Trump campaign against law firms dealt another setback as judge blocks executive order

Trump campaign against law firms dealt another setback as judge blocks executive order

WASHINGTON (AP) — PresidentDonald Trump's campaign against the legal profession hit another setback Tuesday as a federal judgestruck down yet another executive orderthat sought to sanction one of the country's most prestigious law firms. The order in favor of WilmerHalemarks the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has deemed Trump's series of law firm executive orders to be unconstitutional and has permanently barred their enforcement. "The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The Founding Fathers knew this!" wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Leon. To permit the order to stand, Leon wrote, "would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers." The firm applauded the ruling from Leon, an appointee of former Republican President George H.W. Bush. "The Court's decision to permanently block the unlawful executive order in its entirety strongly affirms our foundational constitutional rights and those of our clients. We remain proud to defend our firm, our people, and our clients," a spokesperson for the firm said. The ruling was similar to one from Friday by a different judge that rejected a Trump edict against the firm ofJenner & Blockand another one from earlier in the month in favor of the firmPerkins Coie. The firms had all been subjected to Trump executive orders that sought to impose the same set of consequences, including suspending security clearances of attorneys and barring employees from federal buildings. The orders have beenpart of a broader effort by the president to reshape American civil societyby targeting perceived adversaries in hopes of extracting concessions from them and bending them to his will. Several of the firms singled out for sanctions have either done legal work that Trump has opposed, or currently have or previously had associations with prosecutors who at one point investigated the president. The order against WilmerHale, for instance, cited the fact that the firm previously employedformer Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who led an investigation during Trump's first term into potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Other major firms have sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that require them, among other things, to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes the Trump administration says it supports.

byDan Dunne

in

May 27, 2025

Trump campaign against law firms dealt another setback as judge blocks executive order

Trump campaign against law firms dealt another setback as judge blocks executive order WASHINGTON (AP) — PresidentDonald Trump's campaig...

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Trump pardons reality show couple convicted of bank fraud and tax crimes

Trump pardons reality show couple convicted of bank fraud and tax crimes

President Donald Trump has signed full pardons for imprisoned reality show couple Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in 2022 for a conspiracy to defraud banks out of more than $30 million, according to a White House official. In addition to the bank fraud convictions, they were also found guilty of several tax crimes, including attempting to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. In a post on X, Trump's adviser Margo Martin posted a video of Trump phoning Savannah Chrisley, the couple's daughter, informing her of the plans for pardons. "It's a terrible thing. But it's a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean, and hopefully we can do it by tomorrow," Trump said. "I don't know them, but give them our regards," he continued. Alice Johnson, who Trump pardoned during his first term and is now acting as his "pardon czar," joined the president in the Oval Office for the phone call. Savannah Chrisley spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. Chrisley also helped campaign for Trump as part of "Team Trump's Women Tour." She recently appeared on Lara Trump's Fox News program to discuss her parents' plight. Todd Chrisley is serving 12 years at a Federal Prison Camp in Florida, and Julie Chrisley is serving her seven-year sentence at a Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. The Chrisleys, known for their reality program "Chrisley Knows Best," werefound guilty in June2022. Both of them have maintained their innocence and were appealing their criminal convictions. Kristen Holmes contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

byDan Dunne

in

May 27, 2025

Trump pardons reality show couple convicted of bank fraud and tax crimes

Trump pardons reality show couple convicted of bank fraud and tax crimes President Donald Trump has signed full pardons for imprisoned reali...

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What Harvard's Federal Funding Cuts Mean for the University

What Harvard's Federal Funding Cuts Mean for the University

The Eliot House dormitory on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. Credit - Sophie Park—Bloomberg via Getty Images Harvard University is poised to lose its remaining federal funding and ties to the federal government as its battle with the Trump Administration intensifies. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) asked federal agencies in a Tuesday letter to reconsider all federal contracts with Harvard and instead "seek alternative vendors" for future endeavors. The letter was first reported on byThe New YorkTimes. "The Trump Administration is not backing down from its onslaught of attacks on the institution," says Katharine Meyer, an education policy fellow at the Brookings Institution. "No sort of path is too small for them to look into going after." The GSA and Harvard did not respond to TIME's requests for comment. The university has previously filed multiple lawsuits against the Administration over its actions. Here's what to know about what the requested federal funding cuts, and what they mean for Harvard. The Trump Administration has targeted a number of colleges and universities over their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and pro-Palestinian demonstrations on their campuses, among other issues. Harvard, which has refused to comply with the Administration, has faced particular ire. In April, federal officials sent a letter to Harvard demanding that it modify its hiring practices, implement "viewpoint diversity" to include conservative ideology, and alter its student discipline regulations or risk federal financial support. Harvard's defiance of the demands initially put $2.2 billion in multi-year federal grants at risk. Another $2.7 million in Department of Homeland Security grants and $1 billion in federal funding for health research are under threat as well. The Trump Administration has also moved to attempt to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status and the university's ability to enroll foreign-born students. A federal judge on Thursday will decide whether a preliminary injunction issued against the latter should be extended. In its Tuesday letter, the Administration cited what it called "discriminatory practices" related to Harvard's hiring and admissions process, the university's handling of antisemitism on campus, and a "lack of commitment" to "national values and priorities" in its request for agencies to cancel remaining contracts with the school. "This $100 million dollar contract pullback is certainly the smallest effort that we've seen, but I think the cumulative impact is hurtling toward a point where eventually Harvard does not have infinite funds to be able to fill in where they've lost federal contracts and grants and any other sources of their revenue," says Meyer. Harvard's operating expensesreached $6.4 billionfor fiscal year 2024, compared to the more than $3 billion in federal funding for the university at risk under the Trump Administration. Federal sponsorship for researchmade up11% of the university's total operating revenue for the 2024 fiscal year. Harvardwarns on its websitethat without federal funding, cutting-edge research into conditions including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes "will come to a halt midstream, and researchers will lack necessary resources to finish ongoing projects or to finance new ones." Some Harvard labs, including one working on human organs-on-chips, which replicate the function of organs, have received stop-work orders following the Trump Administration's efforts to slash funding. Those researchers were using that technology to study how certain organs react to radiation therapy. The Administration's move to bar Harvard from enrolling international students could hit another source of the university's funds beyond the money it receives through government grants and contracts. Harvard received more than a fifth of its funding in 2024 from education revenue, including tuition, housing, food income, and more. International students contribute a large portion of that revenue, withmore than 6,700 enrollingat the school for the most recent school year. The standardcost of attendancefor foreign-born students, many of which pay full price for tuition, is $101, 974. Harvard has mounted legal challenges against the Administration's unprecedented actions. It filed a lawsuit on April 21, citing violations of the First Amendment and claiming federal officials did not abide by the proper procedural rules to slash grant funding. A second lawsuit followed last Friday after officials moved to bar the university from enrolling international students, and a federal judge temporarily blocked the Administration from doing so. Harvard's substantial federal endowment, which distributed $2.4 billion in the fiscal year ending in June 2024, also puts it in a unique financial position to bite back against the Trump Administration's attacks. But restrictions on how the endowment is used mean it can't be relied on as a simple replacement for lost federal funding. And as the lawsuits continue to play out in the courts, some experts warn that the federal government's actions are already changing the higher education landscape. The legal limbo surrounding student visas has led universities worldwide to attempt to entice Harvard international studentsto transferto their higher education institutions. Some colleges and universities are also implementing policy changes to proactively avoid Trump's ire. "[Universities] are certainly very worried that the courts will rule that the federal government has the ability to do these ad hoc rescissions of grants and contracts and institutions that don't have the financial means of Harvard are not going to be able to say no," says Meyer. "With the legal uncertainty, I think a lot of institutions are reviewing their policies and reviewing their practices and trying to kind of proactively rearrange what they're doing and try to position themselves to be in the federal government's good graces." Meyer believes that the Trump Administration will likely move to rescind Harvard's ability to award federal financial aid to students, dealing the school a further blow. "When institutions lose the ability to award federal financial aid just largely because they're truly bad faith actors who are misleading students about their enrollment opportunity," she says. "To do so for Harvard because of ideological reasons would be completely unprecedented, but I expect that the Trump Administration is looking through every policy that exists to see if they might have grounds to do so." Contact usatletters@time.com.

byDan Dunne

in

May 27, 2025

What Harvard's Federal Funding Cuts Mean for the University

What Harvard's Federal Funding Cuts Mean for the University The Eliot House dormitory on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mas...

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Trump to pardon reality TV couple convicted on federal fraud charges

Trump to pardon reality TV couple convicted on federal fraud charges

President Donald Trump called two of the children of imprisoned reality television couple Todd and Julie Chrisley from the Oval Office on Tuesday, informing them of his plans to pardon their parents as soon as Wednesday. The pair, known for their roles on the TV show "Chrisley Knows Best," sought pardons from Trump in February after they were convicted for allegedly bilking banks out of tens of millions of dollars in 2022,NBC News previously reported. A judge had handed down a sentence of12 yearsfor Todd Chrisley and seven years for his wife, Julie Chrisley in November 2022, after an Atlanta juryfound them guiltyof fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to defraud the United States following a weekslong federal trial. A White House official told NBC News that Trump will sign the pardons once they are ready — likely within 24 hours. Trump announced his plans to pardon the couple in a phone call he made to two of their children, Savannah and Grayson Chrisley. Trump told two of their children, Savannah and Grayson Chrisley, in a phone call that he planned to pardon the couple. "It's a terrible thing, but it's a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean." Trump said during the phone call. "We'll try getting it done tomorrow, so give them — I don't know them — but give them my regards and wish them well. Wish them a good life." Grayson Chrisley responded, saying, "Mr. President, I just want to say thank you for bringing my parents back." White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement that Trump is "always pleased to give well-deserving Americans a second chance, especially those who have been unfairly targeted and overly prosecuted by an unjust justice system." "President Trump called Savannah and her brother from the Oval Office to personally inform them that he would be pardoning their parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, whose sentences were far too harsh," Fields said.

byDan Dunne

in

May 27, 2025

Trump to pardon reality TV couple convicted on federal fraud charges

Trump to pardon reality TV couple convicted on federal fraud charges President Donald Trump called two of the children of imprisoned reality...

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Obama's orbit loses altitude: From the Politics Desk

Obama's orbit loses altitude: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version ofFrom the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. Happy Tuesday and welcome back from the long weekend. In today's edition, we explore how Barack Obama's political orbit is losing some of its clout. Plus, Steve Kornacki breaks down where New Jersey's traditionally powerful Democratic county parties stand in the state's crowded gubernatorial primary. Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here. — Adam Wollner Have a question for the NBC News Politics Desk about Republicans' "big, beautiful bill" as it makes its way through Congress, next month's elections in New Jersey, or anything else happening in the world of politics? Send your questions topoliticsnewsletter@nbcuni.comand we may answer them in a future edition of the newsletter. There's a growing sentiment across a Democratic Party searching for a path forward: Team Obama's bloom may be falling off the rose. More Democrats are openly criticizing former President Barack Obama's strategists and consultants — including David Plouffe, who played a key role in Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign — who were long treated as the high priests of their party's politics. Democratic National Committee officials at a news event last month blamed Obama's lack of investment in state parties over his two terms for setting back local organizing, with the party still feeling the effects. The so-called Obama coalition of voters — less politically engaged voters, younger voters and voters of color — is no more. In 2024,each of those groups shifted toward Donald Trumpin high numbers. Going forward, it could mark a clean slate for a party whose course for nearly two decades cascaded from decisions Obama had made. It was Obama who chose Joe Biden as his vice president, offering him the elevated perch that set up his 2020 election and his aborted 2024 re-election campaign. Obama selected Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state, then anointed her for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 race against Trump. The operatives Obama and his top aides empowered have carved out leading, decision-making roles at the top of the Democratic Party since then. Obama himself remains a force in the party, filling stadiums and commanding the attention of major donors. Indeed, the DNC is in talks with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to host Obama for a fundraiser at his home, according to two people with knowledge of the planning, which is still in its early stages. But even the former president's luster wasshowing signsof fading last fall, a phenomenon that threatens to persist as the next crop of young voters ages into adulthood. When the 2028 presidential election arrives, it will be 20 years since Obama's first victory. At that point, more voters will have come of age in the era of Trump than in the era of Obama. Read more from the team → Democrats in disarray, cont.:1-vote victory for Trump's big bill inflames Democratic clash over aging leaders, by Sahil Kapur One metric has traditionally been all but definitive when it comes to New Jersey Democratic contests: the county line. And by that metric, one candidate is running circles around the others ahead of the June 10 gubernatorial primary: Rep. Mikie Sherrill. Sherrill has won endorsements from 10 of the state's 21 county Democratic organizations, including three of the four largest. Only two of the other five candidates in the race, Rep. Josh Gottheimer and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney, have notched any county endorsements. The counties in which Sherrill has won support account for nearly 60% of all registered Democrats in the state. They include the county in which her 11th Congressional District is based, Morris, and the two others that it touches, Passaic and Essex. Gottheimer, whose 5th District is based in Bergen, also represents part of Passaic and Sussex. And Ras Baraka is the mayor of Newark, the largest city in Essex (and the state). Sweeney, the only candidate from South Jersey, has largely swept that region, where the county organizations typically act as a bloc. What has traditionally made these endorsements so meaningful is the preferred ballot position that came with them. An endorsed candidate would run at the top of the Democratic county organization's official line, an official-looking and impossible-to-miss column that would also include a host of familiar local names running for lower offices. Names of the other candidates would be listed by themselves, often in the far reaches of the ballot. The results were predictable: Candidates running off the line almost never won and generally got blown out. The last open Democratic gubernatorial primary wasessentially settled a year before any votes were cast, when the largest county organizations threw their support to now-Gov. Phil Murphy. But asuccessful lawsuit last yearand a new lawsigned by Murphyin March have changed the game. The line is gone and county parties can no longer list all of their endorsed candidates in a special column. Primary ballots now list candidates by the office they are seeking. One of the questions heading into June's primary is how much this has diminished the power of county endorsements. Read more from Steve → 🏫 Trump vs. Harvard:The Trump administration plans to ask all federal agencies to seek ways to end their contracts — worth an estimated $100 million — with Harvard University.Read more → 📻 Trump vs. NPR:National Public Radio sued Trump over his effort to cut the nonprofit broadcaster's federal funding.Read more → 💉New sheriff in town:Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the CDC is no longer recommending routine Covid vaccines for healthy pregnant women and children.Read more → 📝 Pardon politics:Trump pardoned Paul Walczak, who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes, weeks after his mother attended a fundraising dinner that cost $1 million per person for a political group that backs the president, The New York Times reports.Read more → 📈 Market mania:Stocks climbed following Trump's announcement that he was postponing the deadline to impose tariffs on the European Union.Read more → ☀️ I have confidence in sunshine:A survey finds consumer confidence was higher in May than April amid optimism about potential trade deals.Read more → ⚖️SCOTUS watch, part 1:The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to make it easier for officials to deport convicted criminals to "third countries" that are not their nations of origin.Read more → ⚖️SCOTUS watch, part 2:The Supreme Court declined to hear a student's challenge to his middle school barring him from wearing a T-shirt that read, "There are only two genders."Read more → ⚖️SCOTUS watch, part 3:The Supreme Court also rejected an appeal from Native Americans who said a new copper mine project would violate their religious liberties, arguing that the project would destroy a sacred site for ceremonies.Read more → ⬅️ Back to the future:FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the bureau will direct more resources to Biden-era cases, including allegations of cocaine use at the White House and a leaked Supreme Court opinion, as well as the pipe bombs found in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.Read more → 🗳️ Put me in, coach:GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn football coach, officially launched his campaign for Alabama governor.Read more → Follow live politics updates → That's all From the Politics Desk for now. Today's newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us atpoliticsnewsletter@nbcuni.com And if you're a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign uphere.

byDan Dunne

in

May 27, 2025

Obama's orbit loses altitude: From the Politics Desk

Obama's orbit loses altitude: From the Politics Desk Welcome to the online version ofFrom the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that ...

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