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President Donald Trump closed out his week by informing Congress he is revoking nearly $5 billion in foreign aid that Congress already had approved as the legislative branch faces an Oct. 1 deadline to fund the government or deal with a shutdown.
Trump is rescinding the funding using a pocket rescission. Unlike a typical rescission request that allows Congress to sign off on nixing the approved funding within 45-days, a pocket rescission sidesteps Congress because it’s so close to the end of the fiscal year that the legislative branch can’t act accordingly.
“Last night, President Trump CANCELED $4.9 billion in America Last foreign aid using a pocket rescission,” the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said on X on Friday. “[President Donald Trump] will always put AMERICA FIRST!”
WHITE HOUSE MOVE TO CANCEL $4.9B FOREIGN AID WITH ‘POCKET RESCISSION’ BLASTED AS ILLEGAL
Included in the slashed funds are roughly $520 million from the contributions to international organizations account, more than $390 million to the contributions for international peacekeeping activities account, $322 million from the democracy fund, $445 million from the Peacekeeping Operations account and more than $3 billion from development assistance.
Meanwhile, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle aren’t happy about Trump’s decision to pull the funding.
“Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a Friday statement.
Here’s what also happened this week:
South Korea summit
Trump kicked off the week Monday meeting with South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung.
However, during the summit, he touted his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and said the two would meet “someday.” Trump met with Kim on three occasions during his first term in office for denuclearization talks — the first time in Singapore in 2018, and then twice in 2019 in Vietnam and within North Korea.
TRUMP TOUTS KIM JONG UN RELATIONSHIP AMID SOUTH KOREA SUMMIT
“I have very good relationships with Kim Jong UN, North Korea,” Trump told reporters at the White House Monday. “I mean, a lot of people would say, ‘Oh, that’s terrible.’ No, it’s good. In fact, someday I’ll see him. I look forward to seeing him. He was very good with me. We had two meeting — we had two summits. We got along great.”
Although the current Trump administration has signaled ongoing interest in renewing denuclearization talks with North Korea, Pyongyang has not shown interest in denuclearizing.
Death penalty in Washington?
Trump disclosed that he plans to seek the death penalty in Washington for those convicted of murder as he continues his crime crackdown in the nation’s capital.
“If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, D.C., we’re going to be seeking the death penalty,” Trump told reporters during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting. “And that’s a very strong preventative. And everybody that’s heard it agrees with it. I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country, but we have it. … We have no choice.”
The Supreme Court ruled in 1972 in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment’s provision barring cruel and unusual punishment. Additionally, the D.C. Council officially rescinded the death penalty in 1981, according to the nonprofit organization the Death Penalty Information Center.
DEATH PENALTY COULD RETURN IN NATION’S CAPITAL UNDER TRUMP’S DC CRIME CRACKDOWN
It’s unclear exactly how the White House intends to launch this effort and no additional details were immediately available. The White House referred Fox News Digital back to Trump’s comments at the Cabinet meeting.
However, Trump signed an executive order in January titled “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety.” The order instructs the attorney general to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”
“Capital punishment is an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens,” the order said. “Before, during, and after the founding of the United States, our cities, States, and country have continuously relied upon capital punishment as the ultimate deterrent and only proper punishment for the vilest crimes.”
Trump weighs in on Cracker Barrel
Trump also waded into the discussion about whether Cracker Barrel should update its logo, and urged the restaurant chain to reverse its decision to change its logo to remove “Uncle Herschel.”
“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before,” Trump said in a Tuesday social media post.
Later Tuesday, Cracker Barrel announced that it had listened to customers and that the new logo was “going away” and the previous one that had been in place since 1977 would remain.
The White House appeared to take credit for igniting the change, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X, “8 hours ago…” with a screenshot of Trump’s original social media post, in response to Cracker Barrel’s update about reverting to the previous logo.
“Congratulations ‘Cracker Barrel’ on changing your logo back to what it was. All of your fans very much appreciate it,” Trump said in a subsequent social media post Tuesday.
Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report.
