Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Venezuela reaches agreement with US to resume repatriation flights of migrants
Venezuela has reached an agreement with the United States to resume repatriation flights of migrants, President Nicolas Maduro announced in a televised address on Saturday. Maduro said the flights would commence on Sunday.
Trump pulls security clearances for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday took away security clearances for former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others in his latest move against his Democratic opponents. The Republican president, who has also revoked the security clearance for former President Joe Biden, defeated Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and Harris in last year's election.
Trump´s regulatory freeze throws US fishing industry into chaos
President Donald Trump´s regulatory freeze has injected chaos and uncertainty into a number of lucrative American fisheries, raising the risk of a delayed start to the fishing season for some East Coast cod and haddock fleets and leading to overfishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna, according to Reuters interviews with industry groups and federal government employees. America´s $320 billion fishing industry relies on a branch of the federal government, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to manage coastal fisheries. Under a 1976 law, NOAA´s National Marine Fisheries Service develops management plans for 45 fisheries, setting quotas and determining the start and close of fishing seasons, in consultation with federal government scientists and local fishermen.
Trump asks if Lee Harvey Oswald was helped in assassinating JFK
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he believes the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy was carried out by Lee Harvey Oswald but asked if the gunman had help. When asked if he believes Oswald killed JFK, Trump responded, "I do. And I've always held that, of course he was, was he helped?" Trump told Clay Travis, the founder of sports website Outkick, during an interview on Air Force One.
Pro-Trump senator meets China´s economy tsar amid trade tensions
U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, met with China´s economy tsar, Vice Premier He Lifeng, on Saturday, marking the first visit by a U.S. politician to Beijing since Trump returned to the White House. Striking a cordial tone at the start of their meeting at the Great Hall of the People, the Chinese vice premier joked that the Montana Republican looked younger and more handsome than on television, according to a pool report.
US FAA pilot safety messaging system resumes operations after outage
A U.S. Federal Aviation Administration system that provides safety messages to pilots experienced an outage for several hours on Saturday before resuming operations, the agency and airlines said. The outage of the "Notice to Airmen" system for more than three hours on Saturday was due to a hardware issue. In early February, the system known as NOTAM also suffered a failure.
Trump targets lawyers in immigration cases, lawsuits against administration
Legal advocacy groups sounded alarms on Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new actions against lawyers and law firms that bring immigration lawsuits and other cases against the government that he deems unethical. In a memorandum to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi late on Friday, Trump said lawyers were helping to fuel "rampant fraud and meritless claims" in the immigration system, and directed the Justice Department to seek sanctions against attorneys for professional misconduct.
Trump's Social Security chief backs down from 'shutting down' agency
The head of the U.S. Social Security Administration has backed down from "shutting down the agency" after a federal judge rebuked him for misinterpreting a court ruling that limited billionaire Elon Musk's access to agency information. The agency's leader, Leland Dudek, who has been cooperating with a Musk-led group tasked with reducing government waste, said in a statement on Friday that the court had clarified its ruling.
Trump's Pentagon chief slams judge for halting transgender ban
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined the mounting criticism of federal judges by President Donald Trump and others in his administration on Saturday, mocking the judge who blocked a ban on transgender troops in the U.S. military and suggesting she had exceeded her authority. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington ruled that Trump's January 27 executive order, one of several issued by the Republican president targeting legal rights for transgender Americans, likely violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
Anti-Musk protesters gather outside Tesla dealership in Washington
Roughly 100 people waved signs and danced in protest outside a Tesla dealership in Washington on Saturday, angry at the electric vehicle maker's billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who has led efforts to sharply cut the federal workforce. Cars driving past the demonstration honked at the protesters whose signs featured photos of Musk, the world's richest man. President Donald Trump appointed Musk to lead efforts to downsize the federal government, which has thousands of workers in the nation's capital.
