National intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard said on Tuesday that she had stripped security clearances from 37 current and former national security officials, including some who worked on the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
In a memo posted on X, Gabbard accused the targeted individuals of having engaged in “politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards”.
This move is the latest in a series of retributions by the Trump administration against national security officials and political opponents he views as adversaries. In March, Trump revoked security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and several other Democrats and critics. The order also stripped access from former secretary of state Antony Blinken, former representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, New York attorney general Letitia James – who prosecuted Trump for fraud – and Biden’s entire family.
Here are the key Trump administration news of the day:
Trump rules out sending US troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees
Donald Trump has ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine to enforce a potential peace deal with Vladimir Putin, tempering a promise to provide Kyiv with security guarantees that European allies had called a significant breakthrough towards halting the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Asked during a phone interview with Fox News whether he could assure listeners – including many members of his Maga base who support an isolationist America-first foreign policy – that the US would not put troops on the ground in Ukraine, Trump said: “You have my assurance, and I’m president.”
DoJ investigates DC police over allegedly fudged crime statistics
Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Washington DC police systematically manipulated crime statistics to make the city appear safer than it actually is.
The probe, anonymous sources tell the Washington Post, NBC News and Fox News, being conducted by the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia under Jeanine Pirro, is the latest escalation between the Trump administration and DC officials over federal control of local policing.
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Teen detained by Ice while walking dog
A southern California community is calling for the release of a high school student whom US immigration agents arrested earlier this month while he was walking his dog.
Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz was supposed to be starting his senior year of high school at Reseda charter high school this month. But just days after his 18th birthday, masked Ice agents detained him as he walking his dog in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Van Nuys in what his family described as a kidnapping.
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Trump administration speechwriter linked to hate speech online
A speechwriter for the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has come under scrutiny after he was linked to hate speech online.
Eric Lendrum compared the circumstances of American conservatives to that of enslaved people and Jewish people in Nazi Germany, and in his podcast claimed that the racist great replacement conspiracy theory was “real”, the news outlet Notus reported.
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Republicans sue to block Newsom’s fast-track California redistricting plan
Republican state legislators in California filed suit on Tuesday to block a mid-year redistricting plan meant to counter Texas’s effort to redraw congressional district lines.
The emergency petition argues that the process being used in the California assembly violates laws requiring a 30-day period between the introduction of legislation and voting on it.
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Electricity bill rise 10% amid Trump tariffs and green energy rollbacks
Household electricity bills have increased by 10% since Donald Trump re-entered the White House, a new report has found, with its authors highlighting the impact of the president’s datacenter boosterism and cuts to clean energy projects as part of the cause.
The analysis comes as the US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said he knows rising energy prices could be a political challenge for the GOP ahead of next year’s midterm elections, but claimed Democrats were to blame for the cost increases.
What else happened today:
Catching up? Here’s what happened 18 August 2025.
