Trump Administration

NBC News reports: A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to return a gay asylum-seeker who was deported to Chad, ruling that the government had not properly considered his asylum claim based on his status as a gay man before deporting him. Oumar Yaide arrived in the U.S. in 2009 and requested political asylum because he was …

The Washington Post reports: The Trump administration is seeking to delay a Democratic effort to require the Secret Service to disclose how much it spends protecting President Trump and his family when they travel — until after the 2020 election, according to people familiar with the discussions. The issue has emerged as a sticking point in recent weeks as Treasury …

The New York Times reports: Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the loudest voice in the administration pushing President Trump to kill Iran’s most important general. This week, he is back in his role as the nation’s top diplomat, trying to contain the international crisis the general’s death created. True to form, Mr. Pompeo is not backing down. …

CNN reports: “We are not looking to start a war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Tuesday.  He also insisted the US had evidence to justify the attack that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq last week. “I can assure you it’s more than razor thin, it’s persuasive. …

Mediaite reports: When questioned about the purported information that proved Soleimani was planning major attacks against American forces in the region prior to his death, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham noted that she could not go into any details but slammed those who are skeptical of the U.S. intelligence system. “I know a lot of people are now questioning …

The New York Times reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday told Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, that he does not plan to run for Senate in 2020, most likely ending Republicans’ hopes of securing a potentially dominant candidate for the open seat in his home state of Kansas, according to four people briefed on the meeting. Mr. …

The Associated Press reports: The Department of Homeland Security is agreeing to share citizenship information with the U.S. Census Bureau as part of President Donald Trump’s order to collect data on who is a citizen following the Supreme Court’s rejection of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census form. Trump’s order is being challenged in federal court, but meanwhile, the …

Politico Europe reports: U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell took aim at European governments for failing to condemn Tehran over attacks it orchestrated over the past few months, as he justified America’s assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. “When the West stands together and the West says very clearly that terrorism is wrong and terrorism should not be used, then …

ABC News reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” that the world is a safer place as a result of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani’s death. “This was a bad guy, we took him off the playing field. And that’s important because this was a fella who was the glue, who was conducting active plotting against …

ABC News reports: The U.S. has warned American citizens in Saudi Arabia “of the heightened risk of missile and drone attacks” amid soaring tensions with Iran. A security alert message sent Sunday by the U.S. mission there said that in the past “regional actors hostile to Saudi Arabia have conducted missile and drone attacks against both civilian and military targets …

CNN reports: The Trump administration has warned members of Congress that Iran is expected to retaliate against the US “within weeks” for the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani even as they failed to convince some that the operation was merited due to an imminent threat against American lives. There are also intense discussions taking place inside US military and intelligence …

That didn’t take very long: Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry was appointed to the board of the general partner that controls pipeline company Energy Transfer LP following his exit from the Trump administration. Perry was appointed as a director of LE GP LLC, the general partner of the company Energy Transfer, on Jan. 1, according to a Securities and Exchange …

The New York Times reports: Federal agencies would no longer have to take climate change into account when they assess the environmental impacts of highways, pipelines and other major infrastructure projects, according to a Trump administration plan that would weaken one of the benchmark environmental laws of the modern era. The proposed changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act …

Via press release from the State Department: Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, and armed conflict. U.S. citizens in Iraq are at high risk for violence and kidnapping. Numerous terrorist and insurgent groups are active in Iraq and regularly attack both Iraqi security forces and civilians. Anti-U.S. sectarian militias may also threaten U.S. citizens and Western companies …

Via press release from the Department of Defense: At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq …

CNN reports: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the airstrike ordered to kill top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani “saved American lives,” after Pompeo said on Twitter Friday morning that the decision to eliminate Soleimani was in response to “imminent threats to American lives.” “I can’t talk too much about the nature of the threats. But the American people …

CNBC reports: The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it has issued a ban on flavored vaping products, with the exception of tobacco and menthol. Under the new rule, companies that do not stop the distribution of fruit and mint flavors within 30 days are at risk of regulatory action by the FDA, the agency said. “The United States has …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump on Wednesday named his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner to the official White House delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Ivanka Trump and Kushner serve as assistants and advisers to the president and have accompanied the senior Trump on numerous official appearances. Several Cabinet secretaries will also be in the …

CNN reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo postponed a planned trip to Ukraine to deal with the ongoing developments out of Baghdad, the State Department announced Wednesday. Following a second day of protests, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday that “the situation around Embassy Baghdad has improved,” but that efforts by Iraqi government security forces “to clear militia members from …

Bloomberg News reports: A possible ban on flavored e-cigarettes appears to be back on the table, as the White House is currently reviewing a new guidance from the FDA. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) began reviewing the guidance from FDA on Dec. 26. The administration finished reviewing an earlier version of the guidance in November, but …