Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said he would be willing to hand over to U.S. lawmakers the transcripts of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s meeting with President Trump. According to Putin, the U.S. president had not passed on any classified information to Lavrov during their Oval Office visit last week, and such transcripts, the Russian president…
On Tuesday, President Trump will hold a meeting at the White House with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Key topics are expected to be Turkey’s opposition to a Trump plan to arm Kurdish fighters for an offensive to capture the Islamic State capital of Raqqa, and Turkey’s call for the U.S. to extradite a Muslim…
Russian officials had “real leverage” over former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates told CNN. In a new interview with Anderson Cooper, Yates says Flynn was in a “serious compromise situation,” which led her to inform the White House. Before his dismissal, Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence, and…
White House officials have been warned not to haphazardly feed President Trump news printouts after staffers narrowly avoided having the president react publicly to a global warming internet hoax left on his desk by his deputy national security adviser, Politico reports. In another instance, the president received a news printout claiming without evidence that Deputy…
Colbert was thrilled that President Trump said in an interview with Time magazine that he was “a no-talent guy” and not funny. “The president of the United States has personally come after me and my show, and there’s only one thing to say … yay!” Colbert said, clapping his hands together and laughing. He then…
President Trump issued a startling public threat to his ousted FBI director Friday morning: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump tweeted. On Thursday, Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt that on three occasions, Comey had reassured him he was not under investigation…
President Trump on Friday threatened to end White House press briefings because, he tweeted, “as a very active president with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!” He suggested instead distributing “written responses for the sake of accuracy.” Trump’s tweets come in response to…
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has sent harsher charging instructions to federal prosecutors, asking them to clamp down on drug offenders. President Obama’s administration sought to avoid doling out long, mandatory-minimum sentences to less-serious, nonviolent drug offenders, but Sessions has opted to revive the “war on drugs” in an effort to dissuade offenders—and swelling prisons as…
A week after his inauguration, President Trump invited former FBI Director James Comey to a private dinner at the White House, where he demanded his loyalty, several Comey associates told The New York Times. Comey said the pair made small talk about the election and the size of Trump’s inaugural crowd before the president asked…
President Donald Trump told NBC News’ Lester Holt in an interview aired Thursday night that he thought the Russia investigation into alleged ties between his campaign and Russian officials was a “made up story,” prior to firing FBI Director James Comey. “I was going to fire regardless of recommendation,” Trump said referring to letters he…
Former intelligence officials have expressed alarm over the White House’s decision to allow a Russian photographer into the Oval Office for President Trump’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday. The photographer, who was working for one of Russia’s state-owned news agencies, was allowed into the meeting even as his American counterparts were…
A reporter for Public News Service was arrested at the West Virginia State Capitol on Tuesday after peppering Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price with questions. Dan Heyman said he was looking to get answers about about the recently House-passed health-care plan. Heyman, who held a press conference after he posted bail, said capitol…
President Trump on Tuesday evening grew angry over the reaction to FBI Director James Comey’s firing, and Politico reports that he made the decision based on his fury about a federal probe into his ties with Russia. Trump had reportedly taken more than a week to make the decision about Comey, and in the end…
Prior to the 2016 election, Eddie Lee Holloway Jr., a 58-year-old African-American man, moved from Illinois to Wisconsin, which implemented a strict voter-ID law for the first time in 2016. He brought his expired Illinois photo ID, birth certificate, and Social Security card to get a photo ID for voting in Wisconsin, but the DMV…
WATCH THE LIVE EVENT HERE. Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper are testifying in front of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Monday, and the main topic of discussion is expected to be ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. President Trump fired Yates for declining to defend…
Former President Barack Obama reportedly warned then-President-elect Donald Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as national security adviser. Three former Obama administration officials told NBC News that the warning came during an Oval Office meeting between Obama and Trump two days after the 2016 presidential election. A senior White House official confirmed this account, saying “why…
Jared Kushner’s possible conflicts of interest picked up steam on Sunday, after the family business of President Trump’s son-in-law spent the weekend promoting an investment-for-visas scheme in Beijing and Shanghai. Nicole Kushner Meyer, Kushner’s sister, urged Chinese investors to put $500,000 into a New Jersey real-estate project in return for investor visas and residency in…
One U.S. military member was killed and two others were wounded Thursday in Somalia, when they were attacked by small-arms fire on a mission about 40 miles outside of Mogadishu, the Pentagon announced. The operation was against al Qaeda-linked militants in the country, officials said Friday. “U.S. forces are assisting partner forces to counter al…
North Korean state media has accused the CIA of hatching a “vicious plot” with South Korea to assassinate Kim Jong Un via “biochemical substances.” Pyongyang officials said the two have a plan to kill off the young leader during a public ceremony. “We will ferret out and mercilessly destroy to the last one the terrorists…
On Thursday, the House narrowly passed the American Health Care Act, 217-213. Every Democrat voted against the GOP health-care bill, as did 20 Republicans. 217 Republicans voted in favor. The bill passed after a lengthy struggle by Republican leadership to win over moderates who were concerned the bill threatened coverage for people with pre-existing conditions,…
A bipartisan $1.1 trillion spending bill that will keep the federal government running through September was approved Wednesday by the House. The bill does not include any funding for President Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, secures funding for Planned Parenthood, and adds $15 billion to the military’s budget. The National Endowment…
President Donald Trump will be traveling to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Rome in first foreign trip. Trump will meet with a “gathering” of Arab and Muslim leaders in Saudi Arabia, before going on to meet leaders in Israel and finally the Pope in Rome. The trip is about “making sure the three faiths work together”…
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that loosens the restrictions on political activity for religious groups. “We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied, or silenced anymore, and we will never ever stand for religious discrimination,” Trump said in the White House Rose Garden. “No American should be forced…
A little-noticed amendment to the Obamacare repeal effort now before the House would let U.S. employers gut health coverage, The Wall Street Journal reported. Such a provision would affect about half the country, and the amendment lets states obtain waivers from certain Affordable Care Act regulations, freeing insurers from a mandate stipulating that they cover…
President Trump took to Twitter late Tuesday to hit back against Hillary Clinton’s claims that FBI Director James Comey contributed to her election loss. “FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!” Trump posted. “The phony Trump/Russia story…
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a shutdown of the U.S. government would be necessary in order to fix the “mess” in Congress. “The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there!” Trump tweeted. “We either elect more Republican Senators…
Michael Slager, the former South Carolina policeman who shot and killed a fleeing black motorist, will plead guilty in a federal civil-rights case, sources told The Post and Courier on Tuesday. The newspaper notes it is unclear to what charges Slager will plead regarding his fatal shooting of Walter Scott last year in North Charleston.…
Apparently unprompted, President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday night to declare that former President Andrew Jackson would not have allowed the Civil War to happen. “President Andrew Jackson, who died 16 years before the Civil War started, saw it coming and was angry,” Trump tweeted. “Would never have let it happen!” Jackson owned…
President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak by phone on Tuesday afternoon, the White House said Monday night, with a senior Trump administration official telling Reuters that the two leaders will likely discuss the civil war in Syria. Putin and Trump have spoken on the phone two times since Trump’s inauguration, once in…
In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Trump said “there is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea,” but he is hopeful that the U.S. can find other ways to work with the country regarding its nuclear and missile programs. “We’d love to solve things diplomatically,…
