President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he said Thursday, a day after Iran again displayed its ability to thwart traffic through the channel.
Trump’s post on social media came shortly after the U.S. military seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Tehran over the strait through which 20% of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.
Meanwhile, it was still unclear when, or if, the two sides would meet again in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where mediators are trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.
—The Associated Press
(Associated Press/Jenny Kane, File)
Trump reclassifies state-licensed medical marijuana as less-dangerous drug in historic shift
President Donald Trump’s acting attorney general on Thursday signed an order reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, a major policy shift long sought by advocates who said cannabis should never have been treated like heroin by the federal government.
The order signed by Todd Blanche does not legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use under federal law. But it does change the way it’s regulated, shifting licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I — reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse — to the less strictly regulated Schedule III. It also gives licensed medical marijuana operators a major tax break and eases some barriers to researching cannabis.
The Trump administration also said it was jump-starting the process for reclassifying marijuana more broadly, setting a hearing to begin in late June.
—The Associated Press
Senate passes budget plan for ICE and Border Patrol in bid to reopen Homeland Security
The Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House.
The entire department has been shut down since mid-February as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. Republicans are now trying to fund the two immigration enforcement agencies through the complicated, time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to pass President Donald Trump’s package of tax and spending cuts last year with no Democratic votes.
The budget process only requires a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing filibuster rules that require Republicans to find 60 votes on most bills when they only hold 53 seats. But it also comes with increased scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and a long, open-ended series of amendment votes at the beginning and the end of the process.
—The Associated Press
New York Times says FBI investigated reporter after article about Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend
The New York Times says the FBI investigated whether one of its reporters, Elizabeth Williamson, violated laws against stalking after she wrote a story nearly two months ago about how federal agents had been assigned to protect and give rides to FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend.
The FBI said Wednesday that its agents interviewed Patel’s girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, when she expressed concern about a death threat received after Williamson’s article was published, but took no further action.
The Times, in an article posted online Wednesday, said that the FBI looked on federal databases for information about Williamson and recommended pursuing it further, but was blocked by the Justice Department.
—The Associated Press
Senate Democrats call on U.S. Postal Service to defy Trump’s mail-in voting order
More than three dozen Democratic senators have sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service demanding it refrain from implementing President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aiming to put new rules on voting by mail around the country.
In the letter, the senators argue that Trump’s order, announced late last month, is a part of his push to “unconstitutionally consolidate power to personally regulate American elections,” in this case with the help of the nation’s postal service in particular.
The Democrats pointed specifically to the order’s directive for the creation of a national log of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state and the requirement that USPS not send absentee ballots to those not on the lists as an effort to turn the country’s mail and package delivery agency into “an election administrator and regulator.”
—Spectrum News’ Maddie Gannon
More Thursday reads
• Justice Department’s watchdog is reviewing compliance with the law mandating Epstein files release
• Lawmakers seek passage of bipartisan sex trafficking victims act
• Bipartisan legislation proposes regulating e-bikes, electric micro-mobility devices
• Commerce secretary defends proposed budgets cuts at House hearing