In a largely leaderless party, two distinct groups are emerging, defined mostly by age and national stature.
On one side are three potential candidates approaching celebrity status who would all be over 70 years old on Election Day: Mr. Biden, and Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Competing against the Democrats’ senior cohort is a large and relatively shapeless set of younger candidates who span the ideological spectrum: governors, senators, mayors, wealthy executives and even members of the House.
It is not even clear, given the accusations of human rights abuses against him, that Mr. Duterte would be granted a visa to the United States were he not a head of state
...embracing an authoritarian leader who is accused of ordering extrajudicial killings of drug suspects and who crudely disparaged Mr. Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.
"To bring your campaign speech into the presidency is something presidents rarely do ... This was the most divisive speech I've ever heard from a sitting American president."
It was like last year again, all lusty cheers and smiling faces, a refreshing tonic after three months of stubborn lawmakers, naysaying judges, carping protesters, frenetic days and lonely nights.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators, alarmed at what they see as a dangerous assault on the environment by the Trump administration, poured into the streets
And that's a lesson many presidents have learned over time — that their greatest domestic achievements come not from the White House but from their ability to work with the 535 people down at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Unless revised in actual legislation, the plan would give millions of Americans the opportunity to cut their taxes by essentially turning themselves into small business entities.
...students who attended a private school through the program performed worse on standardized tests than their public school counterparts who did not use the vouchers.
...its website would be “undergoing changes” to better represent the new direction the agency is taking, triggering the removal of several agency websites containing detailed climate data and scientific information.
“We have a number of judges in the country that have departed a bit too far from classical enforcing the law as written and using the law to advance an agenda that they may have personally.”
...being put in charge of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue has brought to the surface the long-standing divisions within the party, and tensions between the two houses of Congress.
Sessions said Friday that his recusal from Justice Department investigations into the 2016 campaign for president will extend into inquiries into the activities of former national security adviser Michael Flynn
There’s an element of surprise in Trump’s comments, a hint of bafflement that having responsibility for the welfare of 320 million people entwined in a global economy and international relationships might end up being trickier than running a real estate and branding shop from midtown Manhattan.
"I loved my previous life. I had so many things going," Trump told Reuters in an interview. "This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier."
A map of the United States that illustrated the areas that would be hardest hit, particularly from agriculture and manufacturing losses, and highlighting that many of those states and counties were “Trump country” communities that had voted for the president in November.
The Trump administration argued ... that any inaccuracy on official paperwork, even regarding the most trivial and "immaterial" issues, can justify deportation and the revocation of citizenship.
Ryan and his top lieutenants decided during a late-night huddle in the Capitol that they still do not have the votes to pass the stalled health-care legislation.
The short-term spending measure, which would extend current funding levels beyond the end of this week, comes as negotiators are nearing an agreement on a budget
Democrats are hoping to squeeze the majority party so they can claim that GOP incumbents in competitive reelection fights are standing with a president who remains deeply unpopular.
Democrats say its outrageous to ask them to negotiate a bipartisan funding deal in good faith while Republicans are working behind the scenes to jam through a bill dismantling Democrats’ signature legislative achievement.
...a White House on a collision course between Trump’s fixed habits and his growing realization that this job is harder than he imagined when he won the election on Nov. 8.
Regardless of the plan’s fate, Mr. Trump has already sent a strong message about where his sympathies really lie. They lie not with the working people who elected him, but with the plutocracy that envelops him.
Mr. Trump’s skeletal outline of a tax package, unveiled at the White House in a single-page statement filled with bullet points, was less a plan than a wish list.
Orrick homed in on the vast discrepancies between what government lawyers defending the sanctuary cities order argued in court and what administration officials said about it in public.
...the review has been specifically crafted to encompass national monuments in Utah: Grand Staircase-Escalante, which Clinton declared in 1996, and Bears Ears, which Obama declared last December.
A federal judge in California on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold funding from cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement
Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, appeared to violate federal law when he failed to seek permission or inform the U.S. government about accepting tens of thousands of dollars from Russian organizations
“I’d like to ask you, what is your role, and who are you representing, your father as president of the United States, the American people, or your business?”
Obama fired off a punishing fusillade of grammatically correct sentences, the likes of which the American people have not heard from the White House since he departed.
...a conversation in which Trump bragged and boasted repeatedly — sometimes unprompted and using revisionist history — about what he's accomplished in his first 100 days as president.
"So they asked me, Wolf ... asked me about NATO, and I said two things. NATO's obsolete — not knowing much about NATO, now I know a lot about NATO — NATO is obsolete"
Still, despite these few bright spots, the polls point to mostly bad news for the president, as 56 percent say he doesn’t have the judgment to serve effectively as president, and 58 percent doubt his honesty and trustworthiness.
Presumably the report that Sessions was citing was a July 2011 report ... that said individuals who are not authorized to work in the U.S. have been paid $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits. But it did not mention Mexicans or any other nationalities.
In the case of Mrs. Clinton, he rewrote the script, partly based on the F.B.I.’s expectation that she would win and fearing the bureau would be accused of helping her. In the case of Mr. Trump, he conducted the investigation by the book, with the F.B.I.’s traditional secrecy.
The decision ... was another sign that President Trump has been unwilling or unable to improve relations with the Kremlin early in his term, after pledging as a candidate that he would seek a thaw.
Now the Wisconsin case is headed to a Supreme Court that has repeatedly said that extreme partisan gerrymanders are unconstitutional, but has never found a way to decide which ones cross the line.
Recipients of the letters were warned that to receive certain fiscal year 2016 grants, they must certify by June 30 that they have complied with a 1996 federal law that bars local authorities from forcing officials to withhold information from federal immigration authorities
It suggests that Trump isn't nearly as confident about his early accomplishments as he led us to believe ... In fact, it suggests he realizes things aren't going well.
"I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power."
The debate among prosecutors ... is being fueled by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said at a news conference Thursday that arresting Mr. Assange was a priority for the Justice Department.
Mulvaney also told The Associated Press that “elections have consequences” and Trump must receive funding for the planned border wall in the spending bill.
But Mr. Trump’s mix of chest thumping and real action — the missile attack and the use of a huge bomb against Islamic militants in Afghanistan — entails serious risks overseas.
Although most world leaders, publics, and the United Nations see the Jewish settlements on the West Bank as a major impediment to peace, the current U.S. ambassador to Israel was once the president of a fundraising group supporting just such an Israeli settlement.
Trump’s efforts to appear decisive and unequivocal in his responses to fast-moving global crises have been undercut by confusing and conflicting messages from within his administration.
Mr. Trump is threatening to kill a program in the A.C.A. that pays health insurers to offer plans with lower deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses to about seven million lower-income and middle-class people.
The certification decision ... means that the administration has extended relief from sanctions given to the Iranian government in exchange for constraints on its nuclear program.
We have not been alone in blasting President Trump for calling to congratulate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a “victory” in an election rife with “irregularities,” according to international monitors.
Last month, Sessions abruptly told the dozens of remaining Obama administration U.S. attorneys to submit their resignations immediately — and none of them, or the 47 who had already left, have been replaced.
On at least two separate ocassions now, her department has scrapped Obama-era reforms that were designed to protect borrowers from being gouged or misled by the companies responsible for collecting their loans.
The problem was that the carrier, the Carl Vinson, and the three other warships in its strike force were that very moment sailing in the opposite direction
15 percent of reluctant Trump voters said they would vote for the Democratic candidate in their district if the November 2018 elections for U.S. Congress were held today.
Trump’s divided policy advisers will meet Tuesday afternoon to hash over whether Mr. Trump should withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate accord of 2015
Conservatives hold a double-digit lead over Labour, which, if it holds up, would translate into a working majority in Parliament of over 100 seats, compared with only 17 seats now.
Also at the head table ... two-time U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, the only American besides Flynn at the head table.
(Stein did well enough to help Russia achieve its aims. Her vote totals in the crucial states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan were all greater than Clinton's margin of defeat, and arguably denied Clinton an Electoral College victory.)
...an amazingly long — and growing — list of old Trump tweets that have become eerily applicable to Trump's own presidency in ways that scream “hypocrisy.”
Trump’s comments differed in tone from those of the State Department, which urged Turkey to respect the basic rights of its citizens and noted the election irregularities
Both say that, as direct competitors of Trump’s restaurants and hotels, they may lose foreign clients, who may book with Trump properties to curry favor with the president.
"America has always sought peace through strength, and my message here today standing with U.S. forces Korea, standing with courageous soldiers from the Republic of Korea, is a message of resolve."
The constitutional change will allow the winner of the 2019 presidential election to assume full control of the government, ending the current parliamentary political system.
You can’t spend more than a year attacking the credibility of the “dishonest media” and then expect to use its journalism as support for your position during an international crisis — at least not with any success.
“He's a transactional guy with humans and it's no different with God -- it's all about whatever is to his advantage with regard to his supporters, and referencing God is exactly and only that”
Trump ... has already provoked a nationalist surge in Mexico, uniting the country across political and economic divides in outrage at his stance on immigration, trade and border security.
Trump is populating the White House and federal agencies with former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who in many cases are helping to craft new policies for the same industries in which they recently earned a paycheck.
His travels to the region, including stops in South Korea and Japan beginning Sunday, come amid indications that North Korea is potentially preparing its sixth nuclear test in a decade
But over the past month, as Tillerson has taken a lead on the administration’s strategy with Syria, Russia and China, his status has shifted – and behind the scenes, he’s emerging as Trump’s favorite cabinet secretary.
North Korea has been working on solid fuel, which means missiles are ready to fire and don’t need loading with propellant like its previous liquid-fueled missiles
The fact that Trump chose the least aggressive option available suggests that the principal audience for the strikes was not in Damascus or Moscow, but in the United States.
...the fact our president needed an introductory tutorial on Sino-Korean relations to understand how hard it is to contain Pyongyang is just the latest illustration of one of his blind spots: He and his inner-circle have very little sense of history.
“If Bannon is removed, there are gonna be divorces, because I know about the mistresses, the sugar babies, the drugs, the pill popping, the orgies. I know everything,” said Cernovich.
On the stump as a candidate, Trump often touted his commitment to gun rights and accused his general election opponent, Hillary Clinton, of wanting to get rid of the Second Amendment because of her support of gun control measures.
“You gotta knock the hell out of them — Boom! Boom! Boom!” Trump said of Islamic State terrorists at a January 2016 rally in Iowa, punctuating each “boom” with a punch of his fist.
“The United States and South Korea and North Korea are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent, and there have been storm clouds gathering”
“If they let war break out on the peninsula, they must shoulder that historical culpability and pay the corresponding price for this”
There’s widespread agreement that without the subsidies, insurers would be forced to hike premiums next year, worsening conditions in the Obamacare insurance marketplaces.
The government has for years relied on a patchwork of nine loan servicing companies to send bills to borrowers, collect their payments and handle any problems that arise.
The Obama administration sought to replace this labyrinthine system with a single entry point
DeVos signed an order rescinding key parts of that attempt to streamline the system — essentially hitting the reset button on the Obama-era plan.
Tensions have been steadily mounting in recent weeks, as North Korea prepares for what it is calling a “big” event to mark the anniversary of the founder’s birthday Saturday
As Trump struggles to keep his campaign promises and flirts with political moderation, his most steadfast supporters ... are increasingly dismayed by the direction of his presidency.
Trump signed a bill Thursday that will allow states to withhold federal funds from organizations and facilities that provide abortion services, such as Planned Parenthood.
The investigation will focus on four major areas of interest, a GAO official wrote: federal ethics guidelines ...; the financial operation ...; conflicts of interest and financial-disclosure rules; and how the transition arranged ... contact with heads of foreign governments.
For 1 hour and 43 minutes, the State Department allowed Russia's version of events to go unchecked. It put Russia in control by not communicating with reporters more frequently.
"Our impression is that the West, mainly the United States, is hand-in-glove with the terrorists. They fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack," Assad told AFP
"You have a lot of fake videos now," the Syrian dictator said of the photographic and video evidence of the chemical weapon strike. "We don't know whether those dead children were killed in Khan Sheikhun. Were they dead at all?"
Inside Russia, all state-run media outlets and many independent ones are emphasizing that the Trump administration has wrongfully (or at least prematurely) condemned Assad for being behind the April 4 attack
Trump said he no longer wanted to label China a currency manipulator ... he no longer wanted to eliminate the Export-Import Bank. And he said that he might consider reappointing Janet Yellen as chairwoman of the Federal Reserve
Trump has repeatedly assured the American people that their health-care system will collapse under his watch. It hasn’t always been clear whether this sentiment was intended as a prediction ... or as a promise
The agency also is considering ways to speed up the hiring of hundreds of new Customs and Border Patrol officers, including ending polygraph and physical fitness tests in some cases
Mr. Manafort’s ties to Ukraine and Russia have come under scrutiny as federal officials investigate Russian meddling in the American presidential election.
At the same time, Mr. Trump embraced NATO — a military alliance he had previously derided as obsolete — as an effective and vital force for peace and security
First, Trump forgot to order the eggs, which is a thing that happens when you "dismantle the administrative state" and fire everyone who knows what they're doing.
...under the new guidance, some agencies will wind up hiring more people, while others will end up "paring" the number of employees "even greater than they would have during the hiring freeze."
The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant ... after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia
“It is utterly baffling that Secretary DeVos would undo guidance that asks servicers to do the basic things that anyone – literally anyone – would expect a loan servicer to do, like respond to questions and help people access repayment plans they have a legal right to use”
“Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence. I’m sure she said ‘listen, this is horrible stuff.’ My father will act in times like that,” Eric Trump told The Telegraph.
Donald Trump once said climate change was a “hoax” invented by the Chinese but the phenomenon could be responsible for flooding his own Florida properties.
Trump is by far the most hostile to the press—and to the truth—she’s ever seen, with a White House staff using the briefing room as a daily disinformation machine
A federal judge ruled on Monday that the voter identification law the Texas Legislature passed in 2011 was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters
Sessions will end a Justice Department partnership with independent scientists to raise forensic science standards and has suspended an expanded review of FBI testimony
“One hundred days is the marker, and we’ve got essentially two-and-a-half weeks to turn everything around,” said one White House official. "This is going to be a monumental task.”
But Americans were even more emphatic about what they don't want to see next: any other unilateral strikes authorized by Trump or further involvement, period.
The reality is that there were continued chemical-weapons attacks by Syria — and that U.S. and international officials had good evidence that Syria had not been completely forthcoming
...the overall tone of suspicion and condemnation of Russia’s actions in Syria indicated that Mr. Trump’s top national security advisers were nudging him back to a more traditional Russia policy.
...two suicide bombings that killed 44 people at Coptic churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday raised the specter of increased sectarian bloodshed led by Islamic State militants.
“The number one threat in the region continues to the North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability”
The decision to carry out strikes against the regime and the change in tone from Haley follows Trump's comments that the chemical attack "crossed a lot of lines for me."
A good number of Southern Christians tend to vote Republican, but in truth the values of the rural South are not incompatible with the policies of the Democratic Party.
The cruise missile attack on Syria capped off a week in which McMaster appeared to consolidate his power by ousting chief White House counselor Stephen Bannon from the National Security Council
After McConnell justified his filibuster-ending “nuclear option” by saying it would be beneficial for the Senate, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said this: “Whoever says that is a stupid idiot.”
The president, they said, was a visual and auditory learner. Would the briefers please cut down on the number of words in the daily briefing book and instead use more graphics and pictures?
“This act of war on the part of the United States leaves us no choice but to strike Syrian hospitals, schools, and places of worship with even more force and resolve.”
When the missiles landed Thursday night, the two presidents had spent almost four hours together, with the Chinese officials unaware that Trump was launching the attack
In addition to its nationalist, anti-interventionist and anti-“globalist” views, the alt-right and its fellow travelers have also displayed a marked affinity for Syria’s ally Russia
Four in 10 of the colleges that responded say they have seen a drop in applications from around the globe. Nearly 80 percent expressed concerns about application yield.
In addition to suspending the pact to coordinate air operations over Syria, an accord that was meant to prevent accidental encounters between the two militaries, Russia also said it would bolster Syria’s air defense systems
The missile strikes, which appeared more symbolically punitive than realistically damaging to Assad’s government, potentially exposed U.S. forces and proxies across the region to retaliation by Syrian allies including Iran.
On one side are Mr. Bannon’s guerrilla warriors, eager to close the nation’s borders, dismantle decades of regulations, empower police departments and take on the establishment of both parties in Washington.
On the other are Mr. Kushner’s “Democrats,” an appellation used to describe even Republicans who want to soften Mr. Trump’s rough edges and broaden his narrow popular appeal after months of historically low poll numbers.
“Again, to our very foolish leader, do not attack Syria – if you do many very bad things will happen and from that fight the US gets nothing!” wrote Mr Trump in capital letters on 5 September 2013.
If U.S. aircraft were shot down or forced to fire back at the Syrian and Russian radar, the United States could get pulled into the middle of Syria’s messy civil war.
"I really believe that we should have and still should take out his airfields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them."
A civil war between Donald Trump loyalists and establishment-minded Republicans is escalating throughout the federal government — and increasingly the president’s allies are losing.
But now Bannon is being primarily viewed inside the White House as a destructive force, and other senior advisers are trying to undermine him in the eyes of President Trump
According to both U.S. military officials, the current proposal would likely result in Russian military deaths and mark a drastic escalation of U.S. force in Syria.
Let’s be clear: The so-called nuclear option being seriously contemplated by Republican leaders to eliminate the filibuster of Supreme Court nominations is a tactic of last resort
The C.I.A. told senior lawmakers in classified briefings last summer that it had information indicating that Russia was working to help elect Donald J. Trump president
...majority Republicans changed Senate precedent so that a high court nominee can advance to a final vote with a simple majority of 51 senators, as opposed to 60.
Homeland Security further asked that Twitter keep the very existence of the summons secret, and added that “failure to comply with this summons will render you liable to proceedings in a U.S. District Court”
While FCC boss Ajit Pai has repeatedly claimed his top priority while running the FCC is eliminating the digital divide, his behavior in just the first few months of his term has made that claim utterly and indisuptably laughable.
To keep up, dozens of agents from New York and field offices across the country are being temporarily pulled off criminal investigations to serve two-week stints protecting members of the Trump family
The so-called “nuclear option,” expected later Thursday, would ensure that all future Supreme Court nominees would no longer need 60 votes to advance in the Senate
There is precisely zero chance this is true. None. Zip. Nada. As journalists, we are trained to be circumspect — to always allow for the possibility of something we don't know to be 100 percent true. It's why journalists don't accuse Trump of lying when he says things that are clearly untrue.
The terror inspired by the thought of a Bannon-based sex tape cut across party lines, with Democrats calling the idea slightly more traumatizing than Republicans did.
The restructuring reflects the growing influence of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, an Army three-star general who took over the post after retired general Michael Flynn was ousted in February
Mr. Trump gave no evidence to support his claim, and current and former intelligence officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations have said they do not believe Ms. Rice’s actions were unusual or unlawful.
His allies said privately that Mr. Bannon had been put on the principals committee to keep an eye on Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn
Haley called the attack a “disgrace at the highest level.” It’s a “new low” for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, she said, as well as an “assurance that humanity means nothing to the Syrian government.”
Schiff said ... Trump personally promised documents at the center of "unmasking" allegations would be made available to all members of the House intelligence committee, but that White House staff is fighting those documents' release.
Trump ... said the chemical attack against Syrian civilians "crossed a lot of lines for me" and changed the way he views Syria and leader Bashar al-Assad.
A new order issued by Mr. Trump ... removes Mr. Bannon from the principals committee, restores the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and intelligence director and also adds the energy secretary, C.I.A. director and United Nations ambassador.
North Korea has made no secret of its desire to build an inter-continental ballistic missile, or ICBM, capable of reaching the continental United States.
Trump mortgaged everything to win the election by making promises that he lacked any remotely practical plan to fulfill. The gains for him and his party will be scant, and the political costs of obtaining them high.
For the first time since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law seven years ago, Barack Obama's signature legislation has garnered majority approval among the American people
“Each of the individual incidents constitutes a violation of academic ethics. I've never seen a college plagiarism code that this would not be in violation of”
“North Korea launched another intermediate-range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.”
States would have the option to jettison two major parts of the Affordable Care Act’s insurance regulations. They could decide to opt out of ... [a] minimum package of benefits ... [and charging] the same price to everyone who is the same age.
Dozens of people, including children, died — some writhing, choking, gasping or foaming at the mouth — after breathing in poison that possibly contained a nerve agent or other banned chemicals, according to witnesses, doctors and rescue workers.
Sebastian Gorka, the senior adviser to Donald Trump who calls himself a terrorism expert but who isn’t viewed that way by actual terrorism experts, has multiple ties to anti-Semitic groups from his parents’ native Hungary.
Former President Barack Obama kept el-Sisi at arm's length after ... he led the military's ouster of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi. He was elected president a year later but has ruled with an iron grip.
...saying it was necessary to ensure that these pacts do not work against the Trump administration’s goals of promoting officer safety and morale while fighting violent crime.
Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant
There is a chance Trump will list his profits in his next federal financial disclosure, in May 2018, but the form doesn’t require it. The surest way to see what profits Trump is taking would be the release of his tax returns
But experts say the lithium ad — with its implication that the North is happy to sell an excess supply of the precious material — suggests that it is far too late to prevent the nation from becoming an advanced nuclear power.
Should that be the policy going forward? ... “No Supreme Court nominations will be considered in any even-numbered year.” Is that where we’re headed?
In the barrage of news surrounding President Donald Trump, one of the things his administration quietly did over the past few months was reopen the federal prison system to private prison companies.
...the explosion was caused by “an unidentified explosive device” that was detonated in one of the cars as the train traveled from Sennaya Ploshchad station
Haley, a former South Carolina governor with no prior foreign policy experience, acting as a tough-talking bellwether of President Trump’s foreign policy.
An Economist-YouGov poll in December found that while only 9 percent of Trump voters had a favorable view of Obama, 35 percent had a favorable view of Putin.
...the Senate is hurtling toward the use later this week of the so-called nuclear option — changing the chamber’s rules with a simple majority so that Supreme Court filibusters can be cut off with just 51 votes
Judge David J. Hale ruled against efforts by Trump's attorneys to throw out a lawsuit accusing him of inciting violence against protesters at a March 2016 campaign rally in Louisville.
“There’s no question in my mind that the president, with the aid of his national security adviser staff, came up with some kind of a ruse to try and suggest there was some kind of validity” to his accusation
“To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponent, press 1,” the video says, first in Russian, and then in English. Press 2 “to use the services of Russian hackers,” and 3 “to request election interference.”
Unlike Mr. Trump, who is exempt from conflict of interest laws, both Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump — who took a formal White House position this past week — are forbidden under federal criminal and civil law to take any action that might benefit their particular financial holdings.
...they are among a host of conservative organizations mounting a furious campaign against a new tax on imports proposed by House Republicans, imperiling what is supposed to be a centerpiece of the Republican tax overhaul effort.