stop its renewed military offensive in Gaza and continues to block humanitarian aid from entering the enclave. Since Israel launched the offensive in northern and southern Gaza over the weekend, more than 400 people have been killed and over 1,000 others injured, according to a CNN count of this week’s Palestinian Ministry of Health data. Amid this increased pressure from allies, Israel announced it would allow five trucks into Gaza. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher described the delivery as a “drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed.”
Trump’s Justice Department files charges against congresswoman
The Justice Department has charged Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver with assaulting federal law enforcement during a protest outside an ICE detention facility. On May 9, Reps. McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr. visited the facility in Newark, New Jersey, because they said it was not up to date on necessary permits. At the end of their visit, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka tried to join them and walked inside the facility’s gate. Federal agents told Baraka to leave, then began to detain him once he left the fenced-in area. When the lawmakers and other protesters tried to stop the arrest, pushing and shouting ensued. Baraka was handcuffed, taken into custody and charged with trespassing, but those charges were later dropped. It is unclear whether the DOJ will charge Coleman and Menendez Jr. as well.
GOP legislation would block regulation of artificial intelligence
One of the items in President Trump’s “one big, beautiful” agenda bill is sparking protests, and it involves the regulation of artificial intelligence. If passed, the rule would prohibit states from enforcing any law or regulation related to AI models, systems or automated decision systems for 10 years. In response, more than 100 organizations have signed a letter that was sent to members of Congress calling the AI preemption provision “a dangerous giveaway to Big Tech CEOs.” “This moratorium would mean that even if a company deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm — regardless of how intentional or egregious the misconduct or how devastating the consequences — the company making or using that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public,” the letter, provided exclusively to CNN ahead of its release, stated.
Supreme Court sides with Trump in immigration case
The Trump Administration won a victory in the Supreme Court when it yesterday ended at least temporarily the Temporary Protected Status that the Biden Administration had put into place for more than 300,000 Venezuelan immigrants. The vote was 8 to 1. Congress created the TPS program in 1990 to allow a way for people whose countries were affected by natural disasters, wars and other crises to come to the U.S. and remain here temporarily. A federal court judge had ruled against the Trump Administration in a case it brought and the administration took its appeal to the Supreme Court. The judge found that because Venezuela had been declared by the State Department be affected by economic and political upheaval people from Venezuela qualified to come to the U.S. under TPS.
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