A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Friday blocking the Trump administration’s efforts to keep Harvard University from hosting international students.
The order from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs preserves the ability of Harvard to host foreign students while the case is decided. It marks another victory for the Ivy League school as it challenges multiple government sanctions amid a battle with the White House.
In other news, California’s challenge of the Trump administration’s military deployment in Los Angeles returned to a federal courtroom in San Francisco on Friday for a brief hearing after an appeals court handed President Donald Trump a key procedural win.
Here is the Latest:
Trump heads to Iowa to begin July Fourth festivities
The president is kicking off this year’s celebrations with a “major event” at the Iowa State Fair.
In an e-mail to supporters, Trump said he will give a speech July 3 at the annual fair, one of the most popular events in the state and long a magnet for political candidates.
Trump narrowly lost the 2016 Iowa presidential caucuses to Ted Cruz but overwhelmingly defeated Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley in 2024.
San Diego clergy visit federal immigration court to bear witness during crackdown on migrants
About a dozen religious leaders paid the visit Friday to serve as witnesses to “what goes down” as some cases arising from the Trump administration’s migration crackdown are heard, an organizer said.
Some migrants have been arrested at the court by federal immigration officers. The Rev. Scott Santarosa, a Jesuit priest who was lead organizer of the group, said the purpose of the visit “is more than anything just to provide some sense of presence.”
“People are longing for people of faith to walk with vulnerable migrants,” added Santarosa, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. “Our goal is not trying to prevent arrests — but we can witness it.”
The visit was preceded by a Mass at San Diego’s Catholic Cathedral with bishops and other clergy — including Bishop Michael Pham, the top-ranking official in the group and one of the first bishops appointed by Pope Leo XIV — offering prayers for refugees and migrants on World Refugee Day.
Senate parliamentarian deals blow to GOP plan to gut consumer bureau in tax bill
Republicans suffered a sizable setback Friday on one key aspect of the president’s big bill after their plans to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other provisions from the Senate Banking Committee ran into procedural violations with the parliamentarian.
Republicans proposed zeroing out funding for the CFPB, the landmark agency set up in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, to save $6.4 billion. The bureau was designed as a way to better protect Americans from financial fraud but has been opposed by many GOP lawmakers since its inception. The Trump administration has targeted it as an example of government over-regulation and overreach.
The findings by the parliamentarian’s office, which is working overtime scrubbing Trump’s overall bill to ensure it aligns with the chamber’s strict “Byrd Rule” processes, signal a tough road ahead. The most daunting questions are still to come as GOP leadership rushes to muscle the package to the floor by July 4.
▶ Read more about the push to gut the CFPB
Verdict against a pardoned Capitol rioter is only a partial victory for a police officer’s widow
Coming to court this week, Erin Smith wanted to prove that a man assaulted her husband during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and ultimately was responsible for his suicide nine days later.
On Friday an eight-member jury held a 69-year-old chiropractor, David Walls-Kaufman, liable for assaulting Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith. The panel will hear more testimony before deciding whether to award Erin Smith any monetary damages.
But the judge presiding over the civil trial dismissed her wrongful-death claim before jurors began deliberating, saying no reasonable juror could conclude that Walls-Kaufman’s actions were capable of causing a traumatic brain injury leading to Smith’s death.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes divided the trial into two stages: one on the merits of Smith’s claims and another on damages. Closing arguments for the latter are expected Monday.
The judge urged the parties to discuss a possible settlement over the weekend.
▶ Read more about the lawsuit
Family of ex-FBI agent presumed dead in Iran hopes talks with US can lead to return of his remains
The family of Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran 18 years ago, is calling for any deal between the United States and Iran to include the return of his remains.
Levinson disappeared March 9, 2007, when he was scheduled to meet a source on the Iranian island of Kish. For years U.S. officials would say only that he was working independently on a private investigation. But a 2013 Associated Press investigation revealed that he had been sent on a mission by CIA analysts who had no authority to run such an operation.
In 2020 the U.S. government said it concluded that Levinson died while in Iranian custody. The family said then that it did not know when or if his body would be returned but vowed that those responsible would face justice.
“We want to make sure that our dad is not forgotten,” son Daniel Levinson told AP on Friday.
Trump says of his immigration policies: ‘I’m never going to do anything to hurt our farmers’
The president is again suggesting that he doesn’t want his hard-line immigration policies to hurt American farmers — seemingly flip-flopping anew on the issue.
The Department of Homeland Security said this week that immigration raids at farms hotels and restaurants would continue despite Trump suggesting that longtime employees in such jobs were difficult to replace.
On Friday he again suggested that exemptions might be made for agricultural workers. “I’m never going to do anything to hurt our farmers,” he said.
The president defended getting “the criminals out of our country” but said that in cases of “good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people they hire” and “you can’t put farms out of business.”
“We don’t want to hurt people that aren’t criminals,” Trump said, adding, “I never want to hurt our farmers are great people. They keep us happy and healthy and fat.”
Court blocks Louisiana law requiring schools to post Ten Commandments in classrooms
The panel of three federal appellate judges ruled that the law is unconstitutional.
Friday’s ruling is a major win for civil liberties groups who say the mandate violates the separation of church and state and that the poster-size displays would isolate students — especially those who are not Christian.
The mandate has been touted by Republicans including Trump and is one of the latest pushes by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms. Backers of the law say the Ten Commandments belong because they are historical and part of the foundation of U.S. law.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ order stems from a lawsuit filed last year by parents of Louisiana students from various religious backgrounds who said the law violates First Amendment language guaranteeing religious liberty and forbidding government establishment of religion.
The mandate was signed into law last June by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.
Supreme Court rejects toy company’s push for a quick decision on Trump’s tariffs
The high court denied the motion from Learning Resources Inc., which was asking for a speedy decision on the legality of the tariffs.
The Illinois company wanted the justices to take up the case soon rather than let it continue to play out in lower courts. It argues that the tariffs and uncertainty are having a “massive impact” on businesses around the country and the issue needs swift attention from the Supreme Court.
The Trump administration has defended the tariffs by arguing that the emergency powers law gives the president the authority to regulate imports during national emergencies and the country’s longtime trade deficit qualifies as such an emergency.
The justices did not explain their reasoning in a brief order rebuffing the motion, but the court is typically reluctant to take up cases before lower courts have decided.
An appeals court is set to hear the case in late July.
Layoff notices delivered to hundreds of Voice of America workers
The notices were sent Friday to 639 employees of Voice of America and the U.S. agency that oversees it, effectively shutting down an outlet that has provided news to countries around the world since World War II.
They included employees at VOA’s Persian-language service who were suddenly called off administrative leave last week to broadcast reports to Iran following Israel’s attack. Three journalists working for the Persian service Friday who left their office for a cigarette break had their badges confiscated and were not allowed back in, according to one fired employee.
In total some 1,400 people at Voice of America and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, or 85% of its workforce, have lost their jobs since March, said Kari Lake, Trump’s senior advisor to the agency.
Trump says his director of national intelligence ‘was wrong’ on Iran’s nuclear program
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers in March that U.S. spy agencies believed that Iran had not made a decision to build a nuclear weapon.
Speaking to reporters after touching down in New Jersey, Trump was asked about that assessment and responded, “Then my intelligence community was wrong.”
When told it was Gabbard who said, that he said, “She’s wrong.”
Trump doesn’t think US should meet NATO spending target
Members of the NATO alliance will meet next week with hopes of finalizing a pledge for all countries to pledge to spend more on defense.
But the U.S. shouldn’t have to do that, according to the president.
The NATO pledge would entail all members spending 5% of their gross domestic product on defense.
Asked about it Friday, Trump said, “I don’t think we should, but I think they should.”
“We’ve been supporting NATO so long,” he told reporters.
He also called Spain, a NATO member that has rejected the 5% spending pledge, a “very low payer.”
“They were either good negotiators, or they weren’t doing the right thing,” Trump said in northern New Jersey, where he is spending part of the weekend. “I think Spain has to pay what everybody else has to pay.”
Trump says it’s ‘hard to see’ why Iran would need a civilian-use nuclear power program
“They’re sitting on top of one of the largest piles of oil in the world. I just don’t know why they’d need that for civilian purposes,” Trump told reporters after landing in New Jersey on Friday, when asked about Iran developing nuclear capabilities for use to generate power and other civilian pursuits.
“You’re sitting on one of the largest oil piles anywhere in the world,” the president added. “It’s a little bit hard to see why you’d need that.”
Judge asks if troops in Los Angeles are violating Posse Comitatus Act
A federal judge held a brief hearing on California’s challenge of the Trump administration’s military deployment in Los Angeles.
The hearing followed Trump’s key procedural win Thursday in which an appellate court said he can continue deploying the troops while the case plays out.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer put off any more rulings Friday. Instead, he asked for briefings from both sides on whether the Posse Comitatus Act is being violated.
That act prohibits troops from conducting civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil.
Breyer also asked the attorneys to address whether he or the appellate court retains primary jurisdiction to grant an injunction.
Judge blocks Trump effort to keep Harvard from hosting foreign students
Friday’s preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs preserves the ability of Harvard University to host international students while the case is decided.
It marks another victory for the Ivy League school as it challenges multiple government sanctions amid a battle with the White House.
Trump chats up construction crew working at the White House
The president stopped to chat with workers who are busy piling gravel around the Rose Garden outside the White House, where grass has been removed.
The exact conversation couldn’t be heard, but Trump spoke to a crew of workers for several minutes.
The exchange came as Trump was heading to Marine One, which was parked on the South Lawn, part of the journey to his Bedminster club in New Jersey where the president will host a Friday evening event for his Maga Inc. super PAC.
Crews began working earlier this month to pave over the once grassy areas near the Rose Garden, just off the Oval Office. Trump also had two towering flagpoles erected outside the White House.
California argues in court against Trump’s National Guard deployment
California’s challenge of the Trump administration’s military deployment on the streets of Los Angeles is back before a federal judge.
Friday’s hearing in San Francisco comes after an appeals court handed Trump a key procedural win. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said that for now, Trump can keep control of the California National Guard troops he deployed in response to protests over immigration raids.
Despite the appellate setback, California’s attorneys are expected to ask a judge Friday for a preliminary injunction returning control of the troops in Los Angeles, where protests have calmed down in recent days.
▶ Read more on the California National Guard case
Judge says he will order Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from detention
Judge Michael Farbiarz made the ruling from the bench in federal court in New Jersey on Friday. Lawyers for the Palestinian activist had asked a federal judge to immediately release him on bail from a Louisiana jail, or else transfer him to New Jersey, where he can be closer to his wife and newborn son.
The same judge had ruled earlier that the government can continue to detain the legal U.S. resident based on allegations that he lied on his green card application. Khalil disputes the accusations that he wasn’t forthcoming on the application. The judge previously determined that Khalil couldn’t continue being held based on the U.S. secretary of state’s determination that he could harm American foreign policy.
Supreme Court still hasn’t ruled on birthright citizenship
The justices released six opinions on Friday on everything from California emission standards to a lawsuit filed by victims of terrorism attacks. That leaves 10 cases still to decide, including Trump’s executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally. The order has been blocked by lower courts.
The issue before the justices is whether to limit the authority of judges to issue nationwide injunctions, which have plagued both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past 10 years. These nationwide court orders have emerged as an important check on Trump’s efforts and a source of mounting frustration to the Republican president and his allies.
The Supreme Court is in the homestretch of a term dominated by the Trump administration’s emergency appeals of lower court orders seeking to slow the president’s efforts to remake the federal government.
▶ Read more about what’s left for the Supreme Court this term
Trump hints at more potential deployments following his appellate victory in California
A three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously concluded that Trump can likely show that he lawfully exercised his authority in federalizing control of the California National Guard — and that even if the federal government failed to notify the governor of California in advance as required by law, Newsom had no power to veto the president’s order.
Trump celebrated the decision on his Truth Social platform, calling it a “BIG WIN.”
He wrote that “all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done.”
▶ Read more on developments following the appellate ruling
JD Vance heads to Los Angeles
The vice president is traveling to Los Angeles on Friday to meet with Marines and to visit various federal command centers.
Vance’s office did not release a topic of discussion for his visit. But Los Angeles has been the epicenter of protests against the Trump administration’s mass deportation operations.
Trump deployed National Guard troops to downtown LA this month in response to the protests. The state sued for a temporary injunction to stop the deployment, but a federal appeals court ruled in Trump’s favor Thursday night while that legal challenge continues.
Trump wants a special prosecutor to look into his baseless claims about the 2020 election
“The 2020 election was a total FRAUD! The evidence is MASSIVE,” Trump posted Friday on his social media site. He added, “A Special Prosecutor must be appointed. This cannot be allowed to happen again in the United States of America! Let the work begin!”
Trump has for years claimed, without evidence, that Democrat Joe Biden only won the 2020 election because of widespread voter fraud. Evidence presented in courts showed this didn’t happen — judges, including some appointed by Trump, rejected nearly every claim of widespread fraud as false or frivolous.
A special prosecutor in Biden’s Justice Department investigated Trump’s efforts to undermine the 2020 election, but that probe ended when Trump won back the White House in 2024.
US investors wait to see if US will join Israel’s war against Iran
U.S. stocks are drifting higher following the Juneteenth holiday. Treasury yields also edged higher in the bond market after Trump said he will decide within two weeks whether the U.S. military will get directly involved in Israel’s fighting with Iran.
World shares are mostly higher and crude oil prices have rebounded — U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 52 cents to $75.66 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard added 31 cents to $77.01 per barrel. Oil prices have been gyrating as fears rise and ebb that war could disrupt the global flow of crude.
“The stock market’s risk premium isn’t just rising — it’s recalibrating for a world where every macro lever now doubles as a tripwire,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management wrote in a commentary, adding that traders are bracing for what comes next.
Trump’s tariffs agenda may have been eclipsed by the conflict in the Middle East, but it remains another major factor weighing on markets, Innes said: “A delayed fuse is still a fuse.”
Trump’s schedule, according to the White House
11 a.m. — Trump will attend a national security meeting
2 p.m. — He’ll travel to Bedminster, NJ
7:30 p.m. — Trump will attend a dinner for the super PAC MAGA Inc. at his golf course
Trump extended TikTok ban deadline for a third time, without clear legal basis
Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for an additional 90 days, giving his administration more time to broker a deal that would bring the social media platform under American ownership.
Trump disclosed the executive order on the Truth Social platform Thursday morning.
The first extension was through an executive order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when a national ban — approved by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court — took effect. The second was in April when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump’s tariff announcement.
It is not clear how many times Trump can — or will — keep extending the ban as the government continues to try to negotiate a deal for TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance. While there is no clear legal basis for the extensions, so far there have been no legal challenges to fight them.
Top Senate Democrats ‘deeply concerned’ over escalating tensions with Iran
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrats on several key committees said in a joint statement Wednesday evening that they are “deeply concerned about a lack of preparation, strategy, and clearly defined objectives” amid uncertainty about whether President Trump will decide to strike Iran.
The Democrats say Trump should seek authorization from Congress if he is “considering taking the country to war.”
They urged Trump to “prioritize diplomacy and pursue a binding agreement that can prevent a nuclear-armed Iran and reduce the risk to our diplomats, our service members, and the hundreds of thousands of Americans living in the Middle East.”
Senior European diplomats are set to hold nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva on Friday
Senior European diplomats are set to hold nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva on Friday, according to a European official familiar with the matter.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the high-ranking diplomats from Germany, France and the United Kingdom as well as the European Union’s top diplomat will gather for the meeting in Switzerland.
The planned meeting comes as President Donald Trump is weighing approval for the U.S. military to join Israel in carrying out strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.
The Associated Press
