TV News LIES

A storied US agency, one that began under President Kennedy in 1961 with the aim of providing global stability through a wide array of humanitarian aid and development programs, has now formally closed.

Since January, the Trump administration has systematically dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), canceling thousands of contracts and firing or placing on leave thousands of employees within the U.S. and overseas.

In a public statement issued in early February, the U.S. State Department wrote that USAID "has long strayed from its original mission of responsibly advancing American interests abroad, and it is now abundantly clear that significant portions of USAID funding are not aligned with the core national interests of the United States."

To course correct, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was appointed as Acting Administrator of USAID. And as of July 1, the remainder of the aid agency will be absorbed into the State Department.

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The Trump administration has raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City, of his US citizenship as part of a crackdown against foreign-born citizens convicted of certain offences.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to pave the way for an investigation into Mamdani’s status after Andy Ogles, a rightwing Republican representative for Tennessee, called for his citizenship to be revoked on the grounds that he may have concealed his support for “terrorism” during the naturalization process.

Mamdani, 33, who was born in Uganda to ethnic Indian parents, became a US citizen in 2018 and has attracted widespread media attention – and controversy – over his vocal support for Palestinian rights.

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Lisa Tate is a sixth-generation farmer in Ventura county, California, an area that produces billions of dollars worth of fruit and vegetables each year, much of it hand-picked by immigrants in the US illegally.

Tate knows the farms around her well. And she says she can see with her own eyes how raids carried out by agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in the area’s fields earlier this month, part of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, have frightened off workers.

“In the fields, I would say 70% of the workers are gone,” she said in an interview. “If 70% of your workforce doesn’t show up, 70% of your crop doesn’t get picked and can go bad in one day. Most Americans don’t want to do this work. Most farmers here are barely breaking even. I fear this has created a tipping point where many will go bust.“

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Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said earlier this morning that the central bank would likely have already cut interest rates this year had it not been for the economic shock caused by Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

When asked if Trump’s tariffs on imported goods held up the Fed’s plan to cut interest rates, Powell replied:I  think that’s right.

Speaking at a central banking conference in Portugal, he went on:

In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs.

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