The Latest: Ex-Homeland Security official fights back against Trump’s investigation order

A former Homeland Security official during President Donald Trump’s first administration, who authored an anonymous op-ed sharply critical of the president, is calling on independent government watchdogs to investigate after Trump ordered the department to look into his government service.

Miles Taylor was once chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security and warned in an interview with The Associated Press of the far-reaching implications of Trump’s April 9 memorandum.

Here's the latest:

Education Secretary Linda McMahon defends cuts at Harvard University
 

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said during a budget hearing Tuesday that the Education Department’s demand that Harvard University end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs while also demanding new “viewpoint diversity” in hiring and admissions is “totally contradictory.”

McMahon responded that Harvard’s DEI practices are “pitting one group against another” and need to go, while viewpoint diversity “is an exchange of ideas that’s actually better.”

She cited surveys finding that few Harvard professors identify as conservative.

The Trump administration has cut more than $2.6 billion in research grants from Harvard as it presses a series of policy and governance demands. Harvard is fighting the cuts in court.

Pressed by Murphy to explain her authority to cut Harvard’s funding, McMahon cited Title VI, a civil rights law.

Murphy shot back that no civil rights law allows her to “micromanage viewpoint diversity on campus.”

It was one of the sharper exchanges in a hearing that focused on McMahon’s new budget proposal, which requests a 15% reduction in spending for her department.

Wall Street drifts as most financial markets worldwide hold relatively steady
 

It comes as the wait continues for more updates on President Trump’s tariffs and how much they’re affecting the economy.

The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in midday trading, coming off a modest gain that added to its stellar May. It’s back within 3% of its all-time high set earlier this year after falling roughly 20% below two months ago.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 74 points, or 0.2%, as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.

▶ Read more about the financial markets

Newark mayor sues New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor after arrest at immigration detention site
 

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka sued Tuesday over his arrest on a trespassing charge, which was later dropped.

Barak, who leads New Jersey’s biggest city, is a candidate in a crowded primary field for the Democratic nomination for governor next Tuesday. The lawsuit against interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba coincided with the day early in-person voting began.

The lawsuit seeks damages for “false arrest and malicious prosecution,” and also accuses Habba of defamation for comments she made about his case. Citing a post on X in which Habba said Baraka “committed trespass,” the lawsuit says Habba issued a “defamatory statement” and authorized his “false arrest” despite “clear evidence that Mayor Baraka had not committed the petty offense of ‘defiant trespass.’”

The suit also names Ricky Patel, the Homeland Security Investigations agent in charge in Newark.

▶ Read more about Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s lawsuit

Thune says not extending debt limit would be ‘incredibly consequential’
 

As Senators negotiate Trump’s legislation to cut taxes and policy programs, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday morning that failing to extend the debt limit would be “incredibly consequential in a very adverse way. So it’s got to be done.”

His comments come after Trump posted earlier in the day about Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s opposition to the bill. Paul has said he won’t vote for it if a debt limit extension is included. Trump said Paul “has very little understanding” of the bill and “loves voting ‘NO’ on everything.”

Thune said “failure is not an option” on the bill. “We’ve got to get to 51,” he said. “So we’ll figure out the path forward to do that over the next couple of weeks.”

Democratic lawmakers put estimate of blocked federal funds at $425 billion
 

President Trump’s administration has frozen at least $425 billion in federal funds already approved by Congress, according to tracking conducted by Democratic lawmakers on the House and Senate committees responsible for crafting spending bills.

The lawmakers say the administration is brazenly violating federal laws and choking off critical investments in programs such as Head Start, local road and bridge projects and birth control and cancer screenings for hundreds of thousands of patients.

“This administration’s unprecedented assault on our nation’s spending laws is costing the American people dearly,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democratic lawmakers on the House and Senate Appropriations committees.

The lawmakers say the estimate is the minimum amount of funding the administration has frozen. They’re maintaining a list of programs affected on the minority’s committee websites.

Trump’s Tuesday schedule
 

According to the White House, Trump has no public events scheduled for today.

However, at 1 p.m., press secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a press briefing.

Trump is going after Sen. Rand Paul as he works to pass his big bill
 

The president fired off a series of angry posts on social media Tuesday morning about Paul’s opposition to Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts package.

The Kentucky Republican is among GOP senators who have concerns about the likely deficit increases the bill will cause.

Trump said Paul “has very little understanding” of the bill and “loves voting ‘NO’ on everything.”

“Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!),” the president wrote. He added that “the people of Kentucky can’t stand him.”

Republican push for proof of citizenship to vote proves a tough sell in the states
 

President Trump and congressional Republicans have made it a priority this year to require people to prove citizenship before they can register to vote. Turning that aspiration into reality has proved difficult.

Trump’s executive order directing a documentary, proof-of-citizenship requirement for federal elections has been blocked by a judge, while federal legislation to accomplish it doesn’t appear to have the votes to pass in the Senate. At the same time, state-level efforts have found little success, even in places where Republicans control the legislature and governor’s office.

The most recent state effort to falter is in Texas, where a Senate bill failed to gain full legislative approval before lawmakers adjourned Monday. The Texas bill was one of the nation’s most sweeping proof-of-citizenship proposals because it would have applied not only to new registrants but also to the state’s roughly 18.6 million registered voters.

▶ Read more about proof-of-citizenship voting

US growth likely to slow to 1.6% this year, hobbled by Trump’s trade wars, OECD says
 

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast Tuesday that the U.S. economy — the world’s largest — will slow further to just 1.5% in 2026. Trump’s policies have raised average U.S. tariff rates from around 2.5% when he returned to the White House to 15.4%, the highest since 1938, according to the OECD. Tariffs raise costs for consumers and American manufacturers that rely on imported raw materials and components.

World economic growth will slow to just 2.9% this year and stay there in 2026, according to the OECD’s forecast. It marks a substantial deceleration from growth of 3.3% global growth last year and 3.4% in 2023.

The world economy has proven remarkably resilient in recent years, continuing to expand steadily — though unspectacularly — in the face of global shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But global trade and the economic outlook have been clouded by Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports, the unpredictable way he’s rolled them out and the threat of retaliation from other countries.

▶ Read more about the world economic forecast

Top Trump officials visit prolific Alaska oil field amid push to expand drilling
 

Trump wants to double the amount of oil coursing through Alaska’s vast pipeline system and build a massive natural gas project as its “big, beautiful twin,” a top administration official said Monday while touring a prolific oil field near the Arctic Ocean.

The remarks by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright came as he and two other Trump Cabinet members — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin — visited Prudhoe Bay as part of a multiday trip aimed at highlighting Trump’s push to expand oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state that drew criticism from environmentalists.

During the trip, Burgum’s agency announced plans to repeal Biden-era restrictions on future leasing and industrial development in portions of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that are designated as special for their wildlife, subsistence or other values.

▶ Read more about the trip

Man accused of trying to get witness against him deported by writing letters threatening Trump
 

A Wisconsin man is facing charges accusing him of forging a letter threatening Trump’s life in an effort to get another man who was a potential witness against him in a criminal case deported.

Prosecutors said in a criminal complaint that Demetric D. Scott was behind a letter sent to state and federal officials with the return address and name of Ramón Morales Reyes.

Scott was charged Monday with felony witness intimidation, identity theft and two counts of bail jumping.

Immigration agents arrested Morales Reyes after he dropped his child off at school in Milwaukee. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the arrest, saying he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and would “self-deport” to Mexico.

But the claim started to unravel as investigators talked to Morales Reyes.

Morales Reyes is listed as a victim in the case involving Scott, who is awaiting trial in Milwaukee County Jail on armed robbery and aggravated battery charges. The trial is scheduled for July.

▶ Read more about the case

Ex-Homeland Security official Taylor fights back against Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ investigation order
 

A former Homeland Security official during Trump’s first administration who authored an anonymous op-ed sharply critical of the president is calling on independent government watchdogs to investigate after Trump ordered the department to look into his government service.

Miles Taylor, once chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, warned in an interview with The Associated Press of the far-reaching implications of Trump’s April 9 memorandum, “Addressing Risks Associated with an Egregious Leaker and Disseminator of Falsehoods,” when it comes to suppressing criticism of the president. That memo accused Taylor of concocting stories to sell his book and directed the secretary of Homeland Security and other government agencies to look into Taylor and strip him of any security clearances.

Taylor sent a letter via email to the inspectors general at the Department of Justice and Homeland Security on Tuesday.

“I didn’t commit any crime, and that’s what’s extraordinary about this. I can’t think of any case where someone knows they’re being investigated but has absolutely no idea what crime they allegedly committed. And it’s because I didn’t,” Taylor said.

▶ Read more about Taylor’s letter