• U.S. to impose additional tariffs on Canadian lumber imports,
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration expects to launch a limited version of its travel ban on six mostly Muslim countries Thursday, but has yet to say how it will be implemented or what it will do to avoid the chaos that accompanied the initial ban.
Government lawyers were working on guidelines Tuesday, one day after the Supreme Court partially reinstated the ban ahead of hearing arguments in October. The court said the administration can block travelers from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen unless they can prove a “bona fide relationship” with a person or entity in the United States.
The court offered only broad guidelines about what would constitute such a relationship — suggesting it would include a close relative, a job offer or an invitation to lecture.
The court ordered similar limitations on President Donald Trump’s plan to temporarily halt all refugee admissions. But that may have minimal effect for now. A State Department spokeswoman said Tuesday that refugees who have been vetted, approved for a move to the U.S., and scheduled to fly to the U.S. through July 6 will be allowed in.
Of the 50,000 refugees the government planned to accept in the current budget year, more than 48,900 have been allowed to enter the U.S.
The State Department has said that the few remaining refugees to be admitted this year will not have to prove a “bona fide relationship.” A new cap won’t be in place until the start of the budget year in October, around the time that the Supreme Court considers the case.
With the uncertainty surrounding the Supreme Court’s order, immigration advocates and civil rights lawyers are on edge and ready for possible legal challenges. The State Department reportedly has notified all U.S. diplomatic posts of the decision and advised them to await instructions that would be forthcoming by the self-imposed implementation deadline Thursday.
Swipes taken at CNN
Mr. Trump used the resignations of three CNN journalists involved in a retracted Russia-related story to resume his attack on the network’s credibility Tuesday.
The story was about a supposed investigation into a pre-inaugural meeting between a Trump associate and the head of a Russian investment fund. CNN accepted the journalists’ resignations Monday.
Mr. Trump wrote in a Tuesday morning tweet, “Wow, CNN had to retract big story on ‘Russia,’ with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKENEWS!”
Later, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Tuesday afternoon press briefing scolded the media, saying the “constant barrage of fake news” at the president has frustrated Mr. Trump.
‘Energy revolution’ hailed
Mr. Trump on Tuesday cited a series of steps the administration has taken to boost energy production and remove government regulations that he argues prevent the United States from achieving “energy dominance” in the global market, adding that the U.S. is on the brink of becoming a net exporter of oil, gas and other energy resources in “a new energy revolution.”
Water pollution rule
Mr. Trump’s administration will revoke a rule that gives the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority over regulating the pollution of wetlands and tributaries that run into the nation’s largest rivers, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said Tuesday.
President’s politicking
Mr. Trump on Wednesday night will attend his first 2020 campaign fundraiser, rubbing elbows with some of the Republican Party’s top donors on familiar turf: his own hotel down the street from the White House.