WILL WEISSERT Associated Press

The president is a guest of Rolex despite imposing steep tariffs on the Swiss watchmaker's home country. NEW YORK — President Donald Trump was loudly booed at the men's final of the U.S. Open on Sunday, where extra security caused by his visit led to lines long enough that many people missed the start of play, even after organizers delayed it. Wearing a suit and long, red tie, Trump briefly emerged from his suite about 45 minutes before the match started and heard a mix of boos and cheers from an Arthur Ashe Stadium that was still mostly empty. No announcement proceeded his appearance, and it was brief enough that some in the crowd missed it. Trump appeared again to more boos before the National Anthem. Standing in salute, the president was shown briefly on the arena's big screens during the anthem, and offered a smirk that briefly made the boos louder. When the anthem was over, the Republican pointed to a small group of supporters seated nearby, then sat on the suite's balcony to watch the match intently. He mostly didn't applaud, even following major points that energized the rest of the crowd as Spain's Carlos Alcaraz bested Jannik Sinner of Italy. Trump was shown on the big screen again after the first set ended, and elicited a roar of louder boos and some piercing whistles. He raised his left fist in salute as the noise continued in the stadium, which with a capacity of 24,000 is one of the largest in tennis. The president later moved back inside the suite, where he was seen seated at a table with family members and appeared to be eating, but he was back in his seat shortly before match point. Cameras briefly flashed on Trump as Alcaraz celebrated, but his reaction to the conclusion was as muted as it had been throughout most of the match. This time, there was little crowd reaction, too. Organizers pushed the start of the match back half an hour to give people more time to pass through enhanced screening checkpoints reminiscent of security at airports. Still, thousands of increasingly frustrated fans remained in line outside as the match got underway. Many seats, especially those in upper rows, stayed empty for nearly an hour. The Secret Service issued a statement saying that protecting Trump “required a comprehensive effort” and noting that it “may have contributed to delays for attendees.” “We sincerely thank every fan for their patience and understanding,” it said. Trump attended the final as a guest of Rolex, despite imposing steep tariffs on the Swiss watchmaker's home country. The U.S. Tennis Association also tried to limit negative reaction to Trump's attendance being shown on ABC’s national telecast, saying in a statement before play began: "We regularly ask our broadcasters to refrain from showcasing off-court disruptions.” The reactions to Trump didn't ultimately constitute big disruptions, though. Going to the U.S. Open was the latest example of Trump having built the bulk of his second term’s domestic travel around attending major sports events rather than hitting the road to make policy announcements or address the kind of large rallies he so relished as a candidate. Since returning to the White House in January and prior to Sunday’s U.S Open swing, Trump has gone to the Super Bowl in New Orleans and the Daytona 500, as well as UFC fights in Miami and Newark, New Jersey, the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia and the FIFA Club World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Some of those crowds cheered him, but people booed him at other events. The president accepted Rolex’s invitation despite his administration imposing a whopping 39% tariff on Swiss products. That's more than 2 1/2 times higher than levies on European Union goods exported to the U.S. and nearly four times higher than on British exports to the U.S. The White House declined to comment on Trump accepting a corporate client's invitation at the tournament, but the president has had few qualms about blurring lines between political and foreign policy decisions and efforts to boost the profits of his family business. He's tirelessly promoted his cryptocurrency interests and luxury golf properties, and even announced that the U.S. will host the Group of 20 summit in December 2026 at his Doral golf resort in Florida. No large street protests against Trump could be seen from the tournament's main stadium on Sunday. But attendees also steered clear of wearing any of the the Republican's signature “Make America Great Again” caps. A 58-year-old tennis fan originally from Turin, Italy, came from her home in the Boston area to watch the final and said that when she bought a U.S. Open cap, she went with a fuchsia-hued one so it wouldn’t be mistaken for the signature darker color of MAGA hats. “I was careful not to get the red one,” said the fan, who declined to give her name because of her employer's rules about being publicly quoted. Among those attending with Trump were White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff. Trump spent various portions of the match engaged in conversation with many of those around him. Elsewhere in the crowd were a slew of celebrities — some of whom publicly backed then-Vice President Kamala Harris during last year's election. Among them were Pink, Bruce Springsteen and Shonda Rhimes. In pre-match interviews shown on large stadium screens with the likes of Martha Stewart and Jon Hamm, the questions asked stuck to tennis and pop culture — not Trump and politics. The president nonetheless was excited enough about his trip to tell reporters on Air Force One during the flight to New York when the plane flew over Ashe stadium — though the covered roof kept those inside from reacting. Trump was once a U.S. Open mainstay, but hadn't attended since he was booed at a quarterfinals match in September 2015, months after launching his first presidential campaign. The Trump Organization once controlled its own U.S. Open suite, which was adjacent to the stadium's television broadcasting booth, but suspended it in 2017, during the first year of Trump’s first term. The family business is now being run by Trump’s sons with their father back in the White House. Trump was born in Queens, home of the U.S. Open, and for decades was a New York-area real estate mogul and, later, a reality TV star. Attending the tournament before he was a politician, he usually sat in his company's suite’s balcony during night matches and was frequently shown on the arena’s video screens. Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.     

The president offered no details beyond the label “Chipocalypse Now,” a play on the title of Francis Ford Coppola's dystopian 1979 film set in the Vietnam War. WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — President Donald Trump on Saturday amplified his promises to send National Guard troops and immigration agents to Chicago by posting a parody image from “Apocalypse Now” featuring a ball of flames as helicopters zoom over the nation's third-largest city. “'I love the smell of deportations in the morning,'” Trump wrote on his social media site. “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.” The president offered no details beyond the label “Chipocalypse Now,” a play on the title of Francis Ford Coppola's dystopian 1979 film set in the Vietnam war, in which a character says: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” In response to the post, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called Trump a “wannabe dictator.” Trump on Friday signed an executive order seeking to rename the Defense Department the Department of War, after months of campaigning to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. The renaming requires congressional approval. The illustration in Trump's post shows him against a backdrop of the Chicago skyline, wearing a hat matching that of the movie's war-loving and amoral Lt. Col. Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall. Trump's weekend post follows his repeated threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democratic-led cities he's targeted for expanded federal enforcement. His administration is set to step up immigration enforcement in Chicago, as it did in Los Angeles, and deploy National Guard troops. In addition to sending troops to Los Angeles in June, Trump has deployed them since last month in Washington, as part of his unprecedented law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital. He's also suggested that Baltimore and New Orleans could get the same treatment, and on Friday even mentioned federal authorities possibly heading for Portland, Oregon, to “wipe ’em out,” meaning protesters. He could have been mistakenly describing video from demonstrations in that city years ago. Details about Trump's promised Chicago operation have been sparse, but there's already widespread opposition. City and state leaders have said they plan to sue the Trump administration. Pritzker, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, is also fiercely opposed to it. The president “is threatening to go to war with an American city,” Pritzker wrote on X over an image of Trump’s post. “This is not a joke. This is not normal.” He added: “Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.” Trump has suggested that he has nearly limitless powers when it comes to deploying the National Guard. At times he's even touched on questions about his being a dictator. “Most people are saying, ‘If you call him a dictator, if he stops crime, he can be whatever he wants’ — I am not a dictator, by the way,” Trump said last month. He added, “Not that I don’t have — I would — the right to do anything I want to do." “I’m the president of the United States," Trump said then. “If I think our country is in danger — and it is in danger in these cities — I can do it.” Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.     

The head of the National Capital Planning Commission says crews can start demolishing parts of the White House for a new ballroom without needing approval. WASHINGTON — Demolition to build President Donald Trump’s new ballroom off the East Wing of the White House can begin without approval of the commission tasked with vetting construction of federal buildings, the Trump-appointed head of the panel said Thursday. Will Scharf, who is also the White House staff secretary, said during a public meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission that the board does not have jurisdiction over demolition or site preparation work for buildings on federal property. “What we deal with is essentially construction, vertical build,” Scharf said. He called Trump’s promised ballroom “one of the most exciting construction projects in the modern history of” Washington. He made the comments during the only public meeting of the commission scheduled before crews are expected to break ground on a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom likely to greatly alter the look and size of both the White House's East and West Wings. The planning commission is responsible for approving construction work and major renovations to government buildings in the Washington area. But Scharf made a distinction between demolition work and rebuilding, saying the commission was only required to vet the latter. “I think any assertion that this commission should have been consulted earlier than it has been, or it will be, is simply false,” he said. Scharf said the White House hadn't yet submitted building plans for the White House renovations but when that happens, “I’m excited for us to play a role in the ballroom project when the time is appropriate for us to do so.” Asked after the meeting if the eventual approval process might delay work on the ballroom, Scharf said, “Demolition and site preparation work can certainly occur, but if you’re talking about actually building anything, then, yeah, it should go through our approval process.” “Given the president’s history as a builder, and given the plans that we’ve seen publicly I think this will be a tremendous addition to the White House complex, a sorely needed addition,” Scharf said. L. Preston Bryant Jr., who was appointed to chair the National Capital Planning Commission in 2009 by President Barack Obama and served in that role for nine years, said proposed projects typically worked in four major stages of commission approval that began “with an early consultation, where a project is very much conceptual.” That hasn't been the case with Trump's promised ballroom. “The White House and its design team would be very, very wise to involve NCPC and its staff very much on the front end of the project – in the early design stages – as it’ll make for a better project and help ensure it meets all regulatory and legal compliances,” Bryant said. “I cannot stress enough the value to be had at the conceptual and early consultation stages.” Trump has been anxious to hustle toward work beginning on the ballroom, with an eye toward completing it prior to his leaving office in January 2029. A building mogul before he was a reality TV star and politician, has relished personally overseeing improvement projects at the White House and walked last month on the building’s roof with construction officials. The ballroom will be the latest change introduced to what’s known as “The People’s House” since Trump returned to office in January, and the first structural change to the Executive Mansion itself since the Truman Balcony was added in 1948. Trump already has substantially redecorated the Oval Office through the addition of golden flourishes and cherubs, presidential portraits and other items, and installed massive flagpoles on the north and south lawns to fly the American flag. The lawn in the Rose Garden was paved over with stone and patio tables reminiscent of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, complete with exterior speakers. Scharf also used the meeting to argue that the Federal Reserve had flouted planning board jurisdiction while undertaking major renovations to its building. Trump has for months called on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to resign, and has specifically decried the long-planned building project for going well over budget. The Fed has posted on its website that the designs for the original improvement plans to its building were previously approved by the planning commission, and that it “does not regard” subsequent changes made to the original plan as being major enough to warrant “further review.” But Scharf said he’d be sending a letter to the Fed “noting my severe concerns” and accusing the central bank of arguing it essentially had the right to do “whatever the heck it wants on its property. They could build an amusement park on their property and no one would have any qualms.” A Fed spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday. Scharf said after the meeting of Fed officials, “I'm hopeful that they'll see the light of day and come back in and re-present their construction project as they should have up front.” Slide 1 of 4 PreviousNext National Capital Planning Commission Chairman Will Scharf presides over a National Capital Planning Commission meeting, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.) DateSep 4, 2025 2:01 PMHeadlineTrump BallroomSourceFR172078Restrictions Eds: UPDATES: Adds comment from former past commissioner. Adds additional Scharf quote, background. Use information Use of this content is for editorial purposes only. For inquiries regarding non-editorial uses,  Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.