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  • Trump’s newest tariffs could face legal challenge, though time is short

    Trump’s newest tariffs could face legal challenge, though time is short

    President Donald Trump’s new tariffs are not legally justified, according to several prominent economists and trade experts, who say there is no sign of the profound international financial problems that such measures were intended to remedy.

    Hours after the Supreme Court invalidated the emergency tariffs that he imposed last year, Trump on Friday invoked a 1974 law to announce a new 10% global import tax, later raising it to 15%. The president cited a provision known as Section 122 that authorizes temporary restrictions on imports to deal with “fundamental international payments problems.”

    In an official proclamation, the president said the nation’s “balance of payments,” a comprehensive account of Americans’ financial transactions with foreigners, was suffering “a large and serious deficit.” And he listed a number of metrics reflecting a deteriorating U.S. financial posture.

    The law does not define “balance-of-payments deficit,” and economists disagree about what should be included in the term. But several critics, including the International Monetary Fund’s former chief economist and a prominent conservative legal commentator, disputed the president’s claim. Trump wrongly conflated an alleged payments deficit with the merchandise trade deficit that he targeted last year with his first set of comprehensive tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), they said.

    “The U.S. does not have a ‘payments’ problem. It can finance its trade deficits,” Gita Gopinath, the former IMF official, now teaching at Harvard University, wrote on X.

    Added Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, writing in the conservative National Review: “These new tariffs are even more clearly illegal than Trump’s IEEPA tariffs.”

    Opposition to the new import taxes erupted even before they took effect at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday. The outcry suggested that the president, still smarting from his 6-3 Supreme Court defeat, could face renewed legal jeopardy over the centerpiece of his economic agenda.

    “I do anticipate a lawsuit,” said Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics for the Cato Institute and a former trade lawyer.

    U.S. importers would have the right to sue once they paid the tariffs. Liberty Justice Center, the nonprofit public-interest law firm that represented several small businesses in one of the tariff cases decided by the Supreme Court, said Monday that it is “closely monitoring” the president’s latest actions.

    “We will ensure that whatever authority the executive branch relies on, it follows the rules Congress actually wrote and the constitutional guardrails that protect our system of separated powers,” said Sara Albrecht, the center’s chairman.

    The debate over the Section 122 levies shows that questions of law and economics will continue to dog Trump’s bid to remake the global trading system. This time, there is no question that Congress has delegated to the president the power to levy tariffs — only under what circumstances. At issue are complex definitional questions of international economics and the legislative intent behind the wording of an untested provision in U.S. trade law.

    Time may also be a factor. The Section 122 tariffs expire after 150 days unless Congress votes to extend them, which is unlikely.

    Judges might be reluctant to “second guess” the president’s judgment on whether a balance-of-payments problem exists, said John Veroneau, a lawyer who served as deputy U.S. trade representative under President George W. Bush.

    Still, the administration’s newfound reliance upon Section 122 reverses the legal arguments it made last year. Defending the president’s emergency tariffs, Justice Department attorneys told an appeals court that Section 122 did not apply to Trump’s trade deficit concerns, which were “conceptually distinct from balance-of-payments deficits.”

    The White House declined to elaborate on the president’s Feb. 20 proclamation and fact sheet, which blamed a loss of domestic manufacturing for an excessive number of dollars leaving the country. Problems with the nation’s balance of payments can “endanger the ability of the United States to finance its spending, erode investor confidence in the economy, and distress the financial markets,” the proclamation said.

    Congress passed the Trade Act of 1974 when the United States was dealing with a distinctly different set of economic issues. In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon abruptly ended the convertibility of dollars into gold, marking the end of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates.

    At the time, foreign central banks were rushing to trade their unwanted dollars for gold, threatening to deplete U.S. financial reserves.

    There’s no sign of that sort of crisis today. The dollar has dropped about 10% over the past year, but it remains above its level for most of the decade leading to 2015. There’s certainly no sign of the “imminent and significant depreciation” that Section 122 requires.

    But even some Democrats say the administration is reacting to worrisome financial ailments.

    Economist Brad Setser, who served in the Treasury Department under President Barack Obama, said the global economy is characterized by dangerous imbalances.

    For years, the U.S. has run a deficit in its current account, the broadest measure of the nation’s trade balance, while China has run a mirror-image surplus. To keep running a large trade deficit, the U.S. must attract financing from abroad. So far, it’s been able to do that, which is why many analysts do not share the administration’s urgency.

    But the nation’s net international investment position — which balances the value of foreign stocks and bonds owned by Americans against what foreigners own in this country — is also deteriorating. That figure reached negative $26.7 trillion last year, down sharply in recent years.

    Some of that decline reflects foreigners’ large purchases of U.S. stocks, which have outperformed other markets, and thus is not a problem, Setser said. But the deterioration in the investment account also stems from the growth in the U.S. external debt, which carries a rising interest burden.

    “At this level of the current account [deficit], U.S. external debt will tend to rise. The external position will tend to weaken, which is one definition of a balance-of-payments problem,” he said. “The debt position does worry me.”

  • Savannah Guthrie says her family is offering a $1 million reward for her mother Nancy’s recovery

    Savannah Guthrie says her family is offering a $1 million reward for her mother Nancy’s recovery

    Today show host Savannah Guthrie said her family is now offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who went missing from her Arizona home more than three weeks ago.

    Savannah Guthrie said Tuesday that her family is still holding out for a miracle and hopes her mother will be found alive, but she also acknowledged that they realize it might be too late.

    “She may already be gone,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram post. “She may already have gone home to the Lord that she loves and is dancing in heaven.”

    Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her home just outside Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next day. Authorities believe she was kidnapped, and the FBI released surveillance videos of a masked man who was outside Guthrie’s front door on the night she vanished.

    Savannah Guthrie’s mother is missing. But let’s not forget many others are, too. | Jenice Armstrong

    Drops of her blood were found on the front porch, but authorities haven’t publicly revealed much evidence. Since the first days of her disappearance, authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine.

    Savannah Guthrie said her family needs to know where her mother is no matter what happened.

    “Someone out there knows something that can bring her home,” she said.

    Several hundred people are working the Guthrie investigation, and more than 20,000 tips have been received, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office has said. The FBI and other agencies are assisting.

    The porch camera footage released two weeks ago, which showed a man wearing a backpack and gloves outside Nancy Guthrie’s house, gave investigators their first major break. But it also has fueled intense speculation.

    The sheriff’s department said Monday that it’s aware of differences in the masked person’s clothing depicted in various images that were released, namely with and without a backpack.

    “There is no date or time stamp associated with these images,” the department said. “Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative.”

    Sheriff Chris Nanos said a week ago that members of Guthrie’s family, including siblings and spouses, are not suspects.

    Savannah Guthrie said Tuesday that her family also will donate $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

    “We are hoping that the attention that has been given to our mom and our family will extend to all the families like ours,” she said.

  • Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s tariffs is unlikely to end to trade policy chaos

    Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s tariffs is unlikely to end to trade policy chaos

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump’s most sweeping tariffs means he can’t conjure up new import taxes on a whim anymore.

    But the justices’ ruling on Friday is nonetheless unlikely to ease the uncertainty over Trump’s trade policy that has paralyzed businesses over the past year. “It’s only gotten more complicated for everybody,” said trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official.

    Vexing questions remain: How will the president use other laws to reconstruct the tariffs the Supreme Court knocked down, and will those attempts withstand legal challenges? What does the decision mean for the trade deals Trump strong-armed other countries into accepting, using his now-defunct tariffs as leverage? Can importers collect refunds for the tariffs they paid last year, and if so, how?

    After Supreme Court rebuke, Democrats call for government to refund billions in Trump tariff money

    Then there’s Trump’s own unpredictability. Even though he had weeks to prepare for an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling, his response was still chaotic: On Friday, he said he’d use other legal authority to impose 10% levies on imports from other countries. Saturday, he ratcheted it up to 15%.

    Normally, lower tariffs arising from the Supreme Court’s decision might be expected to give the economy a little lift. But “any benefit you would get from that is more than offset to a modest negative from the uncertainty front,” said Mike Skordeles, head of U.S. economics at Truist, a bank.

    Small businesses, don’t expect tariff relief anytime soon | Expert Opinion

    Trump looks for new import taxes

    Gone for good are the sweeping tariffs Trump justified under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), mainly to combat America’s persistent trade deficits. But that doesn’t mean the president can’t invoke other laws to rebuild much of his tariff wall around the U.S. economy.

    “Tariff revenues will be unchanged this year and will be unchanged in the future,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Fox News interview Sunday.

    Trump reached for a stop-gap option immediately after his defeat Friday at the Supreme Court: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15% for up to 150 days. But any extension beyond 150 days must be approved by a Congress likely to balk at passing a tax increase as November’s midterm elections loom.

    Section 122 has never been invoked before, and some critics say the president can’t use it as a stand-in for the IEEPA tariffs to combat the trade deficit.

    Bryan Riley of National Taxpayers Union, for example, argues that Section 122 is meant to give the president a tool to fight what it calls “fundamental international payments problems,’’ not the trade deficit.

    The provision arose from the financial crises that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s when the U.S. dollar was tied to gold. Other countries were dumping dollars in exchange for gold at a set rate, putting alarming downward pressure on the dollar. But the U.S. currency is no longer linked to gold, so Section 122 has been “effectively rendered obsolete,’’ Riley wrote in a commentary.

    “Given the amount of money at issue for U.S. businesses, it is not hard to imagine a new wave of litigation attacking Section 122, and again seeking refunds of Section 122 duties collected,” said trade lawyer Dave Townsend, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney.

    A sturdier alternative is Section 301 of the same 1974 trade act, which gives the United States a handy cudgel with which to smack countries it accuses of engaging in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices. In a statement Friday, in fact, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration was launching a series of 301 investigations after the loss at the Supreme Court.

    Trump invoked Section 301 in his first term to impose sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports in a dispute over the sharp-elbowed tactics that Beijing was using to challenge America’s technological dominance. Those tariffs were upheld in court and kept by the Biden administration.

    “We’re eight years in, and those China tariffs are still here,” King & Spalding’s Majerus said. “They’re sticky tariffs.’’

    Confusion surrounds Trump’s trade deals

    The Supreme Court’s decision also raises questions about the lopsided trade agreements Trump negotiated last year, using the threat of potentially unlimited IEEPA tariffs to squeeze concessions out of U.S. trading partners from the European Union to Japan.

    Will countries try to back out of their commitments, now that the IEEPA tariff threat is gone?

    The European Union’s trade deal with Trump is already on hold amid confusion following the Supreme Court’s ruling — and Trump’s decision to respond to it with the 15% Section 122 global tariff.

    European lawmakers on Monday delayed a vote on ratifying the pact to seek clarification. They are worried that Trump’s new import tax will stack on top of the “most favored nation’’ tariffs the United States charges under pre-existing World Trade Organization rules — and lift U.S. tariffs on EU imports above the 15% the Europeans had agreed to last year.

    “A deal is a deal,” said commission spokesman Olof Gill. “So now we are simply saying to the US, it is up to you to clearly show to us what path you are taking to honor the agreement.”

    Then there’s the United Kingdom, which had reached a deal with Trump last year for 10% tariffs on its exports to the United States. Will they really go to 15%?

    Still, trade analysts largely expect U.S. trade partners to stick by the deals they reached with Trump last year. For one thing, the United States could wallop them with hefty Section 301 tariffs, which are potentially unlimited, for violating trade agreements.

    “They’re going to pretty leery of rocking the boat on their deals,” Majerus said. “Violations of trade agreements can be a basis for taking 301 action. So you could see Section 301 become an enforcement mechanism’’ for the United States.

    “We are confident that all trade agreements negotiated by President Trump will remain in effect,’’ U.S. Trade Representative Greer said in his statement.

    A messy refund process

    In its ruling, the Supreme Court didn’t bother to say what would happen to all the money collected from the IEEPA tariffs, $133 billion as of mid-December. It left the messy issue of refunds to importers — but likely not to consumers — to lower courts and the Customs and Border Protection agency, which collects import taxes. But they’re likely to be overwhelmed — hundreds of companies are already lined up to get their money back — and the refunds could take months or years to be paid.

    “The whole thing’s going to be a mess,’’ Majerus said.

    It’s possible that Congress will order Customs to take an “easy ‘one-click’ approach to refunds,’’ wrote strategists Thierry Wizman and Gareth Berry at the investment bank Macquarie. Otherwise, they warned, the Trump administration could “make the refund process as burdensome as possible, requiring every importer to file stacks of paperwork, if not file a lawsuit, to get its money back. That would be costly for businesses.”

  • Milan Cortina Olympics were the most-watched Winter Games since 2014 with 96% more viewers than Beijing

    Milan Cortina Olympics were the most-watched Winter Games since 2014 with 96% more viewers than Beijing

    The Milan Cortina Olympics averaged 23.5 million viewers in the United States, making them the most-watched Winter Games since 2014 with a 96% larger audience than the Beijing Games four years ago.

    NBCUniversal said the average includes combined audiences on NBC, Peacock, CNBC, USA Network and other digital platforms. It covered the live afternoon (2-5 p.m. EST) and prime-time (8-11 p.m. EST/PST) windows.

    The figures are based on Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings (through Feb. 19), Nielsen’s early figures for the final three days (Feb. 20-22) and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

    Viewership numbers for the United States’ 2-1 overtime victory over Canada in men’s hockey on Sunday morning were not expected until Tuesday. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said on Monday that 8.7 million were watching in Canada when Jack Hughes scored the golden goal in overtime. The celebration that followed included American players carrying the jersey (and eventually the children) of late South Jersey hockey star Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed along with his brother by an alleged drunk driver while biking near their family home in Salem County.

    Johnny Gaudreau’s dream was to be an Olympian. His family lived it for him, in a moment fit for a ‘movie.’

    “I feel in so many ways that these Winter Olympics exceeded our expectations. We were reminded that the Olympics are the most exciting, unpredictable and biggest stage in sports,” said Molly Solomon, the executive producer of NBC’s Olympics coverage. “And what I think came together in Italy was that the settings were stunningly beautiful, the access we had to the athletes and their lives was unprecedented. And then you take the technology, the first-person view drones, the audio, and it took the audience inside the stories in fresh, meaningful ways.

    “And Team USA, I mean, the results, you’ve seen the numbers for the medals and things. America wants to see how their team’s performing, and it’s the best performance in an overseas Olympics. Everything lived up to the billing, and some of the superstars had riveting, dramatic performances. Not all of them gold, but that’s the Olympics, right?”

    Dylan Larkin (21) holds Johnny, the son of the Johnny Gaudreau while posing with teammates after Team USA beat Canada in overtime to claim its first men’s hockey gold medal since 1980.

    NBC broadcast the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and the NBA All-Star Game in February, the first time a network had all three in one month. It also premiered “Sunday Night Basketball” on Feb. 1.

    According to Nielsen, 215.6 million U.S. viewers tuned in for at least one of those events. Audience reach numbers have been higher under Nielsen’s new rating system since the minimum viewing requirement was reduced from 5 to 3 minutes.

    Super Bowl 60 averaged 125.6 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo, the second-most-watched program in U.S. history. The All-Star Game had its highest audience in 15 years, averaging 8.8 million, and the Lakers-Knicks game on Feb. 1 averaged 4.5 million.

    “I have to say it’s probably better than we expected. This doesn’t happen through luck or happenstance. This happens through just really good planning and then execution across the month. So really happy overall and I don’t think it could have gone better, honestly,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said.

  • Letters to the Editor | Feb. 24, 2026

    Letters to the Editor | Feb. 24, 2026

    Big Bro is watching

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared the Trump administration’s tariffs illegal may have pushed another front-page story to the inside of The Inquirer. The story that should have been out front described a large banner with a picture of Donald Trump unfurled and now hanging on the facade of the U.S. Department of Justice’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is a reminder that the department had been independent of the executive branch until Trump’s second term started last year.

    The banner of Big Brother hanging on the building clearly indicates the department has surrendered its independence. Cases against Don Lemon, James Comey, Letitia James, and the six Democratic members of Congress who discouraged service members from obeying illegal orders are examples of how the Justice Department now bows to the president’s commands.

    That banner must come down, and the Justice Department must recover its independence. To achieve this, we need a Congress that is also independent of the man on the banner.

    Joel Chinitz, Philadelphia

    Genocide scholars

    Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) has rebuked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) for her criticism of Israel at the Munich Security Conference. Fetterman claims that “there was never any genocide in Gaza.” However, Israeli Holocaust and genocide researchers — Amos Goldberg, Omer Bartov, Daniel Blatman, Raz Segal, and Shmuel Lederman — have all identified Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.

    Goldberg writes: “What is happening in Gaza is genocide because the level and pace of indiscriminate killing, destruction, mass expulsions, displacement, famine, executions, the wiping out of cultural and religious institutions … and the sweeping dehumanization of the Palestinians — create an overall picture of genocide, of a deliberate, conscious crushing of Palestinian existence in Gaza.” Other genocide scholars, including Martin Shaw, author of the book What is Genocide? Melanie O’Brien, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and Dirk Moses, senior editor of the Journal of Genocide Research, have drawn the same conclusion.

    The United Nations Genocide Convention placed prevention at the center of international law. By rejecting credible evidence of genocide, Fetterman is undermining the postwar promise of “never again.”

    Terry Hansen, Grafton, Wisc.

    Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.

  • Dear Abby | Employee thinks loss of pet equates loss of child

    DEAR ABBY: I supervise a group of six mid-level professionals. Usually, we manage fine, but a current conflict may push me over the edge. “Lauren” lives alone with dogs that seem to be her only family. One of them (age 11) had been sick. She kept asking for sick leave to take him to the vet. I told her she had to use vacation time for that.

    Well, the dog died, and now Lauren wants to take bereavement leave. When I refused, she had a fit and started yelling about unequal treatment because another co-worker, “Jenny,” was allowed to take bereavement leave earlier this year.

    Jenny’s toddler son died in a drowning accident. It was a horrific tragedy. Jenny was traumatized and incapacitated for weeks. The situations are not comparable. But Jenny heard Lauren yelling and comparing Jenny’s child to her elderly basset hound. This is causing all sorts of interpersonal problems that HR has flatly refused to get involved with.

    I understand that Lauren loved her dog, but I also think she needs to get a grip, apologize to Jenny and take a vacation if she needs to. Is it unreasonable to expect an adult to know the difference between a human and a dog and act accordingly?

    — STRESSED SUPERVISOR IN CALIFORNIA

    DEAR SUPERVISOR: I think you already know the answer to your rather snarky question. HR at your firm may be reluctant to handle this hot potato because they do not have a policy in place that covers pet illness or bereavement for the loss of one. Please suggest it to your employer.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: My wife and I are seniors and live in a one-floor condominium. I am in good health, but she has several medical issues, including impaired balance and mobility. She refuses the recommended physical therapy and rarely uses the walker I bought for her. She hates cooking now and wants me to drive almost daily for takeout, which is expensive and time-consuming. Now, she’s talking about selling our condominium to move into a seniors’ complex with independent, assisted and continuing care phases. All meals are prepared there.

    I do not want this move and have told her so. When I do, she goes silent for days, telling me it’s time for the change. I disagree. We are at an impasse. I am so upset about this I am considering divorce after 55 years. What do you recommend we do?

    — STILL YOUNG IN NORTH CAROLINA

    DEAR STILL YOUNG: I recommend you discuss this with your CPA and your attorney before making any decisions. If you could afford it, an assisted living facility for her while you remain in the condo might be ideal. However, if that’s not possible, would you be willing to send her to the facility while you rent a one-bedroom apartment for yourself?

    One thing I am pretty sure of: Your wife is signaling that she’s shutting down. Her world is now smaller than it was. You haven’t aged at the same rate, and it may be time to do for her what you would like her to do for you if the situation were reversed.

  • Horoscopes: Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). Even when something is completely unfamiliar to you, you are still able to open your mind and heart to it because you’re constantly looking for points of connection and relatability. This curiosity and courage will be your creative thriving.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You sense opportunity is here somewhere. Your intuition notices the signal — a conversation, a chance encounter, an emerging idea your conscious mind hasn’t fully processed yet. Your mind is already tuning into something lucky.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Subtle energies in a room will affect the outcome. Invisible forces seal deals. Case in point: reputation. It’s just a story, perhaps unrecorded, but powerful, nonetheless. It affects trust, which is also invisible but will make all the difference.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). The inner narration that helps you understand experiences can also interfere with your experience. When self-talk is repetitive and unhelpful, you may end up thinking about life more than being in it. You can quiet the noise with a calming practice.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). In the adventure movies, the hero is cracking jokes while swinging over pits of vipers. It’s heroic to be lighthearted when the stakes are high. You’ve mastered the art of reading the room and sensing when to release the tension of a moment.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You’ll be successful because you notice what matters. You assume nothing. You don’t underestimate the meek. You ask questions like, “What could go right or wrong?” You’re attuned to what others overlook, neglect or don’t detect at all.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Today, your detailed observations will be more useful than big-picture theorizing, especially in matters of communication. Instead of asking, “What’s the story here?” try “What exactly was said? With what tone? What did I assume in response?”

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Today features an easy pursuit. You hold on loosely and enjoy the process. You don’t care so much as to get your pride involved. You leave room for fortunate coincidences because you are relaxed.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Giving a solid performance takes much more work than people realize. It will take dozens of hours to deliver what’s expected and dozens more to make it look effortless. You aim to please, and you’re right on target.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You will limit your unintentional words or movements to render your intentional expressions more discernible and charismatic. Your tweaks of communication keep your message uncluttered, clear, powerful and easily understood.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). When you give your word, you’re good for it. You follow through on even the most casual of suggestions. The size of the commitment doesn’t matter. You deliver on it because you despise flakiness in anyone, yourself included.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). The sun smiles on you with an opportunity to strike up the band. Begin a project, launch what you’ve been working on or start the conversation that will mark the relationship’s beginning. Your confidence kicks in from the get-go.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Feb. 24). Step into your Year of the Fire Heart, when your passions burn with purpose and fuel truly remarkable endeavors and relationships. You’re able to create quickly, and you will bond with like minds to make the change you feel the world needs. Your kindness and insight attract your team. More highlights: Travel adventures, strong mentorship and a long-awaited financial breakthrough. Taurus and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 11, 19, 26 and 40.

  • Former ICE instructor says agency has slashed training for new officers

    Former ICE instructor says agency has slashed training for new officers

    A former instructor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday accused the agency of dramatically slashing training standards for new officers and lying to Congress about it as the Trump administration seeks to rapidly expand its mass deportation operation.

    Ryan Schwank, who resigned from his job at an ICE academy in Georgia last week, told congressional Democrats at a hearing that the agency eliminated 240 hours of “vital classes” from a mandatory 580-hour training program, including instruction about the legal boundaries for the use of force, how to safely handle firearms, and the proper way to detain and arrest immigrants.

    “Law enforcement is a deadly serious biz. It is not a place for shortcuts,” Schwank said. “Deficient training can and will get people killed. … ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure that 12,000 officers can faithfully uphold the Constitution and perform their jobs.”

    Ahead of the hearing, Schwank provided a joint panel of House and Senate Democrats copies of internal ICE documents that he said shows the extent of the cuts.

    Schwank’s testimony comes two weeks after acting ICE director Todd M. Lyons testified in front of separate House and Senate committees amid growing public outrage over the aggressive tactics of ICE and other federal immigration officers. Two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis last month.

    During his testimony in the House on Feb. 10, Lyons responded to questions about the agency’s training program by saying it has not reduced the “meat of the training” but has sought to reduce the time it takes to get officers into the field. He said training used to take place five days a week for eight hours a day but has been changed to six days a week for 12 hours per day.

    In a statement Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said ICE recruits receive 56 days of training before beginning their assignments, along with an average of 28 additional days of “on-the-job-training.” DHS said recruits are receiving the same total hours of training as they always have.

    “No training hours have been cut. Our officers receive extensive firearm training, are taught de-escalation tactics, and receive Fourth and Fifth Amendment comprehensive instruction,” said Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for the department.

    Schwank said that among the classes eliminated were 16 hours of firearms training. He also said that a two-hour class on the rights of protesters was shortened into 10 minutes of discussion during a lecture on “the concept of seizure.”

    Schwank was separately asked to review an internal memo, signed by Lyons, that said ICE officers are authorized to use administrative warrants, approved by senior ICE officials, to enter private residences. That marked a shift from the federal government’s long-standing position that officers must obtain judicial warrants signed by federal judges.

    Schwank said he was instructed to train the recruits on the policy but was told he could not talk about the information publicly or even take notes after reading the memo. The Washington Post and other news outlets reported on the memo last month.

    “ICE is teaching cadets to violate the Constitution and attempting to cloak it in secrecy by demanding I lie about it,” he said.

  • Armed man shot and killed at Mar-a-Lago was never interested in politics or guns, cousin says

    Armed man shot and killed at Mar-a-Lago was never interested in politics or guns, cousin says

    CAMERON, N.C. — The 21-year-old North Carolina man who entered a gate at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort with a shotgun before he was shot and killed worked as a golf course groundskeeper and liked to sketch.

    Austin Tucker Martin rarely, if ever, talked about politics, seemed afraid of guns, and came from a family of Trump supporters, according to Braeden Fields, a cousin who said the two grew up together.

    “I wouldn’t believe he would do something like this. It’s mind-blowing,” Fields said. “He wouldn’t even hurt an ant. He doesn’t even know how to use a gun.”

    Martin walked up to the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early Sunday and went through a gate when it opened for employees to leave, a U.S. Secret Service spokesperson said Monday. Martin dropped a gas can and raised a shotgun at two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy, who then opened fire “to neutralize the threat,” said Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

    Trump, who often spends weekends at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort, was at the White House at the time.

    Investigators have not identified a motive. Trump faced two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign, including one just a few miles from Mar-a-Lago when a man was spotted aiming a rifle through shrubbery while Trump was golfing.

    Following Sunday’s incident, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said investigators believe Martin bought his shotgun while driving to Florida. Authorities said his family had recently reported him missing.

    Martin was from central North Carolina, where guns and hunting are a part of life, his cousin said. But whenever they’d go hunting or target shooting, Martin would never pick up a gun, Fields told the Associated Press on Sunday.

    He lived with his mother in a modest modular house down a rutted sandy road near the town of Cameron. No one answered the door Monday, and the large police presence from the day before was gone.

    Martin’s sister was just 21 when she was killed in a car accident in 2023, and he has an older brother who’s in the military, Fields said.

    For the past three years, Martin worked as a groundskeeper at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club.

    “It’s tragic. I feel for his family,” said Kelly Miller, president of the course in nearby Southern Pines. “It’s just unfortunate what transpired. It was totally unexpected.”

    Martin last year started a business to sell pen drawings he made, according to state records. A website matching the company name features illustrations of golf courses, buildings, and ancient Roman architecture.

    Politics didn’t seem to be among his interests, his cousin said

    “We are big Trump supporters, all of us. Everybody,” Fields said, but his cousin was “real quiet, never really talked about anything.”

  • Biden, aides project optimism in cancer fight, but some close friends worry

    Biden, aides project optimism in cancer fight, but some close friends worry

    Longtime friends and allies of Joe Biden say they are worried about the toll an aggressive form of prostate cancer is taking on the former president and his health. But Biden and his aides say he is doing well, making progress on ongoing projects, and maintaining public appearances.

    Biden has been encouraged as he has gone through treatment and aides said the former president is doing as well as they could hope nearly a year after he announced his metastatic prostate cancer diagnosis. He is continuing to work on his memoir and build out his foundation and presidential library, attending board dinners and meetings. He was spotted last week on an Amtrak train from Washington to Delaware, where he took pictures with passengers.

    Biden’s public engagements since leaving office last January have been fairly limited. He attended Tatiana Schlossberg’s funeral in January, traveled with his family to St. Croix during the holidays, and has been seen on flights, planes, at Mass, and at restaurants. He is expected to visit South Carolina this month and deliver remarks at an event to mark the sixth anniversary of his victory in that state’s primary, which set the stage for his 2020 presidential win.

    Four people close to Biden who have spoken with him in recent months, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details, said there have been no updates from the president on his condition. But the people, including two former Biden officials and an elected Democrat, said he has at times appeared more fatigued in private interactions over the past several weeks, a source of worry that they have attributed to the strain of cancer and its treatment.

    A fifth person said Biden is staying active and engaged, and remains “encouraged and positive about his prognosis given his positive response to treatment.”

    Biden’s personal office declined to comment for this story.

    Biden, 83, announced last May that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer that had metastasized to the bone. The cancer is characterized by a Gleason score of 9, meaning it is an aggressive cancer that is more likely to spread quickly. (The scale ranges from 6 to 10.) At the time, Biden’s office said the cancer was responding to hormone therapy, “which allows for effective management.”

    Biden rang the ceremonial bell at Penn Medicine Radiation Oncology in Philadelphia on Oct. 20 after completing a course of radiation therapy. He also underwent surgery in September to remove skin cancer lesions on his head.

    Medical experts said metastatic prostate cancer is incurable — and most commonly spreads to the bones, as it has for Biden — though an array of advancements in recent years has made it possible to manage it effectively. That means patients can live with the cancer for years and end up dying of something else entirely, said Judd Moul, professor of urology at the Duke Cancer Institute at Duke University.

    Without knowing additional details about Biden’s health and treatment, experts said his prognosis could vary widely. Biden’s office has not shared additional details that would indicate the degree to which the cancer has spread or how Biden responded to radiation last year. Oncologists said some men with advanced prostate cancer can live many years with effective treatment while others deteriorate rapidly.

    The elements of Biden’s diagnosis that are publicly known — including his Gleason score and the fact that the cancer was Stage 4 and had already spread at the time of diagnosis — indicate he is facing a serious and advanced form of the disease, one that typically requires ongoing treatment and close monitoring.

    “Bone metastasis is the most common place prostate cancer spreads, but the degree is important and how it’s found,” Moul said. “The degree of spread or amount of spread is just as important as the fact there’s spread.”

    Moul added: “There are a lot of men with advanced prostate cancer who can live many, many years. It’s unfair to all of our patients to paint a pessimistic picture for everyone because there are a lot of patients, even with metastatic cancer, who die of something else.”

    The five-year survival rate for metastatic prostate cancer is 34% to 38%, according to the American Cancer Society, which notes that advancements in treatments have significantly improved outcomes.

    It is also common for metastatic prostate cancer to spread to the spine, said Gerald Denis, Shipley prostate cancer research professor at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Doctors especially want to avoid a weakening of the bones, Denis said, noting that such weakening in the spine can lead to fractures. He said there are “highly effective end of life medications to reduce pain.”

    “If the spine has been degraded by the tumor metastasis, it’s entirely possible to break your back simply by getting out of bed the wrong way,” Denis said, noting he does not know any of the specifics of Biden’s case. “This is a very painful and difficult stage of the terminal illness. … I am very sad for him and his family.”

    Biden’s cancer diagnosis has raised uncomfortable questions for Democrats, who for months were embroiled in a debate over whether Biden’s decision to seek reelection paved the way for Trump’s return to office. Most have been loath to relitigate that controversy in recent months, focused instead on winning control of the House in this year’s midterms and picking up Senate seats.

    Biden’s diagnosis has forced the party to privately grapple with what would have happened had he served a second term and then received his diagnosis just months in. That in part has fueled a broader discussion about when Democratic leaders and lawmakers should step aside, a debate that is playing out in some key primary races and some older lawmakers’ decisions to seek another term.

    Several allies of the former president said they are saddened at the way Biden’s post-presidency has unfolded. Trump has attacked him relentlessly, fellow Democrats have not wanted to defend him because of lingering anger and resentment over the 2024 election, and he has been battling an aggressive form of cancer.

    Biden has faced a post-presidency with little modern precedent. He is the oldest president to leave office, giving him limited time to shape his legacy outside of his four-year term. And Trump — who has faced similar questions about his age, physical health, and mental acuity — has remained fixated on his predecessor since returning to office last year, insulting him almost daily and repeating the false claim that he won the 2020 election.

    “I think Joe Biden is the worst thing that ever happened to old people,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Times last month.

    Barbara Perry, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, said presidents who leave office on negative terms — whether they lost reelection or were unpopular — are often able to rehabilitate their image in their post-presidential years.

    Jimmy Carter, another one-term Democrat who some referred to as a “failed president,” is often held up as the person with the most successful post-presidency. But while Carter’s work on housing and global poverty helped enhance his reputation, it did not alter perceptions among many about his time in office. Carter spent nearly two years in hospice after battling metastatic melanoma.

    “We don’t know how long President Biden will have to correct for the ways things ended, which by all accounts was not a positive for him,” Perry said. “The other element of this in political and historical terms is what’s happening to him now raises questions about what was happening to him in the White House with his health.”