Trump pressures Putin on Ukraine war
In 'favor' to Russia, he warns of consequences
By: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
Davis Winkie
and Bart Jansen
USA Today
..... President Donald Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday [01/22/2025] to "stop this ridiculous" war with Ukraine or face consequences.
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Trump said he would be forced to "put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia" to the U.S. in a post on Truth Social.
..... "I'm not looking to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin," he said, saying the warning was a "favor" to Russia, whose economy he said was "failing."
..... "Let's get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with," he said.
..... The comments came after a first full day in office in which Trump continued to take sweeping actions, including ordering the shuttering of all executive branch diversity, equity and inclusion offices and ordering all employees working in such offices to be placed on leave.
..... One document he signed Tuesday [01/21/2025] evening directed the Federal Aviation Administration to cease its use of DEI hiring rules.
..... "during the prior administration ... the FAA betrayed transmission by elevating dangerous discrimination over excellence," the president argued. He further decried the recruitment of "individuals with serious infirmities," a rebuke of disability hiring efforts.
..... the country's aviation watchdog struggles with large shortages of air traffic controllers. It has used expedited disability hiring rules for at least a decade, including during Trump's first administration. Such programs permitted hiring managers to bypass the competitive hiring process to appoint qualified candidates with disabilities. Hires still had to meet stringent claimed requirements.
..... In Tuesday's [01/22/2025] order, Trump argued the agency's pro-diversity hiring practices penalize "hard-working Americans who want to serve in the FAA but are unable to do so, as they lack a requisite disability or skin color."
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He also revoked a 1965 civil rights executive order, rolling back rules long used to prevent employment discrimination by federal contractors, subcontractors and grant recipients, and ordered agencies to plan potential civil rights investigations against private sector entities who embrace diversity hiring. in his own executive order, Trump attacked such polices as "dangerous, demanding, and immoral."
..... Senator John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, commended Trump's order placing federal DEI workers on leave.
..... "The best way to stop discriminating against people on the basis of race of gender is to stop discriminating against people on the basis of race and gender," Kennedy told reporters Wednesday. [01/22/2025]
"to a bear, we all test like chicken."
..... Justice Department officials were swiftly reassigned in the wake of Trump's inauguration in order to help align the department with the new administration's priorities - particularly on immigration, a department official familiar with the matter told USA Today.
..... The shuffled Justice Department directed its prosecutors to investigage state and local officials who hinder Trump's crackdown on immigration, according to a memo dated Tuesday [01/21/2025] from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
..... "The Justice Department must, and will, work to eradicate these threats," Bove wrote of cartels and transnational gangs, adding that resistance and obstruction from officials should be reported to the department urgently.
..... The memo followed an executive order Trump signed Monday [01/20/2025] to deny federal funds to any jurisdictions hat have declared themselves sanctuaries for immigrants not legally in the country. The order directed the attorney general and secretary of Homeland Security to pursue criminal or civil cases against any jurisdictions that interfere with law enforcement.
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Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said Tuesday [01/21/20254] that his state and local law enforcement aren't cooperating with Immigration and Customs enforcement except when immigrants have been convicted of violent crimes and should be deported. Pritzker said immigrates who are in the country without legal authorization shouldn't be detained, for example, for speeding or while at work.
..... A day after announcing sweeping clemency for January 6 [2021] defendants, Trump announced on Truth Social Tuesday [01/21/2025] night that he had given a :"full and unconditional" pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an Online black market that enabled users to buy and sell illegal drugs.
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Ulbricht was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison.
..... Finally on Tuesday, [01/21/2025] trump announced a private-sector investment of up to $500 billion to build artificial intelligence infrastructure with SoftBank OpenAI, Oracle and other investors.
..... His billionaire ally Elon Musk promptly undercut the announcement, deriding OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who he has criticize in the past.
..... "They don't actually have the money," wrote Musk. Moments later, he added another tweet saying, "SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.
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The White House did not immediately release a public schedule for the president Wednesday. [01/22/2025] Trump was expected to sit down for an interview with Fox News Sean Hannity, his first interview from the Oval Office, according to Politico.
..... confirmation hearings and decisions remain underway for Trump's Cabinet nominees. one got support form an unexpected corner Tuesday: [01/21/2025]
Senator Bernie Sanders defended Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, on CNN.
..... Some lawmakers have called Gabbard a likely "Russian asset" and expressed concerns over her 2017 trip to Syria, where she met with former Syrian President Bashar Assad.
..... Gabbard, then a Democratic congressperson, supported Sanders during his 2016 presidential run.
..... "The idea that you should not sit down with your adversaries whether it is Iran, whether it's China, whether it's North Korea, whether it's Syria, whatever it may be," Sanders said, I don't think that that;s a valid criticism."
..... He said he had not decided how he would vote.
Contributing: ayahs Bagchi and Savannah Kuchar, USA Today