Author: Wolf Blitzer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kuwait has released a group of American prisoners, including veterans and military contractors jailed for years on drug-related charges, in a move seen as a gesture of goodwill between two allies, a representative for the detainees told The Associated Press on Wednesday.The release follows a recent visit to the region by Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s top hostage envoy, and comes amid a continued U.S. government push to bring home American citizens jailed in foreign countries. Six of the newly freed prisoners were accompanied on a flight from Kuwait to New York by Jonathan Franks, a private…

DENVER (AP) — When President Donald Trump gave his joint address to Congress last week, he boasted that in his first few weeks back in the White House he had “brought free speech back to America.”But First Amendment advocates say they’ve never seen freedom of speech under attack the way it has been in Trump’s second term.Trump’s Republican administration has threatened Democratic members of Congress with investigation for criticizing conservatives, pulled federal grants that include language it opposes, sanctioned law firms that represent Trump’s political opponents and arrested the organizer of student protests that Trump criticized as “anti-Semitic, anti-American.”“Your right…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors in the Justice Department section that handles public corruption cases have been told the unit will be significantly reduced in size, and its cases will be transferred to U.S. attorney’s offices around the country, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday. The discussions about shrinking the public integrity section come weeks after the unit’s leadership resigned when a top Justice Department official ordered the dropping of corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.At the end of the Biden administration, there were about 30 prosecutors in the section, which was created in 1976 following the…

NEW YORK (AP) — The White House complained Tuesday that Columbia University is refusing to help federal agents find people being sought as part of the government’s effort to deport participants in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, as the administration continued to punish the school by yanking federal research dollars.Immigration enforcement agents on Saturday arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who played a prominent part in protests at Columbia last year. He is now facing possible deportation.President Donald Trump has vowed additional arrests. In a briefing with reporters in Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said…

NEW YORK (AP) — A Palestinian activist who helped lead student protests at Columbia University faces deportation after being arrested over the weekend by federal immigration officials.President Donald Trump has warned that the apprehension of Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident, represents the “first arrest of many” as his administration cracks down on campus opposition to the war in Gaza. But a federal judge temporarily blocked the 30 year old’s expulsion from the country. What happened?Khalil was detained Saturday night as he and his wife were returning to their Columbia University-owned apartment in upper Manhattan by officials from the U.S.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal investigators looking into the cause of the January collision between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people recommended a ban on some helicopter flights Tuesday, saying the current setup “poses an intolerable risk.”National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy laid out frightening statistics about near misses to underscore the danger that has existed for years near Ronald Reagan National Airport and expressed anger that it took a midair collision for it to come to light.In just over three years, she said, there were 85 close calls when a few…

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — With a new distillery set to open soon, the makers of Brough Brothers bourbon in Kentucky were ready to put their business plan into action. They were looking to ramp up whiskey production to break into lucrative new markets in Canada and Europe. Now the on-again, off-again threat of tariffs has disrupted those plans.Efforts by the Black-owned distiller to gain a foothold in Canada are on hold, as are plans to break into Germany and France, said Brough Brothers Distillery CEO Victor Yarbrough. That’s because the iconic American spirit’s widening global appeal is caught in the…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk pushed debunked theories about Social Security on Monday while describing federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, suggesting they will be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending.The billionaire entrepreneur, who is advising President Donald Trump, suggested that $500 billion to $700 billion in waste needed to be cut.“Most of the federal spending is entitlements,” Musk told the Fox Business Network. “That’s the big one to eliminate.”The comments on the popular program and other benefits provided to Americans could rattle politicians on both sides of the aisle as Musk works to downsize…

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York fired more than 2,000 prison guards Monday for failing to return to work after a weekslong wildcat strike that crippled the state’s correctional system, but said enough officers had come back on the job to declare the illegal work stoppage over.“After 22 days of an illegal strike, the governor and I are happy to report it is now ended,” Commissioner Daniel Martuscello said during a virtual press briefing.The state and the guards’ union struck a new deal to end the strike this weekend, but it was contingent on at least 85% of staff returning…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is known best for enforcing the right to disability services across America’s schools. But under President Donald Trump, it’s taking a frontline role in his political battles.Trump appointees have halted thousands of pending cases while they open new investigations aligned with the president’s campaign promises. Career staffers have been sidelined and pressured to quit, and those who remain are being ordered to refocus priorities on antisemitism, transgender issues and anti-DEI complaints.A memo Friday from the civil rights office’s chief announced antisemitism cases are now the top priority, taking aim at…