Closing summary
This brings our coverage of the second Trump administration to a close for the day. We will return on Thursday to keep our real-time chronicle going, but in the meantime, here are a few of the day’s developments:
A federal judge blocked the government from deporting migrants to Libya, amid reports that the US military planned to fly detained immigrants there this week.
Donald Trump withdrew his nominee for surgeon general, Fox News contributor Dr Janette Nesheiwat, one day before her confirmation hearing. Later in the day, he nominated a wellness influencer close to RFK Jr to take her place.
Columbia University called in the NYPD to clear a Gaza solidarity sit-in at a campus library, resulting in about 75 arrests.
The Federal Reserve refused to lower interest rates as questions around the global economic outlook mount amid Trump’s erratic rollout of an aggressive trade strategy.
Trump said there would be more information in the next day on a potential new proposal for a hostage release deal and ceasefire in Gaza.
Stockholm’s city council rejected a “completely bizarre” demand from the US embassy in Sweden to abandon the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
Voice of America, the US-funded broadcaster, will now run video provided by One America News, an openly partisan, virulently pro-Trump, far-right broadcaster.
Updated
Trump picks physician-turned-wellness influencer close to RFK Jr for surgeon general
Donald Trump said he is nominating Dr Casey Means, a physician-turned-wellness influencer who is close to health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr as his new nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his initial pick for the job, Fox News contributor Dr Janette Nesheiwat, one day before her confirmation hearing.
Trump wrote in a social media post on Wednesday that Means “has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History”. Without explaining why he had withdrawn the nomination of his first pick, Trump wrote: “Secretary Kennedy looks forward to working with Dr. Janette Nesheiwat in another capacity at HHS.”
Means and her brother, former lobbyist Calley Means, served as key advisers to Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign and helped broker his eventual endorsement of Trump, the Associated Press reports.
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