Closing summary
Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
Donald Trump used the traditional presidential Memorial Day speech at Arlington national cemetery to talk up his own plans and achievements. The president laid a wreath and paid tribute to fallen soldiers but also veered off into rally-style personal boasting and brief partisan attacks during the solemn event.
EU leaders expressed hopes for a quick deal to resolve the trade war with the US after Trump announced he was delaying his threatened 50% tariffs for the bloc until 9 July. The US president said on Sunday he would pause the border tax due to be imposed on 1 June, which he had announced two days earlier, after what he called a “very nice call” with European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.
Trump issued a pardon for a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted last year of federal bribery charges. Scott Jenkins, who had been the sheriff of Culpeper county, Virginia, was set to report to jail on Tuesday after he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointments as auxiliary deputy sheriffs.
Trump also said he is considering taking a further $3bn of grant money away from Harvard University and giving it to trade schools across the US. Former president of Harvard and current professor Drew Gilpin Faust warned that American freedoms and democracy were at risk.
Trump suggested Russian leader Vladimir Putin had “gone crazy” after Moscow launched its third consecutive night of massive drone strikes against Ukraine, killing at least six people. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump railed against Putin while also criticising the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for calling out US inaction against Russia.
Former congressman Charles Rangel of New York died on Monday at the age of 94. An outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill, Rangel was a founding member of the Congressional Black caucus and the first African American to chair the powerful House ways and means committee.
The FBI will launch new investigations into the 2023 discovery of a bag of cocaine at the White House during Joe Biden’s term, and the leak of the supreme court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v Wade in 2022. The FBI will also investigate pipe bombs discovered at Democratic and Republican party headquarters before the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot.
The Trump family media company plans to raise about $3bn to spend on cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, according to a Financial Times report. The Trump Media & Technology Group, which is behind the Truth Social app and controlled by the president’s family, aims to raise $2bn in fresh equity and another $1bn via a convertible bond, the paper said, citing sources.
Updated
Former Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, who has been pardoned by Donald Trump, was convicted in December 2024 of one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud and seven counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
In a press release in March, acting US attorney Zachary T Lee said:
Scott Jenkins violated his oath of office and the faith the citizens of Culpeper County placed in him when he engaged in a cash-for-badges scheme. We hold our elected law enforcement officials to a higher standard of conduct and this case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable.
The release says that Jenkins accepted more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing numerous northern Virginia businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs within his department.
Updated
