Hegseth refuses to commit to obeying courts on marines in LA; Trump army parade may get cancelled over thunderstorms – live | Los Angeles Ice protests

Donald Trump’s plans to hold a military parade in Washington DC coinciding with his 79th birthday this Saturday have been put in doubt by a thunderstorm warning, according to the Times.

Steve Warren, chief spokesman of the US army, which is celebrating its 250th anniversary, told The Times:

Rain won’t stop us, the tanks don’t melt, but if there’s lightning then that puts the crowd at risk … they will disperse the crowd and even cancel or postpone the parade. It will depend on the president, too, when he’s available.

Lauren Gambino

Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has been spotted accompanying federal immigration agents on an operation in Huntington Park, a predominantly Latino city south of Los Angeles, with the New York Times capturing photos of her wearing a DHS baseball cap and a flak jacket that says POLICE/ICE.

Noem’s on-the-ground presence has been a signature of her tenure so far. She has joined raids in New York, Virginia and Arizona, toured the border on horseback and ATV, and popped up in Guantanamo Bay to observe the rising tent city to house migrants deported from the US.

Her made-for-TV tactics have drawn derision from immigration advocates and even some allies who accuse the former South Dakota governor of “cosplaying” law enforcement.

But Noem seems to have the support of the only viewer who matters: Donald Trump. Her audience of one has repeatedly applauded Noem’s efforts at the department, and in return she has offered unflinching if occasionally theatrical loyalty.

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has refused to say whether he would follow the courts if they ruled against Donald Trump’s sending active-duty marines to Los Angeles despite California governor Gavin Newsom’s objections.

The Pentagon chief repeatedly deflected when asked at a House armed services committee hearing whether he would respect a federal district or supreme court decision on the issue.

Democratic representative Ro Khanna, of California, asked: “Whatever the federal district court decides, will you abide by it?” Hegseth answered that it was a “pending situation”.

Asked again, he said:

What I will tell you is, my job right now is to ensure the troops that we have in Los Angeles are capable of supporting law enforcement.

Pressed again, the defense secretary said:

We’ve always looked to the decisions of the court.

Urged again to assure people that he would respect court decisions on the issue, Hegseth said:

What I can say is we should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country.

“So you’re not willing to say you would respect those decisions?” Hegseth was asked. He replied:

What I’m saying is, local district judges shouldn’t make foreign policy for the United States.

Kilmar Ábrego García, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the US on migrant smuggling charges, is seeking sanctions against the Trump administration for allegedly stonewalling an inquiry into efforts to secure his return.

The case has become a flashpoint over Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies, with critics holding it up as an example of the administration’s willingness to deny due process and evade court orders in its push to deport migrants.

Lawyers for Ábrego García argued in a court filing late on Wednesday that a judge should punish the federal government for failing to provide meaningful information about steps US agencies took to comply with court orders to facilitate Ábrego García’s return to the US.

“The Government’s defiance has not been subtle. It has been vocal and sustained and flagrant,” his lawyers wrote in the filing.

The filing asked US district judge Paula Xinis to conclude that the Trump administration did not take all available steps to bring about his return. It also seeks an unspecified sum in fines and to compel US officials to turn over documents they have previously withheld, citing legal privileges.

Spokespeople from the US justice department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the filing.

The Trump administration has argued it satisfied court orders by bringing Ábrego García to Tennessee last week to face a federal criminal indictment accusing him of transporting migrants living in the US illegally to destinations around the country.

Ábrego García’s lawyers have denounced the charges as “fantastical” and argued that the indictment should not end a separate lawsuit over his wrongful deportation in March.

Ábrego García is set to appear for a detention hearing in the criminal case on Friday.

Donald Trump has warned he may soon hike auto tariffs, arguing that could prod automakers to speed up US investments.

“I might go up with that tariff in the not too distant future,” Trump said at a White House event. “The higher you go, the more likely it is they build a plant here.”

Automakers have been pressing the White House to reduce the 25% tariffs Trump imposed on autos and the Detroit Three have criticized a deal that would cut tariffs on British car imports but not on Canada or Mexico production.

Donald Trump, who at the peak of his recent feud with Elon Musk had threatened to sell his red Tesla, has now praised the car brand, Reuters reprots.

“I like Tesla,” he said at a White House event targeting California’s EV rules, in a further sign of detente between the two billionaires, a day after Musk backed off his criticism of the president.

Boasting of ending green energy policies, Trump said that he had discussed his plans with Musk, his now-departed former adviser and co-founder of Tesla.

“That’s why Elon doesn’t like me very much,” Trump quipped in reference to the pair’s recent public fallout. “But he actually does, he does.”

The Tesla chief posted on X at 3am on Wednesday that he “regrets” some of the things he posted as he and Trump traded insults on social media last week, saying “they went too far”.

The tech billionaire didn’t explain why he’d had the sudden change of heart, nor did he elaborate on which posts exactly he regretted (he has many to choose from), but it did follow his decision to delete a number of his most shocking posts, including the Jeffrey Epstein one.

The New York Times also reported yesterday that Musk had called Trump on Monday night, before his regret post.

US immigration agency flies Predator drones over LA protests

Johana Bhuiyan

US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) is flying surveillance drones over the Los Angeles protests, the agency confirmed in a statement Thursday. The drones in question are MQ-9 Predators, some models of which are equipped with technology that would enable high-altitude surveillance. In a statement to 404 Media, which first reported the presence of the drones, CBP said the drones were deployed to support “our federal law enforcement partners in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with aerial support of their operations”. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts raids and arrests, activity that has ramped up under Donald Trump’s administration and against which protesters in Los Angeles have been demonstrating.

CBP also said in a statement that its air and marine operations were “not engaged in the surveillance of first amendment activities” but that they are “providing officer safety surveillance when requested by officers”.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday posted a video on X that the agency said was DHS drone footage and bore a CBP air and marine operations watermark. It included zoomed in clips of protestors on the streets.

CBP’s confirmation of its drone usage comes after the LA Times also reported that an LAPD helicopter flying over protestors announced to them: “I have all of you on camera. I’m going to come to your house.” The Guardian US reached out to the LAPD and has not heard back.

This is not the first time DHS has flown drones over protests. In 2020, DHS dispatched drones over at least 15 cities across the US where people gathered to protest the murder of George Floyd and logged more than 270 hours of surveillance footage. The LAPD has also ramped up surveillance in response to first amendment activity. During the city’s George Floyd protests, LAPD sent requests to Amazon for Ring doorbell footage that specifically sought videos of the protests.

Texas governor Greg Abbott said more than 5,000 Texas national guard soldiers and 2,000 Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers have been deployed ahead of planned Ice protests across the state over the weekend.

In a statement shared by CBS Austin, Abbott said:

Today, I deployed over 2,000 Texas DPS troopers and over 5,000 Texas National Guard soldiers across the state to assist local law enforcement response to these protests and to maintain law and order.

Anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property will be arrested and held accountable to the full extent of the law.

Don’t mess with Texas – and don’t mess with Texas law enforcement.

Donald Trump said he would not fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who he called a “numbskull” during an event at the White House on Thursday.

Trump urged Powell to lower interest rates, and said he told him that “if you think there’s inflation, let’s find out.”

“Let’s say there was inflation in a year from now. Raise your rates. I don’t mind,” he said.

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is facing questions from the House armed services committee this morning, his third appearance at a congressional hearing this week to discuss the Pentagon’s budget request.

Hegseth faced questions from Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the committee, over whether the US military had plans to take Greenland and Panama by force.

“Is it the policy of the department of defense that we need to be prepared to take Greenland and Panama by force, if necessary?” Smith asked. “Is this a policy that you have within the department of defense in accordance with the president’s wishes?”

Hegseth did not answer the question directly, instead pivoting to talking about US concerns over China’s influence in Panama and Greenland.

Panama is very key terrain that we’ve focused on and we’ve been willing to focus on, as is Greenland.

Smith pushed on, asking whether the US is trying to take over the countries by force.

“Our job at the DOD is to have plans,” Hegseth said.

“Do you have a plan for that?” Smith asked. Hegseth replied:

Our job at the defense department is to have plans for any particular contingency.

“To be clear, you do have plans to take Panama and Greenland by force if necessary,” Smith said.

Hegseth replied:

I think the American people would want the Pentagon to have plans for any particular contingency.

The White House’s deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller will brief Senate Republicans behind closed doors this morning about the GOP tax policy bill, NBC News is reporting, citing a source.

The meeting was expected to take place at about 11am ET, according to the report.

The Senate is then scheduled to hold a confirmation vote for former Missouri congressman Billy Long to serve as IRS commissioner, as well as a vote to advance the crypto regulation “Genius” bill.

House oversight committee chair James Comer kicked off what is sure to be a contentious congressional hearing on sanctuary states by repeatedly describing Kilmar Ábrego García as a “foreign MS-13 gang member”, despite a federal judge finding no evidence linking him to the criminal organization.

Comer used his opening remarks to attack senator Chris Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador, mockingly describing it as a “wellness check” that “ended with a photo op and margaritas on the rocks”. The Kentucky Republican was referring to Van Hollen’s April visit to secure the release of Ábrego García, a Salvadoran man who was mistakenly and unlawfully deported to a mega-prison in that country despite a court order barring his removal.

Ábrego García was eventually returned to the US on 6 June after spending months in detention, with the Trump administration now indicting him on counts for illegal smuggling and conspiracy.

The hearing will feature testimony from three high-profile Democratic governors – JB Pritzker of Illinois, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kathy Hochul of New York – as Republicans seek to challenge sanctuary state policies.