The couple have since been taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges where both have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
The move to lift sanctions on Rodr\u00edguez, which was announced by the US Treasury Department on Wednesday, allows her to work more freely with US companies and investors. Without explicitly mentioning the sanctions targeting her, Rodr\u00edguez, in a statement, expressed hope for US-Venezuelan relations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe value President Donald Trump\u2019s decision as a step toward normalising and strengthening relations between our countries,\u201d she said on her Telegram channel after the Treasury\u2019s announcement. \u201cWe trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of current sanctions against our country, enabling us to build and guarantee an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez and her brother, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, were hit with sanctions during Trump\u2019s first term over their role in allegedly undermining Venezuelan democracy.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a>Trump polled advisers about replacing Tulsi Gabbard as intelligence chief Donald Trump<\/a> has privately asked cabinet officials in recent weeks whether he should replace his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard<\/a>, venting frustration that she shielded a former deputy who undercut his rationale for war with Iran, according to two people briefed on the discussions.<\/p>\n It is not clear that Trump will actually fire Gabbard over the episode. Currently, there is no standout candidate to take the job, and advisers have cautioned that creating a high-profile vacancy before a successor is ready could cause unhelpful political distractions.<\/p>\n But Trump\u2019s discussions marks an ominous development for Gabbard, given the president tends to poll his advisers when he starts to seriously consider whether a personnel change is necessary. The two people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s doubts about Gabbard followed her testimony at the world wide threats hearing on Capitol Hill last month where she declined to condemn Joe Kent, who had resigned days earlier after arguing<\/a> that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States, the people said.<\/p>\n The nature of Kent\u2019s departure and his criticism of the war had already angered Trump, but he expressed particular frustration about Gabbard seemingly defending Kent and appearing reluctant to defend the administration\u2019s position to attack Iran<\/a>, the people said.<\/p>\n Asked on Sunday whether he still had confidence in Gabbard\u2019s leadership, Trump offered a mixed endorsement. \u201cYeah, sure,\u201d Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. \u201cI mean, she\u2019s a little bit different in her thought process than me, but that doesn\u2019t make somebody not available to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Republican plan to fund DHS could get first test vote later today<\/p>\n The Senate is expected to try quickly passing a measure later today that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), though it\u2019s unclear how soon the House will follow to largely end the longest partial government shutdown in history.<\/p>\n House speaker Mike Johnson and Senate majority leader John Thune announced a plan yesterday to fully fund the DHS as part of a two-step process, AP reported.<\/p>\n The agreement puts the leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they pursued separate plans that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week without a fix.<\/p>\n Johnson and Thune announced a return to the bipartisan Senate plan worked out with Democrats<\/a> that funds most of the department, with the exception of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Border Patrol.<\/p>\n Republicans would then try later to fund those agencies on their own through party-line spending legislation that could take months to finish.<\/p>\n Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from the GOP\u2019s own ranks even though president Donald Trump<\/a> has given his support.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Before Donald Trump<\/a> declared \u201cliberation day\u201d on 2 April 2025 and shocked the world by raising import tariffs on nearly every country the US did business with, he had spent almost three months causing chaos in Washington.<\/p>\n The wholesale slashing of government jobs under Doge (the \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d) and the defunding of US aid agencies had shown White House watchers that the US president was in a hurry to upset institutions he considered profligate or useless.<\/p>\n Investors quickly understood that chaos was an essential tool in Trump\u2019s armoury. Almost as soon as he was inaugurated, there was a steady decline in the value of the dollar against other currencies. Investors sold assets denominated in dollars and bought assets elsewhere: Europe, Asia, South America.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think that discouraging investors from buying assets in the US is a victory, then you don\u2019t believe in a growing economy,\u201d said Dario Perkins, the head of global research at the consultancy TS Lombard. \u201cIf it was possible for Trump to have spent the last 14 months on the golf course, we would be in a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n Russ Mould, the investment director of the British stockbroker AJ Bell, said:<\/p>\n double quotation markAmerica is still home to the world\u2019s largest economy and its reserve currency, as well as the globe\u2019s largest equity and bond markets, but investors continue to reassess their exposure one year on from liberation day.<\/p>\n The economy has either gone sideways or declined, depending on the preferred measure. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that US companies, which were supposed to be the victors in Trump\u2019s new tariff war, stopped hiring almost as soon as liberation day was announced.<\/p>\n Significant revisions in February to data covering 2025 pushed payroll employment down by 403,000 jobs, resulting in the addition of 181,000 jobs<\/a> last year. This small boost is set against the 163 million people who are employed in the US.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Commission to vote on Trump\u2019s White House $400m ballroom project after injunction granted<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to the US politics<\/a> live blog.<\/p>\n The National Capital Planning Commission will meet this afternoon to decide on Donald Trump\u2019s White House $400m ballroom project, after a federal judge halted construction earlier this week.<\/p>\n Although the order did not take place with immediate effect, judge Richard Leon\u2019s injunction prompted the president to claim, in a Truth Social post, that his administration did not in fact require \u201cexpress authorization from Congress\u201d to proceed. The government is appealing against the decision.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s fellow Republicans have up until now not felt the need to weigh in on the project, Politico reported<\/a>. One exception was Lexi Hamel, a spokesperson for representative Mike Simpson, who said in a statement on Wednesday the Idaho Republican \u201cbelieves the ruling is stupid\u201d and that \u201cnobody raised hell when Roosevelt or Truman renovated the White House (at taxpayer expense).\u201d<\/p>\n The federal panel postponed an expected vote<\/a> on the project last month, after receiving thousands of negative public comments. Before meeting, the commission released more than 9,000 pages<\/a> of public comments it received about the project.<\/p>\n The commission has said that more than 35,000 people had submitted written comments, with the majority opposing Trump\u2019s plans to build a 90,000 sq ft ballroom where the East Wing of the White House once stood, and condemning the demolition of the East Wing, which began in October<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Commission of Fine Arts<\/a>, which is also tasked with reviewing the ballroom plans and where Trump has also installed loyalists, voted to approve the ballroom project<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n Historic preservationist groups have sued and attempted to halt the project. In December, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a federal lawsuit<\/a>, seeking to block the construction of the new ballroom, arguing that the administration violated laws by tearing parts of the White House \u201cwithout any review whatsoever\u201d.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n House Republicans announced that they will pass a bill, advanced by the Senate last week, to end the record-breaking partial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown after previously rejecting the measure.<\/p>\n Democrats quickly celebrated the win with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer saying \u201cHouse Republicans caved\u201d after previously \u201c[derailing] a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction\u201d.<\/p>\n Nasa\u2019s lunar rocket successfully launched and the astronauts on the first crewed lunar rocket in more than 50 years received praise from across the US.<\/p>\n![\"Hugo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hugo_Lowell.png\")
Hugo Lowell<\/p>\n![\"Phillip](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Philip_Inman.png\")
Phillip Inman<\/p>\n