Inside the 24 hours that Trump willed his agenda bill over the finish line
CNN
After nearly 20 hours straight of working the phones – using both threats and assurances to cajole Republicans into supporting his sweeping domestic agenda bill – President Donald Trump seemed to grow exasperated while watching coverage of the plodding floor process on television.
After nearly 20 hours straight of working the phones – using both threats and assurances to cajole Republicans into supporting his sweeping domestic agenda bill – President Donald Trump seemed to grow exasperated while watching coverage of the plodding floor process on television. “What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT’S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!” Trump posted on social media at midnight, as the vote seemed stalled. Fourteen hours later, the bill had passed, with only two Republican defections. Trump is expected to sign it in a major ceremony on Friday afternoon at the White House – punctuated by a fly-over of the B-2 bombers who dropped bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities last month, according to a White House official. The spectacle will only underscore what a consequential stretch of days it has been for the president, who now appears at the height of his political power roughly six months into his second term. Last week’s Supreme Court decision paved the way for even more expansive use of executive authority. His strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites appear to have created new momentum toward a ceasefire deal in Gaza. A NATO summit last week, tailored to his preferences, resulted in new defense spending commitments after years of pressure from Trump.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.