Puerto Rico's Ex-Governor Gets a Break

President Donald Trump is planning to pardon Wanda Vázquez, the former governor of Puerto Rico. She admitted to breaking campaign finance rules last August, which involved a former FBI agent and a Venezuelan banker. Her sentencing was supposed to happen soon, with federal prosecutors asking for a year in prison. Vázquez made history as the first ex-governor of Puerto Rico to plead guilty to a crime, specifically taking money from a foreigner for her 2020 campaign. Meanwhile, Trump met with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. She praised Trump for keeping an eye on Venezuela but avoided pushing him to take specific actions. Machado believes that Venezuela is on the path to democracy and that her country will become a "real Latin American miracle. " Trump, however, has doubts about her ability to lead, saying she lacks support and respect in Venezuela. In other news, the U. S. Treasury Department hit 21 people and companies with sanctions for helping the Houthi militant group in Yemen. These sanctions also target groups in Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates that help the Houthis make money and smuggle goods. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U. S. will use all its power to expose those helping the Houthis. Machado also met with senators on Capitol Hill. During one meeting, Trump interrupted Senator Dan Sullivan, pressuring him to get Senator Lisa Murkowski to vote for a Republican health care plan. Sullivan eventually agreed to work on it. Murkowski has voted with Democrats to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, but neither Trump nor Sullivan mentioned that Sullivan also voted to extend the subsidies. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that efforts to stop Mexican cartels and slow migration north are showing results. She made these comments after Trump threatened to use U. S. forces in Mexico to target drug cartels. Sheinbaum has tried to keep a good relationship with Trump, unlike Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has not. A senior embassy official said there has been no outreach from Saudi Arabia to the White House regarding potential military strikes against Iran. This comes after reports that Middle Eastern allies of the U. S. have urged Trump to hold off on strikes against Iran for its crackdown on protesters. Top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar raised concerns that U. S. military action against Iran would shake the global economy and destabilize the region. Trump is also pushing for bipartisan support for a Republican proposal to replace expanded Affordable Care Act premium subsidies with individual health savings accounts. Recent polls show that Trump's handling of health care has slipped, with only 29% approving in December, down from 34% in November. Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said he still believes Trump's promise that "help is on the way" for the Iranian people. He refused to discuss any meetings with U. S. officials, including whether he will meet Trump. Trump also said he may put tariffs on countries that don't go along with his plans for Greenland. He has insisted that the U. S. should control Greenland, a self-governing territory that's part of Denmark. European leaders have joined Denmark in saying the U. S. can't control the world's largest island. The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights has opened fewer than 10 sexual violence investigations nationwide since mass layoffs last March. Previously, it had been opening dozens of such investigations a year. The layoffs left half as many lawyers to investigate complaints of discrimination based on race, sex, or disability in schools. At the same time, the administration has doubled down on sexual discrimination cases of another kind. Trump officials have used Title IX, a 1972 gender-equality law, against schools that make accommodations for transgender students and athletes. The Office for Civil Rights has opened nearly 50 such investigations since Trump took office. Trump turned a health care forum into a grievance session against Democrats and a bragging session on the votes he's gotten in rural America. He argued that former President Barack Obama "didn't care about the rural community" and that Democrats are "so horrible toward the rural community. " He asked voters to "remember . . . in the midterms" that Democrats did not back his "Big Beautiful Bill" that included $10 billion for rural healthcare this year.As Attorney General Pam Bondi approaches her first year on the job, the firings of Justice Department attorneys have defined her turbulent tenure. The terminations and a larger voluntary exodus of lawyers have erased centuries of combined experience and left the department with fewer career employees to act as a bulwark for the rule of law at a time when President Trump, a Republican, is testing the limits of executive power by demanding prosecutions of his political enemies. The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are pressuring the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to take urgent steps to boost energy supply and curb price hikes. The White House said its National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia, want to try to compel PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants. The Trump administration and governors will sign a statement of principles toward that end. The Justice Department's investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has brought heightened attention to a key drama that will play out at the central bank in the coming months: Will Powell leave the Fed when his term as chair ends, or will he take the unusual step of remaining a governor? Powell's term as Fed chair ends May 15, but because of the central bank's complex structure, he has a separate term as one of seven members of its governing board that lasts until January 31, 2028. Historically, nearly all Fed chairs have stepped down from the board when they're no longer chair. But Powell could be the first in nearly 50 years to stay on as a governor. Most American presidents aspire to the kind of greatness that prompts future generations to name important things in their honor. Donald Trump isn't leaving it to future generations. As the first year of his second term wraps up, his Republican administration and allies have put his name on the U. S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue, and a new class of battleships. That's on top of the "Trump Accounts" for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website soon to offer direct sales of prescription drugs, the "Trump Gold Card" visa that costs at least $1 million, and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a transit corridor included in a deal his administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan. On Friday, he plans to attend a ceremony in Florida where local officials will dedicate a 4-mile (6-kilometer) stretch of road from the airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach as President Donald J. Trump Boulevard. Nearly a year into his second term, Trump's work on the economy hasn't lived up to the expectations of many people in his own party, according to a new AP-NORC survey. The poll finds a significant gap between the economic leadership Americans remembered from Trump's first term and what they've gotten so far as he creates a stunning level of turmoil at home and abroad. Just 16% of Republicans say Trump has helped "a lot" in addressing the cost of living, down from 49% in April 2024, when an AP-NORC poll asked Americans the same question about his first term. At the same time, Republicans are overwhelmingly supportive of the president's leadership on immigration — even if some don't like his tactics. There is little sign overall, though, that the Republican base is abandoning Trump. The vast majority of Republicans, about 8 in 10, approve of his job performance, compared with 4 in 10 for adults overall. Several Middle Eastern allies of the United States have urged the Trump administration to hold off on strikes against Iran for the government's deadly crackdown on protesters, according to an Arab diplomat familiar with the matter. Top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have raised concerns in the last 48 hours that a U. S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region, said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive conversations. Oil prices fell on Thursday as the markets appeared to take note of President Donald Trump's shifting tone as a sign that he's leaning away from attacking Iran after days of launching blistering threats at Tehran for its brutal crackdown. Nevertheless, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday maintained that "all options remain on the table" for Trump as he deals with Iran.