Politics
Matt BaiThe not-so-radical Trump presidency
Trumpism is turning out to be a mostly cautious brand of conservatism that, to the president’s credit, pulls up short of upending the established order.
- Hunter Walker
Sean Spicer resigns as White House press secretary
White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned on Friday amid changes to President Trump’s communications shop. Anthony Scaramucci was named communications director.
Gabby KaufmanFormer A.G. Holder defends Mueller as White House reportedly sharpens the knives
As President Trump’s White House reportedly gears up to attack the team recruited by Robert Mueller, the special counsel in charge of the Russia probe, former Attorney General Eric Holder defended the integrity of the independent investigation and said the president “cannot define or constrain” its scope.
- Liz Goodwin
GOP senator: We don’t have ‘luxury’ of knowing what health care plan we’ll move on
Senate Republicans are asking members to allow debate on their plan to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, but it's not clear what that plan is.
- Andrew Bahl
Obamacare infighting looms as Republicans look ahead to budget battle
Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., announces the 2018 budget blueprint during a press conference on Capitol Hill, July 18, 2017. WASHINGTON — With the latest stalled effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, congressional Republicans are beginning to look to the budget, tax reform and other big ticket legislative items to bolster their credibility ahead of August’s traditional recess. The House Budget Committee approved the budget Wednesday, just days after they formally unveiled it.
Christopher WilsonAfter Trump rebuke, Sessions shows up for work, will stay ‘as long as that is appropriate’
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein dodged questions about their future with the Department of Justice following criticisms from President Trump. In an interview with the New York Times published Wednesday evening, Trump said that he would not have appointed Sessions as attorney general if he knew Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation. “We in the Department of Justice will continue every single day to work hard, to serve the national interest, and we wholeheartedly join in the priorities of President Trump,” said Sessions when asked if he had considered resignation.
Dylan Stableford and Gabby Kaufman15 remarkable moments from Trump’s NYT interview
In a wide-ranging discussion with New York Times reporters in the Oval Office, the president sounded off on topics from Hitler to Putin to handshakes.
- Julia Munslow
‘Give it hell, John’: Family, colleagues and former foes wish McCain well
Sen. John McCain, who has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, has gotten an outpouring of support from across the political spectrum.
- Liz Goodwin
News of John McCain’s illness broke during meeting to save GOP health care plan
Republican senators attempting to save their stalled effort to repeal and replace Obamacare in a late-night meeting Wednesday were interrupted with news of Sen. John McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told reporters that the senators learned of McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis during the meeting and asked Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., to say a prayer for McCain. “It was very emotional, almost kind of stunned disbelief for a minute, then we asked James Lankford to lead us in prayer,” Hoeven said.
- Liz Goodwin
Which health care bill are Republicans voting on next week? No one knows yet.
The Senate is taking a key vote that could reshape the American health care system on Tuesday — but no one is exactly sure what they’ll be voting on. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Tuesday that his caucus had failed to coalesce around an Obamacare replacement plan and would instead move to a vote next week to begin debate on a “clean” repeal bill, to take effect in two years — allowing one more election cycle to pass before the need to come up with a replacement. The Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday that 32 million fewer Americans would have insurance under the repeal-only plan over 10 years.
Christopher WilsonKris Kobach pushes debunked theory on illegal votes: ‘We may never know’ who won
The vice chair of the White House voter fraud commission says the results of the 2016 election may have been compromised by ballots cast by ineligible voters.
- Julia Munslow
Trump has changed his health care approach 3 times in 36 hours
President Trump hasn’t been settling on a single strategy to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
- Liz Goodwin
Democrats rolling out 2018 midterms message next week
Democrats will begin rolling out their message for the 2018 midterm elections next week, Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., the No. 4 House Democrat, told reporters.
- Andrew Bahl
Trump turns up the heat on Senate to repeal and replace
President Donald Trump scolded GOP senators for their inaction on health care reform Wednesday, saying they should not leave for the August recess without repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.
Christopher WilsonTrump accuses states of hiding ‘something’ as voter fraud panel convenes
As the White House’s controversial voter fraud panel gathered for its first meeting, President Trump accused states that didn’t turn over data of hiding “something.”
- Garance Franke-Ruta
These Obama staffers knew just how complicated health care is
“There wasn’t really an alternate route. This was the alternate route,” said a former Obama aide about the Affordable Care Act. “And ultimately [Republicans] ran into this reality.”
- Dylan Stableford
Trump complains Republicans ‘never’ tout their health care bill
Hours before meeting with GOP senators at the White House, the president made a last-ditch Twitter pitch to save their effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Hunter WalkerOver 20 members of Congress ask the FBI to review Ivanka Trump’s security clearance
Over 20 Democratic House members asked acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe to review questions regarding the security clearance of the president's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump.
- Jon Ward and Hunter Walker
The White House and Mitch McConnell’s office tell very different stories about the failure of the health care bill
As the dust settled following Monday night’s collapse of the Republican effort to repeal Obamacare, a flurry of finger-pointing and competing narratives emerged with both the White House and the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell trying to minimize their own roles in the debacle. Some White House staffers threw McConnell under the proverbial bus, suggesting that the majority leader rushed the vote and limited President Trump’s involvement. McConnell’s allies denied he sought to dictate the process or have the president take a back seat.
Liz Goodwin and Andrew BahlAs McConnell plan fails, will Democrats and Republicans work together to fix health care?
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell once threatened that Republicans would have to work with Democrats if they couldn’t get their act together on a repeal and replace strategy for Obamacare. “We’ve demonstrated that Republicans by themselves are not prepared at this particular point to do a replacement,” he said, when asked if the GOP would now work with Democrats. McConnell also continued to insist that he would hold a vote to repeal Obamacare on a two-year delay to give Republicans and Democrats time to come up with a replacement.
- Julia Munslow
GOP Rep. Rohrabacher gets to the bottom of Martian civilization: There wasn’t any
A Republican lawmaker asked a panel of NASA scientists Tuesday for opinions on whether Mars could have had civilized life “thousands of years ago.”
- Dylan Stableford
Trump disowns Obamacare again as GOP repeal plan effectively collapses
The president says that neither he nor Republicans are going to take the blame for problems related to America’s current health care law hours after the bill to repeal and replace it was rendered dead in the Senate.
- Andrew Bahl
The Senate GOP’s new Obamacare repeal plan is effectively dead
A plan to cleanly repeal the Affordable Care Act appears to have failed in the Senate after three GOP lawmakers said they would not vote to proceed with the latest attempt to reform the health care system.
- Liz Goodwin
Kamala Harris: The Democratic message is ‘telling the American public we see them’
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said Democrats have a message “much bigger” than opposing President Trump and that the party is focused on telling Americans “we see them.”
- Julia Munslow
Pence turns up the heat on health care after Senate stalls
Vice President Mike Pence delivered an energetic endorsement Tuesday of the Senate Republicans’ new approach to the Affordable Care Act: Repeal it now and figure out a replacement later.
