Marco Rubio has announced cancellations of most USAID programs – Live | Trump Administration

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Democrat and Israeli critic Ihan Omar said this about the news that pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has been arrested.

It’s completely outrageous. This is non-American.

The forced disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil, because there is nothing but a constitutionally protected speech, is a clear attack on the blatant acts of First Amendment and authoritarianism.

Halil must be released.

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The Trump administration has quickly highlighted the arrest of undocumented immigration allegations by immigration and customs enforcement. But not everyone they arrest is illegally in the country, as reported by the Guardian Marina Dunbar.

A Virginia man who is still a US citizen but was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, says he is rethinking his support for Donald Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign, which won the 2024 victory.

Jensy Machado, a naturalized US citizen, said he was in the car when he was stopped by an ice agent on his way to work in Manassas, Virginia.

“They just get out of the car with their guns in their hands and say, ‘Turn off the car, give them the keys, open the window.’ Machado, 38, told news outlets Telemundo44 and NBC 4 Washington.

Machado was driving to work with two other men when Ice suddenly stopped him near his home. A gun-wielding agent surrounded his truck.

“I was a Trump supporter,” he said Wednesday. “I voted for last year’s election because I thought… I was going to oppose criminals, not all Hispanic, Spanish-language appearances.”

According to Machado, the agent received an order to deport him and told him the name of the man who gave him the address of Machado’s home. He responded by telling the agent that the person’s name wasn’t him, and offered to show him his Virginia driver’s license.

However, he says that the agent did not ask him to see his ID. Instead, they ordered him to leave his car, and they handcuffed him. The agent then asked Machado how he entered the country.

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The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that the arrest of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is linked to an executive order signed by Donald Trump, which aimed to crack down on “activities along Hamas.”

In response, Ifnotnow, the American Jewish Association opposes Israeli policy against Palestinians, said that Halil’s arrest amounted to “adduction.”

This weekend, the Trump administration snatched up Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian Colombian student who holds a green card, in protest of the massacre attacks on Israeli military citizens. Plaincross DHS agents seized Mahmoud as they were returning home with their eight-month-old wife and reportedly hugging him at a Louisiana detention center. The attack is the most sharp target of Palestinian students and defending Palestinian rights, and also allows for the integration of power over Trump’s political opponents.

It is totally despicable that they are being carried out in this authoritarian rush under the guise of fighting for the safety of the Jews. Let’s be completely clear. It destroys higher education and not only addicts students for political speech, but also keeps Jews safe and actively puts us at risk. Wasting waste in our democracy and people’s lives in the name of protecting Jews will inevitably only promote responsiveness to us and increase the anti-Semitism threat we face.

Here are some details about what we know about Khalil’s arrest:

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Donald Trump’s decision to cut back on support for Ukraine — including sharing military aid and intelligence news that Kiev has relied on his defense — has not sat well with everyone in his party.

Nebraska Sen. Don Bacon told CNN that Trump is turning his back on US promises as a global guardian of freedom.

We were leaders of the Free World, but to many leaders and people, including Republicans in Nebraska, this administration appears to be separate from its legacy built by Ike Eisenhower and all these presidents.

I am not interested in foreign policy that is completely built on realism or transactionalism. We are leaders who support freedom, the free market, and the rule of law, and we believe in foreign policy that has moral clarity, but moral clarity, protecting our nation and idealism.

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Zelenskyy arrives in Saudi Arabia as he expects “substantial progress” in his Ukrainian talk

Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Saudi Arabia for negotiations last week that could pave the way for the mineral trade that the US is sought, relying on Ukraine to dodge Russian invasions.

Earlier that day, Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said he hoped for “substantial progress,” which he said aimed at securing a “peace agreement and a first ceasefire framework.”

There’s another live blog covering this fast moving story. You can follow here.

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Donald Trump’s dismantling of USAID will hit a sharp blow to his efforts to tackle the climate crisis, reports Guardian Fiona Harvey:

Donald Trump’s withdrawal of US foreign aid will almost destroy global climate funds from developed countries, data suggesting that it could have a catastrophic effect on vulnerable countries.

Last year, the US was responsible for about $8 for every $100 that flowed from a rich world to developing countries, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deal with the effects of extreme weather.

About $11 billion was spent last year, and the US would have spent similar amounts on climate funds this year under the continuation of Joe Biden’s plan, the analysis found.

But in Trump’s first action on reopening the US president, in two turbulent months, he was to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement and to include overseas aid efforts, which are part of climate finances.

The White House has suspended much of its funding to USAID, the government’s overseas aid agency that provides about a third of US climate finance, and has stopped its contribution to the International Green Climate Fund and the Response Fund for Loss and Damages.

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Customs fear Sparkwall Street will sell out

The US stock index is falling in early morning trading as Wall Street fears a trade war with Donald Trump’s key partners and vows to impose further tariffs starting next month.

At the time of this post, the broad S&P 500 had a 1.7% decline and the technically rich NASDAQ had a 2.7% decline. Both indexes fell last week after Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico and doubled them on China, but he later eased taxation on US neighbors.

We have a live blog covering the latest business news, and you can read it here:

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Meanwhile, CNN reports that officials from the State Department’s highest office have been hired despite their history of shaming his superior Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Darren Beatty, who acts under the Secretary of State for public diplomacy, has deleted tweets called Rubio, such as “Low IQ.” Beattie has a history of offensive social media comments, which was removed from his job as a White House speechwriter in 2018 after he attended a White Nationalist meeting.

Nevertheless, he is back in the second Trump administration. This is what he once thought of Rubio:

In a now-deleted tweet on January 7, 2021, Beatty summoned a far-right conspiracy theory about Rubio’s past, referring to “Wainlight Park.” This is a teenage violation of Rubio, twisted into unfounded speculation that Rubio is gay.

“Forget Wainlight Park, forget your form, forget your war promotion and neo-consugar daddy, forget your low IQ, forget your 2016 primary, Rubio is strict with China (and suitable for military industrial complexes), so be a good dog and vote for him!!” Beatty wrote.

A follow-up tweet about Rubio said, “What happens in Cabana stays with Cabana #Rubio.”

Beatty tracked the tweets with something he perceived as Rubio’s attempt to rebrand himself as a nationalist, but ironically said he supported the Black Life Matter tax credit and criticised Hawkish’s rhetoric in China.

“An honorable person who has many DC Winds trying to reform Marco Rubio as a nationalist, who has promised a tax credit to BLM supporters and is “hard on China,” will you become a good dog and vote for him? ” the tweet said.

“Does Marco Rubio have a future in politics?” Beattie asked in another deleted tweet.

Beattie has deleted three other tweets since July 23, 2020. This called for nationalists to rebrand Rubio to “fake”, “nonsense” and “fake”.

“The idea behind the Holy/Rubio scam is this. They are smart enough to know the neoxavalism of the Nikki Haley and Crenshaw brands, and smart enough to know that free market libertarianism is missing the feet,” writes Beatty.

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Bulwark has more reports of Marco Rubio’s announcement that most of USAID’s programs have been cancelled.

State officials were last week informed that government agencies and partners would submit forms to the Foreign Aid Bureau for the Foreign Aid review process until March 12 (i.e. Wednesday). USAID was operating on its timeline through the parallel review track. “The Foreign Aid Bureau (F) will coordinate the State Department’s response to OMB,” read the email reviewed by The Bulwark.

Sources familiar with the matter said the forms they were asked to submit included many questions that they had to fill out for “all partners.” Some were working simultaneously via official channels to get a previously cancelled USAID Award that had not been finished as of Friday.

However, two days before the March 12 deadline, Rubio announced that the review had finished. 5,200 contracts have been cancelled and “in consultation with Congress,” he writes.

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Elon Musk responded to Marco Rubio’s announcement of a massive cut to USAID:

It’s tough, but it’s necessary. Work with you.

An important part of USAID should always be in the national department.

Last week, Rubio and Musk were reported to have allegedly claimed in front of Donald Trump during a meeting of cabinet secretaries that the president denied. Nevertheless, Tesla billionaire and the chairman of the “Ministry of Government Efficiency” emphasize publicly complementing Rubio.

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