Donald Trump

Common Dreams - Despite a federal court ruling last week, journalists with the Associated Press were blocked from reporting on several White House events on Monday, leading to fresh accusations that President Donald Trump is openly violating court orders as well as core constitutional protections, in this case freedom of speech and the press.

"Our journalists were blocked from the Oval Office today," said Lauren Easton, an AP spokesperson, following a press event with Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. "We expect the White House to restore AP's participation in the pool as of today, as provided in the injunction order."

A pair of AP photographers were later allowed to attend an event on the South Lawn, but a print journalist was barred from entry.

CNN -  President Donald Trump wants to be able to deport US citizens and imprison them abroad. “If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem,” Trump said on Monday during an Oval Office meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, adding that Attorney General Pam Bondi was studying the laws “right now.” Trump also urged Bukele to build more mega-prisons, like the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), where deportees are kept in communal cells holding up to 100 men each for 23½ hours a day. El Salvador has already offered Trump the option to house deportees of any nationality for a fee. Although the president is keen to accept such an offer, it would likely face significant legal pushback. “The US is absolutely prohibited from deporting US citizens, whether they are incarcerated or not,” Leti Volpp, a law professor at UC Berkeley, told CNN in February.