President Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met for the first time in a highly anticipated encounter at the G20 conference in Germany. Trump and Putin discussed “various things” in a face-to-face meeting Friday that lasted nearly two hours longer than its scheduled 30 minutes. The President, speaking with reporters before the meeting, said there…
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow dropped a bombshell Thursday night that she called a strange story she and her research team combed through from the “inside out.” Talking about her tip website SendItToRachel.com, Maddow said that she was sent a document that was so classified that it could not be shown and is impossible to validate. She…
The FBI is investigating real-estate deals financed by Paul Manafort and his former son-in-law, The New York Times reports. Jeffrey Yohai, the ex-husband of Manafort’s daughter, and Manafort reportedly formed shell companies to buy luxury properties. Manafort, President Trump’s campaign manager who resigned amid reports of back-door financial transactions with Ukrainian and Russian clients, then…
Actor Johnny Depp joked Thursday about the potential assassination of President Donald Trump, asking a crowd at England’s Glastonbury Festival, “when was the last time an actor assassinated a president?” The crowd responded with cheers and some boos, but Depp quickly clarified: “I’m not an actor. I lie for a living.” Depp was referring to…
America’s top intelligence officials reportedly told Senate investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller’s team that President Trump asked them to publicly refute allegations of collusion between his 2016 campaign and the Russians, CNN reports. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers told investigators about their interactions with the president…
Senate leaders on Wednesday began circulating a discussion draft of their proposal to replace ObamaCare a day before its scheduled formal release. The working document seeks to roll back taxes and penalties in the Affordable Care Act, cut back its Medicaid expansion, change the Obama-era health law’s subsidies, and give states more flexibility to opt…
Russian government hackers allegedly targeted internet-connected election systems in 21 states last year, a Department of Homeland Security official testified on Wednesday. Samuel Liles, the department’s acting director of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis Cyber Division, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that none of the systems involved in the hacking were involved with counting…
WATCH THE LIVE ELECTION RESULTS HERE. Americans in Georgia’s 6th district and South Carolina’s 5th district go to the polls Tuesday to vote in concurrent special elections in traditionally Republican strongholds. “Stock up on coffee. Poised to be a very late night,” said a Republican involved in the tight Georgia race between Democrat Jon Ossoff…
FBI Director nominee Christopher Wray deleted a reference to his work on behalf of a client under investigation by Russia, his law firm told CNN. The detail was featured in Wray’s biography on King and Spalding’s website from 2009 to January 2017. Wray represented an unnamed “energy company president in a criminal investigation by Russian…
On Last week tonight with John Oliver he dedicated his main story to Trump’s empty promises to coal miners, with the comedian citing the New York City real-estate mogul’s ability to connect with the coal-mining community as “a key reason that we have this cautionary Bible story in the White House.” “But the point here…
Voting records for 198 million Americans were left exposed on an unsecured server owned by a Republican data analytics firm. The data from Deep Root Analytics includes information on possibly every registered U.S. voter for more than a decade, including profiling data suggesting the political leanings of each person. The server has since been secured.…
President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is headed to the Middle East this week, where he will attempt to secure a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, a White House official confirmed Sunday. He will be accompanied by Jason Greenblatt, an assistant to Trump and special representative for international negotiations. The…
President Donald Trump on Friday morning blamed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for firing FBI Director James Comey, which Trump said he is under investigation for doing. Trump, however, told NBC News after the firing that he already decided to fire Comey before Rosenstein wrote a memo criticizing Comey for his handling of the Hillary…
The U.S. is planning to send almost 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, according to a Trump administration official. Defense Secretary James Mattis could announce the deployment—the largest so far under President Donald Trump—as early as next week. The military’s top commander in Afghanistan has said he needs more forces to fight a reinvigorated Taliban insurgency…
Jared Kushner’s business dealings are part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, The Washington Post reports. Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, has come under increased scrutiny for his alleged ties with Russia after it was reported that Kushner had attempted to establish a backchannel…
Vice Presidenr Mike Pence hired a private attorney to deal with the ongoing Russia investigations. The vice president’s office confirmed Thursday that Pence has hired outside legal counsel to handle the recently opened investigation headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the ongoing congressional inquiries into Russian election meddling and any possible collusion by the…
Nearly 200 Democratic members of Congress agreed to file a lawsuit Wednesday against President Trump alleging that by retaining interests in a global business empire he has violated constitutional restrictions on taking gifts and benefits from foreign leaders. The lead senator filing the complaint in federal district court, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), said Tuesday that…
Russia’s cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system before—and during—President Trump’s election was much more widespread than was publicly reported, Bloomberg News reports. Russian hackers hit systems in at least 39 states, with incursions into software systems and voter databases in nearly twice as many states as had been previously reported. In Illinois, for example, detectives…
President Trump’s approval rating dipped to a “new low” in the history of Quinnipiac University’s polling in their latest survey, released Wednesday. The poll found that just 34 percent of voters approve of the job Trump is doing, while 57 percent disapprove. Quinnipiac also found that voters aren’t convinced Trump is level-headed, with 68 percent…
According to a report in The Washington Post, President Trump’s administration is moving toward handing back to Russia two diplomatic compounds in New York City and Maryland. Officials were ejected from these compounds in late December by the Obama administration as punishment for alleged interference from Moscow in the 2016 presidential election. Former President Obama…
Nigel Farage, the former pro-Brexit Ukip leader in the U.K., is now a “person of interest” in the U.S. counterintelligence investigation on possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, The Guardian reports. Farage reportedly raised the interest of FBI officials because of his relationships with both the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks founder Julian…
President Trump has decided to withdraw from the landmark Paris Climate Agreement signed by President Obama in 2015, two people familiar with the decision told Axios. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is reportedly hammering out the details. “They’re deciding on whether to initiate a full, formal withdrawal — which could take three years — or exit…
President Donald Trump asked two of the country’s most senior intelligence officials to publicly deny the existence of any evidence linking his presidential campaign with Russian efforts to undermine the American political process, The Washington Post reported on Monday evening. According to the Post, Trump appealed to Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence, and…
President Trump on Monday seemed to confirm The New York Times’ report that Israel was the source of classified intelligence he revealed to Russian officials during an Oval Office visit several weeks ago. “I never mentioned the word or the name Israel. Never mentioned during that conversation,” he told reporters during a press availability with…
The White House has sent a letter to the head of the Office of Government Ethics challenging his legal authority to demand the names of former lobbyists who have been granted waivers to work in President Trump’s administration. The highly unusual move, if successful, would make it impossible to know which, if any, officials are…
President Trump arrived in Israel from Saudi Arabia on Monday, for a 36-hour visit that includes a meeting in the West Bank with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Trump will also meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has scheduled a visit to the Wailing Wall in East Jerusalem and a 15-minute tour of Yad…
President Trump’s budget proposal, scheduled for release on Tuesday, will feature major cuts to Medicaid and changes to programs that help low-income Americans, people familiar with the planning told The Washington Post. When it comes to Medicaid, the budget follows through on a bill House Republicans passed that cuts more than $800 billion over 10…
Investigators into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential elections are now also probing whether White House officials have engaged in a cover-up, according to members of Congress who were briefed Friday by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. That avenue of investigation was added in recent weeks after assertions by former FBI Director James Comey that…
Anthony Weiner is set to plead guilty in federal court Friday to one charge of transferring obscene material to a minor, The New York Times reported. Weiner reportedly surrendered to authorities in New York early Friday morning and could possibly be registered as a sex offender as a result of the plea deal. The charge…
Chelsea Manning, who was in prison on a 35-year sentence for passing classified information to WikiLeaks, has been released after serving seven years. Manning’s sentence was commuted by President Obama as one of his final acts before leaving office. Manning was in the Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas. Chelsea Manning is expected to walk…
