By MIKE BALSAMO, SCOTT BAUER and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON, Associated Press

A claim by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that an immigrant threatened the life of President Donald Trump has begun to unravel.

Noem announced an arrest of a 54-year-old man who was living in the U.S. illegally, saying he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and would then return to Mexico. The story received a flood of media attention and was highlighted by the White House and Trump’s allies.

But investigators actually believe the man may have been framed so that he would get arrested and be deported from the U.S. before he got a chance to testify in a trial as a victim of assault, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Law enforcement officials believe the man, Ramon Morales Reyes, never wrote a letter that Noem and her department shared with a message written in light blue ink expressing anger over Trump’s deportations and threatening to shoot him in the head with a rifle at a rally. Noem also shared the letter on X along with a photo of Morales Reyes, and the White House also shared it on its social media accounts. The letter was mailed to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office along with the FBI and other agencies, the person said.

Cain Oulahan, Ramon Morales Reyes’ immigration attorney addresses the media Friday, May 30, 2025 in Milwaukee about the detention of his client Ramon Morales Reyes. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

As part of the investigation, officials had contacted Morales Reyes and asked for a handwriting sample and concluded his handwriting and the threatening letter didn’t match and that the threat was not credible, the person said. It’s not clear why Homeland Security officials still decided to send a release making that claim.

In an emailed statement asking for information about the letter and the new information about Morales Reyes, the Department of Homeland Security said “the investigation into the threat is ongoing. Over the course of the investigation, this individual was determined to be in the country illegally and that he had a criminal record. He will remain in custody.”

His attorneys said he was not facing current charges and they did not have any information about convictions in his record.

Kime Abduli, Ramon Morales Reyes’ attorney addresses the media Friday, May 30, 2025 in Milwaukee about the detention of her client Ramon Morales Reyes. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s records show Morales Reyes is being held at a county jail in Juneau, Wisconsin, northwest of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee-based immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera, which is advocating for his release, said he was arrested May 21. Attorney Cain Oulahan, who was hired to fight against his deportation, said he has a hearing in a Chicago immigration court next week and is hoping he is released on bond.

Morales Reyes had been a victim in a case of another man who is awaiting trial on assault charges in Wisconsin, the person familiar with the matter said. The trial is scheduled for July.

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Morales Reyes works as a dishwasher in Milwaukee, where he lives with his wife and three children. He had recently applied for a U visa, which is carved out for people in the country illegally who become victims of serious crimes, said attorney Kime Abduli, who filed that application.

The Milwaukee Police Department said it is investigating an identity theft and victim intimidation incident related to this matter and the county district attorney’s office said the investigation was ongoing. Milwaukee police said no one has been criminally charged at this time.

Abduli, Morales Reyes’ attorney, says he could not have written the letter, saying he did not receive formal education and can’t write in Spanish and doesn’t know how to speak English. She said it was not clear whether he was arrested because of the letters.

“There is really no way that it could be even remotely true,” Abduli said. “We’re asking for a clarification and a correction from DHS to clear Ramon’s name of anything having to do with this.”

NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — Former President Joe Biden delivered the first remarks since he announced he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer Friday, speaking in a steady voice during a somber Memorial Day gathering and later smiling and saying he’s “feeling good.”

Biden spoke at an annual gathering marking Memorial Day at Veterans Memorial Park in his home state of Delaware, not far from his home in Wilmington. The event coincided with the 10th anniversary of his son Beau’s death. It also comes amid renewed questions about Biden’s mental and physical health after the recent publication of a book about his fitness for office.

Speaking to reporters after the Memorial Day event, he said he was already undergoing treatment for cancer, which entailed taking a pill, he said.

“The expectation is we’re gonna be able to beat this,” he said. “I’m feeling good.”

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Biden dropped his reelection bid in July 2024 after a disastrous debate against Donald Trump, after which those in his party questioned whether he could continue as the party’s nominee. Questions about his decline and how the White House staff reacted to it are at the center of a recent book by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, which has renewed the debate.

Asked Friday if he had a response to recent questions about his mental and physical health, he smiled and engaged with the reporter.

“You can see I’m mentally incompetent and I can walk and I can beat the hell out of both of them,” he said.

In response to Democrats who question whether he should have initially run for reelection at all, he said: “Why didn’t they run against me then? Because I’d have beaten them.”

During his formal remarks, he called upon the group to remember the sacrifices of those lost in battle, whose echoes he said can still be heard.

He also spoke of his son, Beau, who died at 46 of brain cancer. A twice-elected state attorney general, Beau Biden was considering a run for governor, and his death deeply affected the elder Biden.

“This day is the 10th anniversary of the loss of my son Beau, who spent a year in Iraq, and, to be honest, it’s a hard day,” the former president said. “Being with all of you, quite frankly, makes things a little bit easier, it really does. So, thank you for allowing me to grieve with you.”

By JOSH BOAK and DIDI TANG, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he will no longer be “Mr. NICE GUY” with China on trade, declaring in a social media post that the country had broken an agreement with the United States.

Hours later, Trump said in the Oval Office that he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping and “hopefully we’ll work that out,” while still insisting China had violated the agreement.

What deal Trump was referring to was not clear. But the rhetoric was a sharp break from recent optimism when he lowered his 145% tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% for 90 days to allow for talks. China also reduced its taxes on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%.

“The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US,” Trump posted. “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”

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Trump said the tariff reduction had “quickly stabilized” the Chinese economy, though the decrease also brought a degree of relief to U.S. companies that said the previous rates had essentially blocked their ability to bring in Chinese goods and imperiled their businesses.

The comments reflect the tensions between the world’s two largest economies, as Trump is eager to show that his tariffs can deliver meaningful results in the form of U.S. factory jobs and increased domestic investment. The Trump administration also stepped up the clash with China in other ways this week, announcing that it would start revoking visas for Chinese students studying in the U.S.

Trump’s negotiating style has often toggled between extreme threats and grand claims of progress. His mercurial approach has taken the financial markets on a wild ride of sell-offs and rallies that have produced a general sense of uncertainty.

That has been compounded by a court ruling this week that Trump had overstepped his legal authority with broad “Liberation Day” tariffs in April as well as import taxes on China, Canada and Mexico tied to fentanyl smuggling earlier this year. A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed Trump to temporarily keep collecting the tariffs under an emergency powers law while he appeals the earlier decision.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Friday that the two sides “have maintained communication over their respective concerns in the economic and trade fields” since officials met in Geneva nearly three weeks ago.

But the embassy also said the Chinese government had “repeatedly raised concerns with the U.S. regarding its abuse of export control measures in the computer chip sector and other related practices.”

Both countries are in a race to develop advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, with Washington seeking to curb China’s access to the most advanced computer chips.

“China once again urges the U.S. to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva,” the embassy said.

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center, said, “I think the Chinese are playing hard to get with the trade talks.”

Lin Jian, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, on Friday accused the U.S. of overstretching the concept of national security by politicizing trade issues. He called the acts by the U.S. “malicious attempts to block and suppress China.”

“We firmly oppose that and will resolutely defend our legitimate rights and interests,” Lin said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Thursday interview on Fox News’ “Special Report” that talks with China had stalled.

Given the complexity and magnitude of the negotiations, “this is going to require both leaders to weigh in with each other,” Bessent said. “They have a very good relationship. And I am confident that the Chinese will come to the table when President Trump makes his preferences known.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday on CNBC that China has not removed non-tariff barriers as agreed.

“We haven’t seen the flow of some of those critical minerals as they were supposed to be doing,” Greer said.

China in December announced export bans to the U.S. of critical minerals including gallium, germanium and antimony. It announced more export controls on rare earth minerals in April, in response to Trump’s tariffs.

Citing concerns about “spot zoning,” the St. Paul Planning Commission has dealt a setback to a proposal to add more than 200 units of affordable, multi-family and artist housing at the Hamm’s Brewery campus in Dayton’s Bluff.

The city has worked closely with developer JB Vang on efforts to install affordable apartments between Payne Avenue and Seventh Street, on five city-owned acres of the long-underutilized brewery.

The effort have been opposed by brewpub owner Rob Clapp, who operates St. Paul Brewing and owns several other buildings on the same campus.

Clapp has said the new housing should be reconfigured as it would take up much of a shared parking lot he uses for his existing and nascent businesses. They include an industrial crafting shop, a distillery, a planned pop-up bar and a future cocktail tasting room.

Vote on zoning

On Friday, the Planning Commission debated rezoning five parcels of land, most of it currently zoned I2, or general industrial zoning, to H2, T3 and RM 2, which are residential, traditional neighborhood and medium-density family zoning, respectively. After an hour-long debate, they approved rezoning three of the parcels, but voted 9-2 against removing industrial zoning from existing brewery buildings at 680 and 694 Minnehaha Ave. East, as well as the shared parking lot.

Clapp, in his letters to the city, pointed out the proposed new T3 zone would be isolated from any other nearby T3-zoned parcel, creating an island of residential zoning with smaller islands of industrial zoning within it, and common driveways connecting them.

“In effect, the proposal will authorize a new kind of hybrid zoning where uses that the city has previously concluded are incompatible could exist within the same site,” said his attorney, Dan Hall, in a separate letter.

Hall pointed to the hypothetical possibility of a future crematorium, municipal incinerator, gun shop, shooting gallery, pawn shop, auto repair, or warehousing and storage that could “overlap with residential housing targeted specifically to families with young children.” Instead of pursuing rezoning, Clapp said a developer might seek a variance for adding an apartment building within an industrial zone, “so there are certainly other ways to advance,” he wrote.

A protracted debate

Minnesota courts have long frowned on “spot zoning,” or rezoning small, isolated plots of land within a larger area with incompatible zoning.

“This is pretty clearly spot zoning,” said Commissioner Richard Holst leading into the vote, noting the city should have done more to find common ground between what he deemed as two respected developers, or simply rezoned half the campus T3. “I’m looking at a map with three spots on them. We made the spots by going around them. … If this doesn’t look like spot zoning, I don’t know what does.”

The Planning Commission debated those arguments at length, noting one of the land parcels was already split-zoned between residential and industrial. Rezoning for that particular parcel was later approved.

“I think it’s complicated because we’re talking about so many individual parcels,” said Planning Commission Chair Kristine Grill. “I think it can look challenging on the map, but be practical in reality. That’s where I came down on voting in favor.”

Commissioner Nate Hood noted the commission’s zoning committee previously found the series of rezonings would not constitute spot zoning, given the mix of businesses and residences nearby. After debating both sides, he said he ultimately disagreed.

“You have two or three islands (of industrial use remaining) within the larger parcel,” Hood said, acknowledging that future development in “that long-range hypothetical could cause incompatible uses.”

Chris Hong, a city planner, said two district councils had recommended approving the rezoning, which supports the redevelopment vision laid out in neighborhood plans and the city’s overarching Comprehensive Plan. The city attorney’s office had found that the rezoning did not constitute spot zoning.

“The Comprehensive Plan has designated the site as an ‘Opportunity Site,’ which calls for higher density, mixed-use developments or employment centers,” said Hong, addressing the Planning Commission on Friday morning. “The rezoning would facilitate the development of these parcels, which have been vacant for nearly 30 years.”

The Planning Commission decision could yet be appealed to the St. Paul City Council.

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