Raw Story

Donald Trump’s desire to deport immigrants from the U.S. by force is running headlong into his drive to increase foreign investments in the U.S. in the hope that it will improve his dismal job numbers.

Asked about an immigration raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia by agents working for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that led to a round-up of 475 employees, many of them South Koreans sent to help with the set-up, NBC’s Christine Romans said foreign investors are becoming nervous.

"So talk about the concerns you've heard from South Korean business leaders,“ she was asked on MSNBC.

“Well, it's the collision of two Trump administration policies, right?’ she began. “Aggressive immigration enforcement and then using these trade deals to to get countries to invest more in the United States. Now, are you more likely in South Korea or elsewhere to invest more in the United States? If the 200 people that you've sent over to build the factory, literally, to train the American workers around it.”

“They just said they're the top investor,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough prompted his guest.

”That's right, that's right and this is what part of the trade policy is to get more countries to send their companies here to build in the United States,” Romans replied. “At the same time, you have this very messy public image that is being broadcast here.”

“It's just these things are at cross purposes,” she elaborated. “What you hear from business leaders, overseas business leaders ,is that the us immigration system is a godawful mess, and that they need better visa pathways for skilled workers to get here. What you hear from MAGA, of course, and from many traditional Republicans as well, is that skilled worker visas take away American jobs, so it's not an easy sell on that end. It's a big mess and this is front and center here.”

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President Donald Trump issued a brief statement about the suddenly tense standoff between Poland and Russia.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned the NATO member's parliament that Russia had crossed a line by sending drones into its airspace during an early Wednesday attack against Ukraine, saying "this situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War II," and the U.S. president briefly commented on social media.

"What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones?" Trump posted on Truth Social at 11:09a.m. EST. "Here we go!"

European leaders condemned the incident as an escalation by the Kremlin, which has continued its attacks on Ukraine despite Trump's efforts to push Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into peace talks.

Polish military officials called the incursion “act of aggression" and said all of the drones were shot down with help from NATO allies, and Tusk said he has activated Article 4 of NATO’s treaty, which allows member nations to demand consultations with their allies.

That's only the eighth time since NATO was established in 1949 that Article 4, which does not trigger a military reaction, has been invoked by a member.

A top-ranking public health official changed the subject when CNN's Kate Bolduan asked him to comment on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s past statements on vaccines.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary appeared Wednesday morning on "CNN News Central," and Bolduan asked him to comment on new eligibility guidelines for vaccinations that had been reportedly keeping pregnant women from getting Covid shots.

"If this is the case, well, first of all, Kate, we've been very clear that anybody who wants a vaccine can get a vaccine," he said.

"They're not," Bolduan interjected. "They're not. You heard that from members of Congress. You heard that from, you've absolutely heard that from members of Congress when they even spoke to Robert Kennedy Jr. about that. You may want them to be able to get it if they want to, but because of the way the guidance has been rolled out and the way the recommendation has been pulled back, they are not able to either because pharmacists are afraid of liability or insurance is not covering it. It is not, if everybody wants it, they're not able to get it."

Makary once again insisted there were no barriers to patients receiving the shots, and he then tossed out a few red herrings and questioned whether they were safe and effective.

"Well, Kate, first of all, there is absolutely no regulatory barrier preventing somebody from getting it whatsoever," Makary said. "Now you can't get it at every Starbucks, but there is no rule that somebody cannot get it. What we have is a regulatory framework at the FDA that says we have to approve pharmaceutical claims based on the data that they presented to us, and so that's the standard. Now, some say we should just close our eyes and blindfold, blindly stamp, rubber stamp Covid vaccines in perpetuity every year without any updated clinical trial data."

The FDA commissioner then asked whether any healthy pregnant women had died from Covid in the past year and said administration officials were examining whether the vaccines had killed young people, and Bolduan challenged him on Kennedy's past statements on vaccines, in general.

"They do want they do want your leadership, absolutely, commissioner," she said. "FDA approves vaccines, the FDA is is is the gold standard in terms of approving vaccines, just as baseline. Since this is the topic, Secretary Kennedy, before he was secretary, had said that there's no vaccine that is safe and effective. Do you agree with that?"

Makary declined to answer directly but compared vaccines to the prescription medications advertised on television.

"Well, look, with every single medical product, I can just tell you as a physician, what we have to do is evaluate the safety to risk-benefit ratio," he said. "That is, every single product in all of medicine has some side-effect profile, and for some it's rare, and so that's the general framework, and that's what I think he was referring to."

The commissioner then changed the subject to pharmaceutical ads, saying the administration will now require ads to thoroughly list information related to all product risks, which Makary argued would lower drug prices and give consumers more data about medications, and CNN's host John Berman commented on his refusal to answer Bolduan's question.

"It's interesting," Berman said, as the segment ended. "His answer to the question about what Robert Kennedy said about vaccines, no vaccines being safe and effective, his answer was, we're trying to get rid of pharmaceutical ads. Really addressed the question there."

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard retracted an intelligence report on Tuesday because it may have "improperly" identified a Trump administration official, according to a new report.

The report Gabbard withdrew detailed work performed by Richard Grenell in Venezuela, The New York Times reported. Grenell was a top intelligence official in the first Trump administration and currently leads the Kennedy Center.

The Times reported that the document included information about Grenell's conversations and negotiations with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, citing "people briefed on the document."

"Multiple people briefed on the matter insisted the report was recalled because it did not adequately hide Mr. Grenell’s identity, describing him as the presidential envoy to Venezuela," according to the Times. "Ms. Gabbard has asked intelligence agencies to take special care with reports that either directly identify Trump administration officials or are written in ways that could easily identify them."

Gabbard previously caused a stir after she released the name of an undercover spy in an effort to announce that DNI had revoked security clearances for several people who worked on Trump's impeachment trials and the investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

"News of the recall came amid a debate over the Trump administration’s policy toward the country," according to the report. "Mr. Grenell, who serves as an envoy to Venezuela, has advocated negotiations with its authoritarian government, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pushed for a more hard-line approach."

"But other officials said the recall of the report had little to do with competing camps in the Trump administration and was more about improperly identifying a senior official in an intelligence document," it added.

Read the entire report by clicking here.

CNN contributor and New York Times podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro warned on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is taking a "double-edged" sword to the economy, as evidenced by the latest job numbers.

The Department of Labor published data on Tuesday that revised the previous quarter's job numbers downward by 900,000, which was the largest downward revision in the agency's history. The revision came about a month after Trump removed the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner because the agency published what he described as unreliable data.

Garcia-Navarro said the data BLS published shows there are "real problems" surfacing in Trump's economy.

"To me, what's most interesting about these numbers is manufacturing," Garcia-Navarro said. "There are some real problems in manufacturing."

Trump has made it a goal of his second administration to re-establish America's manufacturing base. To that end, he has implemented numerous tariffs that seek to protect American manufacturers from foreign competition.

"This whole idea that somehow manufacturing is going to be resurgent, I think, is showing a lot of weakness," Garcia-Navarro said.

The data also adds to the growing skepticism about the state of the U.S. economy. Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. economy is in good health, although some experts like J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon have their doubts.

“I think the economy is weakening,” Dimon told CNBC on Tuesday. “Whether it’s on the way to recession or just weakening, I don’t know.”

Garcia-Navarro said part of the economic weakness is being driven by decreased federal spending.

"You're seeing a double-edged sword here, where they are actually limiting the economy in two different ways that are showing," she added. "I think the word recession is a word that we haven't seen in a while, but we might be due for it."

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Republican lawmakers are reportedly fed up with housing official Bill Pulte and view him as "a nut," Politico reports.

The Trump administration's Federal Housing Finance Agency director is now at the center of President Donald Trump's heated campaign against the Federal Reserve and has become "one of his most vociferous social media attack dogs" for the commander-in-chief.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Pulte, threatening physical violence during an exclusive Georgetown event for Trump administration officials.

During the cocktail hour, Bessent launched into an aggressive confrontation with Pulte, claiming the housing official had been speaking negatively about him to Trump. Witnesses reported Bessent's explosive verbal assault, with him demanding, "Why the f--- are you talking to the president about me? F--- you," and declaring, "I'm gonna punch you in your f---ing face."

Republicans are reportedly pleased that Bessent confronted Pulte.

Speaking anonymously to Politico due to the sensitive nature of the administration infighting, one lawmaker shared frustration over Pulte.

“I think he’s a nut,” one House Republican told Politico.

“The guy’s just a little too big for his britches,” said another GOP lawmaker and member of the House Financial Services Committee. “I’ve got great respect for Bessent for taking him on.”

Pulte initiated mortgage fraud allegations against Fed Governor Lisa Cook — Trump later moved to fire her. Like Trump, Pulte also attacks Fed Chair Jerome Powell, claiming his handling of monetary policy and the expensive renovations to the central bank's Washington headquarters.

"Rank-and-file Hill Republicans" appear to back Bessent and see him as "a key stabilizing force on economic policy within the Trump administration."

Many Republicans see Bessent as "the adult in the room."

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA), chair of the House Financial Services oversight subcommittee, prefers Bessent's approach.

“I’m always in line with where the president wants to go, and I believe [Pulte] is as well,” he said. “I know Secretary Bessent is, and that’s where my loyalties lie, with the president and with Secretary Bessent.”

“I would have done the same,” another Republican who spoke anonymously to Politico said.