U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s latest ruling comes in response to an appeals court’s instruction to clarify an earlier decision on the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom planned for the site where it demolished the East Wing of the White House.

Trump on social media called Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, a “Trump Hating” judge who “has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn’t get built.”

Leon said that below-ground work on security measures is exempt from his order suspending above-ground construction. Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.

Leon’s latest ruling comes several days after a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit instructed him to reconsider the possible national security implications of stopping construction.

In his previous order, Leon barred above-ground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. The judge also ruled on March 31 that any construction work that’s necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House is exempt from the scope of the injunction. Leon said he reviewed material that the government privately submitted to him before concluding that halting construction wouldn’t jeopardize national security.

Leon had suspended his March 31 order for two weeks. He stayed his latest decision for another week, which gives the administration more time to seek Supreme Court review.

Leon said he is ordering a stop only to the above-ground construction of the planned ballroom, apart from any work needed to cover or secure that part of the project. Otherwise, the Trump administration is free to proceed with the construction of any excavations, bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities below the ballroom.

“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” the judge wrote. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”

On Saturday, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it didn’t have enough information to decide how much of the project can be suspended without jeopardizing the safety of the president, his family or the White House staff.

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A federal judge in San Diego sentenced Jinchao Wei, 25, to 200 months. A federal jury convicted Wei in August of six crimes, including espionage. He was paid more than $12,000 for the information he sold, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

Wei, an engineer for the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, was one of two California-based sailors charged on Aug. 3, 2023, with providing sensitive military information to China. The other, Wenheng Zhao, was sentenced to more than two years in 2024 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties.

U.S. officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, bringing criminal cases in recent years against Beijing intelligence operatives who have stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.

Wei was recruited via social media in 2022 by an intelligence officer who portrayed himself as a naval enthusiast working for the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, prosecutors said.

Evidence presented in court showed Wei told a friend that the person was “extremely suspicious” and that it was “quite obviously” espionage. Wei disregarded the friend’s advice to delete the contact and instead moved conversations with the intelligence officer to a different encrypted messaging app Wei believed was more secure, prosecutors said.

Over the course of 18 months, Wei sent the officer photos and videos of the Essex, advised him of the location of various Navy ships and told him about the Essex’s defensive weapons, prosecutors said.

Wei sold the intelligence officer 60 technical and operating manuals, including those for weapons control, aircraft and deck elevators. The manuals contained export control warnings and detailed the operations of multiple systems aboard the Essex and similar ships.

He was a petty officer second class, which is a enlisted sailor’s rank.

The Navy’s website says the Essex is equipped to transport and support a Marine Corps landing force of over 2,000 troops during an air and amphibious assault.

In a letter to the judge before sentencing, Wei apologized and said he shouldn’t have shared anything with the person who he had considered a friend. Wei said “introversion and loneliness” clouded his judgment.

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The restrictions China imposed on rare earths this year have been a key issue in the trade talks between Beijing and Washington. Trump responded angrily to China’s latest rules with a threat to impose an additional 100% tariff on all Chinese imports, but he has since dropped that demand as part of this agreement.

This week’s deal will delay the regulations that would have required foreign companies to get special approval to export items that contain even small traces of rare earths elements sourced from China even if those products were made elsewhere by foreign companies, but it doesn’t eliminate restrictions that were imposed in the spring after Trump imposed his tariffs.

These critical minerals are needed in a broad range of products, from jet engines, radar systems, electric vehicles and robots to consumer electronics including laptops and phones. China accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earths mining. It also controls roughly 90% of global rare earths processing.

Temporary relief

Neha Mukherjee, a rare earths analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said the one-year delay in China’s new rare earth export controls that were announced earlier this month provides some short-term relief that will allow exports to return to a more normal level, but it doesn’t change the broader strategic picture, and it’s important for America and its allies to continue investing in the industry.

“This move appears more tactical than structural, a pause to stabilize trade relations with the U.S. rather than a policy reversal,” Mukherjee said. “This is a temporary window for the U.S. and allies to accelerate diversification before controls likely return.”

The White House has made it a priority to revive and expand the domestic critical minerals industry while also seeking supplies of these elements from allies. The Pentagon agreed to invest $400 million in rare-earth producer MP Materials and promised to ensure every magnet made at its massive new plant is bought and set a minimum price for its neodymium and praseodymium products for a decade.

The West is making progress

Ian Lange, who is an economics professor who focuses on rare earths at the Colorado School of Mines, said he thinks the U.S. and its allies can make significant progress in a year’s time to lessen China’s dominance of the rare earths market.

There are a number of promising efforts already underway. Noveon will continue to produce rare earth magnets at its plant in Texas, and MP Materials and USA Rare Earth are both scheduled to begin producing magnets at their plants over the next year. And starting next year MP also plans to begin processing the heavy rare earths China had restricted in the spring at the only operating U.S. rare earths mine in Mountain Pass, California.

And Lange said that other efforts to recycle rare earths and begin producing them as byproducts at existing steel and zirconium mines may also start to pay off. The United States’ recent agreement with Australia will also help provide additional materials to counter China.

China has shown little sign of being willing to allow rare earth exports to defense contractors, which is concerning given the national security implications. But military demand for rare earths is relatively small, so America might be able to supply its needs by prioritizing rare earths from other sources for use in fighter jets, guided missiles and nuclear submarines.

Investing in the industry is a priority

Industry executives have said this needs to be the “Manhattan Project moment” for rare earths if the United States is ever to break China’s grip over them.

“We’re moving into overtime with China and they currently have the ball on our 10-yard line. Our best defensive move is to tie together our global refining and supply partnerships with allies and swiftly invest in innovation in the United States,” said Wade Senti, president of the U.S. permanent magnet company AML.

Noveon Magnetics CEO Scott Dunn said the details of “how China implements this suspension will matter greatly, and with the deal limited to one year, it’s clear the U.S. must use this window to strengthen domestic capabilities and reduce long-term exposure to geopolitical risk.”

Lange said he is optimistic overall because the United States isn’t starting from zero, and if these efforts continue at their current pace, America should be much better off in a year even if some of the things the government is investing in will take several years to become a reality.

“Because in a year, we don’t really care what they do. We’ve got an independent supply chain. At least I don’t think we’re too far from that,” Lange said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Friday sought to downplay sharp criticism levied against Israel by President Joe Biden and a senior national security official over how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has conducted Israel’s four-month-old war aimed at rooting out Hamas militants from Gaza.

Biden, speaking to reporters Thursday evening, called Israel’s military operations in Gaza “over the top” and said the suffering of innocent people has “got to stop.” While Biden has previously expressed concern about the mounting Palestinian civilian toll — more than 27,000 have been killed in Gaza since the conflict erupted — his direct criticism of the Israelis has been muted.

Then on Friday, the New York Times reported it had obtained a recording in which the president’s deputy principal national security adviser, Jon Finer, expressed a “lack of confidence” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government during a meeting with Arab American and Muslim community leaders this week. The White House National Security Council confirmed that Finer’s comments, as reported by the Times, were accurate.

An administration official told The Associated Press that Finer was speaking specifically about the Netanyahu government’s commitment to pursuing a two-state solution — one in which Israel would co-exist with an independent Palestinian state — once the war ends. Netanyahu throughout his political career has consistently opposed the creation of a Palestinian state.

“The President and Mr. Finer were reflecting on concerns we have had for some time and will continue to have as the Israeli operation proceeds, about the loss of Palestinian lives in this conflict and the need to reduce civilian harm,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “The President has made clear since the first days of this conflict that we share the aim of defeating Hamas, but that Israel must reduce, as much as possible, the impact of its operation on innocent civilians.”

Finer in the recording also spoke of “missteps” by the Biden administration and expressed regret that the administration may have left a “a very damaging impression” early in the war with its “wholly inadequate public accounting for how much the president, the administration and the country values the lives of Palestinians.”

The comments appear to reflect a growing frustration in the White House with the conflict that was sparked on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 others hostage. Earlier pauses in fighting led to release of mostly women and children taken by Hamas, but U.S. officials believe more than 100 remain in captivity.

Biden on Thursday said he hasn’t given up on a U.S.-Egypt-Qatar effort to get the two sides to agree to an extended pause in fighting to facilitate the release of the remaining hostages.

Hamas, however, has demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and end the war as part of a hostage deal. Netanyahu has refused to agree to those terms.

Biden said he still is hopeful that a deal can be worked out that might create a path to ending the war.

“I am pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage cease-fire,” Biden said. “I’ve been working tirelessly on this deal.”

Biden had dispatched Finer and other senior aides to Michigan on Thursday to meet with Arab American and Muslim community leaders as his administration has been looking to mend rifts with a key constituency in a 2024 battleground state.

Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Steven Benjamin, who directs the Office of Public Engagement, and Tom Perez, who leads the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, were among administration officials who took part in the Michigan visit.

Some of Biden’s campaign team have faced a tough reception from Michigan’s sizable Arab American and Muslim community.

Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, and other campaign aides went to suburban Detroit late last month, but found a number of community leaders unwilling to meet with them.

Other community activists have gone even further as they press their disapproval of the president’s handling of the war and have formed a group called “Abandon Biden,” a movement discouraging voters from supporting the president in November.

Michigan has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation and over 310,000 residents are of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. Nearly half of Dearborn’s roughly 110,000 residents claim Arab ancestry.

After Donald Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2016, Wayne County and its large Muslim communities helped Biden retake the state for the Democrats in 2020 by a roughly 154,000-vote margin. Biden enjoyed a roughly 3-to-1 advantage in Dearborn and 5-1 advantage in Hamtramck, and he won Wayne County by more than 330,000 votes.

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