With another role in his portfolio, Rubio ascends in Trump’s orbit
CNN
In a sweltering Rose Garden on Thursday, as President Donald Trump intoned at length about restoring faith to the White House, he took a moment to single out a man sitting right up front.
In a sweltering Rose Garden on Thursday, as President Donald Trump intoned at length about restoring faith to the White House, he took a moment to single out a man sitting right up front. “When I have a problem, I call up Marco,” Trump told his crowd, gesturing toward Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “He gets it solved.” Unbeknownst to the sweat-beaded dignitaries assembled for the president’s event, Trump of late had been discussing a new problem with his top diplomat: national security adviser Mike Waltz, whom he no longer trusted and who’d lost the confidence of much of the West Wing. The conundrum had been festering for weeks after Waltz inadvertently included a journalist on a Signal group chat to discuss a military strike in Yemen. Now it was no longer sustainable, people familiar with the matter said. Already this week, he’d determined Waltz should not travel with him to Michigan, where the president announced new investment in an Air National Guard base. Waltz flew with him to Joint Base Andrews on his helicopter, but remained behind on the tarmac as Air Force One took off for Detroit. For weeks, Trump had wavered, wary of appearing to succumb to public pressure and repeating the same cycle of firing national security advisers that lent his first term a mien of chaos. Nor did he want to provide his enemies a perceived victory by caving to their demands. But after 100 days in office, without any major staff departures, Trump seemed ready to pull the plug. It turned out Rubio, who always “gets it solved,” was himself the solution.
As the Trump administration prepared late last year for the US military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a handful of officials began studying the US approach to oil resources in Iraq following the 2003 US invasion.
Bipartisan senators blocked a massive spending bill Thursday, as eleventh-hour talks continue to avoid a costly partial government shutdown that looms at the week’s end.
After weeks of nationwide protests, Iran’s Supreme Leader ordered a violent crackdown that left thousands dead. President Trump, who had urged demonstrators to remain in the streets, ultimately did not intervene — a decision that now shapes the narrow set of options before him.
As tensions between the US and Cuba rise to the highest levels since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the mood was grim at a recent staff meeting at the US Embassy in Havana.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar launched a Democratic bid for governor on Thursday, pledging to unify her state and move beyond a deadly battle with the federal government over immigration.
White House Border czar Tom Homan will address the press in Minneapolis after being sent to take the reins on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. President Donald Trump dispatched Homan following the fatal shooting of two US citizens in Minneapolis. Follow for live updates
Vague descriptions of presidential signing ceremonies, policy meetings and industry executive sit downs — mostly behind closed doors — began peppering President Donald Trump’s public schedule at the end of last year.
Stephen Miller has sought this week to distance himself from the recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis. But Miller has been the architect of Trump’s aggressive deportation push.
President Donald Trump’s sweeping deployment of National Guard troops to several major cities across the United States cost taxpayers approximately $496 million from June through December last year, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.
President Donald Trump is weighing a major new strike on Iran after preliminary discussions between Washington and Tehran over limiting the country’s nuclear program and ballistic missile production failed to make progress, according to people familiar with the matter.
The White House and Senate leaders are moving closer to a deal to avert a government shutdown but are seeking to resolve final sticking points in eleventh-hour negotiations ahead of Friday’s deadline, according to several sources familiar with the talks.
More than a million fewer people have signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage for 2026, according to federal data released Wednesday. The drop comes after the expiration of the enhanced federal premium subsidies caused monthly payments to skyrocket for many enrollees.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, in a CNN town hall Wednesday night, stood by the city’s sanctuary policies and repeated his demand that federal immigration agents leave the city.