As President Donald Trump asserts his power to control the nation’s capital, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Wednesday that his department will manage Union Station taking control away from Amtrak.
Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, now the face of Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, told a federal judge on Wednesday that the torture he might face if deported to Uganda supports his efforts to obtain asylum in the United States. Trump administration officials want him to admit he's committed crimes in the U.S., which he denies.
A whistleblower says the Social Security data of more than 300 million Americans was put at risk after Department of Government Efficiency workers uploaded sensitive information to a cloud account not subject to oversight.
And as armed National Guard troops patrol the nation’s capital, a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows handling crime is now a relative strength for Trump.
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say he wants to seek asylum in the United States
Abrego Garcia, who has become the face of Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, wants to seek asylum in the United States, his lawyers told a federal judge Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Salvadoran national was detained Monday in Baltimore by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement after leaving a Tennessee jail on Friday. Administration officials have said he’s part of the dangerous MS-13 gang, an allegation Abrego Garcia denies.
His lawyers are fighting the deportation efforts in court, arguing he has the right to express fear of persecution and torture in Uganda. Abrego Garcia has also told immigration authorities he would prefer to be sent to Costa Rica if he must be removed from the U.S.
▶ Read more on the Trump administration’s efforts to punish Abrego Garcia
Trump extends control by taking Union Station management away from Amtrak
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Wednesday that his department is taking management of Union Station, the main transportation hub in Washington, away from Amtrak.
Duffy said ahead of an appearance with Amtrak President Roger Harris at Union Station for the launch of the NextGen Acela, the rail service’s new high-speed train, that the building a short walk from the U.S. Capitol had “fallen into disrepair” when it should be a “point of pride.”
Duffy’s words echoed Trump, who said last week that he wants $2 billion from Congress to beautify Washington as part of his crackdown on the city.
What Americans think about Trump’s approach on crime, from a new AP-NORC poll
As armed National Guard troops patrol the nation’s capital in an unprecedented federal takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police department, handling crime is now a relative strength for Trump, the poll found.
Americans are generally not happy about the Republican president’s handling of issues like immigration and the economy but are more positive about his tough-on-crime approach, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Indeed, the vast majority of Americans — 81% — see crime as a “major problem” in U.S. cities — a concern Trump seizes on with threats to expand National Guard deployments to cities across the country.
But the poll shows less public support for federal takeovers of local police departments, suggesting that opinions could shift, depending on how aggressively Trump pursues his threats.
Danish security service strengthens presence in Greenland
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service responded to a request for comment by saying it believes that “particularly in the current situation, Greenland is a target for influence campaigns of various kinds” that could aim to create divisions in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland.
It said it “assesses that this could be done by exploiting existing or fabricated disagreements, for example in connection with well-known individual cases, or by promoting or amplifying certain viewpoints in Greenland regarding the Kingdom, the United States, or other countries with a particular interest in Greenland.”
The service, known by its Danish acronym PET, said that in recent years it has “continuously strengthened” its efforts and presence in Greenland in cooperation with authorities there, and will continue to do so.
The Danish foreign minister has issued a statement: ‘unacceptable’
“We are aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a statement emailed Wednesday by his ministry. “It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead.”
“Any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom will of course be unacceptable,” Løkke Rasmussen said. “In that light, I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the U.S. chargé d’affaires for a meeting at the Ministry.”
Cooperation between the governments of Denmark and Greenland “is close and based on mutual trust,” he added.
▶ Read more about developments involving the U.S. and Greenland
Danish leaders had already warned the Trump administration against spying
This isn’t the first time Danish leaders summoned the top U.S. diplomat for an explanation about alleged spying in Greenland. They did it in May, after the Wall Street Journal reported that high-ranking officials under Trump’s intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard had directed intelligence agency heads to learn more about Greenland’s independence movement and sentiment about U.S. resource extraction there.
Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen spoke with The Associated Press the next day, saying “you cannot spy against an ally.” The embassy declined to comment on the summoning of Jennifer Hall Godfrey, acting head of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen.
What the Danish broadcaster is saying about the ‘influence operations’ in Greenland
Danish public broadcaster DR reported that government and security sources, which it didn’t name, believe that at least three Americans with connections to Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in the territory.
One of those people allegedly compiled a list of U.S.-friendly Greenlanders, collected names of people opposed to Trump and got locals to point out cases that could be used to cast Denmark in a bad light in American media. Two others have tried to nurture contacts with politicians, businesspeople and locals, according to the report.
DR cited eight sources, who believe the goal is to weaken relations with Denmark from within Greenlandic society. DR said it had been unable to clarify whether the Americans were working on someone’s orders. The Associated Press could not independently confirm the report.
Here’s what’s on Trump’s schedule for the day
At 12:30 p.m. Eastern, the president is scheduled to have lunch with Vice President JD Vance at the White House.
That event, the only on his public schedule today, is closed to the press.
Dissenting FEMA workers put on leave
Some employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who signed a public letter of dissent earlier this week were put on administrative leave Tuesday evening, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
More than 180 current and former FEMA employees signed the letter sent to the FEMA Review Council and Congress on Monday critiquing recent cuts to agency staff and programs, and warning that FEMA’s capacity to respond to a major disaster was dangerously diminished.
The Associated Press has confirmed that at least two of the signatories received notices Tuesday evening informing them they would be placed on leave indefinitely, with pay, and that they must still check in every morning confirming their availability. It was unclear what the status was for other signatories. FEMA did not respond immediately to questions about how many staff received the notice and whether it was related to the opposition letter.
