Trump Administration

The Associated Press reports: The Trump administration has quietly released more than $100 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of unexplained delay that led some lawmakers to compare it to the aid for Ukraine at the center of the impeachment inquiry. The $105 million in Foreign Military Financing funds for the Lebanese Armed Forces was released just before …

The BBC reports: The US ambassador to Zambia has said he has been threatened over his comments on the sentencing of a gay couple, deepening a diplomatic row. Daniel Foote said he was “horrified” by the jailing of Japhet Chataba and Steven Samba. A judge quashed an appeal against their conviction last week, sentencing them both to 15 years in …

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General William P. Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department’s inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. The Justice …

Talking Points Memo reports: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says she will appear to testify on behalf of the White House as part of the House’s impeachment inquiry under one condition: House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) must do the same. Conway made the crack during a press gaggle with reporters inside the White House briefing room on Monday, …

Politico reports: The anonymous Trump administration official who set Washington ablaze with an op-ed detailing an insider plot to restrain President Donald Trump has vowed to expose their identity as the 2020 election heats up. “Trump will hear from me, in my own name, before the 2020 election,” the official declared in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session on Tuesday …

This story is just bonkers. The Detroit Free Press reports: A total of about 250 students have now been arrested since January on immigration violations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of a sting operation by federal agents who enticed foreign-born students, mostly from India, to attend the school that marketed itself as offering graduate programs in …

The Washington Post reports: Two officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget recently resigned in part over concerns about the holdup on Ukraine aid, a career employee of the agency told impeachment investigators, according to a transcript of his testimony released Tuesday. Mark Sandy, the only OMB official to testify in the impeachment inquiry, did not name …

A rather fascinating stunt: “Anonymous,” the senior Trump administration official who wrote the blockbuster New York Times op-ed that was turned into a bestselling book, will make a public appearance of sorts — albeit online with an undisclosed identity for now, according to a person close to the author. The author of “A Warning” is hosting a Reddit “Ask Me …

Mediaite reports: Former national security advisor John Bolton continued his cryptic tweeting today by warning that the United States’ commitment to national security “is under attack from within.” Bolton has been somewhat active on Twitter since, he claims, he got his account back after the White House blocked him from it, something the White House denied. It’s unclear what he’s …

Politico reports: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday fired back at ousted Navy Secretary Richard Spencer for remarks the former official made that were critical of President Donald Trump’s intervention in the military justice system. “I’m sure it hurts to lose your position, but the president stands by his decision, and he was there,” Conway told the hosts of …

Courthouse News reports: Riding on a unanimous Supreme Court ruling effectively blocking the Trump administration from including a citizenship question on the 2020 census, the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday sued Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for not responding to a congressional subpoena for records on the hotly debated issue. Barr and Ross have refused to …

The Washington Post reports: When Rudolph W. Giuliani went to Madrid in August to confer with a top aide to the Ukrainian president and press for political investigations sought by President Trump, he also met with a previously unidentified client with very different interests. While in Spain, Giuliani stayed at a historic estate belonging to Venezuelan energy executive Alejandro Betancourt …

The New York Daily News reports: A White House official on Monday said that Conan, the military working dog that helped take down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northwest Syria in October, was a female. However, a few hours later, a White House official said the dog was in fact a male, adding to a debate that developed after …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump has made his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the de facto project manager for constructing his border wall, frustrated with a lack of progress over one of his top priorities as he heads into a tough reelection campaign, according to current and former administration officials. The president’s son-in-law and senior adviser is pressing U.S. Customs and …

The Washington Post reports: Former White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena, a federal court ruled in a case that could affect the impeachment inquiry. The finding came in a case testing whether top presidential advisers have absolute immunity from congressional demands for information. The ruling in a lawsuit brought by the House Judiciary Committee has …

The Washington Post reports: As influenza spread through migrant detention facilities last winter, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that U.S. Customs and Border Protection vaccinate detained migrants against the virus, a push that CBP rejected, according to a newly released letter to Congress. The CDC recommendation was revealed in a letter from the agency to Rep. Rosa …

Axios reports: A federal judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Department of Defense and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for records relating to the Trump administration’s freeze on security aid to Ukraine. Allegations that Trump froze nearly $400 million congressionally-approved military aid in order …

“This is an idea that I don’t know if the Trump administration is going to embrace, but it’s something, I think, for middle class people would be one of the best ways for every American to own stock in America. So, instead — the idea would be, you know, rather than having to send your 10% of your paycheck into …

Fox News reports: Defense Secretary Mark Esper fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer Sunday over his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL who posed for a photo next to an Islamic State terrorist’s corpse in Iraq, and the SEAL will be able to keep his Trident pin, a Pentagon spokesman said Sunday. “Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper has …

Politico reports: The Oval Office is the traditional epicenter of power for American presidents, but a new one is emerging that’s more exclusive, more secluded and more convenient. President Donald Trump is increasingly morphing the White House residence into a second Oval. It’s become the place where Trump feels most productive, where he avoids meddling by his staff and where …