AFP USA

US President Donald Trump doubled down Saturday on sweeping tariffs he unleashed on countries around the world, warning Americans of pain ahead, but promising historic investment and prosperity.The comments came as Trump’s widest-ranging trade measures took effect in a move that could trigger retaliation and escalating economic tensions, with the British and French leaders saying “nothing should be off the table” in response.Trump, acknowledging global turbulence, urged Americans to be patient.”We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post,’ but not any longer. We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before,” he wrote on Truth Social.”This is an economic revolution, and we will win,” the Republican president added. “Hang tough, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”A 10 percent “baseline” tariff came into place just after midnight, hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada, as Trump invoked emergency economic powers.But in a potential sign of disagreement between Trump and close advisor Elon Musk, the tech billionaire on Saturday said he hoped the US and Europe could move eventually toward a “zero-tariff situation.” That could effectively create “a free-trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said in talks in Rome with Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini.The EU, Japan and China are among around 60 trading partners set to face even higher rates on April 9.Trump’s steep 34 percent tariff on Chinese goods, set to kick in next week, triggered Beijing’s announcement of a 34 percent tariff on US products from April 10.Beijing also said it would sue Washington at the World Trade Organization and restrict exports of rare earth elements used in medical and electronics technology.”China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close,” Trump said in his post. “They, and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly.”As other major trading partners eyed possible recession, the French and British leaders said “nothing should be off the table.”At the same time, “a trade war was in nobody’s interests,” French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed in a call, Starmer’s office said.- Markets collapse -Wall Street went into free fall Friday, following similar plunges in Asia and Europe as economists warn tariffs could dampen growth and fuel inflation.Trump’s latest tariffs have notable exclusions, however.They do not stack onto recently imposed 25 percent tariffs hitting imports of steel, aluminum and automobiles.Also temporarily spared are copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber, alongside “certain critical minerals” and energy products, the White House said.But Trump has ordered investigations into copper and lumber, which could soon lead to further levies.He has threatened to hit other industries like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as well, meaning any reprieve might be short lived.Canada and Mexico are unaffected by the latest move as they already face separate duties of up to 25 percent on goods entering the United States outside a North America trade agreement.- Retaliation risk -While Trump’s staggered deadlines allow space for countries to negotiate, “if they can’t get a reprieve, they are likely to retaliate, as China already has,” Oxford Economics warned this week.EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the bloc, which faces a 20 percent tariff, will act in “a calm, carefully phased, unified way” and allow time for talks.But he said it “won’t stand idly by.”France and Germany have said the EU could respond by imposing a tax on US technology companies.Japan’s prime minister called for a “calm-headed” approach after Trump unveiled 24 percent tariffs on Japanese-made goods.Since returning to the presidency, Trump has hit imports from Canada and Mexico with tariffs over illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling claims, and imposed an additional 20 percent rate on goods from China.Come April 9, the added levy on Chinese products this year will reach 54 percent.Trump’s 25 percent auto tariffs also took effect this week, and Jeep-owner Stellantis has paused production at some Canadian and Mexican plants.Trump’s new global levies mark “the most sweeping tariff hike since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, the 1930 law best remembered for triggering a global trade war and deepening the Great Depression,” said the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Oxford Economics estimates the action will push the average effective US tariff rate to 24 percent, “higher even than those seen in the 1930s.”

US senators on Saturday approved a budget blueprint unlocking trillions of dollars for sweeping tax cuts promised by President Donald Trump, despite bitter infighting among the majority Republicans over the savings that will be needed to fund them.Working deep into the night, lawmakers voted 51-48, mostly along party lines, to approve the resolution, with two prominent Republicans opposing the measure. It now moves to the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a slim majority, and where hard-liners and fiscal hawks have criticized the Senate version. The Senate vote came at a time when Trump’s sweeping tariffs imposed on dozens of trading partners sent global stocks plummeting, with Democrats arguing that now is not the time to be entertaining significantly reduced government spending.”President Trump’s tariff tax is one of the dumbest things he has ever done as president, and that’s saying something,” CNN quoted Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer as saying.Schumer submitted an amendment targeting Trump’s tariffs, but it did not receive enough support for adoption.Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky joined the Democrats in opposing the budget resolution.But nearly every Republican stood by the president, with Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana saying in a brief statement: “President Trump wants to balance the budget and decrease our debt. I agree.”- Depth of cuts -Senate and House Republicans have been at loggerheads over how deeply to wield the knife, with lawmakers already wary of public anger over an unprecedented downsizing of the federal bureaucracy led by Trump’s tech billionaire advisor Elon Musk.Both chambers need to adopt identical versions of the budget blueprint — a task that has proven beyond them during months of fraught talks — before they can draft Trump’s giant bill to extend his first-term tax cuts and boost border security and energy production.”This bill lays the groundwork to provide additional funding to keep the border secure, grow our energy dominance, build a strong national defense, cut wasteful spending and prevent a tax increase on families and small businesses,” Republican Senator James Lankford said after the vote.Senators spent much of the all-night session voting on dozens of proposed tweaks to the plan — in a so-called “vote-a-rama” —  with some proposals aimed at forcing Republicans onto the record over Trump’s tariffs on imports from countries around the world.Having made it through the Senate, the spending plan still needs approval by the House, with Republican leaders desperate to get it to Trump’s desk before Congress begins a two-week Easter break next Friday.Democrats have slammed the framework, claiming it will trigger further major cuts to essential services.- ‘Dead on arrival’ -The proposal would raise the country’s borrowing limit by $5 trillion to avoid a debt default this summer, staving off the need for a further hike until after the 2026 midterm elections.Experts say the tax cuts — which would greatly expand the relief agreed in 2017 — could add in excess of $5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.The libertarian Cato Institute called the resolution a “fiscal train wreck” that “actively worsens our nation’s debt trajectory.”Trump, who has talked up the plan on social media, offered his “complete and total support” for the text at a White House event earlier in the week.But Senate and House Republicans have been oceans apart on spending cuts, with the upper chamber looking for modest savings of $4 billion, while House leadership is demanding a reduction of $1.5 trillion. Republican Congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina, a hard-line conservative, was asked about supporting the Senate resolution and told reporters: “To me, it’s dead on arrival.”

US senators were set to vote Saturday on unlocking trillions of dollars for sweeping tax cuts promised by President Donald Trump, despite bitter infighting among the majority Republicans over the savings that will be needed to fund them.The row comes with Wall Street leading a global markets bloodbath as countries around the world reel from Trump’s trade war, and Democrats argue that now is not the time to be entertaining significantly reduced government spending.But the Senate’s Republican leadership was just as concerned with friendly fire from its own disgruntled rank and file as it prepared for the make-or-break vote on a Trump-backed “budget resolution” that kick-starts negotiations on how to usher the president’s domestic agenda into law.Senate and House Republicans have been at loggerheads over how deeply to wield the knife, with lawmakers already wary of public anger over an unprecedented downsizing of the federal bureaucracy led by Trump’s tech billionaire advisor Elon Musk.Both chambers need to adopt identical versions of the budget blueprint — a task that has proven beyond them during months of fraught talks — before they can draft Trump’s giant bill to extend his first-term tax cuts and boost border security and energy production.”This resolution is the first step toward a final bill to make permanent the tax relief we implemented in 2017 and deliver a transformational investment in our border, national, and energy security – all accompanied by substantial savings,” Republican Senate leader John Thune said. Senators were locked in an all-night session to vote on dozens of proposed tweaks to the plan — some of which were aimed at forcing Republicans onto the record over Trump’s tariffs on imports from countries around the world.- ‘Vote-a-rama’ -They hoped to move to a vote on final passage later Saturday morning, although the timetable depends on how quickly the upper chamber of Congress can get through its marathon so-called “vote-a-rama” on the amendments.If the plan gets through the Senate, it will still need approval by the House, with Republican leaders desperate to get it to Trump’s desk before Congress begins a two-week Easter break next Friday.Democrats have slammed the framework, claiming it will trigger further major cuts to essential services.The proposal would raise the country’s borrowing limit by $5 trillion to avoid a debt default this summer, staving off the need for a further hike until after the 2026 midterm elections.Experts say the tax cuts — which would greatly expand the relief agreed in 2017 — could add in excess of $5 trillion to national debt over the next decade.The libertarian Cato Institute called the resolution a “fiscal train wreck” that “actively worsens our nation’s debt trajectory.”Trump, who has been talking up the plan on social media, offered his “complete and total support” for the text at a White House event on Wednesday.But Senate and House Republicans are oceans apart on spending cuts, with the upper chamber looking for modest savings of $4 billion, while House leadership is demanding a reduction of $1.5 trillion. Republican Congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina was asked about supporting the Senate resolution and told reporters: “To me, it’s dead on arrival.”

Long before Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement, the United States had toyed with imposing high tariffs throughout its history, with inconclusive — and sometimes catastrophic — results.”We have a 20th century president in a 21st century economy who wants to take us back to the 19th century,” Dartmouth College economics professor Douglas Irwin posted on X.The 19th century marked the golden age of tariffs in the United States, with an average rate regularly flirting with 50 percent.The century extended a doctrine adopted since the country’s founding, which advocated for the protection of the American economy as it underwent a period of industrialization.”Careful studies of that period suggest that the tariffs did help protect domestic development of industry to some degree,” said Keith Maskus, a professor at the University of Colorado.”But the two more important factors were access to international labor, and capital… which was flowing in the United States during that period,” he added.Christopher Meissner, a professor at the University of California, Davis, told AFP that in addition to these factors, “the reason we had a thriving industrial sector in the United States was we had great access to natural resources.”These resources included coal, oil, iron ore, copper and timber — all of which were crucial to industry. “The industrial sector wouldn’t have been much smaller if we had much lower tariffs,” Meissner added. Shortly after taking office in January, Trump said: “We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913.”The 78-year-old Republican often references former US president William McKinley, who was behind one of the country’s most restrictive tariff laws, which passed in 1890.These tariffs did not prevent imports from continuing to grow in the years that followed, although once customs duties were lowered in 1894, the amount of goods the US purchased abroad remained below previous peaks.- Great Depression -In 1929, Harvard professor George Roorbach wrote: “Since the end of the Civil War (1865), during which the United States has been under a protective system almost, if not quite, without interruption, our import trade has enormously expanded.””Fluctuations that have occurred seem to be related chiefly to factors other than the ups and downs of tariff rates,” he added.A year later, the young nation tightened the screws with tariffs again, this time under Republican president Herbert Hoover.The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 is best remembered “for triggering a global trade war and deepening the Great Depression,” according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”What generated the depression… was a lot of complicated factors, but the tariff increase is one of them,” said Maskus from the University of Colorado.The end of the Second World War marked the start of a new era in trade, defined by the ratification in 1947 by 23 countries — including the United States — of the GATT free trade agreement. The agreement created the conditions for the development of international trade by imposing more moderate customs duties.The momentum was maintained by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico and Canada, which took effect in 1994.Alongside NAFTA, free trade in the United States was further expanded by the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995, and a 2004 free trade agreement between the United States and several Central American countries. During his first term in office, Donald Trump reopened the tariff ledger and decided on new measures against China, many of which were maintained under his successor, Joe Biden.But despite these levies, the US trade deficit with China continued to grow until 2022, when China was hit by a brutal economic slowdown unrelated to the tariffs.For Keith Maskus, the tariffs on Beijing did not do much to prevent the growth of imports from China.

US President Donald Trump’s widest-ranging tariffs to date took effect Saturday, in a move which could trigger retaliation and escalating trade tensions that could upset the global economy.A 10 percent “baseline” tariff came into place past midnight, hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada as Trump invoked emergency economic powers to address perceived problems with the country’s trade deficits.The trade gaps, said the White House, were driven by an “absence of reciprocity” in relationships and other policies like “exorbitant value-added taxes.”Come April 9, around 60 trading partners — including the European Union, Japan and China — are set to face even higher rates tailored to each economy.Already, Trump’s sharp 34-percent tariff on Chinese goods, set to kick in next week, triggered Beijing’s announcement of its own 34-percent tariff on US products from April 10.Beijing also said it would sue the United States at the World Trade Organization and restrict export of rare earth elements used in high-end medical and electronics technology.But other major trading partners held back as they digested the unfolding international standoff and fears of a recession.Trump warned Friday on social media that “China played it wrong,” saying this was something “they cannot afford to do.”- Markets collapse -Wall Street went into freefall Friday, following similar collapses in Asia and Europe.Economists have also warned that the tariffs could dampen growth and fuel inflation.But Trump said on his Truth Social platform that his “policies will never change.”Trump’s latest tariffs have notable exclusions, however.They do not stack on recently-imposed 25-percent tariffs hitting imports of steel, aluminum and automobiles.Also temporarily spared are copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber, alongside “certain critical minerals” and energy products, the White House said.But Trump has ordered investigations into copper and lumber, which could lead to further duties soon.He has threatened to hit other industries like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as well, meaning any reprieve might be limited.Canada and Mexico are unaffected as they face separate duties of up to 25 percent on goods entering the United States outside a North America trade agreement.- Retaliation risk -While Trump’s staggered deadlines allow space for countries to negotiate, “if they can’t get a reprieve, they are likely to retaliate, as China already has,” Oxford Economics warned this week.EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the bloc, which faces a 20-percent tariff, will act in “a calm, carefully phased, unified way” and allow time for talks.But he said it “won’t stand idly by.”France and Germany have said the EU could respond by imposing a tax on US tech companies.Japan’s prime minister called for a “calm-headed” approach after Trump unveiled 24-percent tariffs on Japanese-made goods.Meanwhile, Trump said he held a “very productive” call with Vietnam’s top leader, with imports from the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub facing extraordinary 46-percent US duties.Since returning to the presidency, Trump has hit Canada and Mexico imports with tariffs over illegal immigration and fentanyl, and imposed an additional 20-percent rate on goods from China. Come April 9, the added levy on Chinese products this year reaches 54 percent.Trump’s 25-percent auto tariffs also took effect this week, and Jeep-owner Stellantis paused production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.Trump’s new global levies mark “the most sweeping tariff hike since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, the 1930 law best remembered for triggering a global trade war and deepening the Great Depression,” said the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Oxford Economics estimates the action will push the average effective US tariff rate to 24 percent, “higher even than those seen in the 1930s.”

Los Angeles County has agreed to pay $4 billion to settle thousands of sex abuse claims dating back decades, it said Friday, in what looks set to be the largest-ever such settlement.The agreement, which must still be approved by the board of supervisors, is intended to compensate almost 7,000 people who were subjected to abuse while in juvenile facilities and children’s homes in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.”On behalf of the county, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts,” County Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport said. “The historic scope of this settlement makes clear that we are committed to helping the survivors recover and rebuild their lives —- and to making and enforcing the systemic changes needed to keep young people safe.”A 2020 state law gave victims of childhood sexual abuse an extended window to take legal action, long after the usual statute of limitation had lapsed.Thousands of adults came forward with horrifying stories of systematic sexual abuse they had suffered in juvenile detention facilities.Many more claimed they were the victims of predatory staff at the now-shuttered MacLaren Children’s Center, a home for foster children.Attorneys for the victims called it a “house of horrors” and an investigation found no background checks had been carried out on staff there for decades.News of the proposed settlement was bittersweet for victims.”I’m in total shock,” Shirley Bodkin, 58, who recalled being drugged, beaten and sexually abused in bathtubs and closets at MacLaren, told the Los Angeles Times.”I’ve been waiting all these years for this outcome.”MaryAlice Ashbrook, 65, who was abused at MacLaren in the 1960s, said hearing the news “felt like my heart had a door and it slammed shut.””I’ve gone to great lengths to block this out, and still, I deal with reoccurring nightmares.”The enormous sum dwarfs previous agreements for victims of abuse, including the $2.46 billion that the Boy Scouts of America agreed to pay to youngsters molested while in their care.Officials warned that the payout would have “a significant impact” for years to come on the finances of the county — America’s largest by population, with almost 10 million residents and an annual budget of around $49 billion.”The County’s plan to pay for the settlement includes cash from reserve funds, issuance of judgment obligation bonds and proposed cuts in departmental budgets,” a statement said.”The financing will require annual payments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars through 2030 and substantial continuing annual payments through fiscal year 2050-51.”

The first cardinal to be defrocked by the Pope over allegations of sexual abuse has died in the United States, a senior US churchman said Friday.Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington and the most senior American prelate in the Catholic Church to face claims of abuse, died in the state of Missouri at age 94, the New York Times reported, citing a Vatican statement.His death was also confirmed by the current Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Robert McElroy.”Today I learned of the death of Theodore McCarrick, former Archbishop of Washington,” a statement said.”At this moment I am especially mindful of those who he harmed during the course of his priestly ministry. Through their enduring pain, may we remain steadfast in our prayers for them and for all victims of sexual abuse.”McCarrick’s career in the Catholic Church had been long and distinguished, having served as an emissary on human rights for former pope John Paul II, a role that took him to conflict zones and brought him into contact with world leaders like Cuba’s Fidel Castro.A former archbishop of New York, he was made archbishop in the US capital in 2000 where he rubbed shoulders with US presidents including Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.He also was made a cardinal — one of the most senior members of the clergy and part of a slate of electors tasked with selecting a new pope.But after allegations of historical misconduct emerged in 2018, a Vatican probe found he had assaulted a teenager five decades earlier. He was also suspected of other sexual assaults against minors and young men. Pope Francis, under fire for a growing abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, expelled him from the priesthood in 2019, stripping him of his right to say Mass, even in private.The Catholic Church has struggled for decades to root out abusers within its ranks, with frequent accusations of cover-ups extending to its highest levels.The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which campaigns for sexual predators to be held accountable, on Friday called McCarrick “one of the most notorious and powerful abusers in the modern history of the Catholic Church.”McCarrick “was never held accountable for his crimes,” a statement said.”While he was eventually removed from public ministry, defrocked, and stripped of his red hat, he never stood trial for the vast harm he inflicted on children, young adults, seminarians, and others under his power. “His death marks the end of his life — but it does not mark justice for his survivors.”

A federal judge on Friday ordered the return to the United States of a Salvadoran migrant who was mistakenly deported last month to a notorious prison in El Salvador.Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, who was living in the eastern state of Maryland, was among a group of undocumented migrants who were flown to El Salvador by the Trump administration on March 15.Justice Department lawyers admitted in court filings that Abrego Garcia, who is married to a US citizen, had been deported due to an “administrative error.”District Judge Paula Xinis, at an emergency court hearing on Friday, said Abrego Garcia was taken into custody “without legal basis” on March 12 and deported three days later “without further process or legal justification.”Xinis ordered his return to the United States no later than 11:59 pm on April 7.”His continued presence in El Salvador, for obvious reasons, constitutes irreparable harm,” the judge said in her order to the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reacted to the judge’s ruling in a post on X.”We suggest the Judge contact President @nayibbukele because we are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador,” Leavitt said in a reference to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.Three planeloads of undocumented migrants were flown to El Salvador on March 15 as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.The Trump administration alleged that most of the deportees were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and it invoked the little-known 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify their summary removal.Attorneys for several of the deported migrants have said that their clients were not Tren de Aragua members, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in El Salvador.The White House, citing unreleased evidence, insisted earlier this week that Abrego Garcia was a member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.”The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.Another district judge, James Boasberg, has barred the Trump administration from carrying out further deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, which has only been used previously during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.The Trump administration has used images of the alleged gang members being shackled and having their heads shaved in the El Salvador prison as proof it is serious about cracking down on illegal immigration.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday that he will seek agreements with the rest of the world to avoid the expected retaliations against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.”California is not Washington, DC,” Newsom said in a video posted to social media.”Donald Trump’s tariffs do not represent all Americans, particularly those that I represent here in the fifth largest economy in the world, the state of California.” The majority of goods that enter the United States from China pass through Californian ports, and the state has considerable trade with Mexico and Canada. These three countries represent 40 percent of California’s imports and are also the countries the state exports to most.”The Golden State will remain a steady, reliable partner for generations to come, no matter the turbulence coming out of Washington,” Newsom added in a statement.He did not specify how new agreements could bypass Trump’s protectionist policies.Newsom, 57, faces term limits that bar him from running for re-election in 2026. His political ambitions remain unknown, but the Democrat is seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.In a trade offensive that is unprecedented since the 1930s, Trump unleashed broad spanning global tariffs this week, sending markets into a record-breaking slump and resulting in retaliatory tariffs.Trump’s latest levies mean Chinese products must be taxed at a total of 54 percent, and those from the European Union at 20 percent.On Friday, China retaliated by announcing additional tariffs of 34 percent on American products starting April 10, “in addition to the currently applicable tariff rates.” “We will not stand idly by during Trump’s tariff war,” Newsom said on X.As the most populous state in the country, with nearly 40 million inhabitants, California accounts for 14 percent of the American GDP and would be the fifth-largest economy in the world if it were a country, Newsom said.The cradle of tech, California is also a leading manufacturer and agricultural producer in the country.After fires ravaged Los Angeles in January, California faces concerns that tariffs will hinder the city’s reconstruction by making frequently imported construction materials like wood, steel, aluminum, and drywall more expensive.

Democrats expressed outrage on Friday that President Donald Trump had fired the head of the highly sensitive US National Security Agency at the apparent urging of far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer.Loomer, who is known for claiming that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job, is reported to have pushed for the dismissal of various senior US security officials including NSA chief Timothy Haugh, putting her in an unprecedented position of influence over some of the most secretive and powerful parts of the government.”I am alarmed and angered that, at the insistence of a far-right conspiracy theorist, President Trump dismissed one of the most skilled, accomplished officers in the US military,” Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, referred to the Trump administration’s inadvertent inclusion of a journalist in a Signal group chat on plans for Yemen air strikes in his criticism of Haugh’s dismissal.”It’s so crazy it defies belief: Trump refused to fire the people that embarrassed America and risked service members’ lives in the Signalgate scandal,” Warner wrote on X, “but fired Gen. Haugh, a nonpartisan national security expert, at the advice of a self-described ‘pro-white nationalist.”And a group of Democrats from the House Armed Services Committee issued a joint statement condemning the firing of Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble, saying reports that the dismissals were the result of them “being accused of being disloyal by a far-right conspiracy theorist are deeply disturbing.”Loomer posted on X early on Friday — after Haugh’s firing was reported — that he and Noble “have been disloyal to President Trump. That is why they have been fired.”- ‘I listen to everybody’ -“Given the fact that the NSA is arguably the most powerful intel agency in the world, we cannot allow for a Biden nominee to hold that position,” Loomer wrote, adding, “This is called VETTING.”Trump, whose reality TV show catchphrase was “you’re fired,” on Thursday addressed reports that officials at the National Security Council had also been sacked, saying “we’re always going to let go of people — people we don’t like… or people that may have loyalties to someone else.”But while he claimed that Loomer did not play a role in the decision, Trump also said aboard Air Force One that “she makes recommendations” and “sometimes I listen to those recommendations… I listen to everybody and then I make a decision.”The New York Times reported Thursday that six people from the NSC were fired after Trump met with Loomer the previous day, including three senior officials on the body that advises the president on top foreign policy matters from Ukraine to Gaza.Loomer confirmed the meeting, but said on X that “out of respect for President Trump and the privacy of the Oval Office, I’m going to decline on divulging any details.”The 31-year-old — who often flew with Trump on his campaign plane during the 2024 election — later said she had presented “opposition research” to the Republican president.She previously sparked accusations of racism when she said on social media that Trump’s Democratic rival Kamala Harris — whose mother was of Indian descent — would make the White House “smell like curry” if she won.Trump has led a major shake-up of the armed forces’ leadership since taking office in January.The president fired top US military officer general Charles “CQ” Brown in February, offering no explanation for the dismissal less than two years into his four-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also sacked the head of the Navy and other top officers, while Trump’s administration is presiding over sweeping layoffs of federal workers and moves to dismantle government institutions.