Trump suggests that migrants who ‘self-deport’ could eventually have a ‘path to coming back into the country’

Muhamad Yehia .. Cairo

The Trump administration on Monday asked a judge to toss out a lawsuit from three GOP-led states seeking to cut off telehealth access to the abortion medication mifepristone.

Justice Department attorneys stayed the legal course charted by Biden administration. But they didn’t weigh in on the underlying issue of access to the drug. Instead, the government argued that Missouri, Kansas and Idaho don’t have the legal right, or standing, to sue.

Trump asserted an unproven theory that the COVID-19 pandemic was caused by a lab leak moments before he signed the executive order. He said the order aims to stop “dangerous gain-of-function research,” defined as scientific research on an infectious agent or toxin by enhancing its ability to cause disease or making it more transmissible.

Scientists stress that “gain of function” does not always involve risky experiments; it can also cover general research.

Among other things, the order says it will end federal funding of this research by foreign entities in places such as China or other countries where there’s not adequate oversight to ensure they comply with U.S. policies and standards.

Moments before signing the order, Trump said the virus that causes COVID-19 “leaked out in my opinion,” from a lab in China, a theory the president has wholly embraced since coming back into the White House