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Alex Woodward

Senior US reporter

Alex Woodward is a senior US reporter covering civil rights, elections, democracy, extremism, inequality and politics. His reporting includes coverage of Trump's legal battles, voting rights, anti-abortion laws, discrimination, and far-right movements and media. He joined The Independent in February 2020. He is based in New York.

<p>President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch</p>
News

Why Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch in $10 billion lawsuit

<p>Donald Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch and news conglomerates News Corp and Dow Jones for $10 billion following The Wall Street Journal’s publication of an alleged birthday card the president sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump also is suing the two journalists whose bylines appear on the report</p>
US politics

Trump sues Murdoch and WSJ for $10B over Epstein birthday card expose

<p>Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to sue Rupert Murdoch following The Wall Street Journal’s publication of a birthday card it claims the president wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003</p>
US politics

Trump warns Murdoch and his ‘pile of garbage’ WSJ over Epstein report

<p>The Trump administration negotiated a deal for the release of American prisoners in Venezuela in exchange for dozens of Venezuelans who were deported from the United States to a brutal prison in El Salvador</p>
US politics

Trump deportees released from El Salvador in Venezuelan prison swap

<p>Trump is threatening to sue Rupert Murdoch, who owns the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> as part of his media empire</p>
News

Trump issues threat to Rupert Murdoch after WSJ Epstein report

<p>Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein pictured in 1992. A new report shed new light on the friendship between the two men. </p>
US politics

Reported card from Trump to Epstein among new details of friendship

<p>Attorney General Pam Bondi has brushed aside criticisms over her handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s case while Donald Trump has called the investigation a ‘hoax,’ raising questions among their allies that the president has something to hide</p>
US politics

How Trump’s allies are shrinking support over his handling of Epstein

<p>A group of immigrants arrested inside immigration courts across the country has sued the Trump administration for the ‘unlawful’ practice of judges dropping their cases with agents waiting outside the court doors to arrest them</p>
US politics

Immigrants are suing Trump over ICE’s ‘unlawful’ courthouse arrests

<p>The Trump administration has deported five people with criminal records to Eswatini, catching U.S. diplomats for the tiny African nation by surprise</p>
US politics

DHS deported ‘monsters’ to tiny African country, surprising diplomats

<p>President Donald Trump’s administration has carried out more than 500 bombings since taking office in January</p>
US politics

Trump launched nearly as many airstrikes as Biden did in four years

<p>ICE is expediting the removal of immigrants in the United States to so-called ‘third countries’ that aren’t their own with as little as six hours’ notice, which critics fear is not enough time to mount a challenge</p>
US politics

ICE is ramping up deportations to ‘third countries’ with little notice

<p>Pam Bondi’s letter to Joseph Tirrell gave no reason for his termination</p>
News

Pam Bondi misspells DoJ ethics director’s name in letter firing him

<p>Pam Bondi abruptly fired the director of the Justice Department’s ethics office on July 11 as career prosecutors quit the agency in droves</p>
US politics

Pam Bondi abruptly fires DOJ’s ethics chief in four-sentence letter

US politics

Pam Bondi abruptly fires DOJ’s ethics chief in four-sentence letter

<p>Pam Bondi abruptly fired the director of the Justice Department’s ethics office on July 11 as career prosecutors quit the agency in droves</p>
<p>Cuomo announced his return to the campaign trail in a social media video released on Monday.</p>
News

Andrew Cuomo remains in NYC mayoral race as an independent

<p>Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on July 14 that he intends to continue running for New York City mayor despite losing the Democratic primary to Zohran Mamdani</p>
US politics

Cuomo vows to stay in NYC mayor race despite losing primary to Mamdani

<p>Kenia Jackeline Merlos, right, and her four U.S.-born children were detained by border patrol agents following the family's visit to the U.S.-Canada border on June 28</p>
US politics

Mom and her four American-born children held after Canada border visit

<p>A mother and her two young children, including a six-year-old leukemia patient, were released from ICE detention after more than a month in custody at the South Texas Family Residential Center (pictured)</p>
US politics

ICE releases six-year-old leukemia patient after month in custody

<p>A mother and her two young children, including a six-year-old leukemia patient, were released from ICE detention after more than a month in custody at the South Texas Family Residential Center (pictured)</p>
US politics

ICE releases six-year-old leukemia patient after month in custody

<p>Masked federal agents descended on protesters outside a cannabis farm in California where more than 300 people were arrested during an ICE raid on July 10</p>
US politics

College professor accused of assault during ICE cannabis farm raid

<p>Federal agents descended on crowds of protesters demonstrating against immigration raids at two cannabis farms in southern California on Thursday. Several were hospitalized during the raid, and one worker has died.</p>
US politics

Cannabis farm ICE raid sparks chaos in California with one worker dead

<p>America’s trading partners, and the global trade system at large, are bracing for the Trump administration’s roll out of yet another series of tariff proposals set to begin August 1</p>
US politics

Trump’s aggressive tariff push and TACO spark global trade uncertainty

<p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio is overseeing seismic cuts to the department including reducing its workforce by more than 1,300 people, and gutting bureaus that promote democracy and combat human rights abuses</p>
US politics

State Department prepares mass firings of 1,300 diplomats

<p>Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil is seeking $20 million in damages from the Trump administration, according to court records — or an apology and rescission of the government’s policy of targeting pro-Palestine student demonstrators.</p>
US politics

Mahmoud Khalil seeks $20m from Trump over ‘political retaliation’

<p>The Supreme Court said federal judges went too far issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, but opened the door for judges to take on class-action lawsuits that could effectively serve the same purpose</p>
US politics

Trump’s birthright citizenship order struck down despite Supreme Court

<p>Emails and text messages between Marco Rubio’s State Department and the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi reveal discussions around Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s fate.</p>
US politics

Explosive whistleblower emails reveal Trump plans for Abrego Garcia

<p>The Trump administration wants to hire 10,000 new ICE agents, more than doubling the current number of deportation officers</p>
US politics

Trump’s ICE hiring spree will be difficult and dangerous, experts say

<p>The Supreme Court said federal judges went too far issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, but opened the door for judges to take on class-action lawsuits that could effectively serve the same purpose</p>
US politics

Trump’s birthright citizenship order struck down despite Supreme Court

<p>Emails and text messages between Marco Rubio’s State Department and the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi reveal discussions around Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s fate.</p>
US politics

Explosive whistleblower emails reveal Trump plans for Abrego Garcia

<p>The Trump administration wants to hire 10,000 new ICE agents, more than doubling the current number of deportation officers</p>
US politics

Trump’s ICE hiring spree will be difficult and dangerous, experts say

<p>San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas issued a rare decree excusing Catholic worshippers from Mass over fears of ICE raids in places of worship, which he says pose a ‘grave inconvenience.’</p>
US politics

Major Catholic diocese says parishioners can skip mass over ICE fears

US politics

Major Catholic diocese says parishioners can skip mass over ICE fears

<p>San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas issued a rare decree excusing Catholic worshippers from Mass over fears of ICE raids in places of worship, which he says pose a ‘grave inconvenience.’</p>
<p>Trump administration officials reportedly held parallel negotiations for a prisoner exchange with Venezuela, where several Americans are detained. Venezuelans, meanwhile, are demanding the release of U.S. deportees who were sent to a brutal jail in El Salvador.</p>
US politics

How Trump team used migrants as bargaining chip for failed prison swap

<p>Donald Trump suggested the White House has ‘tremendous power’ to ‘run’ New York City and Washington, D.C.</p>
US politics

Trump suggests taking over DC and running NYC if Mamdani elected

<p>El Salvador told the United Nations that migrants deported to that country’s brutal prison are the ‘legal responsibility’ of the United States, despite arguments from the Trump administration stating the opposite</p>
US politics

El Salvador says migrants in notorious jail are Trump’s problem

<p>Faith leaders join Donald Trump at a National Day of Prayer Event. After repeatedly pledging to repeal decades-old tax law that prevents churches from politicking, the IRS said on July 7 it would allow houses of worship to endorse candidates</p>
US politics

Churches can now endorse political candidates, Trump’s IRS says

<p>Faith leaders join Donald Trump at a National Day of Prayer Event. After repeatedly pledging to repeal decades-old tax law that prevents churches from politicking, the IRS said on July 7 it would allow houses of worship to endorse candidates</p>
US politics

Churches can now endorse political candidates, Trump’s IRS says

<p>Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s supporters rally on July 7 outside a federal courthouse in Maryland, where a judge ordered Trump administration officials to testify in court about plans for the wrongly deported Salvadoran immigrant</p>
US politics

Judge hauls Trump team to court over plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia

<p>There have been over 70,000 expressions of interest for the ‘Trump Card’</p>
News

The problem with Trump’s $5m ‘gold card’ visa

<p>Donald Trump unveiled a prototype for his ‘Trump card’ that fast tracks legal status for wealthy immigrants in April. Legal experts say it’s likely illegal without any action from Congress</p>
US politics

Trump promised $5m ‘gold card’ visas. They’re not likely to happen

<p>Ward Sakeik was released from ICE detention after nearly five months after her arrest moments after the newlywed returned from her honeymoon</p>
US politics

ICE arrested a Palestinian newlywed. Five months later, she’s free

<p>Food banks across the country are sending out warnings that they cannot sustain support for the anticipated wave of new visitors impacted by Republican-led cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program </p>
US politics

Food pantries brace for Trump’s megabill: ‘People are going to suffer’

<p>The husband of an Iranian national detained by ICE says the Trump-supporting family will continue to back the president despite her potential deportation</p>
US politics

Husband still backs Trump despite ICE detaining his Iranian wife

<p>Bloomfield High School transgender athlete Terry Miller, second from left, wins the final of the 55-meter dash over transgender athlete Andraya Yearwood, far left, and other runners in the Connecticut girls Class S indoor track meet at Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut in 2019</p>
US politics

Supreme Court takes blockbuster case on trans student athletes

<p>Kilmar Abrego Garcia says he was subject to torture and abuse during a nearly month-long imprisonment inside El Salvador’s CECOT after he was mistakenly deported from the United States in March</p>
US politics

New legal filing details graphic ‘torture’ of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

<p>Donald Trump’s straining business empire doubled down on new ventures and foreign deals as he stared down criminal indictments and blockbuster financial judgments, The New York Times found</p>
US politics

How Trump’s election bankrolled his struggling business empire

<p>ICEBlock, an anonymous crowd-sourced app lets users report ICE sightings, rocketed to the top of the App Store after coverage on CNN</p>
US politics

ICEBlock app lets users report immigration agents in their communities

<p>The Justice Department is commanding prosecutors to ‘prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings’ as Trump seeks to ramp up immigrant removals from the United States</p>
US politics

Can Trump’s Justice Department strip citizenship from Americans?

US politics

Can Trump’s Justice Department strip citizenship from Americans?

<p>The Justice Department is commanding prosecutors to ‘prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings’ as Trump seeks to ramp up immigrant removals from the United States</p>
<p>ICE officials intend to re-arrest and deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he is released from pretrial detention on allegations of human smuggling</p>
US Crime News

Star witness against Abrego Garcia won’t be deported, records show

<p>Olga Urbina, left, and her 9-month-old son Ares Webster join demonstrations outside the Supreme Court on May 14 as justices grill the Trump administration over challenges to birthright citizenship</p>
US politics

Supreme Court hands Trump major victory in birthright citizenship case

<p></p>
US politics

Trump’s birthright case at SCOTUS could change presidential power

<p>President Donald Trump holds a rare White House briefing room press conference to tout victory after the U.S. Supreme Court reined in the power of federal judges to grant nationwide injunctions against presidential orders. The ruling Friday came in the High Court’s consideration of Trump's bid to limit birthright citizenship.</p>
US politics

Trump claims ‘GIANT WIN’ in ‘Birthright’ Supreme Court ruling

<p>President Donald Trump holds a rare White House briefing room press conference to tout victory after the U.S. Supreme Court reined in the power of federal judges to grant nationwide injunctions against presidential orders. The ruling Friday came in the High Court’s consideration of Trump's bid to limit birthright citizenship.</p>
US politics

Trump claims ‘GIANT WIN’ in ‘Birthright’ Supreme Court ruling

<p>Critics argue the ruling could potentially denying citizenship to over 150,000 newborns annually</p>
News

Supreme Court decision hands Trump citizenship powers victory

<p>A federal judge ruled the Salvadoran father, who was criminally accused of human smuggling, has a right to be released</p>
US politics

ICE plans to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, again, after release from custody

<p>Erica Vandal had expected to spend her whole career in the military, just like her father did</p>
US politics

She wanted to spend her career in the military but Trump banned her

<p>Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said his Democratic primary challenger Zohran Mamdani ‘deserved’ his election night victory </p>
US politics

Andrew Cuomo concedes to Zohran Mamdani in NYC mayoral race

<p>Roughly 155,000 people traveled out of state to seek an abortion in 2024, according to the Guttmacher Institute</p>
US politics

Out-of-state travel for abortions doubled after the end of Roe v Wade

<p>Emil Bove, a former Trump defence lawyer, has been nominated to serve on a federal appeals court</p>
US politics

Whistleblower says DOJ official considered telling judges ‘f*** you’

<p>The ruling enables rapid removal of individuals to countries like South Sudan</p>
News

Supreme Court greenlights Trump sending immigrants to war-torn nations

<p>Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem has led an effort to swiftly remove targeted immigrants out of the country, and a Supreme Court order on June 23 allows the administration to send certain immigrants to countries other than their own — opening the door for removals to nations such as South Sudan and Libya</p>
US politics

Trump can send deportees to Libya and South Sudan, Supreme Court says

<p>Al-Udeid US military air base, south of Doha, was the target of Iranian missiles </p>
Middle East

Iran launches missile strike on US bases in Qatar

<p>Donald Trump commanded oil companies to lower prices on June 23 after Iran’s parlimanet voted to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical choke point for the world’s oil supply</p>
US politics

Trump commands oil companies to keep prices down after Iran bombings

<p>Donald Trump has urged ‘everyone’ to keep oil prices down</p>
News

Trump warns oil companies against ‘playing into hands of the enemy’

News

Trump warns oil companies against ‘playing into hands of the enemy’

<p>Donald Trump has urged ‘everyone’ to keep oil prices down</p>
<p>Trump claims US assets ‘completely, totally obliterated’ thee nuclear sites in Iran, marking a major escalation of US intervention with Israel’s war that risks spilling out into a wider crisis</p>
US politics

What happens now that Trump has bombed Iran?

<p>New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Mahmoud Khalil on June 21 moments after his return to New York following three months in ICE detention</p>
US politics

AOC blasts Trump’s ‘illegal’ persecution of Mahmoud Khalil

<p>A federal judge in New Jersey ordered Mahmoud Khalil released from ICE detention on bail on June 20 more than three months after his arrest for his pro-Palestinian activism. He walked out of the facility hours later</p>
US politics

Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil released from ICE detention

<p>A conservative-leaning appeals court in Louisiana has blocked the state from enforcing a law mandating the Ten Commandments in every classroom, the first such law of its kind in the United States</p>
US politics

Louisiana blocked from mandating Ten Commandments in classrooms

<p>A conservative-leaning appeals court in Louisiana has blocked the state from enforcing a law mandating the Ten Commandments in every classroom, the first such law of its kind in the United States</p>
US politics

Louisiana blocked from mandating Ten Commandments in classrooms

<p>Donald Trump is asking for a special prosecutor to investigate his loss in the 2020 election, reviving long-standing and baseless grievances as his administration seeks to undermine his predecessor’s victory and actions in office</p>
US politics

Trump wants special prosecutor to investigate Biden’s 2020 election

<p>DeSantis is on track to oversee the executions of at least eight people within seven months, breaking a state record for most executions within a year</p>
US politics

Ron DeSantis on pace to break Florida’s death penalty record

<p>Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pointed to allegations of assassination threats against Donald Trump to urge the United States to join his campaign against Iran, while Israeli officials mull targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei</p>
US politics

Has Iran actually tried to kill Trump? What we know

<p>Demonstrators protest the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, which has seen more than 1 million legal immigrants ‘de-legalized’ through the president’s own policies, making them vulnerable for removal from the country</p>
US politics

How Trump’s deportation push created 1 million undocumented people

<p>The State Department is restarting interviews but applicants will be under heightened scrutiny</p>
News

Here’s what is being screened as Trump resumes student visa interviews

<p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio is directing embassies to review student visa applicants’ social media profiles following the Trump administration’s crackdown on dissent</p>
US politics

The State Department resumed student visa interviews. What’s changed?

Members of a parade perform during the 48th Annual Juneteenth Day Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Americas

What is Juneteenth and why is it a holiday?

<p>A proposed federal budget from the Trump administration would eliminate all funding for service to LGBT+ youth who call the 988 suicide hotline</p>
US politics

Trump wants to slash funding for suicide hotline for LGBT+ kids

<p>Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the Trump administration’s decision to return the names of former Confederate generals to U.S. military bases. The administration is keeping the previous names but instead naming them in honor of veterans with the same last names</p>
US politics

Hegseth says naming bases after Confederates is ‘important for morale’

<p>The Supreme Court on June 18 upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth after legal challenges over threats to their 14th Amendment rights. A decision opens the door for more states to implement similar bans</p>
US politics

Supreme Court upholds ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth

<p>New York City’s elected comptroller Brad Lander was arrested by federal agents in an immigration court in Manhattan on June 17</p>
US politics

NYC mayoral candidate Brad Lander arrested at immigration court

<p>Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is ‘alert and recovering’ in the hospital following an allergic reaction, according to an agency spokesperson</p>
US politics

Kristi Noem rushed to hospital after allergic reaction, DHS says

<p>Trump has commanded ICE to swarm Democratic-led cities as his plans for the ‘largest mass deportation operation’ in American history falls short of his goals to swiftly remove millions of people from the country</p>
US politics

Trump’s ‘largest deportation operation’ trails Obama’s — by a lot

<p>Donald Trump reportedly vetoed a plan from Israeli officials to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not directly dismiss reports but questioned ‘false’ reporting on discussions between the two countries</p>
US politics

Trump rejected Israeli plan to kill Iran’s supreme leader, reports say

<p>An image of Vance Boelter from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office following his arrest for the killings of a top Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband. He is also accused of shooting another state lawmaker and his wife more than a dozen times</p>
US Crime News

Vance Boelter arrested after shootings of Minnesota lawmakers

<p>Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil have condemned the Trump administration’s ‘cruel’ and ‘shocking’ tactics to keep him detained</p>
US politics

Judge denies Mahmoud Khalil’s release from ICE jail

<p>Donald Trump reportedly vetoed a plan from Israeli officials to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not directly dismiss reports but questioned ‘false’ reporting on discussions between the two countries</p>
US politics

Trump rejected Israeli plan to kill Iran’s supreme leader, reports say

<p>An image of Vance Boelter from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office following his arrest for the killings of a top Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband. He is also accused of shooting another state lawmaker and his wife more than a dozen times</p>
US Crime News

Vance Boelter arrested after shootings of Minnesota lawmakers

<p>Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil have condemned the Trump administration’s ‘cruel’ and ‘shocking’ tactics to keep him detained</p>
US politics

Judge denies Mahmoud Khalil’s release from ICE jail

<p>Jennifer Vasquez Sura told a crowd outside a Nashville courthouse on June 13 that her husband Kilmar Abrego Garcia ‘wants you to have faith’ as he faces federal criminal alleging a years-long human smuggling conspiracy</p>
US politics

Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to smuggling charges

<p>Donald Trump has deployed thousands of California National Guard members to Los Angeles</p>
US politics

Trump is now unrestrained after threatening to unleash troops in 2020

<p>Democratic California Senator Alex Padilla was removed from the room after interrupting a news conference with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.</p>
US politics

Alex Padilla forcibly removed after interrupting Kristi Noem’s presser

<p>More than 40 percent of the nation’s crop workers are undocumented, according to estimates from the Department of Agriculture</p>
US politics

Trump admits his anti-immigration agenda hurts farmers and hotels

<p>Lawyers for Donald Trump are asking a federal appeals court take his hush money case out of the hands of New York prosecutors and into federal jurisdiction</p>
US politics

Trump lawyer says Supreme Court would be ‘stunned’ by hush money case

<p>A frustrated Stephen Miller reportedly told ICE officials to indiscriminately target immigrants outside Home Depot and 7-11 to make up for arrest numbers that fell short of Trump’s demands</p>
US politics

Stephen Miller’s meeting with ICE was the spark for LA protests

<p>Trump pictured in court last May</p>
News

What will happen in Trump’s hush money court appeal?

<p>Trump — pictured with criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche, now the No. 2 official at the Justice Department — is seeking to move his hush money case to federal court, where prosecutors can make it disappear</p>
US politics

Trump’s hush money legal battle is headed to federal court

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