President Donald Trump’s detractors have portrayed him as a fascist, dictatorial, freedom-hating fiend. The aggressive ICE arrests and protests in Minneapolis, including two shooting deaths of civilians, only added fuel to the narrative that America was devolving into a police state and Armageddon was on its way.

Then Trump pivoted.

Whether ...Read more

It has been 10 months since President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” import tariff announcement in April. Ultimately, that announcement led to U.S. import tariffs rising to an average of 17 percent, their highest level in 100 years.

It is still too early to draw conclusions as to the overall damage those tariffs might inflict on the ...Read more

The debate over President Donald Trump’s tariffs was never really about economics; it was about framing.

Instead of asking whether tariffs generated leverage, revenue or strategic correction, many observers chose a different path: emotional labeling. Tariffs were routinely described as “tantrums,” “outbursts” or “chaos.” Policy ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would have passed on Kevin Warsh as his nominee to lead the Federal Reserve if Warsh had expressed a desire to hike interest rates.

“If he came in and said, ‘I want to raise it,’ he would not have gotten the job, no,” Trump said Wednesday in an NBC News interview.

The president said there ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk, who arrived in the House in 2015 as a tea party-style conservative before becoming a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, said Wednesday he won’t seek a seventh term.

A senior member of the House Administration Committee, Loudermilk joins a wave of GOP lawmakers who won’t be returning ...Read more

President Donald Trump said he intended to stay out of the clash between Netflix Inc. and Paramount Skydance Corp. over Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., saying he would leave the matter to the U.S. Justice Department.

“I haven’t been involved,” Trump told NBC News in an interview. “I’ve been called by both sides. It’s the two sides, but...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would donate any money he received in a $10 billion lawsuit that he filed against the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service over an unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns to the press during his first term in office.

“Any money that I win, I’ll give it to charity, 100% to charity, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Maryland and Virginia lawmakers announced Wednesday they are forming a congressional caucus to try to protect the federal workforce from further deep cuts and “political interference” from the President Donald Trump’s administration.

“Boy, do we need a caucus,” Southern Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former House ...Read more

NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge appeared unconvinced by President Donald Trump’s third bid to move his hush money case to federal court at a hearing Wednesday, where his lawyers squared off with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.

The renewed bid, if successful, could allow Trump to try to get his historic criminal conviction ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Congress took steps on Wednesday toward blocking changes to D.C.’s local tax code, even as District officials warned it could wreak havoc on tax season and smash a hole in the city’s budget.

The House narrowly passed a disapproval resolution that would reverse a decision by the D.C. Council to reject some of President Donald ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Just a day after Congress cleared a Homeland Security Department funding extension, lawmakers are facing a political and procedural reality: Nine days isn’t enough to strike and pass a bipartisan deal on federal immigration enforcement policy.

While the White House and Republicans await a policy proposal promised by tomorrow ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s repeated calls to “nationalize” elections drew swift resistance from California officials this week, who said they are ready to fight should the federal government attempt to assert control over the state’s voting system.

“We would win that on Day One,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta told The Times...Read more

WASHINGTON — As lawmakers look for a way forward on a Homeland Security spending measure, the emphasis has initially focused on how President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies have impacted communities hundreds of miles from where two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration officers.

Minneapolis, where Renee ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that California this fall may use its new election map, which is expected to send five more Democrats to Congress.

With no dissents, the justices rejected emergency appeals from California Republicans and President Trump’s lawyers, who claimed the map was a racial gerrymander to benefit ...Read more

President Donald Trump sent a fresh warning to Iran’s leaders as U.S. military forces amass in the region, even as diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran appeared to remain on track.

“I would say he should be very worried, yeah. He should be,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, when asked about Iran’s ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday called for the panel to hear directly from Trump administration officials about a powerful but controversial surveillance authority that sunsets in April.

In a letter, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., urged Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, to hold a ...Read more

Democratic congressional leaders projected unity and demanded wide-ranging reforms to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown as they kicked off crucial talks with Republicans on funding the Department of Homeland Security.

Minority leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries vowed to block appropriations for DHS, which ...Read more

MIAMI — Ryan Wesley Routh, the man convicted of trying to kill Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president was playing golf at his club in West Palm Beach, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

During his sentencing in Fort Pierce federal court, Routh generally listened and then read part of a 20-page statement that U.S. ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied an effort to overturn California’s new voter-passed congressional map, letting the map go into effect for this year’s midterm elections.

The unexplained, unsigned order ends a bid from the Trump administration and California Republicans to overturn a lower court ruling that found the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn on Wednesday launched a second bid for Congress, announcing he would run to succeed retiring former House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer in Maryland.

Dunn, who garnered national attention for speaking out about his experience defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, placed ...Read more