News briefs

Tribune News Service on Oct 21, 2025

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Trump’s East Wing destruction echoes his tactics at Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has begun demolition of the East Wing as he remakes the White House in his image, ignoring rules, breaking promises and taking a wrecking ball to the approval process in an echo of the strategies he deployed in Florida and New York as he built his real estate empire.

An excavator ripped off the facade and parts of the roof on Monday, exposing the stone shell below. Windows have been removed. A truck carried trees outside the White House gates and down Pennsylvania Avenue. A crowd gathered outside to witness the partial tear-down of the historic building — which Trump said just weeks ago would not be touched in his plans to build a new ballroom.

“Over the next few days, it’s going to be demolished,” Trump said at a White House dinner last week for donors to the 90,000-square-foot structure estimated to cost between $200 million and $250 million.

“Everything out there is coming down, and we’re replacing it with one of the most beautiful ballrooms that you’ve ever seen.” He described the forthcoming structure as “four sides of beautiful glass.”

—Miami Herald

White House’s Karoline Leavitt taunts reporter with ‘your mom’ text

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a HuffPost reporter’s question with a sophomoric insult, then celebrated the exchange on social media.

The private text message conversation seemed to begin when journalist S.V. Dáte asked Leavitt if President Trump was aware that Budapest — the city being considered to host a meeting between the U.S. and Russian leader Vladimir Putin — was where Russia once promised peace with Ukraine if the country retired its nuclear arsenal.

“Who suggested Budapest?” Dáte inquired, according to a screenshot of the texts shared online Monday night. “Your mom did,” the 28-year-old White House representative replied.

She proceeded to attack Dáte when he asked if she thought the matter was funny. “It’s funny to me that you actually consider yourself a journal (sic),” she said. Leavitt also claimed that no one takes Dáte seriously, including his fellow reporters.

—New York Daily News

Federal judge declines to block Northwestern from disciplining students boycotting antibias training

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Chicago declined to issue a temporary restraining order to a group of Northwestern University graduate students Monday, who are boycotting the school’s controversial antibias training video on antisemitism.

Two graduate students and the campus organization Northwestern Graduate Workers for Palestine are seeking class-action status in a lawsuit filed against Northwestern last week. They allege that a required section of the university’s training module on antisemitism discriminates against Palestinian and Arab students.

Those who refuse to complete the online training are unable to enroll in fall classes, jeopardizing their student status. For some students, the final deadline for course registration was midnight Monday — leading the plaintiffs to ask for injunctive relief.

In a hearing at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, District Judge Georgia N. Alexakis acknowledged that losing their student status would cause the graduate workers “irreparable harm.” But she said that their attorneys hadn’t proven that Northwestern had a discriminatory motive in mandating the training.

—Chicago Tribune

Europe and Ukraine prepare 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war

LONDON — European nations are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war along current battle lines, pushing back against Vladimir Putin’s renewed demands to the U.S. for Kyiv to surrender territory in return for a peace deal.

A peace board chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump would oversee implementation of the proposed plan, according to people familiar with the matter.

Once Russia follows Ukraine in agreeing to a ceasefire and both sides commit to halting territorial advances, the proposals envisage the return of all deported children to Ukraine and exchanges of prisoners. Ukraine would receive security guarantees, funds to repair war damage and a pathway to rapidly join the European Union.

Sanctions on Russia would gradually be lifted, though some $300 billion in frozen central bank reserves would only be returned once Moscow agrees to contribute toward Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction. The restrictions would snap back if Russia attacked its neighbor again.

—Bloomberg News