Donald Trump | DD News

December 12, 2025 1:19 PM

Can Trump invalidate Biden actions recorded by autopen?

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed, without evidence, that some actions by former President Joe Biden were invalid because he signed them using an autopen, including appointments to the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. Below is a look at the controversy and legality of the device. WHAT IS AN AUTOPEN? It is a mechanical device that replicates a signature with a pen or other writing device and is used by government officials, celebrities, business leaders and members of Congress. It a...

December 12, 2025 1:22 PM

US strategy shakeup asks tough questions of Germany and Japan

As the final session began at last month's Berlin security conference, U.S. ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said he looked forward to the day when Germany would volunteer to take over the role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the officer who would lead the alliance in a major conflict. It prompted some consternation on the panel, and even more beyond. The senior German speaker, NATO Lieutenant General Wolfgang Wien, Berlin’s military representative to the EU, was taken aback. While Ge...

December 12, 2025 1:08 PM

Trump plan to require social media handles from Europeans and other expedited travelers sparks pushback

A U.S. travel association, a top Democrat, and would-be travelers from Europe and Australia are bristling at President Donald Trump's new plan to require Europeans and other visitors using the visa waiver program to provide social media handles used over the past five years. The change, announced in a U.S. government notice this week and effective February 8, would require travelers from countries in the visa waiver program to submit the social media data. Applicants for immigrant and non-immig...

December 12, 2025 12:57 PM

Trump administration unlawfully cancelled disaster prevention program, US judge rules

A federal judge ruled on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration unlawfully terminated a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant program designed to protect states and communities against natural disasters before they occur. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston sided with 20 mostly Democratic-led states in finding that the Republican president's administration lacked authority to end the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program and use money Congre...

December 12, 2025 12:53 PM

Trump threatens funding for states over AI regulations

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will withhold federal broadband funding from states whose laws to regulate artificial intelligence are judged by his administration to be holding back American dominance in the technology. "We want to have one central source of approval," Trump told reporters, flanked by top advisers, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, arguing that 50 different regulatory regimes hamper the growth of the nascent industry. "To win, United States AI compani...

December 11, 2025 12:39 PM

US House backs massive defense policy bill, Senate next

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a massive defense policy bill on Wednesday authorizing a record $901 billion in annual military spending, paving the way for the must-pass measure to become law for a 65th straight year. The tally was 312-112 in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, sending it for consideration by the U.S. Senate, which is expected to pass it next week. The $901 billion in defense spending is $8 billion more than President Donald Trump's request earl...

December 11, 2025 12:34 PM

Trump says he plans to name Gaza Board of Peace early next year

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that an announcement about which world leaders will serve on the Gaza Board of Peace should be made early next year. Trump told reporters during an economic event in the White House Roosevelt Room that a variety of leaders want to be on the board, which was established under a Gaza plan that set up a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants. Trump said "the kings, the presidents, prime ministers - they all want to be on the Board of Pea...

December 11, 2025 12:41 PM

Trump launches gold card program for expedited visas with a $1 million price tag

President Donald Trump's administration officially launched his "Trump Gold Card" visa program on Wednesday to provide a pathway, with a steep price, for non-U.S. citizens to get expedited permission to live in the United States. The website Trumpcard.gov, complete with an "apply now" button, allows interested applicants to pay a $15,000 fee to the Department of Homeland Security for speedy processing. After going through a background check or vetting process, applicants must then make a "cont...

December 11, 2025 12:10 PM

US seizes sanctioned oil tanker off coast of Venezuela, Trump says

The U.S. has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, a move that sent oil prices higher and sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas. "We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening," said Trump, who has been pressuring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down. Asked what would happen with the oil, Trump said: "We keep...

December 10, 2025 4:52 PM

US threatens new ICC sanctions unless court pledges not to prosecute Trump

President Donald Trump's administration wants the International Criminal Court to amend its founding document to ensure it does not investigate the Republican president and his top officials, a Trump administration official said, threatening new U.S. sanctions on the court if it did not. If the court does not act on this U.S. demand and two others - dropping investigations of Israeli leaders over the Gaza war and formally ending an earlier probe of U.S. troops over their actions in Afghanistan ...