On Thursday night, the Senate adjourned until Sept. 5, joining the House in leaving Washington, D.C., for the August recess. On Friday, President Trump starts a 17-day “working vacation” at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. Before adjourning, the Senate unanimously agreed to nine pro-forma sessions, blocking Trump from making any recess appointments. There…
John McCain will return to Congress on Tuesday for a vote on the Senate’s yet-to-be-announced health-care policy, the Arizona Republican’s office said in a statement Monday night. McCain was recently announced to have brain cancer, and is on medical leave recovering from a tumor removal this month. His vote is critical for GOP senators hoping…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
President Trump has admitted that running the country is not quite as easy as he thought it would be. In an interview with Reuters published Thursday, Trump opened up about his impressions from his first 100 days in the White House, saying he feels like he’s in his “own little cocoon” and misses driving. “I…
President Donald Trump has announced that he will not pull the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, despite numerous promises to do so. Trump informed the leaders of Mexico and Canada of his decision Wednesday, and the White House later confirmed that the president had “agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this…
The White House on Tuesday denied the House Oversight Committee’s request for documents relating to former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired in February for lying to the vice president. Additionally, the committee’s leaders said Flynn “inappropriately” accepted money from foreign governments. In a letter to the committee’s chairman, Jason Chaffetz, White House…
On Wednesday, President Trump will announce his plan to overhaul the tax code, including his proposal to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, White House officials told The Washington Post on Monday. Independent analysts have estimated a cut this severe could cost the federal government $2.4 trillion over 10 years,…
Democrat Jon Ossoff fell just short of the 50 percent mark in Tuesday’s special election for a House seat in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, an affluent and reliably conservative area in Atlanta’s northern suburbs that has sent Republicans to Congress since electing Newt Gingrich in 1978. Ossoff won roughly 48 percent of the vote in…
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Tuesday calling for the end of America’s lottery system for H-1B work visas in favor of a merit-based system, Axios reports. The “Buy American, Hire American” order will look to scrap the existing visa application system, which enters applicants into a lottery for limited number of visas.…
The U.S. Senate confirmed Neil M. Gorsuch to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, capping more than a year of bitter partisan bickering over the ideological balance of the nation’s highest court. Senators voted to confirm Gorsuch, 49, a Denver-based judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, who will become the…
Senate Democrats successfully filibustered the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court, garnering the 41 votes to vote against cloture, or the ending of debate on the nomination. The vote ended with 55 votes in favor of ending debate, and 45 against. The move almost certainly means Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell…
Speaking to reporters a week before his scheduled trip to Moscow, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday there is “no doubt in our mind” that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government is behind a chemical attack that killed dozens of Syrians on Tuesday, and “it’s time that the Russians really need to think carefully about…
President Trump said in a Wednesday interview with The New York Times that he believes former national security adviser Susan Rice committed a crime in allegedly seeking to unmask the identities of Trump associates mentioned in intercepted communications. “I think it’s going to be the biggest story,” the president told the Times, though he declined…
Former national security adviser Susan Rice denied on Tuesday that she was responsible for “unmasking” the names of top Trump officials, as was claimed in reports on Monday. “I leaked nothing to nobody, and never have and never would,” Rice said on MSNBC. Rice denied that she or any Obama administration official “used intelligence for…
Two Democratic senators — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota — said Thursday that they would vote to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch. Manchin, who frequently crosses the aisle to side with the GOP, said he found Gorsuch to be “an honest and thoughtful man,” and that…
This morning Trump tweeted in support of former White House National Security Adviser Mike Flynn just one day after it was reported that he would be willing to be interviewed about the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Early Friday morning, he wrote: “Mike Flynn should ask for immunity…
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Mike Flynn, the former national security adviser for President Donald Trump, has informed the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Flynn was privvy to information about foreign policy deliberations and was…
The Senate Intelligence Committee is holding open hearings Thursday on Russian interference in the U.S. election through technology and disinformation, with a slate of academic and cybersecurity experts scheduled to testify, including former NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander. The hearing will explore the various ways Russia tried to influence the U.S. presidential election and is…
Financial accounts in Cyprus linked to Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, were probed for possible money-laundering, NBC News reported. The Mediterranean island nation has been a well-known hub for transferring money in and out of Russia. Manafort’s past is under intense scrutiny, in part, over his ties to a Russian oligarch who has…
House Republicans voted Tuesday to repeal a set of privacy protections for Internet users that was enacted under the Obama administration. In a 215-205 vote, the measure now heads to the White House where President Trump is expected to sign it. It’s a move that will allow Internet providers to collect and sell customers’ browsing…
During escalating tensions for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) to recuse himself from investigations of Trump team contacts with Russian officials on Tuesday morning, Nunes reportedly canceled all upcoming full committee meetings. Multiple outlets reported the move, based on sources, the morning of a public hearing set for Tuesday, which Nunes had previously…
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Friday accused House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) of running a “dead-of-night excursion” for documents on alleged NSA surveillance of Trump associates, keeping the rest of his committee members “in the dark.” Schiff, the ranking member of the intelligence committee, held a press conference an hour after Nunes, and…
A lawyer for Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, reached out to the House Intelligence Committee to volunteer his testimony before the panel, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said during a Friday press conference. Manafort has offered to be “voluntarily interviewed” by the committee, but whether it will happen in either open or closed session…
