Supreme Court upholds federal regulations on ghost gun kits
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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld government regulation of self-assemble firearm kits that produce untraceable weapons known as “ghost guns.”
The 7-2 decision came from Justice Neil Gorsuch. Justices Thomas Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
“The Gun Control Act embraces, and thus permits ATF to regulate, some weapon parts kits and unfinished frames or receivers, including those we have discussed. Because the court of appeals held otherwise, its judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” Gorsuch wrote.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is hosting United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House on Thursday.
The two leaders will hold a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office shortly after noon ET before a press conference in the East Room slated for 2 p.m. ET.
Senior administration officials told reporters that much of the conversations between Trump and Starmer will focus on a peaceful resolution for the Russia-Ukraine war.
The meeting comes after Europe was left out of talks between the U.S. and Russia on how to end Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, which recently stretched into its fourth year.
Trump has since said Europe will have to bear primary responsibility for any security guarantees for Ukraine, as nations such as France and the United Kingdom urge the U.S. to support peacekeeping efforts post-conflict.
“Well, I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,” Trump said at his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “We’re going to have Europe do that because it’s in, you know, we’re talking about Europe is the next-door neighbor, but we’re going to make sure everything goes well.”
Trump also implied the mineral resource deal between the U.S. and Ukraine would be “automatic security,” because the U.S. will be investing in the nation and that would serve as a barrier to Russia.
Starmer has said he will ensure the United Kingdom is a “leading country” in European nations stepping up to support Ukraine, but said there needs to be a U.S. “backstop” to deter Putin.
“I don’t believe it will be a guarantee if there isn’t the U.S. backstop behind those security guarantees,” Starmer said after European leaders held an emergency meeting in Paris on Ukraine last week as Trump officials gathered with Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia.
Administration officials said the U.S. has been in constant contact with European partners and providing updates on negotiations regarding an agreement to end the war.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Washington, D.C., on Friday.
Ukraine is working to win a U.S. security agreement as part of the proposed minerals deal, Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Washington, D.C., on Friday.
Ukraine is working to win a U.S. security agreement as part of the proposed minerals deal, Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.
“I would say that there’s a balance between the size of the force needed and the strength of the diplomacy that backstops that, that secures it,” an official said.
“If that conflict level, as we want, is dialed down to a functional ceasefire, they would have fewer concerns … So the type of force depends very much on the political self settlement that is made to end the war,” the official continued. “And I think that trade off is what the leaders today, part of what the leaders today are going to be discussing.”
(WASHINGTON) — Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to pass the House-approved deal to fund the government, heightening the alert for a potential government shutdown at the end of the week.
If a deal isn’t struck to bring over some Democratic support, the government will shut down at the end of the day Friday.
Two days is a long time on Capitol Hill, so there is still plenty of time for a deal to emerge, but Schumer’s statement certainly heats up shutdown fears.
Schumer pointed the finger at Republicans for leaving Democrats out of the funding negotiations.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path drafting their continuing resolution without any input any input from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said on the floor Wednesday.
Unlike in the House, where Republicans can act unilaterally to pass legislation, the Senate needs Democrats to pass a funding bill.
At least 60 votes are needed for a funding bill to clear key procedural votes, called cloture votes, which means at least seven Democrats would be needed to pass any funding bill through the Senate.
Schumer made clear on Wednesday that right now, Democrats won’t provide those votes.
“Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR,” Schumer said.
For several days, Democrats have been grappling behind the scenes about whether to furnish the requisite votes to pass the funding bill approved by House Republicans Tuesday. On the one hand, many Democrats say this bill gives President Donald Trump and Elon Musk unilateral power to continue slashing the federal government. On the other, some Democrats understand that a decision to vote against the bill could likely force an undesirable government shut down.
After days of closed-door meetings and tight-lipped interaction with the press, Schumer said Democrats will instead advocate for a 30-day clean stopgap bill meant to buy more time for appropriators to complete full-year funding bills.
“Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass,” Schumer said.
Just because that’s what Democrats want, doesn’t mean it’s a vote Democrats will get.
They are the minority in the Senate, and they do not have control over what bills are brought to the Senate floor for a vote. There’s nothing that Democrats can do to force a vote in the Senate on a 30-day clean stopgap measure, but they may be able to wheel and deal with Republicans to get a vote on it.
With Schumer saying that Democrats are not ready to proceed, the Democrats hold the cards. If they do not furnish the votes to clear this procedural hurdle and get on to the bill, things could be at a stand still, and a shut down could be on the horizon.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are urging their Senate colleagues to vote no on the funding bill they almost unanimously opposed when it passed through the House on Tuesday evening.
“House Democrats are very clear. We’re asking Senate Democrats to vote ‘no’ on this continuing resolution, which is not clean, and it makes cuts across the board,” said Vice Chair Ted Lieu, flanked by five other members of House leadership at a press conference at the Issues Conference at the Lansdowne Resort. Lieu’s comments came before Schumer pushed for a 30-day clean stopgap bill.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that conversations are “continuing” with Schumer all the way down to rank-and-file Democratic members about keeping the Democratic caucus united against the bill.
“The House Democratic position is crystal clear as evidenced by the strong vote of opposition that we took yesterday on the House floor opposing the Trump-Musk-Johnson reckless Republican spending bill,” Jeffries said.
Late Wednesday, Democratic House leaders called on House Republicans to return from recess to Washington to “immediately” take up a short-term measure that would fund the government through April 11.
ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is holding a high-stakes call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he tries to win his approval of a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.
Trump began the call with Putin at 10 a.m. ET and it was still ongoing as of 10:54 a.m. ET. Dan Scavino, the deputy chief of staff, posted on X that the call was “going well, and still in progress.”
The encounter is the first known call between Trump and Putin since peace talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials a week ago in Saudi Arabia yielded Kyiv agreeing to an immediate, temporary stop to hostilities should Russia do the same.
“It’s a bad situation in Russia, and it’s a bad situation in Ukraine,” Trump said on Monday. “What’s happening in Ukraine is not good, but we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a ceasefire and peace, and I think we’ll be able to do it.”
That positive assessment follows his prediction Sunday night that “we’ll see if we have something to announce — maybe by Tuesday,” saying “a lot of work” had been done over the weekend. “Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.”
Since then, Putin has been noncommittal on the proposal while fighting intensifies in Kursk.
Putin said he was “for” a ceasefire but raised concerns and set out his own conditions, such as certain security guarantees. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has accused the Russian leader of obstructing peace and “prolonging” the war.
Trump on Monday said the only reason he was involved in negotiations is “for humanity.”
“A lot of people are being killed over there. And, we had to get Ukraine to do the right thing. It was not an easy situation. You got to see a little glimpse at the Oval Office, but I think they’re doing the right thing right now. And we’re trying to get a peace agreement done. We want to get a ceasefire and then a peace agreement,” he said.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy will monitor the conversation between Trump and Putin with caution and great interest, a Ukrainian official informed about the matter told ABC News.
“We agreed to the U.S. ceasefire proposal with zero conditions, and if Putin is gonna start playing with Trump setting demands — it will not work,” the source added.
A key question moving forward is how far Trump will go in pressuring Russia to agree to a ceasefire and ultimately bring an end to the three-year conflict, which began when Putin’s forces invaded its sovereign neighbor.
The Trump administration took drastic steps in stopping military aid and pausing some intelligence sharing with Ukraine after the Oval Office clash between Trump and Zelenskyy. Those two tools resumed after Ukraine agreed to the ceasefire last Tuesday.
Plus, U.S. officials have said it would be unrealistic for Ukraine to return to its prewar borders and expressly ruled out its bid for NATO membership.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has not publicly made similar demands of Putin.
Trump on Sunday said land and power plants were on the table for Tuesday’s discussion, as well as “dividing up certain assets” between the two countries.
“Well, I think we’ll be talking about land. It’s a lot of land. It’s a lot different than it was before the wars, you know. And we’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants. That’s a big question, but I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much by both sides,” he told reporters on Air Force One.
Trump last week said his administration could ramp up pressure on Russia but hoped it wouldn’t be “necessary.”
“There are things you could do that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense,” he said. “I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace.”
ABC News’ Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
