Stephen Miller replaces Susie Wiles as Trump's White House chief of staff after GOP's midterm defeat
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that Stephen Miller was replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, installing as his closest adviser a loyal, combative bulldog for his “America First” agenda as the president prepares to stare down a newly empowered Democratic Congress next year.
Miller, long a member of Trump’s tight inner circle, is a key architect of the administration’s hard-line immigration policies. He is one of Trump’s longest-serving aides, joining his long-shot 2016 presidential campaign as a speechwriter. He most recently has served as White House deputy chief of staff for policy and oversees a broad portfolio, though he is best known for his role in Trump’s immigration policy.
The staff shuffle signals that Trump, whose Republican Party was handed monumental defeats in Tuesday's midterm elections, is resisting a conciliatory approach to Democratic lawmakers who are eager to investigate the administration — including Miller himself as a top target. Miller, 41, is a dogged defender of Trump and has built a deep and sophisticated understanding of a president's executive power and how the federal government operates, portending a potential burst of executive actions in the final two years of Trump's presidency.
Wiles gave Trump her resignation Thursday night, a person familiar with the events told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation. Trump praised Wiles and said she’d continue to work for his political organization.
Trump on Friday night denied that he made the change because he was unhappy with his team after the deep losses his party suffered.
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Trump’s arch is blocked for now, but a glitzy new website highlights the plans
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from breaking ground for his towering memorial arch, but that hasn't stopped his administration from pushing forward with the plans for building it, starting with a glitzy new website launched Friday.
The site's debut is yet another sign of how much Trump is leaning into his efforts to make over the White House and Washington to his own gilded tastes, even after his party lost control of Congress in a midterm-election drubbing. It was the fourth day this week alone that the administration promoted his projects.
The website declares that the 250-foot (76-meter) structure — which is slated to rise in a mass of blindingly gold ornamentation and stately gray granite between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery — will be formally known as the United States Military Triumphal Arch.
Describing the arch as “an American vision finally realized,” the site offers bird's-eye views of the proposal from many angles and shows off the declarations it will feature: “One Nation Under God” on one side and “Golden Age of America” on another. It's also set to have towering gold doors complete with panels of sculptures at its base.
At its very top, the structure features a golden-hued cherub hoisting a flaming torch that recalls a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty.
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2 Justice Department officials resign, including US attorney who oversaw 'grand conspiracy' probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top federal prosecutor in Miami who had been tasked with overseeing an investigation into foes of President Donald Trump has resigned, joining other high-profile Justice Department officials departing in the wake of the midterm elections, officials said Friday.
Jason Reding Quiñones' resignation follows frustrations among Washington officials with his management of the office assigned to lead the so-called “grand conspiracy” investigation, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.
The Justice Department’s top national security official, John Eisenberg, also resigned on Friday, Attorney General Todd Blanche said. On Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led a radical overhaul of the department's Civil Rights Division, also announced her departure.
Quiñones was confirmed by the Senate last year as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, where the Justice Department had centered its meandering probe into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against the Republican president.
His departure comes as the investigation has shown signs of faltering amid a spate of staff turnovers and delays. Investigators in recent weeks have put off scheduled grand jury testimony of several witnesses, according to multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
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US continues to generate jobs, yet inflation is eroding the spending power of millions of Americans
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers created a surprising 165,000 new jobs last month, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%.
Hiring was far stronger than the 65,000 new jobs that economists had expected.
The jobs report comes three days after voters delivered a stunning defeat to President Donald Trump and his Republican Party in midterm elections. Frustrated with the state of the economy — and especially the high cost of living – Americans handed full control of Congress to the Democrats.
But the latest jobs report looked solid. Labor Department revisions added a combined 84,000 new jobs to the August and September totals.
The unemployment rate fell even though 421,000 people entered the labor force.
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European flights and broadcasters are targeted with another wave of bomb threats
PRAGUE (AP) — Officials across Europe reported a fresh slew of bomb threats against multiple flights on Friday, following a string of hoaxes that have caused flight diversions this week. Three broadcasters also received security threats, in a possible sign the menace was spreading beyond the skies.
No suspicious items have been found and no one has been injured, but the threats have raised concern because they came on the heels of other European disruptions — including attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems and drone incursions.
Overall, the threats have caused minimal disruption to aviation, according to the European air traffic authority. Eurocontrol said it was aware of bomb threats against 14 flights on Thursday — only 0.05% of all of the nearly 26,300 flights across the European network that day — and seven on Tuesday. The European Union's transportation commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said there were 11 more on Friday.
Even so, airlines have to take every threat seriously because they are ultimately responsible for the lives of their passengers, said Robert Jordan, research director at Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank.
Jordan told the BBC that there are more ways than ever to make threats against flights, and secure messaging apps have allowed for greater anonymity.
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Ousted Paraguayan president placed under house arrest after bank collapse
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — Ousted Paraguayan President Santiago Peña was placed under house arrest Friday on suspicion of breach of trust and influence peddling, among other charges, shortly after the Senate removed him from office over the collapse of a government-linked bank that locked nearly half the country’s 6 million people out of their savings.
All 44 senators present voted to remove Peña for misconduct in office, making him the second Paraguayan president ousted by impeachment since the end of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship in 1989.
As the verdict came down, ending what had been seen as one of South America’s most stable presidencies, a roar rose from the crowds packed into the plaza outside Congress. Depositors, retirees and students in national soccer jerseys waved Paraguayan flags, sang and hugged, chanting “Dictatorship never again!”
Regulators had seized Ueno Bank just three days earlier, sending shock waves through the financial system and setting off the country’s worst political crisis in more than a decade.
Peña was ordered to remain at one of his homes in Asunción until he appears before prosecutors Saturday morning on charges of breach of trust, influence peddling and using public office for personal gain, the most serious of which carry up to 10 years in prison. Lawmakers accuse him of using his political influence to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds into Ueno while regulators overlooked risky insider lending.
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Houston will limit ICE cooperation in response to Democrats taking power in Texas, mayor says
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s mayor on Friday directed police to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, signing an order that he called a result of Democrats reclaiming power in Texas for the first time in decades.
The shift in the nation’s fourth-largest city is one of the first actions to restrict U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in response to Democrats’ rout in Tuesday’s midterm elections. It is also a sign the results are already having an impact in Texas, where Republican leaders have enthusiastically embraced President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
The stunning victories included Democrat Gina Hinojosa ousting Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, which will make her Texas’ first Latina governor and the first member of her party to hold the office in more than 30 years. Abbott, a Trump ally, has threatened Texas cities over attempts to curtail immigration enforcement.
“I’ve said many times, elections matter,” Mayor John Whitmire said.
Whitmire, a Democrat, said the city would go after immigrants “that pose a danger, not those that are going about their family business, work and education.” In the case of a traffic incident, “you write a citation or you warn them and they go about their way,” he said.
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Cornell faculty vote ‘no confidence’ in university leadership after alleged fraternity gang rape
Cornell University's Faculty Senate approved a resolution Friday declaring “no confidence” in the school's top leaders, a symbolic gesture reflecting deep discontent on campus in the wake of a former student's lawsuit saying she was gang raped at a fraternity party in 2024.
The resolution passed 75-50, with five faculty senators abstaining and five others not voting, according to an email sent to Faculty Senate members on Friday afternoon.
The vote followed weeks of debate among professors over whether Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff and other administrators handled the woman’s allegations properly and have done enough to curtail sexual misconduct at the prestigious university.
While the faculty body has no power over the university's top leaders, backers of the resolution had said they hoped it would pressure Cornell's trustees to address longstanding institutional failures they identified.
Board of Trustees Chair Anne Smalling said in a statement the faculty vote “reflects the deep anger across our campus” and sent a clear signal that what happened to the woman was unacceptable, but added that Kotlikoff and his administration were the right leaders to “thoughtfully and comprehensively” address the issue.
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Jay Rockefeller, former West Virginia governor and US senator who was part of a dynasty, dies at 89
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Jay Rockefeller, the last member of his family’s political dynasty — and the only Democrat — who served as West Virginia’s governor and later a longtime U.S. senator, has died. He was 89.
Rockefeller died Thursday night at his home in Washington, said Mary Stewart, vice president for external affairs at WETA, the public broadcasting station where Rockefeller’s wife, Sharon, serves as president and CEO.
Rockefeller came from one of the nation’s richest families to spend a half century in public service in one of the poorest states. He arrived in 1964 as a worker in an anti-poverty program, was elected governor a dozen years later and served two terms, then spent 30 years as a U.S. senator.
“I could not imagine a more rewarding career,” Rockefeller said upon his retirement in 2015.
He was born John D. Rockefeller IV in New York City. His great-grandfather, Standard Oil Co. founder John Rockefeller, died a month before Rockefeller’s birth. His father, John D. Rockefeller III, was a well-known philanthropist. Uncles Winthrop (Arkansas) and Nelson (New York) were Republican governors. Another uncle, David Rockefeller, ran Chase Manhattan Bank.
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Pope Leo XIV arrives in Uruguay at start of South American tour less than a month after lung surgery
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Three weeks after lung cancer surgery, Pope Leo XIV opened a three-nation tour of Latin America on Friday by declaring he felt better than he looked and crediting God, good doctors and his healthy lifestyle with his quick recovery.
The 71-year-old pope arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, Latin America’s most secular country, after a 13 1/2-hour flight from Rome during which he acknowledged “some people” had doubted whether he could make the grueling, 12-day trip at all.
“I confess that from the first day, I had no doubt and was convinced that this trip had to go forward,” he told reporters aboard the papal plane.
As if to prove his point, he immediately got down to business, drawing huge crowds in Montevideo as he pulled into town in his open-sided popemobile. The Vatican estimated 30,000 people had turned out to watch him go by and attend his first event in town.
“Pope Leo, Uruguay is with you!” the crowd chanted.
