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President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for landmark housing affordability legislation Wednesday, saying he wanted Republicans in Congress to pass a major election reform bill first.

A couple hours later, Trump arrived at Capital Hill for a previously scheduled lunch with Republican senators.

Addressing whether the SAVE America Act, a bill that affects voter registration laws, is more important than the housing bill, he said: “Every election is important. They want a lot of communists to come in.”

The housing bill, which passed the Senate and House of Representatives by large, bipartisan margins this week, was a significant – and rare – victory on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers and experts called it a sweeping "first step" in tackling the nation's housing crunch.

If Congress remains in session, the housing bill can become law without the president's signature 10 days after it was presented to him.

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A federal ⁠judge in California vacated the ⁠Trump administration’s ​nationwide policies expanding arrests at immigration courthouses and the duration for detaining noncitizens in short-term facilities, finding the actions of US Immigration ⁠and Customs Enforcement and another government arm “arbitrary and capricious”.

US district judge P Casey Pitts of the northern district of California on Tuesday vacated ICE’s ⁠policies that had rescinded previous strictures on arrests at immigration courthouses and allowed detainees to ​be held in short-term cells for up ‌to 72 hours. He ‌did the same for a similar policy undertaken by the US Department of Justice’s ‌executive office for immigration review that removed limits on courthouse arrests.

The 71-page ruling, issued in a case brought by an asylum seeker arrested upon departing a routine hearing at a San Francisco immigration court, struck down key parts of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. Judge Pitts, appointed by Joe Biden, in effect reinstated Biden-era policies ‌that limited arrests at immigration courthouses to narrow circumstances and capped detentions in short-term facilities to 12 hours.

SinceDonald Trump retook office ​in January of last year, his administration has ramped up arrests of immigrants suspected of being in the US illegally as part of an aggressive deportation push.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is riding the wave of his candidates challenging mainstream Democrats from the left, as all three of his congressional primary endorsements came up big.

Brad Lander was quickly projected as the winner against incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in the state's 10th Congressional District Democratic primary race. State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez was the primary winner in New York's 7th Congressional District Democratic primary against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Queens Councilwoman Julie Won.

And, a third Mamdani-backed candidate, Darializa Avila Chevalier, also won, defeating five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat for New York's 13th Congressional District, which makes up parts of Harlem, Washington Heights and The Bronx.

Mamdani's slate – a trio who favor abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and label Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide – has shown how the mayor's influence could impact the national political scene.

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The Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook faced more than $1.3m in legal and security fees after coming under attack from the Trump administration, according to ethics disclosures that were filed on Wednesday.

The White House targeted Cook last summer as Donald Trump ramped up his unprecedented campaign to push the Fed to cut interest rates.

Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency who is set to become acting US intelligence chief on Friday, accused Cook of mortgage fraud. On social media, Pulte accused Cook of misleading lenders by listing a second home as her primary residence, which would get her a better mortgage rate.

Cook was appointed by Joe Biden in 2022, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Her term is set to end in 2038.

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A California court has dismissed a lawsuit filed ⁠by Donald Trump’s administration against Los Angeles over a city ordinance limiting ⁠its cooperation with federal ⁠immigration ​authorities.

Fernando Olguin, a judge in the central California US district court rejected the administration’s argument that the city’s policy was unconstitutional. ⁠He gave the administration permission to file an amended complaint.

The White House did not ⁠immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on the ​decision on Monday.

Los Angeles ‌city attorney Hydee ‌Feldstein Soto said in a statement on Monday that ‌the ruling was a legal victory for the city, which saw a profusion of immigration raids by ICE and border patrol agents last summer.

“This order reinforces the well-established principle that local governments have the authority to decide how to use their personnel and resources,” Feldstein Soto said in a statement released on Monday.

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The Department of the Interior on Monday said five individuals were arrested in connection to reports of vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. 

“Five individuals have been arrested for vandalism. Five additional individuals were issued federal citations,” a department spokesperson told The Hill.

The spokesperson said a total of 14 police reports have been filed for vandalism, including the alleged crimes described in President Trump’s recent Truth Social posts.

“Of the MANY Statues and Fountains that we rebuilt, renovated, cleaned, and fixed, the only one that was Vandalized was the Reflecting Pool, which is being taken care of, ASAP,” Trump wrote in a Monday post.

“It has been given a 300 foot long gash, chemicals have been illegally placed in the water, and the beautiful new grass field has been destroyed with a gigantic 86 47 chemically carved into it (Probably inspired by Dirty Cop, James Comey!),” he added, referring to an image posted on social media by the former FBI director last year which led to the Justice Department prosecuting Comey for threatening the president.

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