The Latest: Trump signs $8.5 billion rare earths deal with Australian prime minister

President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical minerals deal Monday at the White House making good on U S interest in Australia s rich rare-earth materials as a probable counterpoint to China s new minerals export restrictions The two leaders described the agreement as an billion deal between the allies Trump reported it had been negotiated over several months It follows Beijing s new requirement for foreign companies to get approval from the Chinese ruling body to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare earth materials that originated from China or were produced with Chinese innovation The Latest Comey s lawyers say matter against him is driven by Trump s personal animus and must be thrown out Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey urged a judge Monday to dismiss the matter against him saying it was orchestrated by a White House determined to seek retribution against Trump s perceived foe The lawyers separately called for the indictment s dismissal because of what they reported was the illegitimate appointment of the U S attorney who filed the matter days after being hastily named to the job by Trump The two-prong attack on the indictment which accuses Comey of lying to Congress five years ago represents the opening salvo in what is expected to be a protracted court fight ahead of a trial at this time set for Jan The motions challenge not only the substance of the statements but also the exceptional circumstances of the prosecution Judge orders a path to release for immigrant with leukemia facing deportation A Michigan man facing viable deportation while dealing with life-threatening leukemia must be distributed from custody or at least be given a bond hearing in immigration court a judge mentioned It s a triumph for Jose Contreras-Cervantes and seven other plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan If issued on bond from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody they could return to their families while their cases wind through immigration court The Trump administration has refused bond hearings for immigrants who entered the U S illegally even if they lack a criminal record a reversal of past practices Contreras-Cervantes was diagnosed last year with chronic myeloid leukemia a life-threatening cancer of the bone marrow and was described he has only four to six years to live disclosed his wife Lupita Contreras who is a U S citizen She declared while he was detained after an Aug traffic stop in suburban Detroit he didn t receive medication for days The native of Jalisco Mexico has been living in the U S for about years but not legally Ecuador says it has no evidence that survivor of a US strike in the Caribbean committed any crime The survivor of a U S strike on a submersible vessel accused by the Trump administration of transporting drugs in the Caribbean was circulated by officials in Ecuador after prosecutors mentioned they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation a regime official explained Monday The official who demanded not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter explained The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man identified as Andr s Fernando Tufi o was in good wellness after healthcare evaluations AP requested comment from the Attorney General s Office but did not this instant receive a response The man was repatriated by the United States over the weekend following a U S military attack on a submersible vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean A Colombian citizen also survived the attack and remains hospitalized after being repatriated to that country The attack on the submersible was at least the sixth of its kind since September By Gonzalo Solano Trump focuses on resource prices in post backing Ciattarelli Trump informed New Jersey voters that Republican Jack Ciattarelli will bring down ability costs returning to a core kitchen table issue in the closing weeks of the campaign for governor Cost of living issues were a core part of Trump s pitch to voters for a second term and he credits rising costs under his Democratic predecessor with helping to return him to the White House He offered no details on either candidate s potency policies The president called Ciattarelli A WINNER FOR NEW JERSEY in a Truth Social post Monday evening Put entirely Jack Ciattarelli will bring your Vitality costs down to a new low and Mikie Sherrill will do the exact opposite Vitality costs under her will go up by levels never seen before Trump mentioned Sherill is the Democratic nominee Trump originally endorsed Ciattarelli in May Head Start preschools imperiled by ruling body shutdown Preschools that serve tens of thousands of the nation s neediest preschoolers are facing a cutoff of federal funding at the end of the month because of the regime shutdown leaving a great number of scrambling to figure out how to keep their doors open With new grants on hold a half dozen Head Start programs already missed federal disbursements they were expecting on Oct and are staying open with fast-dwindling reserves or help from local governments Another programs will not receive federal money that is due Nov if the cabinet does not reopen according to the National Head Start Association All narrated more than seats for kids at Head Start programs across the country could be affected Read more about Head Start preschools during the shutdown A Minnesota woman who cast her dead mother s ballot for Trump in must write an essay on voting A Minnesota woman convicted of filling out and submitting a mail-in ballot for her deceased mother in encouragement of Trump during the presidential polling was ordered by a judge to write a -page paper regarding the importance in voting in a democracy and how vote fraud can undermine the voting process Danielle Christine Miller of Nashwauk in a rural area about three hours north of Minneapolis was charged last fall with three felonies after local poll representatives notified functionaries about two absentee ballots that had been flagged for fraud One of those was from a registered voter who had died Miller s mother According to court papers Miller described an investigator she had filled out her mother s absentee ballot and signed her mother s name on its signature envelope She commented her mother was an avid Trump supporter and yearned to vote for him but she died in August before receiving an absentee ballot according to the complaint Miller s sentence includes up to three years of supervised probation and an fine and a judge ordered her to read a book about the history of voting in America Biden completes a round of radiation therapy to treat prostate cancer Biden wrapped up several weeks of radiation therapy medication on Monday at Penn Medicine Radiation Oncology in Philadelphia The office of the former Democratic president communicated earlier this month that he had been receiving the therapy to treat an aggressive form of prostate cancer The -year-old Biden left office in January six months after dropping his reelection bid following a disastrous debate against Republican Donald Trump amid concerns about Biden s age medical and mental fitness Trump then defeated Democrat Kamala Harris who was Biden s vice president Biden s office revealed in May that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and that it had spread to his bone U of Arizona turns down White House proposal but is open to collaboration The university is the latest to decline the White House s offer for priority access to funding in return for ideological commitments The citizens school invited further discussion with the Trump administration saying they have much common ground Federal aid should be awarded strictly on merit University President Suresh Garimella wrote in a letter to Trump leaders He included a message of principles to guide further discussion Arizona is the seventh university to decline the compact out of nine initially invited Of the remaining two Vanderbilt University hasn t decided on the deal but is offering feedback as part of ongoing dialogue its chancellor disclosed Monday The University of Texas reported it was honored its Austin campus was included in the offer for foreseen funding advantages but has been quiet since then After a flurry of rejections the White House met with colleges Friday and attempted to strike a more collaborative tone Responses since then have emphasized the need for dialogue Trump celebrates college baseball champions NCAA baseball champs LSU and NAIA champs LSU-Shreveport were honored with a joint White House celebration to mark their stellar seasons The LSU Tigers swept Coastal Carolina in the College World Series while LSU-Shreveport Pilots went a perfect - en way to their title I think we should bring them into authorities Trump jokingly noted of LSU head coach Jay Johnson and LSU-Shreveport s Brad Neffendorf We can definitely use them The Pilots standout left-handed pitcher Isaac Rohde was named the ABCA Rawlings NAIA Pitcher of the Year The Tigers championship squad included nine players selected in the MLB draft It was LSU s eighth national championship Only USC with has won more College World Series titles Leadership charge more persons of interest with attack on prominent DOGE employee Two more subjects have been charged with the attempted carjacking and beating of a -year-old man who was working for the Trump administration s Department of Administration Efficiency a crime that was a catalyst for the White House s law-enforcement surge in the nation s capital Laurence Cotton-Powell and Anthony Taylor were arrested last week on charges stemming from the Aug attack on Edward Coristine a prominent DOGE employee nicknamed Big Balls Two -year-old individuals from Maryland previously were charged in Coristine s beating This scenario underscores the escalating challenges that we face in confronting crime in Washington D C U S Attorney Jeanine Pirro explained at a news conference on Monday Coristine was walking a woman to her car in the city s Logan Circle neighborhood when he was attacked by a group of teenagers who repeatedly punched and kicked him personnel revealed The persons fled when they spotted a police officer nearby White House starts demolishing part of the East Wing to build Trump s ballroom The tear-down started Monday The Washington Post was first to overview on the demolition work posting dramatic photos to its website of a backhoe ripping through the East Wing fa ade and windows and other parts of the building in tatters on the ground Trump is adding a -square-foot ballroom to the White House because he says the East Room is too small and he doesn t like holding events in tents on the South Lawn The new ballroom which is supposed to be completed before Trump s term ends will accommodate people he disclosed last week Appeals court weighs in on Oregon National Guard deployment An appeals court has put a hold on a lower-court ruling that kept Trump from taking command of Oregon National Guard troops However he is still barred from indeed deploying those troops at least for now U S District Judge Karin Immergut issued two temporary restraining orders early this month one that prohibited Trump from calling up the troops so he could send them to Portland and another that prohibited him from sending any National Guard members to Oregon at all after the president tried to evade the first order by sending California troops instead The Justice Department appealed the first order and in a - ruling a panel from the th U S Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the administration The majority disclosed the president was likely to succeed on his claim that he had the authority to federalize the troops because he had shown he was unable to enforce the laws in Portland without them However Immergut s second order remains in effect so no troops may promptly be deployed Trump warns Hamas to be good and uphold the ceasefire or be eradicated Demanded about maintaining the Israel-Hamas ceasefire Trump stated the U S will give the situation a little chance in hopes that there will be less violence Israeli forces on Sunday killed dozens in strikes in Gaza after it accused Hamas militants of killing two soldiers Trump explained Hamas must behave or face consequences They have to be good and if they re not good they ll be eradicated he announced The president warned If they keep doing it then we re going to go in and straighten it out and it ll happen very hurriedly and pretty violently Trump declared he wasn t talking about U S boots on the ground but chosen of the other countries that backed the ceasefire agreement Official defends tear gas in Chicago says agents on immigration sweeps are wearing cameras Federal bureaucrats are in court in Chicago to take questions about the Trump administration s immigration crackdown in the region which has produced more than arrests as well as complaints that agents are increasingly using combative tactics The hearing comes a limited days after a judge ordered uniformed immigration agents to wear body cameras if available and turn them on when engaged in arrests frisks and building searches or when being deployed to protests Each Edge Patrol agent who is part of Operation Midway Blitz now has a body-worn camera disclosed Kyle Harvick deputy circumstance commander with U S Customs and Boundary Protection U S District Judge Sara Ellis last week stated she was a little startled after seeing TV images of street confrontations that involved tear gas and other tactics during the immigration sweep The longer we loiter on a scene and subjects come the situation gets more and more dangerous Harvick testified Trump discloses more of his schedule in Asia The president declared he s doing a little bit of a tour of the continent I ll be in Malaysia I ll be in Japan he reported Trump previously committed to visiting South Korea and he stated he ll visit China fairly early next year Trump pulls back on previous assertion that Ukraine could win back all territory from Russia They could still win it Trump commented of Ukraine I don t think they will They could still win it I never explained they would win it Anything can happen you know war is a very strange thing Trump on Friday called on Kyiv and Moscow to stop where they are and end their brutal war following a lengthy White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy another shift in his position on the war After meeting with Zelenskyy in New York on the sidelines of the annual U N General Assembly last month Trump even mentioned he concluded the Ukrainians could win back all the territory they had lost to Russia since Putin launched the February invasion That was a dramatic shift for Trump who during his and much of the early going of his presidency insisted that Kyiv would have to concede land lost to Russia to end the war Minority leader says GOP soundness and immigration talking points divorced from reality We want to enact a bipartisan spending agreement but it indeed has to make life better for the American people not continue policies that are hurting everyday Americans Hakeem Jeffries reported of Democrats stance in shutdown negotiations during an interview at the New York Economic Club Jeffries added that Republican alleges that Democrats want to provide soundness care services to people in the U S illegally was divorced from reality and that Republicans go-to refrain is waste fraud and abuse then you definitely ask them to point out where s the waste fraud and abuse and it s crickets He reiterated that Democrats message on affordability medical care and alleged corruption would be the party s main messages heading into the midterm elections Discussing the national debt Jeffries declared that at minimum divided leadership was needed to reach a sustainable spending plan for the country Trump expects a very fair deal with China The president says he ll soon meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and that he expects we ll possibly work out a very fair deal with China I think we re going to work out something that s good for both countries Trump revealed Beijing has not revealed any plan for Xi to voyage to South Korea where Trump says he plans to meet the Chinese president though it s not exceptional for Beijing to make announcements closer to the date U S Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week spoke with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and he s commented the two sides would meet in Malaysia later this week to help prepare for a leaders summit Marco Rubio Sergey Lavrov speak on next procedures on Ukraine war The U S secretary of state and Russian foreign minister spoke by phone on Monday to discuss next moves toward ending the Russia-Ukraine war following conversations last week between Trump Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy Both of their ministries issued similar vague statements that the conversation built on understandings reached by Trump and Putin in their Oct call After that Trump mentioned he expected to meet with Putin in the coming weeks and that Rubio would meet a high-level Russian delegation presumably led by Lavrov this week Neither the U S or Russian statements mentioned when either of those meetings might happen or where The Russian report described Rubio-Lavrov call as constructive while the U S message declared that Rubio had emphasized the importance of upcoming engagements as an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to collaborate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war Kamala Harris says Democrats in Congress are doing the right thing The former vice president says the Democrats are right to take a stand for saving the wellness care of the American people particularly as they see how Trump s budget law will increase their premiums next year Nov people are going to really start feeling it in a very painful way Harris described The Associated Press in an interview during her book tour When you talk about who s responsible for this predicament understand that the Republicans control the House they control the Senate they control the White House They are in charge And they are responsible for the shutdown Nuclear defense agency begins furloughs Capacity chief says Potential Secretary Chris Wright says furloughs have begun at the National Nuclear Defense Administration the agency tasked with overseeing the U S nuclear stockpile In a social media post Monday Wright reported the agency is furloughing federal employees due to the Schumer shutdown a reference to the executive shutdown that began Oct Wright mentioned he is visiting the Nevada National Defense Site Monday and will ask Nevada s leaders to help us end this shutdown The NNSA has mentioned it could furlough up to workers as a product of a funding lapse from the shutdown Nearly federal workers would remain on the job along with NNSA contractors The agency a semiautonomous branch of the Department of Vigor also works secure nuclear materials around the world Australian Prime Minister Albanese opens White House visit with Trump Trump and Albanese both explained they hoped to get a lot done during their meeting Questioned for his message to the people of Australia Trump noted We love them Both leaders are now inside the White House preparing to appear before members of the U S and Australian press corps Mike Johnson is hoping for a breakthrough now that rallies have concluded The Republican House speaker says it s time to make progress on establishment funding talks now that demonstrators have had their march against Trump Johnson commented the shutdown now on its th day has been about Chuck Schumer s survival accusing the Senate minority leader of trying to appease the left and show he is fighting the Trump agenda Now that Democrats have had their protests and publicity stunts I just pray that they come to their senses and end this shutdown and reopen the authorities this week Johnson explained The House has not held votes since it passed a short-term funding bill on September th Johnson says the House has done its job and now it s up to the Senate to act Colombia recalls ambassador amid diplomatic tensions with US Colombia has recalled its ambassador to the United States amid an increasingly angry back-and-forth between Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro Colombia s Foreign Affairs Ministry declared Monday that Amb Daniel Garc a-Pe a Jaramillo was already in Bogota Tensions increased Sunday when Trump called Petro an illegal drug leader and a lunatic after Petro had accused the U S governing body of killing a Colombian citizen in a Sept strike on a boat the U S declared was allegedly carrying drugs Petro announced one of those aboard was a fisherman named Alejandro Carranza and that his boat was malfunctioning when hit American naval ships fighter jets and drones are deployed in the region for what the administration has described as an armed conflict with drug cartels The United States has invaded our national territory fired a missile to kill a humble fisherman and destroyed his family his children Petro wrote on his social media Supreme Court will consider whether people who regularly smoke pot can legally own guns The Supreme Court disclosed on Monday that it will consider whether people who regularly smoke marijuana can legally own guns the latest firearm episode to come before the court since its decision expanding gun rights Trump s administration required the justices to revive a situation against a Texas man charged with a felony because he allegedly had a gun in his home and acknowledged being a regular pot user The Republican administration favors Second Amendment rights but cabinet attorneys argued that this ban is a justifiable restriction The man s attorneys argue that the broadly written law puts millions of people at pitfall of technical violations since at least of Americans have tried pot according to ruling body strength facts About half of states legalized recreational marijuana but it s still illegal under federal law Read more about the Trump administration s affair against marijuana users No Kings rallies energize the opposition movement The No Kings demonstrations that drew crowds to large cities and hundreds of smaller population spaces across the United States is giving protesters hope that resistance is growing to Trump s authoritarian rule Trump s Republican Party disparaged the demonstrations as Hate America rallies but the crowds were joyful and full of red-white-and-blue costumes featuring marching bands demonstrators in inflatable costumes and huge banners with the U S Constitution s We The People preamble that people could sign People carrying signs with slogans such as Nothing is more patriotic than protesting and Resist Fascism It was the third mass mobilization since Trump s return to the White House Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up Democratic U S Sen Chris Murphy revealed in an interview with The Associated Press See images of this latest round of No Kings rallies Trump to host GOP senators for lunch The president will have Senate Republicans over for lunch at the newly-renovated Rose Garden patio on Tuesday Trump has been fond of hosting aides lawmakers and other allies at the Rose Garden which has been paved over for events When the Senate is in session GOP senators meet every Tuesday as well as Wednesdays and Thursdays for lunch to strategize about the week ahead The gathering was first informed by Punchbowl News The lunch was approved by a person granted anonymity to speak about plans not yet made general By Seung Min Kim AP-NORC poll More Americans are concerned about their chances on the job field Americans are growing increasingly concerned about their ability to find a good job under Trump an Associated Press-NORC Center for Community Affairs Research poll finds It s a foreseen warning sign for Republicans as a promised economic boom has given way to hiring freezes and elevated inflation High prices for groceries housing and physical condition care persist as a fear for multiple households while rising electricity bills and the cost of gas at the pump are also sources of anxiety according to the survey Specific of U S adults are not very or not at all confident they could find a good job if they required to an increase from when the question was last solicited in October And more than half say the cost of groceries is a major source of financial stress Read more from the AP-NORC poll Zelenskyy calls Trump meeting positive though he didn t get Tomahawks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his reportedly tense meeting with Trump on Friday was positive even though he did not secure the Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine and emphasized what he commented is continued American interest in economic deals with Kyiv In comments embargoed until Monday morning Zelenskyy explained Trump reneged on the possibility of sending the long-range missiles to Ukraine which would have been a major boost for Kyiv following his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin hours before the White House meeting In my opinion he does not want an escalation with the Russians until he meets with them Zelenskyy notified reporters on Sunday According to Zelenskyy Trump announced during their meeting that Putin s maximalist demand that Ukraine cede the entirety of Ukraine s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions was unchanged Zelenskyy declared Trump ultimately supported a freeze along the current front line so his overall message is positive for Ukraine Read more about Trump Russia and Ukraine China borrows from the US playbook in deal war China likes to condemn the United States for extending its arm too far beyond its borders to make demands on non-American companies But when it sought to hit back at the U S interests this month Beijing did exactly the same In expanding export rules on rare earths Beijing for the first time broadcasted it will require foreign firms to obtain approval from the Chinese authorities to export magnets containing even tiny amounts of China-originated rare earth materials or produced with Chinese mechanism That means a South Korean smartphone maker must ask for Beijing s permission to sell the devices to Australia if the phones contain China-originated rare earth materials commented Jamieson Greer the U S pact representative This rule gives China control over basically the entire global commercial sector in the mechanism supply chain he declared Read more about China now using US business war tactics Source