Tag Archives: Trump administration

Axios reports: The State Department announced Monday afternoon that it is cutting off any further aid to Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador until the countries take “concrete actions to reduce the number of illegal migrants coming to the U.S. border.” This move has been in the works since March, with President Trump ramping up pressure on the three Central American …

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch: Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, was elected chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Monday, according to a press release. The USCIRF is a bipartisan commission created in 1998 whose members are appointed by the president and congressional leaders. When Perkins was appointed to the Commission last …

Mediaite reports: Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-IA) spokesperson said the lawmaker misspoke when she claimed White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is being “removed” from her post in the administration soon. While Ernst made the comments during an interview with NBC’s local Des Moines affiliate WHO-TV Sunday, the network included an editor’s note along with their coverage of Ernst’s comments noting her …

Axios reports: Thomas Homan, a Fox News contributor who served as acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director at the start of President Trump’s tenure, will work as an administration “border czar,” the president announced on “Fox & Friends” Friday. It’s the latest of a string of new appointments to top immigration-linked positions, including Ken Cuccinelli as director of U.S. Citizenship …

The New York Times reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that intelligence reviewed by American officials showed that Iran was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a critical waterway for the transit of much of the world’s petroleum. Mr. Pompeo did not present any evidence of Iran’s involvement when announcing the findings. …

The Washington Post reports: The Office of Special Counsel has recommended the removal of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway from federal office for violating the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work. The report submitted to President Trump found that Conway violated the Hatch Act on numerous occasions by “disparaging …

Via press release from the ACLU: The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), Public Health Solutions (PHS), The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a lawsuit today challenging the Trump administration’s rule that allows health care personnel to deny patients information and treatment based on personal religious or moral beliefs. …

The Washington Post reports: Reince Priebus, President Trump’s former chief of staff, has officially joined the Navy. At a commissioning ceremony Monday morning, Vice President Pence swore in Priebus as an ensign, an entry-level officer. Priebus and his family also met with Trump at the White House after the ceremony. Priebus’s commissioning follows a lengthy process in which former defense …

Mediaite reports: Kellyanne Conway is on the warpath — going on the attack against former Nixon White House counsel John Dean ahead of his Congressional testimony. “It’s really something,” Conway said. “I’ve never been disbarred. I passed four state bars, never been disbarred. Never went to jail for obstruction of justice and don’t plan on it.” She added, “They’re picking …

NBC News reports: The Trump administration is rejecting requests from U.S. embassies to fly the rainbow pride flag on embassy flagpoles during June, LGBT Pride Month, three American diplomats tell NBC News. The U.S. embassies in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia are among those that have requested permission from Trump’s State Department to fly the pride flag on their flagpoles …

The Washington Post reports: U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing the outlines of a deal that would dramatically increase Mexico’s immigration enforcement efforts and give the United States far more latitude to deport Central Americans seeking asylum, according to a U.S. official and a Mexican official who cautioned that the accord is not finalized and that President Trump might not …

Law & Crime reports: Fired Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn has fired his defense lawyers ahead of sentencing for reasons that are not immediately clear. Attorneys Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony said in a motion to withdraw on Thursday that Flynn had notified them of their firing. Some have suggested that development is “potentially major,” as it could mean …

The Hill reports: The Interior Department on Wednesday announced a plan to expand hunting and fishing opportunities in several federal wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries. The plan would increase hunting and fishing access across 1.4 million acres of public land spanning on 74 national wildlife refuges and 15 national fish hatcheries. “President Trump is committed to expanding public access on …

ABC News reports: The Trump administration said Wednesday it is ending medical research by government scientists using human fetal tissue, overriding the advice of scientists that there’s no other way to tackle some health problems and handing abortion opponents a major victory. Fetal tissue is used in research on HIV and childhood cancers, treatments that enlist the body’s immune system …

The Washington Post reports: A key witness in former Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian election interference has been indicted by federal officials on child pornography charges, according to court documents. George Nader, who had a previous criminal record on such charges, was charged in federal court in Virginia, and is expected to make an initial court …

Axios reports: On “Axios on HBO,” Jared Kushner said he doesn’t know whether he’d call the FBI if he were to receive an email today like the one before the campaign’s Trump Tower meeting, which had the subject line: “Re: Russia – Clinton – private and confidential.” Kushner is now in the West Wing as senior adviser to the president. …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump on Friday recognized LGBTQ Pride Month — something he didn’t do during the first two years of his presidency. Trump pointed to his administration’s efforts to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide that are being led by the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who is gay. But when Trump was asked about that effort shortly after …

Politico reports: The Trump administration plans to launch a new panel to offer “fresh thinking” on international human rights, a move some activists fear is aimed at narrowing protections for women and members of the LGBT community. The new body, to be called the Commission on Unalienable Rights, will advise Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, according to a notice the …

It’s Reagan and ketchup all over again. Bloomberg reports: Canned spray cheese, beef jerky, and pimiento-stuffed olives would count as staple foods under the Trump administration’s proposed rule for the federal food-stamp program. The rule reportedly revises the program’s “minimum stocking requirements” for food staples, which stores are required to meet in order to accept the food-stamp benefits. The Federal …

The New York Times reports: Thomas B. Hofeller achieved near-mythic status in the Republican Party as the Michelangelo of gerrymandering, the architect of partisan political maps that cemented the party’s dominance across the country. But after he died last summer, his estranged daughter discovered hard drives in her father’s home that revealed something else: Mr. Hofeller had played a crucial …