Wednesday, September 30th

What happened

Former special counsel Jack Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his investigations, which led to two federal indictments against Donald Trump. The hearing centered on subpoenas for phone toll records, which show call routing and timing, and other communications involving lawmakers and Trump allies during the Jan. 6 and election-interference probes. In prepared remarks, Smith said threats of prosecution would not silence him, defended the charges, and said the evidence showed Trump committed serious crimes. Republicans accused him of partisan abuse, while Smith and defenders said the subpoenas were routine tools needed to map the alleged conspiracy. Chair Chuck Grassley said Smith’s team obtained records involving 44 members of Congress. The Republican scrutiny is continuing, while Democrats say Smith had long offered to testify.

What happened

The Trump administration launched America.gov, an AI-powered federal website meant to be one front door for government information and services. Trump signed an executive order telling federal agencies to connect their public-facing services to the portal. The administration says the site is meant to replace a maze of roughly 29,000 federal websites with one searchable interface. Joe Gebbia, the administration’s chief design officer and Airbnb co-founder, called it a concierge-like digital home for government. Trump said it would make help faster and easier. Officials said basic use needs no login and stores no personal data. The White House says full online transactions will come later in 2027.

What happened

The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to keep deporting migrants to countries other than their homelands while the policy is challenged. Lower courts had required officials to give deportees notice and a real chance to argue that a destination country could expose them to persecution or torture. The administration said the removals are lawful and critical when home countries will not take people back. Immigrant-rights lawyers said the policy denies due process and can send people into persecution, torture, detention, or other serious harm. The unsigned order gave no reasoning, and the court’s three liberal justices dissented. The court will hear full arguments in December.