Authorities investigate DC shooting as a hate crime and act of terrorism
Lauren Gambino and David Smith are reporting the latest on the killing of two Israeli embassy staff members:
Jeanine Pirro, the interim US attorney for Washington, said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that authorities were also investigating as a “hate crime and a crime of terrorism” the killings that left the US capital in shock as world leaders condemned the “horrible” and “antisemitic” shootings.
Key events
Closing summary
We’re wrapping up a busy day of reporting on the second Trump administration and the killing of two Israeli Embassy aides. The blog will be closing now, but we’ll be back on Friday morning. Here are a few of the day’s developments:
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The US justice department charged the lone suspect in a brazen attack that killed two young Israeli embassy staff members outside the Jewish museum in downtown Washington DC with murder of foreign officials and other crimes. Court documents released on Thursday charged Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, with the Wednesday night killings that left the US capital in shock and were condemned by world leaders as “horrible” and “antisemitic”. According to the filing, the suspect told police after his arrest: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.”
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The Trump administration has said it is halting Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students and has ordered existing international students at the university to transfer or lose their legal status. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration notified Harvard about its decision following ongoing correspondence regarding the “legality of a sprawling records request”, according to three people familiar with the matter. The records request comes as part of an investigation by the homeland security department in which federal officials are threatening the university’s international student admissions.
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Mahmoud Khalil, the detained Palestinian activist, was allowed to hold his one-month-old son for the first time after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep the father and infant separated by a plexiglass divider, reports the Associated Press. The visit today came ahead of a scheduled immigration hearing for Khalil, a legal permanent resident and Columbia University graduate who has been held in a Louisiana jail since 8 March.
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The North Dakota governor Kelly Armstrong accidentally vetoed $35m for the state’s housing budget. When Armstrong took up an agency budget bill approved by the legislature, he thought he vetoed a couple of line items. But he vetoed millions for North Dakota’s housing budget. Now the state is figuring out how to deal with the unusual problem of a mistaken veto.
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The supreme court declined to reinstate independent agency board members fired by Donald Trump. The court’s action extended an order chief justice John Roberts issued in April that had the effect of removing two board members whom Trump fired from agencies that deal with labor issues, including one with a key role for federal workers as the president aims to drastically downsize the workforce. The decision Thursday keeps on hold an appellate ruling that had temporarily reinstated Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
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Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Bernie Navarro, the founder of the Miami lender Benworth Capital, will be the ambassador to Peru. Navarro is an ally and donor to secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Benworth was sued last year by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
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Donald Trump showed a screenshot of a Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans, Reuters itself reports. “These are all white farmers that are being buried,” said Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. In fact, the video published by Reuters on February 3 and subsequently verified by the new agency’s fact check team, showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot following deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
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A Republican push to dismantle clean energy incentives threatens to reverberate across the US by costing more than 830,000 jobs, raising energy bills for US households and threatening to unleash millions more tonnes of the planet-heating pollution that is causing the climate crisis, experts have warned. A major tax bill moving through the Republican-held House of Representatives will, as currently written, demolish key components of climate legislation signed by Joe Biden that has spurred a record torrent of renewable energy and electric vehicle investment in the US.
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A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s executive order to shut down the Department of Education and ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass layoffs. US district judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Trump administration from carrying out two plans announced in March that sought to work toward Trump’s goal to dismantle the department.
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Republicans in the House of Representatives won passage on Thursday of a major bill to enact Donald Trump’s tax and spending priorities while adding trillions of dollars to the US debt and potentially prevent millions of Americans from accessing federal safety net benefits. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was approved in the early morning hours along party lines by the slim Republican majority, with 215 votes in favor and 214 against. Its passage ended weeks of negotiations that drew into question the GOP’s ability to find agreement on Trump’s top legislative priority in a chamber they control by just three seats.
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A new report led by the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, lays out a dark vision of American children’s health and calls for agencies to examine vaccines, ultra-processed foods, environmental chemicals, lack of exercise and “overmedicalization”. Kennedy has made combatting the chronic disease “epidemic” a cornerstone of his vision for the US, even as he has ignored common causes of chronic conditions, such as smoking and alcohol use.
The tax bill passed by the House today would eliminate Medicaid coverage for all transgender-related care and prevent Affordable Care Act marketplace plans from classifying such care as an essential health benefit.
The bill potentially cuts off access for hundreds of thousands of transgender adults and an unknown number of minors.
Initially, the bill only barred Medicaid from covering “gender transition procedures” for minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries. But on Wednesday, House Republican leaders introduced an amendment that removed references to “minors” and “under 18 years of age,” which broadened the restriction to all ages.
The amendment passed the GOP-controlled House Rules Committee last night, and the full House approved the revised bill this morning.
Another section of the bill targets ACA marketplace plans, banning coverage of transition-related care as part of their essential health benefits.
Currently, nearly half of US states prohibit insurers from explicitly excluding transition-related care.
Mahmoud Khalid allowed to hold newborn son for first time
Detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was allowed to hold his one-month-old son for the first time Thursday after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep the father and infant separated by a Plexiglass barrier.
The visit came before a scheduled immigration hearing for Khalil, a legal permanent resident and Columbia University graduate who has been detained in a Louisiana jail since 8 March.
Khalil was the first person to be arrested under Donald Trump promised crackdown on protesters against the war in Gaza and is one of the few who has remained in custody as his case winds its way through both immigration and federal court.
Federal authorities have not accused Khalil of a crime, but they have sought to deport him on the basis that his prominent role in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza may have undermined US foreign policy interests.
His request to attend his son’s 21 April birth was denied last month by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The question of whether Khalil would be permitted to hold his newborn child or forced to meet him through a barrier had sparked days of legal fighting, triggering claims by Khalil’s attorneys that he was being subject to political retaliation by the government.
The newly sworn-in head of the Social Security Administration told staff this week that he had to Google the role of social security commissioner when he was offered the position by the Trump administration.
Frank Bisignano, a former Wall Street executive, said during a town hall with social security managers that he hadn’t been seeking a position in the Trump administration when he received a call about leading the SSA.
Bisignano can be heard saying in a recording obtained by ABC News: “So, I get a phone call and it’s about social security. And I’m really, I’m really not, I swear I’m not looking for a job.”
“And I’m like: ‘Well, what am I going to do?’ So, I’m Googling ‘social security’. You know, one of my great skills. I’m one of the great Googlers on the east coast.”
Some Harvard sports teams could be devastated by a new administration policy that would make the Ivy League school with the nation’s largest athletic program ineligible to sponsor international student visas, according to the Associated Press.
On the men’s heavyweight crew team, which recently won the Eastern Sprints and is heading to the national championships, seven of the eight rowers list international hometowns on Harvard’s website.
Similarly, 10 of the 13 athletes on the men’s squash team, along with more than half of the women’s soccer and golf teams, appear to be international students.
According to Sportico, 21% of athletes across Harvard’s 42 varsity teams for the 2024-25 season – 196 out of 919 – list international hometowns. But the outlet noted that some of these athletes may be US citizens or permanent residents who would not require a visa.
North Dakota governor accidentally vetoes $35m for state’s housing budget
The Associated Press is reporting that the North Dakota governor Kelly Armstrong accidentally vetoed $35m for the state’s housing budget.
When Armstrong took up an agency budget bill approved by the legislature, he thought he vetoed a couple of line items. But he vetoed millions for North Dakota’s housing budget. Now the state is figuring out how to deal with the unusual problem of a mistaken veto.
“I have no recollection of anything like this happening in the 37 years I’ve been here,” John Bjornson, legislative council director, said Thursday. “So, yeah, I’d say it’s a little extraordinary.”
In North Dakota, the governor’s staff called his veto of the housing budget in Senate Bill 2014 a markup error. Armstrong’s staff met with the legislative council Thursday morning to discuss options.
“This was an honest mistake, and we will fix it,” a statement from the governor’s office read.
Trump announces ally Bernie Navarro as ambassador to Peru
Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Bernie Navarro, the founder of the Miami lender Benworth Capital, will be the ambassador to Peru.
Navarro is an ally and donor to secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Benworth was sued last year by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The Miami Herald reported in July 2024:
Benworth Capital approved more than $4 billion of the forgivable federal loans designed to keep small businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, which earned Benworth more than $680 million in fees. The lender was sued earlier this month by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which provided Benworth with the money it used to make its PPP loans. The Federal Reserve bank said that Benworth is in breach of its contract with the bank and is demanding that Benworth immediately repay nearly $67 million the bank says it is still owed.
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group known for publishing research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, Reuters reports.
The FTC informed the group, which is aligned with Democratic causes, that it’s examining whether Media Matters illegally coordinated with advertisers. The agency requested documents including budgets, records showing how harmful online content affects advertisers, and communications with other watchdog groups.
Elon Musk, the owner of X and a close adviser to former President Trump, sued Media Matters in 2023, accusing it of trying to undermine the platform’s relationship with advertisers. That lawsuit is ongoing. As part of its inquiry, the FTC also asked Media Matters to hand over any documents exchanged with X during the litigation.
The investigation marks another instance of the Trump administration targeting institutions seen as influential within the political left.
Representatives Ro Khanna of California and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, both with family histories of fighting for civil rights, condemned Donald Trump’s baseless claims of “white genocide” during his meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Jackson’s father, Rev Jesse Jackson, fought for civil rights and an end to apartheid in South Africa. Representative Khanna’s grandfather, Amarnath Vidyalankar, was an Indian freedom fighter who spent four years in jail alongside Gandhi. Khanna and Jackson said in a joint statement:
His false narrative of a ‘white genocide’ is profoundly insulting and harmful to those who have faced centuries of discrimination and violence under colonialism and apartheid in South Africa and to President Ramaphosa, who worked tirelessly to end apartheid.
My colleagues Dani Anguiano and Maanvi Singh report on how arrests by Ice agents at immigration courts across the US are inciting fear:
Ice arrests at immigration courts across the US stirring panic: ‘It’s terrifying’
Federal authorities have arrested people at US immigration courts from New York to Arizona to Washington state in what appears to be a coordinated operation, as the Trump administration ramps up the president’s mass deportation campaign.
On Tuesday, agents who identified themselves only as federal officers arrested multiple people at an immigration court in Phoenix, taking people into custody outside the facility, according to immigrant advocates.
In Miami on Wednesday, Juan Serrano, a 28-year-old who immigrated from Colombia, went to court for a quick check-in where a judge soon told him he was free to go. When he left the courtroom, federal agents waiting outside cuffed him and placed him in a van with several other immigrants detained that day.
Journalists, advocates and attorneys reported seeing Ice agents poised to make arrests this week at immigration courthouses in Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, Seattle, Chicago and Texas.
Arrests near or in the immigration courts, which are part of the US Department of Justice, are typically rare – in part due to concerns that the fear of being detained by Ice officers could discourage people from appearing. “It’s bad policy,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, president of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). “By putting immigration officers in the courtrooms, they’re discouraging people from following the processes, punishing people for following the rules.”
Toczylowski noted several Ice officers both inside and outside an immigration courtroom in Los Angles this week, but said she did not see any arrests made there. She said that immigrants without lawyers were especially vulnerable, as they may not understand the exact information and context they need to provide in order to advance their case for asylum or other pathways to permanent residency in the US.
Read the full story here:
The FBI affidavit regarding the killing of the two Israeli embassy aides states that the shooting suspect flew into Reagan national airport on Tuesday with his legal firearm, but his actions in the day between his arrival and the shooting are unclear.
Elias Rodriguez, the suspect, walked past his two victims, turned to face their backs, fired several times, then fired additional rounds after they fell to the ground, according to the affidavit.
Sarah Milgrim, one of the victims, tried to crawl away, and Rodriguez “followed behind her and fired again”, the affidavit says. He appeared to be reloading his weapon when Milgrim sat up, and Rodriguez then fired several more times.
Faisal Ali
The US announces sanctions on Sudan for chemical weapons use
The US state department has announced that it will impose sanctions on Sudan for the use of chemical weapons in 2024. Sudan became a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention in May 1999. The US said the country was in “non-compliance” with the provisions of the treaty and “will impose sanctions on Sudan, including restrictions on US exports to Sudan and on access to US government lines of credit.”
A statement added that the sanctions would take effect on 6 June and called on Sudan “to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations under the CWC.”
Far-left group distances itself from suspected shooter who once associated with organization
The suspect in the attack that killed two young Israeli embassy staff members, Elias Rodriguez, was once affiliated with a far-left group in Chicago, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, according to a post from the group on X.
The group said that Rodriguez had a brief association with a PSL branch that ended in 2017 and that they knew of no contact with him in more than seven years.
“We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it,” the organization posted on X.
Rodriguez was also identified in a 2018 local news report as a member of the Chicago branch of a national group called Answer, an acronym for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, which has organized demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians.
Rodriguez worked at the healthcare non-profit American Osteopathic Information Association, the organization confirmed in a statement expressing sympathy for the victims.
“We were shocked and saddened to learn that an AOIA employee has been arrested as a suspect in this horrific crime,” the statement said.
The supreme court blocked a bid led by two Catholic dioceses to establish in Oklahoma the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school.
The court deadlocked 4-4 in a major case on the separation of church and state.
The decision left intact a lower court’s decision that blocked the establishment of St Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. Oklahoma’s top court found that the proposed school would violate the US Constitution’s First Amendment limits on government involvement in religion.
The justices, as is typical in the rare instances when they deadlock, did not provide a rationale for their action in the unsigned ruling.
