4/24: Trump's day today...

• Donald Trump directed his attorney general to investigate the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue based on unsubstantiated rightwing claim.

• US defense secretary Pete Hegseth had an unsecured internet connection set up in his Pentagon office so that he could bypass government security protocols and use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer.

• Federal judges blocked several aspects of Trump’s agenda that he’s tried to enact through executive orders, which do not carry the force of law.

• One judge blocked his efforts to add a proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, a change that voting rights advocates warned would have disenfranchised millions of voters.

• Another judge ruled the Trump administration’s attempt to make federal funding to schools conditional on them eliminating any DEI policies erodes the “foundational principles” that separates the United States from totalitarian regimes.

• On immigration, a judge ordered the Trump administration to make “a good faith request” to the government of El Salvador to facilitate the return of a second man sent to a prison there back to the US, saying his deportation violated a court settlement.

• Another judge blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funding from several so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to cooperate with the president’s hardline immigration crackdown.

• The Trump store is now selling “Trump 2028” hats to fans of the president, who is barred by the US constitution from serving a third term, despite the fact that a new poll from Reuters/Ipsos found that three-quarters of respondents said Trump should not even try to run.

• Trump issued a rare rebuke against Vladimir Putin, and said he has his own deadline for the Russia-Ukraine war and that he still thinks the Russian leader will listen to him.

• Trump insisted that Chinese officials were not telling the truth when they said that the two countries have not engaged in talks on trade.