Over 130,000 sign ‘Save Colbert’ petition ahead of NYC rally
Over 130,000 people, including politicians and former late night staff, have signed a “Save Colbert” show ahead of the petition’s delivery in a mass rally to CBS’s headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
According to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee which is behind the petition, tens of thousands of Paramount Plus subscribers have checked a box on the petition saying that they would unsubscribe.
“If CBS cares about their integrity, our democracy, and protecting free speech, they must heed our petition, reverse their decision, and keep Stephen Colbert on the air,” said Sydney Register, a PCCC spokesperson.
“It looks like political cowardice and corruption at a time when too many are pre-emptively caving to the anticipated abuse of power by a would-be dictator, and CBS employees are saying it will chill free speech in America,” Register added.
Key events
Joseph Gedeon
The state department is opening an investigation into Harvard University’s eligibility as a sponsor for the exchange visitor program, the latest in the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on the university over alleged failures to combat campus antisemitism and inadequate support of Israel.
The department announced the probe will examine whether Harvard maintains proper standards for hosting international students, professors, researchers and other exchange visitors. All program sponsors must demonstrate “transparency in reporting” and commitment to cultural exchange principles while ensuring their activities do not “undermine the foreign policy objectives or compromise the national security interests of the United States”, the agency said.
“The American people have the right to expect their universities to uphold national security, comply with the law, and provide safe environments for all students,” the state department said. “The investigation will ensure that State Department programs do not run contrary to our nation’s interests.”
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Over 130,000 sign ‘Save Colbert’ petition ahead of NYC rally
Over 130,000 people, including politicians and former late night staff, have signed a “Save Colbert” show ahead of the petition’s delivery in a mass rally to CBS’s headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
According to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee which is behind the petition, tens of thousands of Paramount Plus subscribers have checked a box on the petition saying that they would unsubscribe.
“If CBS cares about their integrity, our democracy, and protecting free speech, they must heed our petition, reverse their decision, and keep Stephen Colbert on the air,” said Sydney Register, a PCCC spokesperson.
“It looks like political cowardice and corruption at a time when too many are pre-emptively caving to the anticipated abuse of power by a would-be dictator, and CBS employees are saying it will chill free speech in America,” Register added.
Behind closed doors at a New York City federal building, people are confined after being seized by officers on their way out of immigration court on the 12th floor. This rare look inside a closely guarded space captures part of Donald Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown:
Trump administration asks tiny Pacific nation of Palau to accept migrants deported from US
Prianka Srinivasan
The Trump administration has requested that the small Pacific nation of Palau accept asylum seekers currently residing in the US, amid a wider push from the US to deport migrants to countries they are not from.
Palau, a country of about 18,000, is considering a draft agreement to resettle “third country nationals” from the US who “may seek protection and against return to their home country”. The draft agreement does not detail how many individuals may be sent to Palau, nor what the Pacific nation would receive in return.
“Both Parties shall take into account … requests by third country nationals for asylum, refugee protection, or equivalent temporary protection,” the draft agreement, seen by the Guardian, states. “The Government of the United States of America shall not transfer unaccompanied minors pursuant to this Agreement.”
A letter from Palau’s president Surangel Whipps Jr regarding the draft agreement and seen by the Guardian, makes clear the proposal is far from final and is subject to further discussion. It also states Palau would have “full discretion to decide whether or not to accept any individuals.”
The request to Palau marks the latest attempt by the Trump administration to remove migrants from within its borders. A supreme court ruling in June paved the way for the US government to remove migrants and transfer them to countries they are not from. Since then, the US has completed the transfer of migrants including South Sudan and Eswatini.
Trump advisers abandon effort to find new chief of staff to serve Pete Hegseth
Hugo Lowell
Donald Trump’s advisers have for now abandoned an effort to find a new chief of staff to serve the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, allowing senior adviser Ricky Buria, whom they once considered a liability, to continue performing the duties in an acting capacity, according to people familiar with the matter.
Buria is not expected to formally receive the White House’s approval to become the permanent chief of staff to Hegseth, a position that became vacant after the first chief of staff, Joe Kasper, left in the wake of major upheaval in the secretary’s front office earlier this year.
But the attempt by the Trump advisers to block Buria from getting the job has fizzled in recent months as the news cycle moved away from the controversies that dogged Hegseth at the start of Trump’s term and officials lost interest in managing personnel at the Pentagon, the people said.
As a result, Buria has become a regular presence in the West Wing for briefings in the situation room and with senior White House and administration officials, and secured his standing at the Pentagon, where he is widely referred to as “Chief Ricky”.
The developments are sure to also be a relief for Hegseth, who for months has been staring down the prospect of having his closest aide shunted aside because of concerns at the White House about a growing portrait of dysfunction in his front office.
White House officials may yet revisit installing a replacement for the chief of staff position, which plays a key role in managing Hegseth’s front office and setting the direction of the $1tn defense department that oversees more than 2 million troops around the world.
And it is uncertain if the extent to which senior White House and administration officials are now interacting with Buria is more because he is the only Hegseth aide empowered by the secretary to serve as his top staffer, rather than a vote of confidence by Trump’s advisers.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon referred reporting for this story to the White House. A spokesperson for the White House in a statement offered praise for Hegseth for “restoring readiness and lethality to our military and putting our warfighters first after four years of ineptitude and abject failure by the Biden administration”.
Dharna Noor
David Richardson, the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), on Wednesday faced accusations that he had mismanaged his agency’s recent deadly floods in Texas.
“This wasn’t just incompetence. It wasn’t just indifference. It was both,” representative Greg Stanton, a Democrat from Arizona, told Richardson at the House transportation and infrastructure committee hearing. “And that deadly combination likely cost lives.”
The hearing came after a slew of reports saying Richardson was nowhere to be found during the flood. Earlier, the acting director, who has no previous response in disaster management, reportedly said he was unaware that hurricane season exists in the US — something the White House later said was a “joke.”
Richardson denied any agency wrongdoing in the Texas floods. “What happened in Texas was an absolute tragedy,” he said.
He and other Trump officials are aiming to restore the agency to its original goals, he said, encouraging states to take on more financial and logistical responsibility for disasters.
“Fema has lost sight of its original intent,” he said. “Under the leadership of the president and the secretary we are returning to this mission focus moving forward.”
In response to this argument, representative Rick Larsen, ranking member of the House committee, came to the hearing armed with the Congressional Research Service’s list of the 518 actions which fema is mandated to follow.
“Currently, Fema doesn’t follow all these laws,” he said. In response, Richardson said the agency had done it “own mission analysis.”
“What we did, and I can commit to, is that we developed eight mission essential tasks that we have to do by statute,” he said.
Study after study shows that flooding like this summer’s in Texas is becoming more severe and more common amid the climate crisis. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat from Washington, DC, asked Richardson if he believes fossil fuels are the primary cause of the climate crisis, and if he thinks extreme weather is increasing.
Richardson was noncommittal in his answer. “What I believe is that we will address disasters regardless of their origin,” he said.
Nina Lakhani
Here is my colleague Nina Lakhani’s report on Zia, the Afghan wartime translator granted a US immigration visa after risking his life to help US troops who has been detained by masked Ice agents.
The case is the latest sign that the Trump administration is willing to flout legal agreements and promises to allies in pursuit of its unprecedented immigration crackdown, Nina writes.
Zia fled Afghanistan with his family after the Taliban takeover in 2021, and legally entered the US in October 2024 through JFK airport with humanitarian parole – and an approved special immigrant visa (SIV). This visa is a pathway to permanent residency, or a green card, for certain foreign nationals who have worked for the US government or military in specific capacities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Zia is the third known Afghan ally who helped US troops to have been seized by Ice since Trump returned to power, amid growing outrage at the administration’s actions.
More than 70,000 Afghans were granted permission to enter the US under Joe Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome” initiative, which followed the bungled America exit and subsequent Taliban takeover in 2021.
Some, like Zia, have a SIV and pathway to permanent residency, while about 12,000 or so have temporary protected status (TPS) – a type of work visa granted to people already in the US who cannot return to their home countries due to armed conflicts, natural disasters or other extraordinary events.
The Trump administration is seeking to terminate TPS status for multiple countries including Venezuela, Haiti and Afghanistan – despite ongoing unstable and dangerous conditions in those countries.
Top adviser to Netanyahu will meet US envoy amid spiraling Gaza starvation crisis
An official familiar with the negotiations has said today that US special envoy Steve Witkoff planned to head to Rome for talks with an Israeli official as the US tries to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, the Associated Press reports.
It comes as more than 100 aid agencies today issued a dire warning that “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza and urged Israel to let humanitarian aid into the besieged strip to alleviate the growing man-made crisis.
“Just outside Gaza, in warehouses – and even within Gaza itself – tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them,” the agencies wrote. “The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death.”
The statement quoted an aid worker in Gaza who said: “Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food.”
The letter comes as increasing numbers of people in Gaza have begun dying from lack of food, the result of a starvation crisis that aid groups warned for months was imminent. Israel continues to claim with no evidence that Hamas is stealing food.
Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed at least 59,000 Palestinian people, thousands of whom were children.
You can find our live coverage of the crisis here:
State department opens investigation into Harvard’s participation in exchange visitor program
The state department has opened an investigation into Harvard University’s eligibility as a sponsor in its exchange visitor program, secretary of state Marco Rubio has said in a statement.
“The investigation will ensure that State Department programs do not run contrary to our nation’s interests,” he said.
Donald Trump has reiterated his criticism of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell – who he said “just doesn’t get it” – amid his ongoing call for lower rates, and called on the central bank’s board to act.
“Our Rate should be three points lower than they are, saving us $1 Trillion per year (as a Country). This stubborn guy at the Fed just doesn’t get it — Never did, and never will. The Board should act, but they don’t have the Courage to do so!” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
Earlier, treasury secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg TV in an interview that the Trump administration was not in a rush to nominate a new Fed chair to replace Powell.
The president can’t fire the Fed chair, but he has recently been trying to find a legal workaround, accusing Powell of potentially lying to Congress about the $2.5bn renovations taking place at the Fed’s headquarters in Washington.
Powell has asked an inspector general to review the costs of the renovations, which were originally slated to cost $1.9bn but rose to $2.5bn due to “unforeseen conditions”, according to the Fed’s website.