The Latest: Chief Justice Roberts allows Trump’s foreign aid freeze that threatens nearly $5 billion

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Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily kept in place the Trump administration’s decision to freeze nearly $5 billion in foreign aid. The high court order is temporary, though it suggests that the justices will reverse a lower court's ruling that withholding the funding was likely illegal.

Roberts acted on the administration’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in the case involving billions of dollars in congressionally approved aid. President Donald Trump said last month that he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a president roughly 50 years ago.

It comes as the Supreme Court has recently handed Trump wins on immigration and oversight of the Federal Trade Commission. The high court on Monday cleared the way for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations in Los Angeles, and Chief Justice Roberts OK’d the firing of FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter.

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The federal court ruled Tuesday that the embattled Federal Reserve governor can remain in her position for now.

The ruling, which will almost certainly be appealed, is a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to assert more control over the traditionally independent Fed.

Trump said he was firing Cook on Aug. 25 over allegations by one of his appointees that she committed mortgage fraud related to two properties she purchased in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook is accused of saying two properties were “primary residences,” which could have resulted in lower down payments and mortgage rates than if either was designated a second home or investment property.

Cook’s lawyers argued that firing her was unlawful because presidents can only fire Fed governors “for cause,” which has typically meant inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance while in office. They also said she was entitled to a hearing and a chance to respond to the charges.

South Korean media report that a charter plane left for the U.S. to bring back Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia.

A total of 475 workers, more than 300 of them South Koreans, were rounded up in the Sept. 4 raid at the battery factory under construction at Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah. Some were shown being shackled with chains around their hands, ankles and waists in video released by U.S. authorities.

South Korea’s government later said it reached an agreement with the U.S. for their release.

The mayor won comfortably in the primary despite days of intense backlash following the deadly stabbing of a young Ukrainian woman on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mayor Vi Lyles is seeking a fifth term but is coming under criticism after images of the attack sparked widespread outrage from Trump and other Republican figures.

The president has not specifically criticized the mayor but said the victim’s “blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail.”

Lyles will take on Republican Terrie Donovan, a real estate agent who faced no primary opposition in the heavily Democratic city, in the November general election.

The president is trying to walk a delicate line. He distanced himself from the strikes Tuesday but stopped short of condemning Israel for carrying out an audacious strike on the soil of another major U.S. ally.

Qatar has played a key role mediating between the U.S. and Iran and its proxies, including during talks with Tehran-backed Hamas as the war with Israel in Gaza grinds on.

▶ Read more about Trump, Qatar and Israel

The new rule allowing for scrutiny of a person’s “anti-American” views when they are applying for a green card or other benefits isn’t designed to target political beliefs but rather to identify support for terrorist activity, Joseph Edlow told The Associated Press.

In a wide-ranging interview, the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services delved into the agency’s contentious policy — announced last month — under which officers decide whether a foreigner applying for a certain benefit has endorsed what they believe are anti-American views.

Edlow also detailed problems he sees with a training program that is popular with international students but hated by some Trump supporters. He described how and why he’s thinking of changing the process by which hundreds of thousands of people become citizens every year.

▶ Read more about the interview

Reaction to the video of the stabbing death of a Ukrainian woman on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, is also spilling into other upcoming elections, including the state’s 2026 U.S. Senate race.

Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who is running for the seat, accused former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who entered the race, of “bearing direct responsibility” for signing an executive order in 2020 to study solutions to tackle racial bias in the criminal justice system.

The 2020 order didn’t give anyone authority to release state prisoners, however.

Cooper’s campaign on Tuesday accused Whatley of lying. It also promoted Cooper’s work history, including time as state attorney general.

The killing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska has sparked widespread outrage from Trump and other Republicans and figures in the Make America Great Again movement. They say it shows Democrats are too soft on people with criminal records.

The state’s GOP-led House turned aside Democratic objections and passed the plan to redraw congressional districts so that Republicans could win an additional seat in the closely divided chamber. It now heads to the state Senate.

The rare mid-decade redistricting plan is aimed at bolstering Republicans’ national prospects in next year’s elections. Democrats need to gain just three seats to take control of the House, and by reshaping a Democratic-held Kansas City district, Republicans could end up winning seven of Missouri’s eight congressional seats.

The effort comes after a similar move by Republican-led Texas and a counteroffensive in Democratic-led California that still needs voter approval. Other states, including Republican-led Indiana and Florida and Democratic-led Maryland and New York, could follow with their own revisions in what’s emerging as a national redistricting battle.

Susan Monarez, the recently ousted director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is scheduled to appear in the Senate next week, according to an announcement by Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Monarez, who led the nation’s top public health agency for less than a month, was fired in August. The White House said she was “not aligned with” Trump’s agenda.

Monarez has clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying last week in The Wall Street Journal that he is trying to weaken public health protections. Kennedy has called Monarez untrustworthy.

The Sept. 17 hearing will feature testimony from both Monarez and Dr. Debra Houry and will focus on “the recent high-profile departures from the agency,” according to a statement from Cassidy.

The president signed a memorandum to strengthen enforcement of such ads across TV, the internet and social media.

Officials said during a call beforehand that the administration would send hundreds of letters to pharmaceutical companies that it says have run misleading ads.

The memorandum instructs Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “take appropriate action to ensure transparency and accuracy in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising, including by increasing the amount of information regarding any risks associated with the use of any such prescription drug required to be provided in prescription drug advertisements.”

It also orders the Food and Drug Administration to enforce rules ensuring “truthful and non-misleading information in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements.”

In doing so Wu, a frequent target of the Trump administration, set herself up as the presumptive favorite in November. The city’s first Asian and female leader will face Josh Kraft, son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who also advanced.

Wu’s standing has been bolstered in part by her defense of the city against attacks from the Trump administration. Members of the administration, often led by the president’s border czar, have accused Boston of not doing enough to crack down on illegal immigration and threatened a surge in arrests.

Boston is known as a so-called sanctuary city, and Wu has repeatedly said she wants it to be a welcoming place for immigrants.

Wu has also benefited from strong support among the City Council and most Democratic leaders in the state. She has been able to use her position as mayor to showcase her leadership and announce a steady stream of new initiatives, especially around housing.

The president again denied writing a sexually suggestive letter to Jeffrey Epstein that was released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

“It’s not my signature, and it’s not the way I speak,” Trump told reporters Tuesday night. “And anybody’s that’s covered me for a long time knows that’s not my language.”

“It’s nonsense,” he added. “And frankly you’re wasting your time.”

Trump said anyone asking about the matter was “trying to get off the great success of D.C. and about 200 other things that we’ve done that are so successful.”

Asked if he would meet with Epstein’s victims, Trump said, “Nobody’s suggested that.”

“Certainly I don’t like that whole situation with respect to anybody being abused or hurt,” Trump said. “But I haven’t even thought about that.”

Arriving at a restaurant to celebrate his deployment of the National Guard in Washington, Trump told reporters: “We’re going to be announcing another city that we’re going to very shortly.”

He did not specify where but said the mayor of that city and the governor of the state “would love us to be there.”

He added that he could make the announcement as soon as Wednesday.

“I’m not thrilled about it,” the president said upon arriving at a Washington restaurant for dinner near the White House.

“It’s not a good situation.”

Trump said he wasn’t notified in advance of the attack. He added, “I’ll be giving a full statement tomorrow. But I will tell you this, I was very unhappy about it. Very unhappy about every aspect.”

The president is having dinner Tuesday night at a seafood restaurant around the corner from the White House.

He doesn’t usually dine away from the White House when he’s in Washington, but Trump is promoting his deployment of the National Guard and federalization of the police force to crack down on crime in the capital.

His motorcade sped the short distance to Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab on 15th Street.

It follows weeks of Trump boasting about mobilizing federal authorities and the military, which he says has made Washington “a safe zone.”

Images of the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian woman on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina, have sparked a backlash against the mayor right as she is seeking the Democratic nomination on Tuesday in her bid for a fifth term.

The loudest criticism of Mayor Vi Lyles has come from Republicans and figures in Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. They say the killing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska shows Democrats are too soft on people with criminal records. Records show the suspect in Zarutska’s death, Decarlos Brown Jr., had cycled through the criminal justice system for more than a decade.

Some Democrats looking to unseat Lyles are also saying her response has been insufficient. Some accurately predicted last week that Trump would draw attention to the case and use it to justify taking over law enforcement agencies in Democratic-led cities.

▶ Read more about the response to the killing

The State Department has announced that Secretary Marco Rubio will meet with South Korea’s foreign minister at the White House on Wednesday morning.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun traveled to Washington in hopes of bringing home more than 300 South Korean workers who were taken into custody during a raid on an electric battery plant in Georgia.

Korean Air has said a Boeing 747-8i will fly to Atlanta as early as Wednesday to bring them home.

The raid stunned many in South Korea because the country is a key U.S. ally.

Elizabeth Tsurkov was freed following more than 900 days in custody after disappearing in Baghdad while pursuing a doctorate focused on sectarianism in the region.

Tsurkov’s sister, Emma, a U.S. citizen who campaigned for her release, said she was in Washington for meetings this week when she heard the news from Adam Boehler, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

The sisters were able to connect by phone and expect to be reunited in the next 24 hours, though details are still being worked out, Emma Tsurkov said.

“I heard her voice for the first time in 2 1/2 years and still couldn’t believe it, and I just melted on the floor,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I heard her voice and she heard mine, and it was the most joyous experience of my life, and we both started sobbing and screaming.”

Some of Chicago’s liveliest neighborhoods are quiet these days. Schoolteachers want online learning for children whose families are afraid to venture out. And houses of worship are urging people to carry identification everywhere.

As the nation’s third-largest city awaits a federal intervention threatened by Trump, who vows the city will see a surge in deportations and National Guard troops, residents are making changes in their daily routines.

While the feeling of being vulnerable isn’t new, especially among immigrants, many say this time the fear is deeper and the preparations more drastic.

Even Sam Sanchez, a restaurant owner who voted for Trump, criticized the president’s plan. And as a naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico, he is taking precautions.

“They’re profiling,” Sanchez said of federal agents. “My wife and I went to a wedding, and I told my wife, ‘Bring your citizenship papers.’”

▶ Read more about Chicagoans and the impending federal intervention

The federal judge’s restriction will be in place while a motion to permanently stop the agencies from doing so is considered by the courts.

In orders issued Tuesday and Friday, a federal court found that the IRS may not share confidential taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement without giving the court 24 hours notice.

A group of small businesses, a low-income tax clinic and two unions represented by Democracy Forward brought a lawsuit seeking to prevent the sharing.

The IRS and ICE struck a deal this year to share immigrants’ tax data for the purpose of identifying and deporting people in the U.S. illegally.