The floor of the US House of Representatives broke out in cheers after lawmakers voted to oblige Donald Trump to seek approval from Congress to continue the Iran war or withdraw troops. A small group of Republicans voted with the Democrats for the resolution, which now passes to the Senate. It was the fourth attempt to vote on reining in Trump's powers to continue the conflict. The resolution rejected the White House's argument that it does not need to abide by a legal requirement to seek congressional approval to continue the war beyond 90 days because a ceasefire was agreed in AprilUS House passes war powers resolution to curb Trump’s authority in Iran Continue reading...
Former Vice President Mike Pence weighed in on the latest Cabinet pick by President Donald Trump, suggesting there will be “issues” around the Director of National Intelligence […]
President Donald Trump on Thursday ripped four “bad” Republicans who joined Democrats in passing legislation that effectively forces the president to end American military operations in Iran. The House passed legislation to “remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized” by Congress, delivering a high-profile foreign policy defeat to the president. The […]
Todd Blanche has been serving as the acting attorney general. A formal nomination to the post would be the president’s latest move to place loyalists in top government jobs.
President Donald Trump is making changes at the Justice Department, nominating acting attorney general Todd Blanche as its permanent director. Blanche replaced Pam Bondi after her firing and since then has notably investigated several of Trump’s perceived enemies.
THE FINAL FOUR: After repeated attempts by House Democrats to pass a war powers resolution to assert Congress’s authority to declare war, finally, a handful of Republicans were disenchanted enough with the progress of the war in Iran to cross the aisle and vote to send the legislation to the Senate, by a vote of […]
Senate Republicans are bracing for an end-of-week slog of votes as tension continues to build with the Trump White House, Punchbowl News reported on Thursday morning.Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) face "a marathon of twisting arms and whipping votes on two pieces of legislation that have little in common" other than the fact that "Trump has made passing them much harder than it needed to be," said the report — namely, the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorization, and the Homeland Security reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement.The "heartburn" Republicans face, per the report, is that Trump has complicated all of this by demanding $1 billion for "security" for his White House ballroom project, something the GOP has finally rejected outright; introduced and backed off the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" which has forced Senate Republicans to consider banning it directly in their legislation; and nominating his unqualified and highly partisan housing finance chief Bill Pulte to serve as Director of National Intelligence, which has caused Democrats to threaten a boycott of FISA.The weaponization fund alone has created additional pain points by causing some Republicans to demand a formal ban on the fund in the reconciliation as a condition for their vote, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) saying, “We need to take action here. It’s creating headwinds that we don’t need. If we’ve got the acting AG saying it’s done, then let’s just stick a fork in it.”Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), meanwhile, plans to introduce an amendment requiring a rewrite of the bill to include this language. Only four Republican votes would be needed to pass it.The upshot, per other reports, is that Republicans on Capitol Hill are privately enraged at Trump for constantly tripping up not only their priorities, but his own.
President Donald Trump has privately told aides he would consider resuming bombing campaigns against Iran under one specific condition, and it has the fragile ceasefire teetering on the edge.Trump privately told aides he would consider ending the ceasefire if Tehran becomes responsible for the deaths of American troops, according to U.S. officials cited by the Wall Street Journal. The president has signaled a willingness to tolerate smaller military flare-ups for weeks or even months rather than risk a broader conflict.The leak comes as the ceasefire — originally signed April 7 as a two-week pause and later extended indefinitely — faces its most serious test yet. On Tuesday, U.S. forces struck and disabled an Iranian-linked oil tanker, prompting Iranian drone attacks on Gulf shipping and U.S. airstrikes on Iranian military sites on Qeshm Island. The escalation peaked Wednesday when Iran launched its largest barrage since the truce began, firing missiles and drones at Kuwait and Bahrain, temporarily shutting Kuwait's international airport and causing casualties.Trump addressed reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday with a characteristic shrug. “In that part of the world, ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner,” Trump said. He claimed the situation was under control and peace talks were progressing.“It takes two to tango. We hit them very hard on something else and so they were responding,” he said.Experts warn the cycle of retaliation is making the ceasefire increasingly unstable, with each side feeling compelled to respond to avoid appearing weak. Meanwhile, the House voted this week to invoke war powers to end the conflict entirely, with four Republicans breaking ranks to pass the measure.Steve Bannon captured the growing sense of alarm among Trump's own allies, according to the Daily Beast."Is this how MAGA ends — with a whimper, not a bang?"
Scott Bessent traveled to the Reagan National Economic Forum last week and delivered a message that would have been almost unthinkable from a Republican treasury secretary a decade ago: America got globalization wrong. Speaking before an audience of Reagan Republicans, Bessent argued that both parties spent decades sacrificing industrial capacity, supply-chain resilience, and national security […]