President Donald Trump faced a rare defeat at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, cheered a major UK energy decision from his Truth Social account, and headed to South Carolina to campaign in a surprisingly tight Senate race — all while his administration rolled out a new push against overseas crypto scams.
A rare loss at the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's emergency request to immediately enforce a policy restricting gender-affirming medical and surgical care for transgender inmates in federal prisons. The brief order gave no explanation, as is customary for emergency applications, but conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly dissented. The ruling keeps a lower-court order blocking the policy in place while a class-action lawsuit by three transgender inmates plays out. It was a rare setback for an administration that has enjoyed a high success rate on emergency petitions since January 2025.
"FULL BLAST" on North Sea drilling
Trump welcomed the UK government's approval of the Jackdaw gas field — the biggest new British gasfield in nearly a decade, set to supply gas to homes within weeks — with a characteristic Truth Social post: "The U.K. has started drilling in the North Sea, one of the greatest and most prosperous areas of OIL in the World. They should go FULL BLAST!!!" He called the move "great news for the wealth and prosperity" of the UK and urged the government to "TAKE DOWN THE COSTLY AND RIDICULOUS WINDMILLS." The approval, which the UK says will add an estimated £2.9 billion to the economy, came amid a new UN climate report finding the globe will unavoidably overshoot the 1.5°C warming target within the next few years.
Rallying for Graham amid a Russia rift
Trump travels to South Carolina on Wednesday to boost Republican Darline Graham, who is running roughly even against Democrat Annie Andrews less than two weeks before the November 3 election. The visit comes at a complicated moment: Trump last week waived sanctions on Russia that her brother, the late Senator Lindsey Graham — one of Trump's closest allies — had championed. Darline Graham has said she disagrees with the president on the move, telling the Associated Press she does not trust Putin or Russia and would keep pressure on Moscow.
Crypto scam crackdown and trade talk
At a White House event on cybercrime, Trump was set to highlight the government's seizure of fraudulent crypto investment websites and efforts to stop online impersonation scams, with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Todd Blanche attending. The push comes as a Reuters investigation found the Trump family has added at least $2.3 billion to its fortune from crypto ventures while the investors they courted took a $2.3 billion hit. Separately, Trump said a US-India trade deal is "pretty close," with Ambassador Sergio Gor setting a target of more than doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion within three years.
Sources: Reuters, CNN, The Times, New York Post, Times Now.
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