This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareIn the weeks before they were ousted last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and top immigration enforcement official Ronald Vitiello challenged a secret White House plan to arrest thousands of parents and children in a blitz operation against migrants in 10 major U.S. cities.According to seven current and former Department of Homeland Security officials, the administration wanted to target the crush of families that had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border after the president’s failed “zero tolerance”...…This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareIn the weeks before they were ousted last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and top immigration enforcement official Ronald Vitiello challenged a secret White House plan to arrest thousands of parents and children in a blitz operation against migrants in 10 major U.S. cities.According to seven current and former Department of Homeland Security officials, the administration wanted to target the crush of families that had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border after the president’s failed “zero tolerance”...WW…

This article was published more than 4 years agoCommentGift ShareTwo of Scott Pruitt’s top aides provided fresh details to congressional investigators in recent days about some of the EPA administrator’s most controversial spending and management decisions, including his push to find a six-figure job for his wife at a politically connected group, enlist staffers in performing personal tasks and seek high-end travel despite aides’ objections.The Trump administration appointees described an administrator who sought a salary that topped $200,000 for his wife and accepted help from a...…This article was published more than 4 years agoCommentGift ShareTwo of Scott Pruitt’s top aides provided fresh details to congressional investigators in recent days about some of the EPA administrator’s most controversial spending and management decisions, including his push to find a six-figure job for his wife at a politically connected group, enlist staffers in performing personal tasks and seek high-end travel despite aides’ objections.The Trump administration appointees described an administrator who sought a salary that topped $200,000 for his wife and accepted help from a...WW…

This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareOn Sunday, President Trump’s most senior national security advisers joined him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where Trump was beginning the second week of his holiday vacation. The officials told reporters that U.S. F-15 Strike Eagles had just at their bases in Iraq and Syria, in response to a series of rocket attacks that had culminated in the death of an American contractor two days earlier.But privately, a different topic had come up with an agitated president: whether to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani,...…This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareOn Sunday, President Trump’s most senior national security advisers joined him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where Trump was beginning the second week of his holiday vacation. The officials told reporters that U.S. F-15 Strike Eagles had just at their bases in Iraq and Syria, in response to a series of rocket attacks that had culminated in the death of an American contractor two days earlier.But privately, a different topic had come up with an agitated president: whether to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani,...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis article is free to access.Why?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by President Trump on Monday said he is considering scaling back steps to constrain the spread of the coronavirus in the next week or two because of concerns that the impact on the economy has become too severe.But loosening restrictions on social distancing and similar measures soon probably would require him to override the internal warnings of senior U.S. health officials,...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis article is free to access.Why?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by President Trump on Monday said he is considering scaling back steps to constrain the spread of the coronavirus in the next week or two because of concerns that the impact on the economy has become too severe.But loosening restrictions on social distancing and similar measures soon probably would require him to override the internal warnings of senior U.S. health officials,...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareFormer national security adviser John Bolton plans to move ahead with publication of his memoir about working in the Trump White House despite a new warning from the administration that it contains classified material and needs to be further revised, his lawyer said.The letter Wednesday from a White House lawyer arrived just two weeks before “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” isand as Bolton is negotiating media appearances to promote the book.The letter said Bolton would be provided with a redacted...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareFormer national security adviser John Bolton plans to move ahead with publication of his memoir about working in the Trump White House despite a new warning from the administration that it contains classified material and needs to be further revised, his lawyer said.The letter Wednesday from a White House lawyer arrived just two weeks before “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” isand as Bolton is negotiating media appearances to promote the book.The letter said Bolton would be provided with a redacted...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePresident Trump is set to hold a high-dollar dinner at a private residence in Hillsboro Beach, Fla., next week to raise money for his campaign and the Republican National Committee, according to an invitation sent to top GOP donors, his first in-person fundraiser since mid-June.The invitation does not name the owner of the home hosting the $580,600-per-couple event. Campaign manager Brad Parscale, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and other senior RNC fundraisers are listed as hosts of the event.The Trump campaign and the RNC...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePresident Trump is set to hold a high-dollar dinner at a private residence in Hillsboro Beach, Fla., next week to raise money for his campaign and the Republican National Committee, according to an invitation sent to top GOP donors, his first in-person fundraiser since mid-June.The invitation does not name the owner of the home hosting the $580,600-per-couple event. Campaign manager Brad Parscale, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and other senior RNC fundraisers are listed as hosts of the event.The Trump campaign and the RNC...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe White House is not planning an immediate response to intelligence reports of Russian bounties given to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan because President Trump does not believe the reports are true or “actionable,” according to two senior administration officials.Trump is not convinced he should do anything about the bounty issue, which he decried in a Wednesday morning tweet as “just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party.”...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe White House is not planning an immediate response to intelligence reports of Russian bounties given to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan because President Trump does not believe the reports are true or “actionable,” according to two senior administration officials.Trump is not convinced he should do anything about the bounty issue, which he decried in a Wednesday morning tweet as “just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party.”...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIn the hours before President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, his campaign directed the removal of thousands of “Do Not Sit Here, Please!” stickers from seats in the arena that were intended to establish social distance between rallygoers, according to video and photos obtained by The Washington Post and a person familiar with the event.The removal contradicted instructions from the management of the BOK Center, the 19,000-seat arena in downtown Tulsa where Trump held his rally on June 20. At the time, coronavirus cases were...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIn the hours before President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, his campaign directed the removal of thousands of “Do Not Sit Here, Please!” stickers from seats in the arena that were intended to establish social distance between rallygoers, according to video and photos obtained by The Washington Post and a person familiar with the event.The removal contradicted instructions from the management of the BOK Center, the 19,000-seat arena in downtown Tulsa where Trump held his rally on June 20. At the time, coronavirus cases were...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis story was featured in Drop Me The Link, our one-story election newsletter. President Trump and his campaign team are grappling with how to resuscitate his imperiled reelection effort amid a wave of polling that shows him badly trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and losing traction even among core constituencies.Some Trump advisers and allies are privately pushing for sweeping changes to the campaign, including the idea of a major staff shake-up and trying to convince the president to be more...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis story was featured in Drop Me The Link, our one-story election newsletter. President Trump and his campaign team are grappling with how to resuscitate his imperiled reelection effort amid a wave of polling that shows him badly trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and losing traction even among core constituencies.Some Trump advisers and allies are privately pushing for sweeping changes to the campaign, including the idea of a major staff shake-up and trying to convince the president to be more...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePublic safety experts, business leaders and local officials expressed anxiety Friday that the decision to move most of the Republican presidential convention to Jacksonville, Fla., will needlessly endanger the health of participants and state residents already grappling with a record high number of new coronavirus cases.“It’s irresponsible,” said Jacksonville City Councilman Garrett L. Dennis, a Democrat. “It will increase the number of covid infections and put the locals at risk.”“Anyone who is a thinking person would...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePublic safety experts, business leaders and local officials expressed anxiety Friday that the decision to move most of the Republican presidential convention to Jacksonville, Fla., will needlessly endanger the health of participants and state residents already grappling with a record high number of new coronavirus cases.“It’s irresponsible,” said Jacksonville City Councilman Garrett L. Dennis, a Democrat. “It will increase the number of covid infections and put the locals at risk.”“Anyone who is a thinking person would...WW…