Trump threatens 25% tariff on any country that buys Venezuelan oil
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will impose a 25% tariff on all imports from any country that purchases oil from Venezuela.
unbranded – Newsworthy
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that looks to force sweeping changes on how elections are conducted across the nation including establishing new voter identification requirements to prove U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections.
The order, which is expected to face challenges in court by voting rights groups, comes as Trump continues to push baseless claims of voter fraud to argue the 2020 election was stolen from him despite his victory in the 2024 election.
Federal voter registration forms will require applicants to provide either a U.S. passport, a REAL ID driver’s license or state-issued card compliant with REAL standards, or a “valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification.”
The decree threatens to withhold federal election-related funds from states that do not require voter identification to prove U.S. citizenship to vote.
Non-U.S. citizens are already not allowed to vote in federal elections.
The directive also takes aim at mail-in voting ‒ a practice Trump has long criticized ‒ by instructing his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to “take all necessary steps” to ensure states don’t count absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day.
“This country is so sick because of the the fake elections and the bad elections, and we’re going to straighten it out one way or the other,” Trump said before signing the order. “It’s an honor to sign this one.”
Trump ordered Bondi to enter into “information-sharing agreements” with state election officials to target individuals who have committed election fraud, registered to vote despite being ineligible, provided false information on voter registration forms and intimidated or threatened election officials or voters.
The order also updates federal elections standards for voting systems by requiring all ballots produce a voter-verifiable paper record to prevent fraud or mistakes.
“We believe that this executive order is the farthest-reaching executive action taken in the history of the Republic to secure our elections,” Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, said to Trump after handing him the order to sign.
Voting-rights groups warn that voter ID requirements, long championed by Republicans, can make it harder for seniors, minorities, low-income and students to vote.
Thirty-six states currently require voters to provide some form of identification at the polls to vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislations, while 14 states, mostly controlled by Democrats, and the District of Columbia do not have such restrictions.
“This executive order, if it could survive the inevitable judicial challenge, would severely shift power over federal elections into the hands of the Presidency,” wrote UCLA law professor Rick Hasen on Election Law Blog. “This would prevent only a tiny amount of noncitizen voter registration but stop millions of eligible voters, who do not have easy access to documents such as passports from registering to vote.”
With his signature, Trump also revoked former President Joe Biden’s “Promoting Access to Voting” 2021 executive order, which had instructed federal agencies to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and obtain information about the electoral process.
Scharf said the Biden-era order “essentially weaponized government to corrupt and pollute our election process.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.