Politics
Hundreds rally against Trump, Musk in Westwood
When Jesse Ugalde, who served in the Vietnam War, entered a Department of Veterans Affairs building Friday, he noticed a difference.
“Already, people are leaving,” Ugalde, 74, who relies on the VA for his healthcare, said of VA employees. “I was told that they’re going to try to provide services, but it’s going to take longer.”
To protest President Trump’s push to slash the size of the federal government, which includes drastic staff cuts at the VA and other agencies, Ugalde took to the streets with hundreds of others in Westwood on Saturday.
It’s “not only the VA, but there’s other programs that we need desperately,” Ugalde said. “There’s no reason to do it this way … I fought for this country, and I’ll fight for it again.”
Angelenos and residents from throughout Southern California participate in a march and rally outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood, in one of the largest protests in Los Angeles since Trump took office almost two months ago, on Saturday.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
The protesters marched toward the federal building on Wilshire Boulevard around noon, rallying against the government cuts and what they described as clear constitutional violations.
“We are here because we are not going to let Trump, we’re not going to let Elon Musk, his co-president, or anybody else take the United States Constitution down,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) told the crowd.
Musk’s advisory team, which he calls the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has fired thousands of government workers, frozen billions of dollars in federal spending and ordered the almost complete shutdown of multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Education.
Musk, a billionaire known for his “move fast and break things” approach at his companies, described wasteful government spending as an urgent and existential threat in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.
“The country is going bankrupt,” he said, referring to the growing national debt. “If we don’t do something about it, the ship of America is going to sink.”
But people at the protest — organized primarily by Democracy Action Network, a pro-democracy organization founded last year — said the programs on the chopping block are far from wasteful.
Angelenos and residents from throughout Southern California participate in a rally outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood on Saturday.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Shaun Law-Bowman, 67, spent 15 years as a public school teacher before moving into an administrative position.
“There’s no reasoning. There’s no excuse,” she said of Trump’s plan to shut down the Department of Education. “I was a special ed administrator — those are federal funds. There’s a huge amount of kids that need special help, and all that money is going to be gone. It’s just evil.”
Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Trump and Musk’s dismantling of USAID was likely unconstitutional, arguing that the cuts were incompatible with the will of Congress.
Federal judges have also ruled that the administration’s firing of probationary employees did not follow the appropriate procedures for layoffs and that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management lacked the authority to order the firings.
The administration has bashed these rulings, with Vice President JD Vance posting on X that judges “aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
Angelenos and residents from throughout Southern California participate in a peaceful march and rally outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood on Saturday.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Many protesters spoke out against the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist. Khalil, an Algerian citizen, is being held in immigration detention even though he is a green card holder with no criminal record.
Trump, without immediately providing evidence, accused Khalil of supporting Hamas, which the U.S. considers a “foreign terrorist organization.”
For many, the demonstration was a way to take matters into their own hands.
“For all those people that say the protests don’t matter … we wouldn’t have the civil rights we had in the ‘60s without protests,” said Elizabeth Gietema, 28. “Vietnam might have gone on longer without the protests.”
Government lawyers told a federal judge on Wednesday that the Trump administration intends to deport a Harvard scientist back to Russia, a country she fled in 2022, despite her fear that she will be arrested there over her protest of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Kseniia Petrova, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, has been held in a Louisiana immigration detention facility since February, when she was detained at Boston’s airport for failing to declare scientific samples she was carrying in her luggage.
This is the first time the government has formally stated its plan to deport her to Russia.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Christina Reiss, chief judge of the United States District Court in Vermont, quizzed the government lawyers about their grounds for canceling Ms. Petrova’s visa and detaining her. Judge Reiss went on to schedule a bail hearing on May 28, potentially setting the stage for Ms. Petrova’s release.
The case has drawn the attention of elite scientists around the world, and sent a chill though the community of international academics that surrounded Ms. Petrova at Harvard. Several dozen Harvard students and faculty made the drive to Burlington, Vt., for the hearing.
“For every person that they detain, thousands of others are going to be scared of coming to the country,” said Leo Gerdén, a Harvard senior from Sweden.
Ms. Petrova was detained at Logan Airport on Feb. 16 as she returned from vacation in France, carrying with her sections of frog embryos from an affiliate laboratory, at the request of her supervisor at Harvard.
She has admitted that she failed to declare the samples, but her lawyer has argued that this would ordinarily be treated as a minor infraction, punishable with a fine. Instead, the customs official canceled Ms. Petrova’s J-1 visa on the spot and initiated deportation proceedings.
When Ms. Petrova explained that she had fled her native Russia for political reasons and could not return there, she was processed as an asylum seeker, and sent to Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, La., where she has remained for nearly three months.
In remarks from the bench, Judge Reiss seemed skeptical that the airport customs agent had possessed the authority to cancel Ms. Petrova’s visa.
“Where is that authority?” she asked. “Where does a customs and border patrol officer have the authority on his or her own to revoke a visa?” she said. “It’s got to be somewhere. Because there is no way that person has kind of an unlimited determination.”
The judge noted that the she had reviewed the statute laying out the grounds for customs officers to find someone inadmissible to the United States, and “I don’t see anything about customs violations.”
Jeffrey M. Hartman, an attorney representing the Department of Justice, said “it’s the secretary of state’s authority” to cancel a visa, and that the secretary has delegated that authority to customs officials.
Judge Reiss asked the government to clarify whether or not it planned to deport Ms. Petrova to Russia.
“You are asking for her removal to Russia?” she asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Mr. Hartman replied.
Ms. Petrova’s attorney filed a petition challenging her detention with the federal court in February, when she was held briefly at a Vermont detention center before being transferred to the immigration detention center in Louisiana.
Mr. Hartman argued that the federal court had no jurisdiction over Ms. Petrova’s detention. He said Ms. Petrova may contest her detention, but only in a Louisiana immigration court.
“It’s not something that a district court can entertain,” he said. “We think the proper venue for that question is Louisiana, where she is detained and where her custodian is.”
“But she is only detained there because you moved her,” said the judge.
Mr. Hartman said that when Ms. Petrova had been asked whether she was carrying biological materials, that she “failed to disclose their full contents,” and was carrying “a baggie with loose vials of this experimental material.”
“The C.B.P. office was our first line of defense against unknown biological materials from a foreign national out of a port of entry,” he said.
Over the past few weeks, federal courts in Vermont have handed down a series of decisions favoring noncitizen academics caught up in President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
On May 9, Tufts doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk was released from detention on the orders of a judge, William K. Sessions III, who said that her continued detention could chill “the speech of the millions and millions of individuals in this country who are not citizens.”
And on April 30, Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a student organizer at Columbia University who was detained by immigration authorities during an interview for his naturalization. Both Ms. Ozturk and Mr. Mahdawi were singled out because they had vocally protested Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Ms. Petrova’s case has no apparent basis in any political activism. But the attorney general of Massachusetts, Andrea Joy Campbell, who filed an amicus brief in the case, said Ms. Petrova’s detention, like that of Ms. Ozturk, represented “reckless and cruel misuse of power to punish and terrorize noncitizen members of the academic community.”
Ms. Campbell argued that international students bring significant revenue into Massachusetts, and that by creating “an atmosphere of fear,” the Trump administration has threatened the state’s economy.
Ms. Petrova’s attorney, Gregory Romanovsky, has argued that customs officials overstepped their authority by revoking her visa.
Though Customs officials may, in some cases, determine that an individual is inadmissible, he said, they must identify the legal grounds for doing so, such as criminal activity or health concerns. He said failing to declare scientific samples did not meet that test.
“It shouldn’t make her any more inadmissible than cutting in front of the line when she was waiting to be inspected,” Mr. Romanovsky said. “What the government is doing is saying, ‘If you’re an immigrant or a noncitizen and you’re not on your best behavior, we will punish you. We are going to use various immigration provisions to get rid of you.’ ”
Adam Sychla, a postdoctoral research fellow who organized a group of roughly 20 Harvard students and faculty members who traveled from Cambridge to the courthouse in Burlington, Vt., said he had never met Ms. Petrova, but had immediately decided to make the drive.
“Whether I know her personally or not, is immaterial,” he added. “I easily could have met her last week to start a collaboration. Instead, Kseniia is being unfairly detained.”
Miles J. Herszenhorn contributed reporting from Cambridge, Mass.
While Democrats have largely ridiculed President Donald Trump‘s decision to accept a $400 million jet from the Qatari royal family on behalf of the U.S. government, Republicans have raised national security concerns and admitted they have not been briefed on the details of the deal.
Fox News Digital asked Senate Republicans for their reaction to Trump deciding to accept the luxury Boeing jet from Qatar. While Trump continues his diplomatic trip through the Middle East, House Republicans are busy finalizing his “big, beautiful bill” at committee markups on Capitol Hill.
“I actually haven’t paid attention to it,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said. “I’m sorry to be so out of the loop on that. I’ve just been thinking about Medicaid and about what the House is sending over.”
And Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, another Trump ally, said she didn’t know enough about the deal to comment on it when pressed by Fox News Digital.
DEMS CONDEMN TRUMP’S JET DEAL, CALL $400M GIFT ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and President Donald Trump speak to each other at the Royal Palace in Doha May 14, 2025. Trump, right, touched down at Hamad International Airport in Doha. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
“I need to find out from the administration what exactly is going on,” Ernst added.
TRUMP DEFENDS QATAR JUMBO JET OFFER AS TROUBLED BOEING FAILS TO DELIVER NEW AIR FORCE ONE FLEET
Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Eric Schmitt of Missouri also admitted they don’t know the details of the deal.
However, Collins, a Republican with a willingness to buck the party on certain issues, seemed to align more with Democrats’ reaction to the gift, saying she suspected there could be issues within the GIFT Act, which prohibits federal employees from accepting gifts from foreign governments.
Democrats have pointed to the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution as proof the Qatari gift is “unconstitutional.” The emoluments clause states that no elected official should accept a gift from a foreign country without consent from Congress.
“My concern is his safety,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, told Fox News Digital. “Qatar supports Hamas. The Hamas leaders live in Qatar, so my concern is the safety of the president. How are we going to know that the plane is safe?”
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Doha, Qatar, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The U.S. Department of Defense is expected to retrofit the Boeing 747-8 luxury jet to be used as Air Force One. Some Republicans still have national security concerns.
“Qatar has a relationship with China, a relationship with Hamas. That would scare me,” Scott admitted.
But Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo, said a “free plane” sounds like a “good deal for the government.”
The Trump administration has continued to defend Qatar’s gift to the United States. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed it was not “Trump’s plane” and that it was donated to the U.S. Air Force.
A Qatari Boeing 747, right, sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach International airport after Trump toured the aircraft Feb. 15, 2025. (Getty Images)
On Wednesday morning, Trump signed a series of agreements with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, Qatar, which included a Qatari purchasing agreement for 160 American Boeing planes, defense agreements and a declaration of cooperation between the countries.
Trump defended his decision to accept the Qatari jet Tuesday, saying it would be “stupid” not to and emphasizing that he accepted it on behalf of the U.S. government, not himself.
“The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME! It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our Government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive. Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done,” Trump said on Truth Social Tuesday.
“This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump added.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about plans to discuss the deal with Congress.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump met Wednesday with Syria’s new leader, praising him as a “young, attractive guy” and urging him to rid his country of “Palestinian terrorists.”
Trump also urged Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa to sign onto the historic Abraham Accords brokered during Trump’s first term.
The meeting in Riyadh came as Trump concluded the Saudi Arabian leg of his Middle Eastern trip and headed to Qatar, the second destination of what has so far been an opulence-heavy tour of the region.
The meeting with Al-Sharaa, which lasted roughly half an hour and was the first time in a quarter of a century that the leaders of the two nations have met, marks a significant victory for Al-Sharaa’s fledgling government, coming one day after Trump’s decision to lift long-standing sanctions from the war-ravaged country.
It also lends legitimacy to a leader whose past as an Al Qaeda-affiliated jihadi leader — Al-Sharaa severed ties with the group in 2016 — had made Western nations keep him at arm’s length.
The sanctions were imposed on Syria in 2011, when the now-deposed President Bashar Assad began a brutal crackdown to quell anti-government uprisings.
Al-Sharaa headed an Islamist rebel coalition that toppled Assad in December, but the Trump administration and other Western governments conditioned the lifting of sanctions on his government fulfilling certain conditions.
Yet as is his custom, Trump cut through protocol and relied on personal relations, lifting the sanctions at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a long-time supporter of Syria’s rebellion, who joined the meeting via phone.
Speaking on Air Force One en route to Qatar, Trump described Al-Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
“He’s got a real shot at holding it together,” Trump added. “I spoke with President Erdogan, who is very friendly with him. He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn-up country.”
According to a readout shared by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on X, Trump urged Al-Sharaa to sign onto the Abraham Accords, tell “foreign terrorists” to leave Syria and deport “Palestinian terrorists,” help the U.S. in preventing Islamic State’s resurgence and assume responsibility for detention centers in northeast Syria housing thousands of people affiliated with Islamic State.
The Abraham Accords were the centerpiece of Trump’s foreign policy achievements in his first term. Brokered in 2020, they established diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan — without conditioning them on Palestinian statehood or Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.
Under Assad, Syria maintained a decades-old truce with Israel, despite hosting several Palestinian factions and allowing Iran and affiliated groups to operate in the country.
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