The Latest: Trump calls off Iran strike planned for Tuesday to allow for ‘serious negotiations’

Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Monday said it's creating a $1.7 billion fund to compensate prosecuted allies of the Republican president after he moved to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve President Donald Trump’s case over the leak of his tax returns. Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight the arrangement.

Here's the latest:

US piles on new Cuba sanctions as it steps up pressure

The State Department has imposed a new layer of sanctions on several Cuban government agencies, including the Interior Ministry and National Police and Intelligence Directorate, as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure against the island.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he had also designated 11 Cuban government officials for sanctions, including the ministers of justice, energy and mines, and communications, along with the chief of staff of the Cuban army and the chief of staff of military counterintelligence. The sanctions block any assets that they may have or that come into contact with the U.S. financial system. However, many of those designated had already been subject to U.S. sanctions.

“These sanctions advance the Trump administration’s comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime and to hold accountable both the regime and those who provide it material support,” Rubio said in a statement.

Trump says he’s called off Iran strike planned for Tuesday at request of Gulf allies

President Donald Trump said he is holding off on a military strike on Iran planned for Tuesday because “serious negotiations” are underway.

Trump’s announcement in a social media post Monday came as he had threatened the clock was ticking for Iran to strike a deal or fighting would renew after a fragile ceasefire.

The president did not offer details about the planned attack but said but he instructed the U.S. military “to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”

Trump had not previously disclosed that he was planning a strike for May 19, but over the weekend he warned, “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them.”

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Minnesota county charges an ICE officer in a nonfatal shooting during Trump’s immigration crackdown

A Minnesota prosecutor on Monday announced charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in the nonfatal shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minnesota.

The officer, Christian Castro, is charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

A federal officer shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after he and another officer chased a different man to the apartment duplex where the man and Sosa-Celis lived. Moriarty said both Sosa-Celis and the other man were legally in the U.S.

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Pentagon pauses participation in joint defense board with Canada

Defense Undersecretary Elbridge Colby accused Canada of failing “to make good on its military commitments” as he announced the change with the 85-year-old Permanent Joint Board on Defense.

Trump has harshly criticized Canada and other NATO countries for spending too little on their own militaries, arguing that the U.S. shoulders too much of the burden.

The board is composed of senior military and civilian leaders and has been involved in various defense efforts. For instance, it provided advice on the creation of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, a joint command between the U.S. and Canada to spot potential enemy attacks as tensions rose with the Soviet Union.

Schumer blasts $1.7 billion fund to compensate Trump allies

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says the Trump administration’s creation of a $1.7 billion compensation fund is “corruption happening in broad daylight.”

The fund is aimed at compensating allies of the Republican president who believe they were mistreated by the Biden administration Justice Department.

“Of all the corrupt things he has done, this is one of the most depraved,” Schumer said in a prepared statement. “No president should be able to use the Department of Justice as a personal rewards program for the people who helped him attack our democracy.”

US to extend ability of countries to buy Russian oil at sea

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. will extend by another 30 days the ability of countries to import Russian oil that is already in tankers at sea, a move that is meant to reduce the oil supply shortages caused by the Iran war.

Bessent had previously said, including to The Associated Press, that there would not be more extensions only to do so two times, a policy reversal that reflects the global economic challenges created by the conflict.

“This extension will provide additional flexibility, and we will work with these nations to provide specific licenses as needed,” Bessent said on social media of the 30-day general license.

The U.S. government official said it would help poorer nations in need of oil because China would no longer have the same ability to “stockpile discounted oil” from Russia.

But there are risks as the temporary lifting of sanctions would help Russia finance its war in Ukraine.

House lawmakers hear from Epstein’s jail guard

The House Oversight Committee is interviewing Tova Noel, the former guard who was working the night that Jeffrey Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019.

Noel and the other guard on duty that night, Michael Thomas, have admitted to falsifying records after facing federal charges in 2021 that stemmed from Epstein’s death. New York City’s medical examiner ruled his death a suicide, but conspiracy theories have swirled around his death for years.

House lawmakers have said they want to examine the conditions at the jail at the time Epstein died.

Hegseth campaigning alongside a Trump-backed congressional candidate

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will spend Monday afternoon campaigning alongside a Trump-backed congressional candidate on the eve of Kentucky’s high-profile 4th district GOP primary contest.

Hegseth is scheduled to appear with former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein at the 1 p.m. EST rally in Hebron, Kentucky. The event is hosted by the Trump-allied group, America First Works.

Galleria is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, whom Trump has vowed to help defeat because of Massie’s vocal criticism of the Republican president.

The Pentagon issued a statement on Monday declaring that Hegseth was attending Monday’s event “in his personal capacity” and that no taxpayer dollars would be used to facilitate his visit.

If established, the fund would represent a highly unorthodox resolution

It would also be a further demonstration of the Trump administration’s eagerness to reward allies who before Trump came to power were investigated and in some cases charged and convicted.

Most notably, the president on his first day back in office pardoned or commuted the sentences of supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His Justice Department since then has approved payouts to supporters entangled in the Trump-Russia investigation and investigated and prosecuted some of his perceived adversaries.

Justice Department announces $1.7B fund to compensate Trump allies in deal to drop IRS suit

The Trump administration said Monday that it’s creating a $1.7 billion fund to compensate prosecuted allies of the Republican president after he moved to drop his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve President Trump’s case over the leak of his tax returns.

Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight what they called a “corrupt” and unprecedented resolution.

Trump’s lawsuit followed the leak of tax returns

Trump filed the lawsuit earlier this year in a Florida federal court, alleging a previous leak of his and the Trump Organization’s confidential tax records caused “reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing.”

The president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are also named plaintiffs in the suit.

In 2024, former IRS contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn — who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, a defense and national security tech firm — was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking tax information about Trump and others to two news outlets between 2018 and 2020.

Trump and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul trade blame on the Long Island Rail Road strike

Hochul, a Democrat, has blamed the Trump administration for cutting mediation short in September and pushing the unions toward a strike. Trump, a Republican, said on his Truth Social platform that he had nothing to do with it.

“No, Kathy, it’s your fault, and now looking over the facts, you should not have allowed this to happen,” Trump said.

Commuters in New York City’s suburbs navigated a gauntlet of car, bus and subway routes to get to work Monday after a strike on the Long Island Rail Road that shut down the nation’s busiest commuter rail system entered its third day.

Hochul urged companies and agencies that employ workers from Long Island to let them work from home whenever possible.

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It’s not immediately clear who precisely will stand to benefit from the fund

But its creation reflects Trump’s long-running claims that the Biden administration Justice Department was weaponized against him.

He’s cited as proof the since-dismissed criminal charges he faced between his first and second terms of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost and of retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Several aides of his were also prosecuted, as were hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Merrick Garland, who served as attorney general during former President Joe Biden’s administration, has repeatedly denied allegations of politicization and has said his decisions followed facts, the evidence and the law. His Justice Department also investigated Biden for his handling of classified information and brought separate tax and gun prosecutions against Biden’s son Hunter.

News that administration contemplating fund to pay Trump allies draws backlash from Democrats

Rep. Jamie Raskin called the idea “unconstitutional.”

“This, of course, is a political grievance fund that Donald Trump can use to pay off his friends,” Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

“If these people have a valid cause of action, they should bring it to the court like every other American does, and use the system of due process, and proving things by clear and convincing evidence, or a preponderance of evidence, go and prove it. But the idea that Donald Trump can just pass it out like a pardon is absurd,” he added.

Trump moves to dismiss $10B suit over leak of tax returns after reports of a resolution

President Trump on Monday moved to withdraw his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns after reports that a resolution of the case was close at hand.

The disclosure was made in a filing in federal court in Florida, where the lawsuit was filed.

ABC News first reported last week that Trump was prepared to drop his lawsuit as part of a deal that would create a $1.7 billion fund to pay allies of the president who believe they were wrongly investigated and prosecuted.

The court filing did not mention terms of any potential deal.

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Will White House correspondents’ dinner be rescheduled? Some say: ‘Let’s call the whole thing off’

More than three weeks after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was thrown into chaos and panic when a man stormed the Washington Hilton lobby and opened fire in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill President Donald Trump, the event has yet to be rescheduled.

The association “continues to weigh options for rescheduling the event,” its president, Weijia Jiang of CBS News, said from China last week where she was covering Trump — alongside whom she hit the floor that night as shots rang out.

“We will do this again,” Jiang had said then. Trump, for his part, said on social media the dinner would be rescheduled within 30 days (though it’s not up to him), which would bring it to late this month.

That seems hardly likely, at least not an event that would accommodate close to 3,000 people. WHCA board members are scoping out smaller venues, a person familiar with the situation said, with the understanding that, if rescheduled, it would necessarily be a pared-down event — a nod to financial as well as security concerns.

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Redistricting debate shifts to South Carolina as Republicans seek clean sweep of US House seats

An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts will get its first full airing Monday in the state House, as lawmakers launch a lengthy and potentially testy discussion on whether to accede to Trump’s desires for a U.S. House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans.

Tense debates already have played out in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana as Republicans push aggressively to leverage a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened Voting Rights Act protections for minority districts. The ruling has opened the way for Republicans to redraw districts with large Black populations that have elected Democrats.

In South Carolina, that means targeting a seat long held by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the only Democrat among the state’s seven representatives in the House.

Early voting is scheduled to begin May 26 for South Carolina’s statewide primaries on June 9. In addition to redrawing congressional districts, legislation pending in the state House would move the U.S. House primaries to August. If it clears the House, the legislation then must go to the Senate.

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China agrees to boost trade for US agricultural products following Trump-Xi summit

China has agreed to ramp up trade for U.S. agricultural products such as beef and poultry, buying at an annualized rate of $17 billion per year for 2026 and at that level for 2027 and 2028, the White House announced Sunday.

China would restore market access for U.S. beef and resume imports of poultry from U.S. states determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be free of the bird flu, the White House said. The deals are on top of China’s soybean purchase commitments last year.

The agreements offer some hope to American farmers harmed by the trade war as they saw a major export market for soybeans and other products dry up. Farmers also are feeling new pressure from Trump administration policies — the war that the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran has curtailed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade corridor that has restricted global fertilizer supplies and sent those prices soaring.

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Drone strikes UAE nuclear plant as US and Iran signal they are prepared to resume war

A drone strike sparked a fire on the edge of the United Arab Emirates’ sole nuclear power plant on Sunday in what authorities called an “unprovoked terrorist attack.” No one was blamed, but it highlighted the risk of renewed war as the United States and Iran signaled they were ready to fight again.

There were no reported injuries or radiological release. The UAE, which has hosted air defenses and personnel from Israel, recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks. Tensions have risen over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway gripped by Iran, which is under a U.S. naval blockade.

The ceasefire remains tenuous, with diplomatic efforts for a more durable peace having faltered. And fighting has heated up between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon despite a nominal ceasefire there.

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Stocks fall and oil rises after Trump warns Iran that ‘clock is ticking’

World shares mostly retreated and oil prices jumped on Monday after Trump warned Tehran that the “clock is ticking” as U.S.-Iran negotiations over a permanent end to the war stall.

U.S. futures fell and markets in Japan and South Korea pulled back from their records. In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 10,205.31. France’s CAC 40 lost 0.9% to 7,883.42, and Germany’s DAX dropped 0.1% to 23,925.82.

During Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 60,815.95, a decline led by technology-related stocks. It reached all-time intraday high levels last week above 63,000.

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond surged to as high as 2.8%, its highest level since the late 1990s. That’s part of a broader shift toward higher yields as the Bank of Japan gradually raises interest rates and higher energy costs raise expectations of rising inflation. The yield was around 2.55% just one week ago.

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