Trump, Epstein and immigration raids: Mehdi Hasan and Mick Mulvaney
Much like his first term as commander-in-chief, Trump has ushered in political chaos and controversy as many experts warn he's leading like an authoritarian.
Mehdi Hasan goes head-to-head with Mick Mulvaney, Trump's former chief of staff, on Trump's immigration policies, his fitness for office and whether he's a fascist.
Joining the discussion are:
George Conway – co-founder of the Lincoln Project Christina Greer – associate professor of political science, Fordham University
Greg Swenson – chairman of Republicans Overseas UK
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Al Jazeera
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- Al Jazeera
Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shutter following Trump-era cuts
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a nonprofit that distributes federal funds to public radio and television stations in the United States, has announced it would be shutting down as the result of funding cuts under President Donald Trump. On Friday, the group issued a statement saying it had launched an 'orderly wind-down of its operations' in response to recent legislation that would cut nearly $1.1bn of its funding. 'Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,' its president, Patricia Harrison, wrote. According to the statement, the CPB would remain in operation for the next six months, albeit with a reduced staff. The majority of its employees will be let go on September 30. Then, a 'small transition team' will remain through January 2026 to 'ensure a responsible and orderly closeout'. The death knell for the nonprofit came last month in the form of two legislative actions. The first was the passage of the Rescission Act of 2025, which was designed to revoke funding that Congress approved in the past. The Rescission Act targeted federal programmes that Trump sought to put on the chopping block, including foreign aid and federal funding for public broadcasters. The Senate voted to pass the act by a margin of 51 to 48, and the House then approved it by a vote of 216 to 213. The second legislative wallop came on July 31, as the Senate Appropriations Committee unveiled its 2026 funding bill for labour, health and human services, education and related agencies. That bill earmarked $197bn in discretionary funding, but none of it went to the CPB. Never in five decades had the corporation been excluded from the appropriations bill, according to the nonprofit. Both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans, and party members have largely fallen in line with Trump's legislative priorities. Defunding public media has long been a priority of Republicans, stretching back to President Richard Nixon's feud in the 1970s with public broadcasting personalities like Sander Vanocur. Nixon, like Trump, had an adversarial relationship with the media, and in 1972, he vetoed a public broadcasting funding bill, forcing Congress to return with a slimmed-down version of its funding. That move helped establish a trend of Republicans seeking to whittle down federal support for public, non-commercial TV and radio. Trump, during his second term, has made it a priority to slash at what he considers government 'bloat', and that includes reducing federal spending. He and his allies have accused news outlets like National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) of being left-wing soapboxes. The CPB distributes its funds to NPR and PBS member stations. NPR boasts a weekly audience of 43 million. PBS, meanwhile, reaches 130 million people each year through its television offerings alone, not counting its online presence. Still, in the lead-up to the passage of the Rescissions Act, Trump threatened to yank his support from any Republican who opposed his efforts to defund the corporation. Trump also said public broadcasting was worse than its commercial counterparts, including MSNBC, which he frequently misspells as 'MSDNC' to imply alleged bias towards the Democratic National Committee (DNC). 'It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,' Trump wrote on social media on July 10. 'Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' But Harrison, the president of the CPB, framed the organisation's closure as a loss for education and civic engagement. 'Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,' Harrison said. 'We are deeply grateful to our partners across the system for their resilience, leadership, and unwavering dedication to serving the American people.'
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Another US citizen killed by Israeli settler attack in West Bank: Family
The family of a United States citizen who was killed in a settler attack in the occupied West Bank is calling on the administration of President Donald Trump to open its own investigation into the incident. Relatives of Khamis Ayyad, 40, who died in the town of Silwad, north of Ramallah, on Thursday, confirmed on Friday that he was an American citizen and called for justice in the case. Ayyad — a father of five and a former Chicago resident — was the second US citizen to be killed in the West Bank in July. Earlier that month, Israeli settlers beat 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet to death in Sinjil, a town that neighbours Silwad. Standing alongside Ayyad's relatives, William Asfour, the operations coordinator for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), described the killing as 'murder'. 'We demand a full investigation from the Department of Justice,' Asfour said. 'An American citizen was killed. Where's the accountability?' According to Mahmoud Issa, the slain 40-year-old's cousin, settlers torched cars outside Ayyad's home around dawn on Thursday. Ayyad woke up to put out the fire, but then the Israeli army showed up at the scene and started firing tear gas in his direction. The family believes that Ayyad died from inhaling tear gas and smoke from the burning vehicles. 'How many more?' Settler attacks against Palestinian communities in the West Bank, which US officials have described as 'terrorism', have been escalating for months, particularly since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. The Israeli residents of illegal settlements have descended on Palestinian communities, ransacked neighbourhoods and set cars and homes ablaze. The settlers, protected by the Israeli military, are often armed and fire at will against Palestinians who try to stop them. The Israeli military has also been intensifying its deadly raids, home demolitions and displacement campaigns in the West Bank. Just this past month, Israel's parliament, the Knesset, approved a non-binding motion to annex the West Bank. And on Thursday, two top Israeli ministers, Yariv Levin and Israel Katz, called the present circumstances 'a moment of opportunity' to assert 'Israeli sovereignty' over the area. Meanwhile, Israel continues to carry out a brutal assault in Gaza, which rights groups have said amounts to a genocide. CAIR-Chicago's Asfour stressed on Friday that Ayyad's killing is not an isolated incident. 'Another American was killed in the West Bank just weeks ago,' he said, referring to Musallet. 'How many more before the US takes action to protect its citizens abroad? Settlers burn homes, soldiers back them up, and our government sends billions to fund all of this.' The US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment by the time of publication. No arrests in Musallet's case Last month, Musallet's family also urged a US investigation into his killing. But Washington has resisted calls to probe Israel's abuses against American citizens, arguing that Israeli authorities are best equipped to investigate their own military forces and settlers. Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, called on Israel to 'aggressively investigate the murder' of Musallet in July. 'There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act,' he wrote in a social media post. But more than 21 days after the incident, there has been no arrest in the case. Since 2022, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 10 US citizens. None of the cases have resulted in criminal charges. Ayyad was killed as Israeli forces continue to detain US teenager Mohammed Ibrahim without trial or access to his family. Mohammed, 16, has been jailed since February, and his family says it has received reports that he is drastically losing weight and suffering from a skin infection. On Friday, Illinois State Representative Abdelnasser Rashid called Ayyad's death part of an 'ugly pattern of settler colonial violence' in Palestine. He called for repealing an Illinois state law that penalises boycotts of Israeli firms. 'We need action. Here in Illinois, we have a law that punishes companies that choose to do the right thing by boycotting Israel,' Rashid told reporters. 'This shameful state law helps shield Israel's violence and brutality from consequences.'
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump fires official overseeing jobs data after dismal employment numbers
United States President Donald Trump has removed the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported. Trump, in a post on his social media platform on Friday, alleged that the figures were manipulated for political reasons and said that Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, should be fired. He provided no evidence for the charge. 'I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,' Trump said on Truth Social. 'She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.' Trump later posted: 'In my opinion, today's Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.' After his initial post, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said on X that McEntarfer was no longer leading the bureau and that William Wiatrowski, the deputy commissioner, would serve as the acting director. 'I support the President's decision to replace Biden's Commissioner and ensure the American People can trust the important and influential data coming from BLS,' Chavez-DeRemer said. Friday's jobs report showed that just 73,000 jobs were added last month and that 258,000 fewer jobs were created in May and June than previously estimated. The report suggested that the economy has sharply weakened during Trump's tenure, a pattern consistent with a slowdown in economic growth during the first half of the year and an increase in inflation during June that appeared to reflect the price pressures created by the president's tariffs. 'What does a bad leader do when they get bad news? Shoot the messenger,' Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a Friday speech. Revisions to hiring data Trump has sought to attack institutions that rely on objective data for assessing the economy, including the Federal Reserve and, now, the BLS. The actions are part of a broader mission to bring the totality of the executive branch – including independent agencies designed to objectively measure the nation's wellbeing – under the White House's control. McEntarfer was nominated by Biden in 2023 and became the commissioner of the BLS in January 2024. Commissioners typically serve four-year terms, but since they are political appointees, they can be fired. The commissioner is the only political appointee of the agency, which has hundreds of career civil servants. The Senate confirmed McEntarfer to her post 86-8, with now Vice President JD Vance among the yea votes. Trump focused much of his ire on the revisions the agency made to previous hiring data. Job gains in May were revised down to just 19,000 from 125,000, and for June they were cut to 14,000 from 147,000. In July, only 73,000 positions were added. The unemployment rate ticked up to a still-low 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent. 'No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers,' Trump wrote. 'She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can't be manipulated for political purposes.' The monthly employment report is one of the most closely-watched pieces of government economic data and can cause sharp swings in financial markets. The disappointing figure sent US market indexes about 1.5 percent lower on Friday. While the jobs numbers are often the subject of political spin, economists and Wall Street investors – with millions of dollars at stake – have always accepted US government economic data as free from political manipulation.
