The president first attacked the judge for having been nominated to the federal bench by Barack Obama, and largely focused on the part of the ruling that also instructed the Trump administration<\/a> to halt the closure of the performing arts center for a two-year renovation.<\/p>\n Trump then turned to his anger over the part of the ruling that gave him 14 days to have his name removed from the Kennedy Center\u2019s facade and website.<\/p>\n US district judge Christopher Cooper, Trump noted, had ruled that his handpicked board members, who \u201cunanimously voted to add the name \u2018TRUMP\u2019 onto the former Kennedy Center, making it The Trump Kennedy Center, did not have the right to do such an addition, and the name, \u2018TRUMP,\u2019 must be removed\u201d.<\/p>\n Many, many more words followed before the screed ended with the entirely unclear fix Trump said that he was ordering: \u201cwe are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.13 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Closing summary<\/p>\n This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration<\/a> for the day. Here are the latest developments:<\/p>\n The US Postal Service could throw the upcoming midterm elections into chaos by requiring states to provide lists of voters who received mail ballots, according to a draft rule<\/a> set to be published on Tuesday.<\/p>\n An executive order signed with little fanfare on Friday by Donald Trump could have a huge impact on the health of American\u2019s children, because it instructs the CDC to cut the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11.<\/p>\n Members of John F Kennedy\u2019s family celebrated the court order on Friday, the late president\u2019s birthday, that Donald Trump\u2019s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center cultural complex in Washington DC and must be removed within two weeks.<\/p>\n Louisiana Republicans approved a new congressional map on Friday which would eliminate a majority-Black congressional district that was at the center of a landmark supreme court ruling<\/a> gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.02 EDT<\/p>\n FBI arrests anti-ICE protester seen in rightwing influencer’s video threatening officer outside detention Newark center<\/p>\n The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, announced<\/a> on Friday that the FBI has arrested an anti-ICE protester who was seen on video recorded by the rightwing influencer Nick Sortor threatening a federal officer who beat protesters outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey this week.<\/p>\n Sortor, a former real estate agent from Kentucky who was involved in multiple physical altercations with protesters in Portland last year, celebrated the arrest of the protester seen in his clip one day after he said<\/a> he had \u201cforwarded it directly to DHS\u201d.<\/p>\n Sortor\u2019s video showed<\/a> the protester threatening the life of the officer, and his family, but did not show what preceded the confrontation.<\/p>\n Video recorded by another video journalist offered a clue as to what might have set the protester off. In that clip<\/a>, apparently recorded earlier, the protester who screamed at the federal officer was recorded standing next to another anti-ICE activist who was shoved under a moving truck by another federal officer. The officer who was seen in Sortor\u2019s clip being screamed at then appeared and beat an anti-ICE protester with a baton.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>US Postal Service rule change could throw vote-by-mail into chaos for midterms<\/p>\n The US Postal Service could throw the upcoming midterm elections into chaos by requiring states to provide lists of voters who received mail ballots, according to a draft rule<\/a> set to be published on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Nearly one in three Americans voted by mail in 2024<\/a>, but Donald Trump, who wants to restrict the number of voters by limiting ballots cast by mail, signed an executive order<\/a> in March that prohibits the USPS from delivering ballots to any voters not on a federal list of citizens deemed eligible to vote in each state by the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n The USPS proposal to implement this order, posted on the Federal Register website, seeks to require states to give the postal service the names and barcodes tied to mail-in ballots for federal elections. The public will have 30 days to comment on the proposed rule before the Trump administration<\/a> can finalize it.<\/p>\n A ballot box rests outside Contra Costa county\u2019s elections office on 27 May in Martinez, California. Photograph: Benjamin Fanjoy\/Getty Images<\/p>\n For people who do not trust the mail, comments can by sent by email, containing the name and address of the commenter, to: PCFederalRegister@usps.gov, with the subject line \u201cBallot Mail\u201d.<\/p>\n The Postal Service rule changes would also require states to provide unique barcodes applied to the outbound and return ballot mail envelopes, saying it \u201cwill help determine adherence to federal law and facilitate law enforcement efforts\u201d.<\/p>\n On Thursday, a federal judge in the District of Columbia, Carl Nichols, who clerked for supreme court justice Clarence Thomas and was nominated by Trump in 2019, declined to block Trump\u2019s March order to limit vote-by-mail, but did not rule on its legality.<\/p>\n A federal judge in Boston set a preliminary injunction hearing for Tuesday on a pair of separate lawsuits<\/a> filed by 24 Democratic state attorneys general and voting-rights groups against Trump and the USPS challenging the voting order.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s order also directed the administration to use federal data to inform state election officials who is eligible to vote, required the postal service to deliver ballots only to voters on each state\u2019s approved mail-in ballot list, and required states to preserve election-related records for five years.<\/p>\n In April, 37 Democratic senators wrote to the postal service<\/a> that Trump\u2019s order was \u201ca blatant violation of the Constitution\u201d that would transform the USPS \u201cinto an election administration agency with the power to determine who can vote by mail and to establish ballot specifications\u201d.<\/p>\n In 2020, when states relied heavily on vote-by-mail during the pandemic, Trump lost the popular vote by more than 7m votes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.51 EDT<\/p>\n Trump signs order directing CDC to reduce number of vaccines given to children from 17 to 11<\/p>\n An executive order signed with little fanfare on Friday by Donald Trump could have a huge impact on the health of US children, because it instructs the CDC to cut the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11.<\/p>\n The vague language of the order<\/a>, which refers to \u201ca scientific assessment that compared United States childhood immunization recommendations with those of peer nations\u201d published in January<\/a> by anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy\u2019s health department, disguises the fact that the new recommendation removes vaccines against six diseases from the schedule.<\/p>\n The assessment, co-authored by the subsequently fired<\/a> Covid vaccine critic Dr Tracy Beth H\u00f8eg, concluded that the CDC director should update the childhood immunization schedule \u201cto keep vaccines for 10 diseases \u2013 measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), pneumococcal disease, and human papillomavirus (HPV) \u2013 for which peer, developed nations share international consensus, as well as varicella (chickenpox) \u2026 in the category of vaccines recommended for all children\u201d.<\/p>\n Implementing that recommendation would mean removing vaccines for these diseases from the recommended schedule:<\/p>\n hepatitis A<\/p>\n hepatitis B<\/p>\n meningitis<\/p>\n rotavirus<\/p>\n influenza<\/p>\n Covid-19<\/p>\n Ruth Jones, immunization nurse, holds a Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Borinquen Health Care Center on 29 May 2025 in Miami. Photograph: Joe Raedle\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The assessment also recommended cutting the number of doses of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine from two or three (depending on the child\u2019s age) to one.<\/p>\n Fifteen states with Democratic governors are suing HSS and Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a> over the administration\u2019s proposed changes to the federal vaccine recommendations, arguing that stripping \u201cvaccines of their universally recommended status, in favor of senseless complexity and equivocation\u201d will \u201cmake children sicker and strain state resources\u201d. The suit also complained of a CDC memo downgrading the recommendation for a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.<\/p>\n \u201cThere seems to be little scientific basis for altering the recommendations that have gone through,\u201d Dr William Schaffner, a professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt University school of medicine and a former member of the CDC\u2019s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, told the Association of American Medical Colleges<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we do not progressively vaccinate children from certain diseases, sooner or later we will see the resurgence of these diseases, just as we are seeing with recent outbreaks of measles,\u201d Schaffner added. \u201cThe consequences of that will be more sick children, more visits to the doctor, and more hospitalizations.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit from the states also noted that the health department assessment supposedly aligning the US vaccine schedule with those \u201cpeer countries\u201d had \u201ca particular focus on Denmark\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Denmark is not a \u2018peer country\u2019 in relation to vaccines because, among other things, unlike the US, it has a small, homogenous population and universal healthcare,\u201d attorneys for the 15 states argued. \u201cAnd Denmark\u2019s vaccine policies are a global outlier that cannot be retrofitted to the US.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven Danish health officials are baffled by Defendants\u2019 reliance on Denmark,\u201d the attorneys added, referring to comments to the New York Times<\/a> from an official at Denmark\u2019s equivalent of the CDC.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not at all fair to say look at Denmark unless you can match the other characteristics of Denmark,\u201d the Danish official, Dr Anders Hviid, told the Times in December.<\/p>\n In that interview, Hviid also noted the irony in Kennedy\u2019s health department relying on Denmark, given that he and other Danish health officials had debunked Kennedy\u2019s theories of vaccine harm.<\/p>\n It seems \u201cto get crazier and crazier in public health from month to month\u201d during the Trump administration<\/a>, Hviid told the Times. \u201cIt is surreal, and it is difficult, from a Danish perspective, to understand what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.43 EDT<\/p>\n Kennedy family welcomes judge’s order to remove Trump’s name from Kennedy Center<\/p>\n Members of John F Kennedy\u2019s family celebrated the court order on Friday, the late president\u2019s birthday, that Donald Trump\u2019s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center cultural complex in Washington DC and must be removed within two weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cAn appropriate birthday present on my uncle\u2019s birthday today. A federal judge ruled that President Trump and the Kennedy Center Board acted unlawfully in renaming the Kennedy Center,\u201d JFK\u2019s niece Maria Shriver wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe judge held that only Congress can change the Center\u2019s name and blocked the planned two-year closure. I know they\u2019ll probably appeal and the story isn\u2019t over, but for today let\u2019s celebrate a great birthday gift.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps I won\u2019t need that pickaxe after all,\u201d Robert F Kennedy\u2019s daughter Kerry Kennedy wrote<\/a>. \u201cWhat a great way to celebrate you on your birthday, Uncle Jack!\u201d<\/p>\n The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on 2 February 2026. Photograph: Al Drago\/Reuters<\/p>\n Her brother, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump\u2019s health secretary, made no immediate comment.<\/p>\n Joe Kennedy III, a grandson of RFK and a former congressman, shared the news without comment on social media. When the name change was presented as a fait accompli in December, he called it illegal. \u201cThe Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.41 EDT<\/p>\n Trump says ‘I have no interest in’ Kennedy Center after judge orders his name removed from memorial<\/p>\n Six-and-a-half hours after Donald Trump put the world on notice that he was entering the White House Situation Room to make his \u201cfinal determination\u201d on whether or not there is peace in Iran, the president finally returned to social media to post a 578-word statement<\/a> on an entirely different matter: his rage at the federal judge who ruled that his name has to be removed from the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n The president first attacked the judge for having been nominated to the federal bench by Barack Obama, and largely focused on the part of the ruling that also instructed the Trump administration<\/a> to halt the closure of the performing arts center for a two-year renovation.<\/p>\n Trump then turned to his anger over the part of the ruling that gave him 14 days to have his name removed from the Kennedy Center\u2019s facade and website.<\/p>\n US district judge Christopher Cooper, Trump noted, had ruled that his handpicked board members, who \u201cunanimously voted to add the name \u2018TRUMP\u2019 onto the former Kennedy Center, making it The Trump Kennedy Center, did not have the right to do such an addition, and the name, \u2018TRUMP,\u2019 must be removed\u201d.<\/p>\n Many, many more words followed before the screed ended with the entirely unclear fix Trump said that he was ordering: \u201cwe are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.13 EDT<\/p>\n US travel industry group says plan to stop international flights to Newark airport could cost $8bn and 50,000 jobs<\/p>\n The United States Travel Association, an industry group, sounded the alarm on Friday over comments by Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, that DHS is \u201cdrawing up plans\u201d to withdraw immigration processing services at airports in Democratic-run cities and states that restrict local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n As our colleague Jos\u00e9 Olivares reported<\/a> this week, Mullin floated the idea in a Fox News interview as a possible way to punish Democratic officials who support protests against an immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, which is also home to one of the busiest US airports for international visitors.<\/p>\n Customs and Border Protection officers, who screen international visitors, and returning American citizens, are, like immigration enforcement officers, part of the Department of Homeland Security Mullin runs.<\/p>\n Removing those officers from from Newark Liberty international airport or other international airports the USTA warned in a news release<\/a>, \u201cwould cause immediate and lasting harm\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cCBP officers at Newark Liberty International Airport alone process 5 million Americans returning home each year, and many of them are from states other than New Jersey,\u201d the group noted.<\/p>\n Such a move would also create chaos for millions of international travelers, just weeks ahead of the World Cup.<\/p>\n The USTA estimated that the \u201coverall economic impact to the travel industry would be devastating\u2014an estimated $8 billion in annual international visitor spending would be lost due to CBP officers being removed from Newark Airport, risking nearly 50,000 American jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n A shutdown at Newark, or at any of the nation\u2019s other main airports serving international travelers and imported goods, most of which are in states run by Democrats, would also \u201cimperil cargo operations that bring in over $30 billion in imported goods each year\u201d, the USTA added, increasings costs for US businesses \u201cand raising prices for American consumers\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.07 EDT<\/p>\n Louisiana Republicans approved a new congressional map on Friday which would eliminate a majority-Black congressional district that was at the center of a landmark supreme court ruling<\/a> gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.<\/p>\n The new map reconfigures the state\u2019s sixth congressional district, now represented by Cleo Fields, a Black Democrat. Lawmakers drew the district in 2024 after a court found the map lawmakers enacted after the 2020 census diluted the influence of Black voters and violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The new map will probably give Republicans<\/a> control of five of Louisiana\u2019s six congressional seats (the previous map had a 4-2 Republican-Democrat split). The bill now goes to Louisiana\u2019s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Federal judge gives Trump two weeks to take his name off the Kennedy Center<\/p>\n A US district judge in Washington DC, Christopher Cooper, ruled on Friday that the Trump administration<\/a> \u201cviolated the Kennedy Center\u2019s organic statute in purporting to rename the Center for President Trump, and in taking steps to effectuate that official renaming, such as installing signage with Donald J. Trump\u2019s name on the front portico of the Center, altering the Center\u2019s website to name the Center for President Trump, and in issuing official materials naming the Center for President Trump\u201d.<\/p>\n In December, one day after the White House announced that the John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts was being renamed the \u2018Trump-Kennedy Center\u2019 by Donald Trump\u2019s handpicked board, workers added the president\u2019s name to the facade. Photograph: Jim Watson\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n In his order<\/a>, the federal judge, who was responding to a complaint filed by Democratic congresswoman Joyce Beatty, gave the administration two weeks to pull Trump\u2019s name from the center, which was created by Congress as a memorial to John F Kennedy after his assassination.<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s ruling instructed the administration to:<\/p>\n double quotation markwithin 14 days of the date of this order, (a) remove all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds, including the front portico, that purports to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump or any other individual besides President Kennedy; (b) update the Kennedy Center\u2019s official website to remove all references to the institution as the \u201cTrump Kennedy Center,\u201d the \u201cDonald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,\u201d or any similar formulation; Case 1:25-cv-04480-CRC Document 49 Filed 05\/29\/26 Page 2 of 4 3 (c) withdraw any trademark application officially referring to the Kennedy Center as the \u201cTrump Kennedy Center,\u201d the \u201cDonald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,\u201d or any similar formulation; and (d) file with the Court a sworn declaration from a responsible official of the Kennedy Center certifying compliance with this order.<\/p>\n Should the administration comply, that would mean that the center would not bear the president\u2019s name on 14 June, when he is staging a UFC fight on the White House lawn on his 80th birthday.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.32 EDT<\/p>\n After White House Situation Room meeting ends, still no word on whether Trump has approved deal with Iran<\/p>\n It has now been five hours since Donald Trump announced<\/a> on his social media platform that he was entering a meeting in the White House Situation Room \u201cto make a final determination\u201d on whether or not to an interim deal with Iran to extend a ceasefire and reopen the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n That two-hour meeting apparently ended some time ago, a senior administration official told the Associated Press, and there is still no word from Trump nor any of his aides as to whether he approved the memorandum of understanding that would pause the conflict and open talks on Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.33 EDT<\/p>\n Here’s a recap of the news today:<\/p>\n Trump says he\u2019s meeting in the Situation Room to \u2018make a final determination\u2019 on potential Iran deal. President Trump gave hints about the terms of the proposed US peace deal with Iran, in a post on Truth Social<\/a> on Friday morning, before saying that he was heading into a meeting with White House staff to decide how to move forward.<\/p>\n Louisiana lawmakers pass new map eliminating majority-Black district. The Louisiana senate voted 28-10<\/a> to approve a new congressional map ahead of the midterms that has dismantled a majority-Black district.<\/p>\n US judge temporarily halts Trump\u2019s $1.8bn \u2018anti-weaponization fund\u2019. US district judge Leonie Brinkema of the eastern district of Virginia put a halt on the fund, preventing the administration from \u201ctaking any further action\u201d to organize the fund while Brinkema hears legal arguments.<\/p>\n Former attorney-general Pam Bondi<\/a> faces closed-door questioning from House committee over Epstein files. Bondi\u2019s appearance came as the justice department has faced criticism in recent months over its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.<\/p>\n Musical acts back out of performing at Trump-affiliated concert series. At least seven of the nine featured musical acts set to play in a concert series organized by the Trump administration<\/a> to mark the United States\u2019 250th anniversary have dropped out, within 48 hours of the lineup being announced<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Sam_Levine_Next_Gen.png\")
Sam Levine<\/p>\n