Trump moves nuclear submarines in response to Russia’s ‘highly provocative’ statement
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said on Friday he’s ordered two nuclear submarines to move in the “appropriate regions” in response to what he called “highly provocative statements” from the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, Dmitry Medvedev.
Trump announced the move in a post to his social media platform. He did not specify in the post exactly where the submarines would be going.
“Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,” Trump wrote.
“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances,” he added.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted Trump’s statement on X.
Medvedev has recently sounded off on social media on Trump’s deadline for Russia to come to a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine or face severe sanctions.
“Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10… He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!” Medvedev posted on X earlier this week.
Trump has expressed growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. Russia launched a record 6,443 drones into Ukraine in July, ABC News reported.
On Monday, Trump announced he was moving up the timeline for Russia to make peace from 50 days to 10 days.
“I want to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made,” Trump said. “I’m not so interested in talking anymore.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — A coalition of school districts — including Alaska’s largest school district — and advocacy groups has sued President Donald Trump’s administration over the $6 billion funding freeze to congressionally appropriated education programs.
The news comes just days after nine Republican senators and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski conducted a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump’s education policies, urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought to reverse the decision to withhold aid for key programs, such as English language acquisition, teacher development and student support.
OMB told ABC News in a statement that many of the programs “grossly misused” government funds to promote a “radical leftwing agenda.” However, the GOP senators’ letter said the decision to pause this funding was “contrary to President Trump’s goal of returning K-12 education to the states,” and they didn’t believe any leftwing agenda programs were being administered in their states.
Within 48 hours, the Trump administration had unfrozen more than a billion dollars for critical after-school and summer education programming nationwide, a senior administration official told ABC News.
Murkowski celebrated the initial funding release but noted it doesn’t go far enough.
“The pause of these funds caused great concern for families across the nation, and I am relieved to know that our young people will have enriching opportunities to stay engaged outside of the classroom,” Murkowski wrote in a statement to ABC News. “While this news is welcome, it is frustrating that many additional funds Alaska school districts are relying on from the Department of Education remain in limbo,” she said.
ABC News has reached out to the Trump administration for additional comment.
A pause on the total $6 billion funding happened on July 1, when federal aid for schools is typically allocated each year. However, states were notified on June 30 that an ongoing programmatic review of education funding would occur, according to a Department of Education memo sent to Congress, obtained by ABC News. School districts and programs have been concerned that programs and staff could be eliminated if funding isn’t restored.
The case, Anchorage School District et al. v. Department of Education et al., is led by multiple Alaska school districts and affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers. In it, the plaintiffs argue that the administration’s recent actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the Impoundment Control Act, and the constitutional separation of powers.
The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 says Congress must consider and review executive branch withholdings of budget authority, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The GAO website says the Administrative Procedure Act prescribes the minimum procedural steps an agency must follow in its administrative proceedings.
The school districts’ suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island. It comes in the wake of two dozen state attorneys general and Democratic governors suing the administration for withholding education funding using the same claims.
“It’s against the Constitution,” North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, one of the AGs involved in the suit, told ABC News. “It’s against the Impoundment Act. From a legal standpoint, this is not a hard case,” he added.
AFT President Randi Weingarten called the freeze an attempt to “lawlessly” defund education through rampant government overreach.
“It’s not only morally repugnant: the administration lacks the legal right to sacrifice kids’ futures at the altar of ideology,” Weingarten wrote in a statement to ABC News.
“The Department of Education is holding hostage billions of dollars from American communities,” according to Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward — a public education advocacy nonprofit representing the plaintiffs.
“This is an unconstitutional and unlawful power grab that puts extreme agendas over the well-being of students and denies communities the educational resources that Congress intended them to have,” Perryman added in a statement to ABC News.
Earlier this month, the Anchorage School District announced in a letter to the community that the district had already begun laying off some staff members after $46 million was impacted by the pause. The district receives about a third of the state’s federal education funds, according to Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt.
Several state education leaders who’ve spoken to ABC News say that they’re scrambling to prevent immediate harm to students as the school year approaches. OMB has not given a timeline for when the programmatic review for the other education programs will be completed.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island Department of Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green applauded the Republican efforts to reverse the funding pause, stressing this is not a political issue.
“We are one United States of America,” Infante-Green told ABC News. “These dollars are important to every single student in every single state. This is what we need,” she said.
“We need people to speak up. We need people to be brave, to have the conversation and advocate for our kids, to put politics aside and make this one of their number one issues.”
(WASHINGTON) — Mike Waltz, former national security adviser who left his position in May in the wake of the Signal chat controversy in March, faced questions Tuesday from Democratic senators over the episode in his confirmation hearing for his nomination as United Nations ambassador.
Waltz insisted, as White House officials have since the incident, that no classified information was shared in a group chat that he inadvertently invited a journalist to that discussed details of a strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen. And he suggested the use of Signal was not only appropriate — but actually prudent, given the guidance he was following.
“That engagement was driven by and recommended by the Cyber Security Infrastructure Security Agency, by the Biden administration … the use of signal is not only as an encrypted app. It’s not only authorized. It was recommended in Biden’s, the Biden era, CISA guidance,” he told Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
“We followed the recommendation — almost the demand to use end-to-end encryption — but there was no classified information shared,” he told Coons.
Coons said he “was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of regret over sharing what was very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app that’s not, as we both know, the appropriate way to share such critical information.”
“Senator, I think where we have a fundamental disagreement is there was no classified information on that, on that chat,” Waltz replied.
But Sen. Tim Kaine,D-Va., pointed out that investigations at the Pentagon by the Inspector General and the Air Force have not reached a conclusion on the question — although Kaine didn’t suggest Waltz himself shared classified information.
“I shouldn’t and can’t comment on ongoing investigations” at the Pentagon, Waltz said.
“The fact of the matter is,” Kaine said, “there are two investigations going on at the Pentagon precisely to determine in an objective and independent way whether classified information was shared, [or] at a minimum … attack plans with sensitive military information that shouldn’t have been shared.
Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, introduced Waltz before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and touted his experience.
“He is a seasoned policy mind, a skilled negotiator with a track record of diligently pursuing American interests unapologetically and with the appropriate amount of caution and attention to detail that those things deserve,” Lee said.
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott said Waltz would “exceed expectations” in the role at the United Nations.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the committee, focused her opening remarks on criticism of the Trump administration’s cuts to the U.S. diplomatic budget.
“President Trump has said that the U.N. must return to its core mission of peace and security, but the administration is also proposing to slash U.S. contributions to the U.N. and eliminate the entire U.N. peacekeeping budget, increasing the likelihood that American soldiers will be sent into combat zones, and making China the largest U.N. peacekeeping and financial contributor,” Shaheen said, noting that at the same time, China was ramping up its investments in the U.N.
“Mr. Waltz, I urge you to take this threat seriously,” she added.
Waltz came under intense scrutiny in March for inadvertently inviting The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal chat with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and other top national security officials discussing details of the strike on the Houthis.
President Donald Trump nominated Waltz to the U.N. post at the same time he announced Secretary of State Marco Rubio would take over the national security adviser on an interim basis.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., pressed Waltz on remaining on the White House payroll despite no longer serving as national security adviser.
“Can you confirm for us whether you have been receiving a salary from the White House since being let go from the NSA?” Rosen asked.
“Thank you, Senator. I was not fired. The president never said that, nor did the vice president. I was kept on as an adviser, transitioning a number of important — a number of important activities, and now hope to be confirmed,” Waltz responded, calling reports of his dismissal “fake news.”
“You know, fake news can’t be the answer to everything,” Rosen retorted.
Before taking the role as national security adviser, Waltz served three terms in Congress representing Florida’s 6th Congressional District and sat on the Intelligence, Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees. He was the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress.
During the presidential campaign, he was a key Trump surrogate on defense and foreign policy.
Before running for elected office, Waltz served in various national security policy roles in the George W. Bush administration in the Pentagon and White House. He retired as a colonel after serving 27 years in the Army and the National Guard.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Will Steakin, Mary Bruce, Hannah Demissie and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani notched the endorsement Thursday of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, an influential Latino leader, on Thursday in the race to become New York City’s next mayor.
The support of Espaillat, the first Dominican American to serve in the House of Representatives, carries significant weight among voters in his district, which includes Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
“Zohran Mamdani brings clarity, discipline, and a deep commitment to tackling the stubborn issues facing New York City,” Espaillat said in a statement. “He understands our city doesn’t work if everyday New Yorkers — the very people that keep it moving forward — can’t afford to live here.”
Espaillat said Mamdani’s focus on cost of living and housing issues constituted “a strong vision of how to make New York serve those working to realize the American dream.”
“I’m proud to endorse him because New Yorkers deserve a mayor who will wake up every day and fight for them,” Espaillat said.
Espaillat previously endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary despite calling for Cuomo to resign as governor in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations.
Mamdani won some neighborhoods in Espaillat’s district, such as Washington Heights and Harlem, by over 17 points in the first round of the ranked-choice primary. He edged out Cuomo by 6 points in majority-Hispanic precincts, according to an analysis by The New York Times.
Espaillat also previously threw his support in the 2021 mayoral primary behind current Mayor Eric Adams, whose victory was in part secured by his strong performance with Hispanic voters. But Adams has been hemorrhaging their support throughout his tenure, dropping to a 14% approval rating among Hispanic voters in March, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
In a statement thanking Espaillat for his endorsement, Mamdani said “Congressman Espaillat has been on the front lines of the fight against Donald Trump’s authoritarian administration. We both recognize the only way we can protect our city is by standing firm in our values and standing up for the working-class and immigrant communities who define us.”
The Democratic nominee is set to face Adams, who is running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election in November.
Cuomo also qualifies to run as an independent but has been noncommittal regarding whether he will campaign in the general election.
Espaillat’s backing builds upon the wave of support Mamdani has gained from prominent progressive politicians including Sen. Bernie Sanders and fellow New Yorker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. However, other top Democrats in the state, namely Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Gov. Kathy Hochul, have yet to formally endorse the nominee.
The endorsement from Espaillat, who criticized Adams for cooperating with President Donald Trump on immigration, also comes as Trump threatened to arrest Mamdani if he defied Immigration and Customs Enforcement as mayor. Mamdani pledged to remove all ICE officers from city facilities.
Trump has also suggested a federal takeover of New York City and Washington, D.C.
“If a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” Trump said Tuesday.
