Washington
Appellate judges question Trump’s authority to impose tariffs without Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — Appellate court judges expressed broad skepticism Thursday over President Donald Trump’s legal rationale for his most expansive round of tariffs.
Members of the 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington appeared unconvinced by the Trump administration’s insistence that the president could impose tariffs without congressional approval, and it hammered its invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to do so.
“IEEPA doesn’t even mention the word ‘tariffs’ anywhere,” Circuit Judge Jimmie Reyna said, in a sign of the panel’s incredulity to a government attorney’s arguments.
Brett Schumate, the attorney representing the Trump administration, acknowledged in the 99-minute hearing “no president has ever read IEEPA this way” but contended it was nonetheless lawful.
The 1977 law, signed by President Jimmy Carter, allows the president to seize assets and block transactions during a national emergency. It was first used during the Iran hostage crisis and has since been invoked for a range of global unrest, from the 9/11 attacks to the Syrian civil war.
Trump says the country’s trade deficit is so serious that it likewise qualifies for the law’s protection.
In sharp exchanges with Schumate, appellate judges questioned that contention, asking whether the law extended to tariffs at all and, if so, whether the levies matched the threat the administration identified.
“If the president says there’s a problem with our military readiness,” Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore posited, “and he puts a 20% tax on coffee, that doesn’t seem to necessarily deal with (it).”
Schumate said Congress’ passage of IEEPA gave the president “broad and flexible” power to respond to an emergency, but that “the president is not asking for unbounded authority.”
But an attorney for the plaintiffs, Neal Katyal, characterized Trump’s maneuver as a “breathtaking” power grab that amounted to saying “the president can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, for as long as he wants so long as he declares an emergency.”
No ruling was issued from the bench. Regardless of what decision the judges’ deliberations bring, the case is widely expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
In filings in the case, the Trump administration insists that “a national emergency exists” necessitating its trade policy. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized federal court in New York, was unconvinced however, ruling in May that Trump exceeded his powers.
The issue now rests with the appeals judges.
The challenge strikes at just one batch of import taxes from an administration that has unleashed a bevy of them and could be poised to unveil more on Friday.
The case centers on Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs of April 2 that imposed new levies on nearly every country. But it doesn’t cover other tariffs, including those on foreign steel, aluminum and autos, nor ones imposed on China during Trump’s first term, and continued by President Joe Biden.
The case is one of at least seven lawsuits charging that Trump overstepped his authority through the use of tariffs on other nations. The plaintiffs include 12 U.S. states and five businesses, including a wine importer, a company selling pipes and plumbing goods, and a maker of fishing gear.
The U.S. Constitution gives the Congress the authority to impose taxes — including tariffs — but lawmakers have gradually ceded power over trade policy to the White House.
Trump has made the most of the power vacuum, raising the average U.S. tariff to more than 18%, the highest rate since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.
New York
Woman who duped investors, funneled money to 2017 Trump fundraiser pleads guilty
A New York businesswoman has pleaded guilty in connection with a financial scheme that ripped off more than $30 million from foreign investors and funneled some of the stolen money into U.S. political campaigns, including a 2017 fundraiser for President Donald Trump during his first term.
Sherry Xue Li, 48, of Oyster Bay, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court on Long Island to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s administration of campaign finance laws. She faces up to 20 years in prison and is set to be sentenced on Dec. 5.
Her lawyer, Kevin Keating, declined to comment on the plea and the charges Wednesday. She has been detained since her arrest in 2022.
Li’s co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, pleaded guilty to similar charges in March 2024 and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Prosecutors say the scheme went on for nearly a decade. Li and Wang coaxed investors, many of whom were from China, into contributing $500,000 each to a fictitious development project, with a false promise to guarantee them lawful permanent resident status in the U.S., authorities said. They used millions of dollars from those investments for personal expenses, including clothing, jewelry, housing, vacation travel and upscale dining, officials said.
Li and Wang also sold investors access to U.S. politicians at fundraisers and used the proceeds to illegally contribute millions of dollars to U.S. political campaigns and committees. The campaigns and committees were unaware of the scheme, and no allegations of criminal wrongdoing were lodged against them, prosecutors said.
On June 28, 2017, Trump attended a fundraiser for his 2020 reelection bid at his hotel in Washington. Prosecutors said Li and Wang charged each of the 12 foreign nationals $93,000 for admission to the event, then used the funds to make illegal contributions in their names totaling $600,000 to the fundraising committee hosting the event.
Li took a photograph with Trump and his wife, Melania, at the event and would later use it to solicit donations to the fake development project, prosecutors said.
Other investors or prospects also received brochures featuring Li or Wang with Trump and other politicians, including Democratic then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, prosecutors said.
Li and Wang, who are naturalized U.S. citizens, also contributed millions of dollars to other federal, state and local campaigns, which were not identified by authorities.
“Li defrauded more than 150 victims in the United States and abroad through years of lies and deception and sought to profit by selling access to the democratic process,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “In doing so, she attempted to corrupt a fundamental institution in this country — fair and transparent elections free from unlawful foreign influence.”
As part of her plea agreement, Li agreed to forfeit $31.5 million and three properties.
Appellate judges question Trump’s authority to impose tariffs without Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — Appellate court judges expressed broad skepticism Thursday over President Donald Trump’s legal rationale for his most expansive round of tariffs.
Members of the 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington appeared unconvinced by the Trump administration’s insistence that the president could impose tariffs without congressional approval, and it hammered its invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to do so.
“IEEPA doesn’t even mention the word ‘tariffs’ anywhere,” Circuit Judge Jimmie Reyna said, in a sign of the panel’s incredulity to a government attorney’s arguments.
Brett Schumate, the attorney representing the Trump administration, acknowledged in the 99-minute hearing “no president has ever read IEEPA this way” but contended it was nonetheless lawful.
The 1977 law, signed by President Jimmy Carter, allows the president to seize assets and block transactions during a national emergency. It was first used during the Iran hostage crisis and has since been invoked for a range of global unrest, from the 9/11 attacks to the Syrian civil war.
Trump says the country’s trade deficit is so serious that it likewise qualifies for the law’s protection.
In sharp exchanges with Schumate, appellate judges questioned that contention, asking whether the law extended to tariffs at all and, if so, whether the levies matched the threat the administration identified.
“If the president says there’s a problem with our military readiness,” Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore posited, “and he puts a 20% tax on coffee, that doesn’t seem to necessarily deal with (it).”
Schumate said Congress’ passage of IEEPA gave the president “broad and flexible” power to respond to an emergency, but that “the president is not asking for unbounded authority.”
But an attorney for the plaintiffs, Neal Katyal, characterized Trump’s maneuver as a “breathtaking” power grab that amounted to saying “the president can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, for as long as he wants so long as he declares an emergency.”
No ruling was issued from the bench. Regardless of what decision the judges’ deliberations bring, the case is widely expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
In filings in the case, the Trump administration insists that “a national emergency exists” necessitating its trade policy. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized federal court in New York, was unconvinced however, ruling in May that Trump exceeded his powers.
The issue now rests with the appeals judges.
The challenge strikes at just one batch of import taxes from an administration that has unleashed a bevy of them and could be poised to unveil more on Friday.
The case centers on Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs of April 2 that imposed new levies on nearly every country. But it doesn’t cover other tariffs, including those on foreign steel, aluminum and autos, nor ones imposed on China during Trump’s first term, and continued by President Joe Biden.
The case is one of at least seven lawsuits charging that Trump overstepped his authority through the use of tariffs on other nations. The plaintiffs include 12 U.S. states and five businesses, including a wine importer, a company selling pipes and plumbing goods, and a maker of fishing gear.
The U.S. Constitution gives the Congress the authority to impose taxes — including tariffs — but lawmakers have gradually ceded power over trade policy to the White House.
Trump has made the most of the power vacuum, raising the average U.S. tariff to more than 18%, the highest rate since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.
New York
Woman who duped investors, funneled money to 2017 Trump fundraiser pleads guilty
A New York businesswoman has pleaded guilty in connection with a financial scheme that ripped off more than $30 million from foreign investors and funneled some of the stolen money into U.S. political campaigns, including a 2017 fundraiser for President Donald Trump during his first term.
Sherry Xue Li, 48, of Oyster Bay, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court on Long Island to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s administration of campaign finance laws. She faces up to 20 years in prison and is set to be sentenced on Dec. 5.
Her lawyer, Kevin Keating, declined to comment on the plea and the charges Wednesday. She has been detained since her arrest in 2022.
Li’s co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, pleaded guilty to similar charges in March 2024 and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Prosecutors say the scheme went on for nearly a decade. Li and Wang coaxed investors, many of whom were from China, into contributing $500,000 each to a fictitious development project, with a false promise to guarantee them lawful permanent resident status in the U.S., authorities said. They used millions of dollars from those investments for personal expenses, including clothing, jewelry, housing, vacation travel and upscale dining, officials said.
Li and Wang also sold investors access to U.S. politicians at fundraisers and used the proceeds to illegally contribute millions of dollars to U.S. political campaigns and committees. The campaigns and committees were unaware of the scheme, and no allegations of criminal wrongdoing were lodged against them, prosecutors said.
On June 28, 2017, Trump attended a fundraiser for his 2020 reelection bid at his hotel in Washington. Prosecutors said Li and Wang charged each of the 12 foreign nationals $93,000 for admission to the event, then used the funds to make illegal contributions in their names totaling $600,000 to the fundraising committee hosting the event.
Li took a photograph with Trump and his wife, Melania, at the event and would later use it to solicit donations to the fake development project, prosecutors said.
Other investors or prospects also received brochures featuring Li or Wang with Trump and other politicians, including Democratic then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, prosecutors said.
Li and Wang, who are naturalized U.S. citizens, also contributed millions of dollars to other federal, state and local campaigns, which were not identified by authorities.
“Li defrauded more than 150 victims in the United States and abroad through years of lies and deception and sought to profit by selling access to the democratic process,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “In doing so, she attempted to corrupt a fundamental institution in this country — fair and transparent elections free from unlawful foreign influence.”
As part of her plea agreement, Li agreed to forfeit $31.5 million and three properties.
