How the White House convinced skeptical Republicans to back RFK Jr., Gabbard and Hegseth
CNN
Sen. Todd Young didn’t back Donald Trump in 2024. But that didn’t stop Young from calling the president this past weekend as he was wavering over Trump’s pick for the country’s top intelligence official, Tulsi Gabbard.
Sen. Todd Young didn’t back Donald Trump in 2024. But that didn’t stop Young from calling the president this past weekend as he was wavering over Trump’s pick for the country’s top intelligence official, Tulsi Gabbard. Trump told Young to “vote your conscience,” the Indiana Republican told CNN. And when Sen. Thom Tillis was considering a no vote on Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary last month, Tillis spoke with Trump and relayed his concerns about new allegations that emerged ahead of the Senate vote. “I made it very clear that if, on their face, they proved to be accurate, that I was a no,” Tillis said in an interview. “I told President Trump. We had a great discussion. It’s actually comical how people think it went versus how it went. I was treated with the utmost respect.” Two of Trump’s most controversial nominees, Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., won key committee votes Tuesday with the support of all Republicans, the clearest sign to date that the president is poised to get all of his Cabinet picks confirmed after Hegseth was approved last month by the slimmest of margins. The White House ultimately won over skeptical GOP senators – not with Trump’s usual bombast, but with a combination of Trump’s personal conversations with senators, extensive engagement from Vice President JD Vance and assurances from nominees that their past controversial views would not drive their positions in Trump’s Cabinet.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.
Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.
Young Americans are “a generation under profound strain” with little confidence in institutions and widespread economic concerns, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of adults younger than 30 released Thursday.
As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.
The murder trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 continues. Follow for live updates.
The FBI arrested a person Thursday who investigators believe planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot.
Lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office are expected to appear in federal court in Albany on Thursday to try to disqualify a US attorney from investigating the state’s civil case against President Donald Trump.
A new poll shows more than 70% of Republicans with Obamacare coverage don’t want their enhanced premium subsidies to expire.
A safety volunteer accused of fatally shooting a man taking part in a “No Kings” protest last June in Salt Lake City while firing at another man he believed to be a potential mass shooter has been charged with manslaughter, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
The specter of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown looms over the Somali diaspora in the Twin Cities – home to the nation’s largest Somali population.
Honduras’ former President Juan Orlando Hernández thanked US President Donald Trump for pardoning his US drug trafficking conviction amid criticism from lawmakers that the pardon undermines the White House’s efforts to stop drug trafficking.
President Donald Trump’s name has been installed on the building and signage around the US Institute of Peace (USIP) – an independent agency that the administration gutted earlier this year.
President Donald Trump issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for Oak View Group co-founder Tim Leiweke, who was indicted by the president’s own Justice Department earlier this year, according to a document released online.