Trump Administration Live Updates: Letitia James Pleads Not Guilty as Fight Over Her Prosecution Begins
"Where Things Stand
James arraignment: Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Virginia in a prosecution Mr. Trump demanded over the objections of career prosecutors. Ms. James has said that the case is “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.” A tentative trial date was set for Jan. 26. Read more ›
Canada trade: President Trump renewed his criticism of Canada on Friday, saying the country was trading unfairly, the morning after cutting off negotiationswith the United States’ No. 2 trading partner. He was angered by a television ad, paid for by the government of Ontario, featuring former President Ronald Reagan speaking against tariffs. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada did not engage in remarks to reporters. “We stand ready to pick up on those discussions when the Americans are ready,” he said.
Caribbean strike: The United States struck another boat it has asserted was carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, killing six. It is the 10th known attack that the administration has launched on such vessels. Read more ›
Jonah Bromwich and Devlin Barrett
Letitia James, New York’s attorney general and a longtime critic of President Trump, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges lodged by the Trump administration that she misled a bank to get more favorable mortgage terms.
A tentative trial date was set for Jan. 26. Prosecutors said they expected the trial to take about a week and feature eight to 10 witnesses.
Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, explicitly declined on Friday to discuss the ad that had prompted President Trump to cut off trade talks with Canada. But he told reporters that the “frustration has built up over time,” and later, he faulted Canada for a “lack of flexibility” in negotiations.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said Friday that U.S. and Canadian officials have been in “detailed, constructive” talks over tariffs on steel, aluminum and energy. “We stand ready to pick up on those discussions when the Americans are ready,” he said. He did not refer to President Trump’s decision to suspend negotiations. Instead, he repeated a line he has used before when the talks hit a snag: “For months, we have stressed the importance of distinguishing things we can control and things we can’t control. We can’t control the trade policy of the United States.”
Carney spoke on the tarmac in Ottawa as he prepared to fly to Malaysia to attend an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, which Trump is also expected to attend.
The U.S. military killed six people on a boat suspected of smuggling drugs from South America, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday, as the Trump administration’s lethal and legally disputed campaign continued to escalate.
The latest attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration’s campaign on suspected drug boats to 43 in 10 known strikes — eight in the Caribbean and two more this week in the eastern Pacific.
The September inflation report was delayed. The October one may not come out at all.
The White House on Friday said that it doesn’t expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics to be able to release the Consumer Price Index for October as a result of the federal government shutdown. That could leave policymakers at the Federal Reserve flying blind heading into their final meeting of the year.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Friday on social media that the ongoing government shutdown would “likely result in no October inflation report, which will leave businesses, markets, families, and the Federal Reserve in disarray.”
In calling a halt to trade talks with Canada, President Trump pointed to an ad paid for by the province of Ontario that used a speech made decades ago by President Ronald Reagan. In it, Reagan speaks against tariffs, a tool Mr. Trump has widely deployed, including against Canada, and warns against protectionism.
Mr. Trump claimed the ad was fake and that it had been aired “to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,” which is considering a legal challenge to many of his tariffs.
Premier Doug Ford of Ontario has doubled down on the message of the ad his province bought that has angered President Trump. “Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies. President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together. God bless Canada and God bless the United States,” Ford posted on social media, adding a link to the original 1987 speech by Reagan against tariffs. (An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated what Ford linked to. He linked to the speech, not the ad.)
The dispute over the Reagan ad taken out by Canada’s most populous province is typical of Ford. He has previously taken out ads targeting U.S. audiences to oppose tariffs, and has sought publicity to promote his views. Early on in the trade dispute with the United States, for example, Ford pulled all U.S.-made liquor off the shelves of the Ontario government-owned liquor monopoly.
President Trump renewed his criticism of Canada on Friday morning, saying that it had tried to swindle the United States over trade and was attempting to influence a U.S. Supreme Court case that could undo many of his tariffs. “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” he posted on Truth Social. “Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country,” he said. Late Thursday, Trump, who has imposed high tariffs on Canadian steel, auto parts and other major exports, announced he was cutting off negotiations with Canada over a trade deal.
Trump’s decision to halt trade talks with Canada comes as both he and Canada’s leader, Prime Minister Mark Carney, are set to attend a Southeast Asian regional summit in Malaysia beginning this weekend. There was no official word on whether Trump and Carney would meet there, and Carney’s office has not commented publicly on Trump’s announcement.
Thousands of federal workers missed their first paycheck this week as the government shutdown persisted with no end in sight.
About 670,000 workers have been furloughed, according to a tally by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank. Another 730,000 or so are working without pay.
Letitia James, New York’s attorney general and a longtime critic of Mr. Trump, pleaded not guilty on Friday to two counts lodged by the Trump administration over whether she misled a bank to get more favorable mortgage terms.
Appearing before Judge Jamar Walker of Federal District Court in Norfolk, Va., Ms. James said: “Not guilty, judge, to both counts.”
The Trump administration claims that the boats it has destroyed in the Caribbean and the Pacific were transporting drugs. But the U.S. government has said very little publicly about how it reached that conclusion.
The government typically does not explicitly discuss the intelligence behind military operations, but officials often describe details of a strike or raid after it is complete.
President Trump said late Thursday that he was terminating negotiations with Canada over the high tariffs that he imposed on its steel, auto parts and other major exports, adding new uncertainty to the relationship with America’s second-biggest trading partner.
On Truth Social, the president said he was ending all trade negotiations with Canada because of a video ad, paid for by the province of Ontario, that featured former President Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs."
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