Federal judge lifts all blocks on Trump mail-in ballots executive order
Yellow mail-in ballots sit in a U.S Postal Service truck while being delivered Oct. 8, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona. (John Moore/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge who had blocked the most controversial aspect of President Trump’s executive order aimed at restricting mail-in ballots – namely, employing the Postal Service as the primary enforcer of mail-voter eligibility – has now lifted that decision following the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that legal challenges are premature.
The move means there are no longer legal holds on any aspect of Trump’s March 2026 mail-in ballot executive order and that the administration is free to move forward with its implementation without caveats.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
President Donald Trump applauds as (L-R) CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella, CEO of Dell Technologies Michael Dell, President and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Lisa Su, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Co-founder of Google and former President of Alphabet Sergey Brin pose for photos after being presented their National Medal of Technology and Innovation awards during the Golden Age of American Innovation Summit, October 8, 2026 in Washington. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday announced the suspension of tech giants, Microsoft and Adobe, from a green card program — effectively blocking the companies from sponsoring H-1B visa workers for permanent residency green cards.
The suspension is from the PERM program — a certification that allows employers to hire a foreign employee to work permanently in the U.S.
Vance singled out Microsoft, accusing the company of fraud.
“So if the H-1B visa is how the people get into the country, the PERM program is how they stay in the United States to begin with,” Vance said.“Now there has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused the system more than Microsoft.”
In a statement to ABC News, Microsoft said it “succeeds as a global technology leader by developing the world’s best technology workforce. We do this by strengthening this country’s talent pipeline, hiring American workers, and attracting the best talent from around the world.”
Critics of the PERM program have said it allows companies to recruit foreign workers, taking away jobs from Americans. Vance alleged Microsoft employees were laid off — later replaced by “foreign indentured servants” who “are earning wages that are far below the average for American citizens.”
“So, in the last year, Microsoft — and I want to be clear about the data here, so let me check this — but Microsoft laid off last year 6,000 American workers,” Vance said. “At the same time, the company benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards.”
“In other words, if you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants.”
Microsoft said in a statement that “the vast majority of Microsoft employees in the United States are Americans.”
It also pushed back on Vance’s comments, saying it “only files H-1B petitions for those who meet the rigorous standards of this visa category.”
“We pay our employees some of the highest compensation in the tech sector, and our wages are among the highest of all H-1B filings. We pay our H-1B employees the same as any other employees doing comparable work,” the statement continued.
The criticism of Microsoft came hours before President Donald Trump awarded Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the Medal of Technology and Innovation during an event at the Institute of Peace on Thursday.
Trump lauded Nadella at the ceremony, saying he has been “a key figure in the transformation of Microsoft, revolutionizing the company and empowering businesses, students and consumers from all over the world with some of the most capable software ever built or ever even conceived.”
Vance acknowledged the contradiction of honoring Microsoft’s CEO the same day as his announcement.
“Microsoft is a great American company, and we have a great relationship with them. They do a lot of important things,” Vance said. “So we’re going to continue to support Microsoft and have a great relationship with Microsoft, but we’re also going to deny them the ability to apply for these permanent residencies until they show that they are going to get serious about putting American workers first.”
ABC News has reached out to Adobe for comment.
Asked how long the suspension will be in place, Vance said it will “last as long as it needs to” and added that the administration has “a number of tools to suspend it indefinitely” if needed.
Vance, who has been asked to lead the administration’s Anti-Fraud Task Force, also criticized the H-1B visa program as a whole, saying it has become “rife with fraud” in recent years.
“The H-1B visa program is meant to allow companies to bring in really the best of the best from outside the United States of America for positions that are completely impossible to fill with American workers. Unfortunately, the program has become rife with fraud over the last several years, probably the last several decades,” Vance said.
Attorney General Todd Blanche also chimed in about the issue of “foreign labor favoritism,” promising that companies will be investigated if they “discriminate against an American worker in favor of someone on the other side of the world,” with Blanche saying this “violate[s] the trust of the federal government and the American people.”
“The Department of Justice, my department, is actively investigating companies that do this that favor foreign workers over the American people,” Blanche said.
Inspector General of Labor Anthony D’Esposito also announced that the Department of Labor is conducting a “historic investigation into the J-1 visa fraud involving nine major American universities: Pitt, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, UC Davis, CaltTech, Arizona State, and MIT,” with investigations already underway, he said.
“If an American university is breaking the law to save a dollar, while exposing American research to a foreign adversary, that is not academic excellence. It’s institutional betrayal,” D’Esposito said.
A logo is displayed outside of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at Constitution Center on June 1, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Trade Commission has opened a broad probe into the safety of AI systems, including Anthropic and OpenAI, a senior FTC official confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday.
The New York Post was first to report on the investigation.
The probe is looking into allegations of unfair or deceptive acts by AI companies and potential harms to consumers. The agency could issue formal demands for AI companies to turn over information, a senior FTC official confirmed.
The FTC has the broad legal authority to investigate companies and enforce consumer protection laws. Its investigations can result in civil penalties.
ABC News has reached out to Anthropic and OpenAI for comment on the FTC investigation.
The FTC probe comes as AI leaders issue warnings about the threat of AI and calling for steps to slow it down before it outsmarts humans. Lawmakers’ calls for regulations for the AI industry have also grown.
President Donald Trump — who earlier this month called warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence a “HOAX” — hosted key tech leaders at the White House on Tuesday, saying they signed a “constitution” to police themselves.
“This is a statement of principles that you’ll see, a statement of standards, commitments that are voluntary on behalf of the industry,” said Speaker Mike Johnson. “It sets forth expectations.”
Asked whether the agreement is binding, Trump said it’s “morally” binding.
ABC News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
Gen. Chris Donahue assumed command of U.S. Army Europe and Africa in December 2024. (U.S. Army)
(WASHINGTON) — One of the Army’s most seasoned and high-profile officers is abruptly relinquishing command next week, according to the service.
Gen. Chris Donahue has spent the past 18 months leading U.S. Army Europe and Africa, the command responsible for Army operations across both continents. He will relinquish command halfway through what is normally a three-year assignment.
“Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, will relinquish command on July 2, 2026,” an Army spokesperson said in a statement. “The Army thanks Gen. Donahue for his leadership of U.S. Army Europe and Africa.”
His departure comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth presses ahead with a sweeping overhaul of the Pentagon’s senior ranks, firing or sidelining large numbers of top officers with little public explanation, including the Army’s top officer Gen. Randy George.
The command Donahue now leads is also set to be downgraded from a four-star command to a three-star post, according to another U.S. official, part of Hegseth’s broader push to shrink the number of generals across the force.
Officers serving as four-star generals are only eligible to hold a position of that rank. If there are no other slots available, then the only option left for them is to retire.
The Atlantic first reported Donahue’s expected departure.
Lt. Gen. Kevin Admiral, the current commander of the Army’s III Armored Corps, is expected to be nominated to take over the role, according to a U.S. official.
Donahue’s resume includes command of the Army’s elite Delta Force and the famed 82nd Airborne Division, along with extensive combat experience across two decades of war. Inside the Army, he has long been viewed as one of its top officers and a potential future Army chief of staff.
He rose to wider public attention as the last U.S. service member to leave Afghanistan during the 2021 withdrawal, photographed in night vision boarding a C-17 when he was commanding the 82nd Airborne Division.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, deputy commander, U.S. Army Europe and Africa, will serve as acting commander, according to the Army.
