White House news

• US spy agencies may have picked up Trump communications: lawmaker

  23-03-2017 05:14
  
  Donald Trump's communications may have been swept up in intelligence gathering on suspected foreign agents, according to explosive allegations made by the Republican head of the House intelligence committee.Devin Nunes -- who worked on Trump's transition team and is now leading an investigation into possible links between that campaign team and Russia -- said Trump's communications may have been intercepted late last year.Nunes however said there was no evidence that then-president Barack Obama
  
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• Johnson's 'intuition' clashes with data on illegal voting

  12-05-2024 23:02 via thehill.com
  
  The GOP unveiled a bill this week to bar noncitizens from voting in federal elections — prohibiting something that’s already illegal to address a problem they can’t prove exists.Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was candid this week in telling reporters that Republicans are motivated by intuition in seeking another law that would limit voting to U.S. citizens.“We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it’s not been something th
  
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• Blinken: US doesn't have 'double standards' on holding Israel accountable

  12-05-2024 20:30 via thehill.com
  
  Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday rejected the accusation the U.S. is attempting to avoid holding Israel accountable for its military campaign amid criticism over the State Department's recent report on Israeli war conduct.
  In a highly anticipated report released last week, the State Department concluded it was “reasonable to assess” Israel violated international humanitarian law while stopping short of determining wrongdoing as it did not find specific instances
  
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• Sullivan: Pause in military aid doesn't mean Biden will 'abandon Israel'

  12-05-2024 19:15 via thehill.com
  
  White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday maintained President Biden's threat to withhold offensive weapons from Israel does not mean the U.S. intends to "abandon" Israel.
  Sullivan, speaking with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, warned of "significant" civilian casualties in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. It comes days after President Biden threatened to withhold offensive weapons from Israel if they launch a full-scale invasion of the city.
  "Well, first, because ther
  
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• Greene: 'Johnson is owned by the Democrats'

  12-05-2024 19:09 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) accused Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of being “owned by the Democrats” in a Sunday interview.Asked why she thinks Johnson would not “defund Jack Smith,” referring to the special counsel who brought two indictments against President Trump, Greene said, “Mike Johnson is owned by the Democrats and that proved to me to be right again.”“When I called the motion to vacate, it wasn't Republicans that saved Mike Johnson. It wa
  
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• House Republican says Biden's weapon halt threat is for 'political reasons'

  12-05-2024 17:05 via thehill.com
  
  Republican Rep. Mike Waltz (Fla.) on Sunday alleged President Biden's threat to halt weapons to Israel is politically motivated with the November election less than six months away.
  "I think the reality of us being in an election year now and the election just six months away...I think you have kind of a political and an operation reality there. But...he certainly is withholding aid, and he is obviously doing it for political reasons," Waltz said Sunday in an interview on NewsNation's "The Hill
  
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• Blinken says US has not seen Israeli plans to protect civilians, post-war plans for Gaza

  12-05-2024 16:56 via thehill.com
  
  Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday the U.S. has not seen any plans from Israel over how the country will protect civilians or the future of Gaza after the war.CBS's Margaret Brennan asked Blinken on "Face the Nation" about the U.S. holding back high payload bombs to Israel, among recent concerns about the Israeli military going into Rafah — where more than a million civilians were estimated to be taking refuge. When asked if the U.S. might still deliver those bombs, Bl
  
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• McCaul says Rafah invasion is 'last step' for Israeli military 'objective'

  12-05-2024 16:32 via thehill.com
  
  House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Sunday argued Israel's invasion of Rafah is the final step in completing its military campaign in Gaza as President Biden threatens to halt weapons in the case of a full-scale invasion.
  "Now, of course, you want the conditions with humanitarian to be in place. Of course, you want the tenants in place, but to say you cannot invade Rafah...we're telling the Israelis, dictating their military strategy," McCaul said Sunday in an inter
  
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• Blinken says more civilians in Gaza have been killed than terrorists

  12-05-2024 15:33 via thehill.com
  
  Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. believes more civilians in Gaza have been killed than terrorists.
  CBS's Margaret Brennan asked Blinken on "Face the Nation" whether the U.S. shares the same assessment of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who she said recently said Israel has killed 14,000 terrorists and 16,000 civilians in its war against the militant group Hamas."Yes, we do. And I think the report makes clear that while Israel has processes, procedures, rules, regulations
  
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• Where the US spends the most on foreign aid

  12-05-2024 12:00 via thehill.com
  
  Debates over U.S. aid to Israel and Ukraine have dominated Washington this year, raising questions about U.S. economic and military support to various allies and whether the nation spends too much support abroad.Opposition within the GOP to foreign aid has been building, with Republicans arguing the U.S. needs to spend more on border security. The debate is likely to color this year's presidential race, and the reelection of former President Trump and his America First campaign could raise
  
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• House Democrat says US-Israel relationship 'ironclad,' but discussions should be 'in private'

  11-05-2024 17:10 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) claimed that the U.S.-Israel relationship is “ironclad” amid tensions over Gaza, but suggested that “communication” between the two countries regarding Rafah should be done “behind closed doors.”Wasserman-Schultz reaffirmed that Biden has “stood steadfastly” behind Israel following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on the south of the country that killed around 1,200 Israelis. But regarding his adminis
  
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• The Memo: Biden takes fire from all sides after Israel arms move

  11-05-2024 12:00 via thehill.com
  
  President Biden’s decision to pause an arms shipment to Israel is his most dramatic move so far in the war in Gaza — and it may end up pleasing no one.Republicans have lambasted Biden for the decision, accusing him of abandoning Israel. Former President Trump has made that argument, as did several GOP senators who held a news conference on the issue Thursday.Israeli politicians have voiced their displeasure — though how much that matters in U.S. domestic politics is questionabl
  
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• GOP worries its problems will outlive Greene’s ineffective motion

  11-05-2024 12:00 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) ineffectual effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was a big anticlimax, but one that could have reverberations much longer than the 35 minutes it took the House to dispense with her motion to vacate.The weighty consequences range from how Johnson can possibly lead his warring factions through the coming legislative battles after being propped up by Democrats, to how it might shape this fall’s elections and the House’s power dynamics.C
  
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• Democratic Senator calls US report on Israel war conduct ‘woefully inadequate’

  11-05-2024 00:57 via thehill.com
  
  Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) described the Biden administration’s review of Israel’s war conduct in the Gaza Strip — which acknowledged the likely violation of international humanitarian law using U.S. weapons — as "woefully inadequate," but did not indicate a ban on arms transfers.“If this conduct complies with international standards, God help us all,” Van Hollen said in a call with reporters shortly after the State Department transmitted its report to C
  
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• US review of Israel's war conduct raises 'serious concerns'

  11-05-2024 00:26 via thehill.com
  
  The U.S. has concluded it was "reasonable to assess" Israel has violated international humanitarian law in Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have died in seven months of war, but stopped short of a determinative finding of wrongdoing because the review did not find specific instances of violations. A long-awaited report from the State Department, released Friday, that looked into whether Israel violated international and U.S. humanitarian law, described "sufficient reported incidents to r
  
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• Greene recalls 'deafening' boos as she moved to oust Johnson

  10-05-2024 22:52 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) reflected on the response to her effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) earlier this week, recalling “deafening” boos.“It was deafening,” Greene said on White House aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” show Friday. “Imagine walking into an arena where everyone hates you in that moment.”The Georgia Republican called her motion to vacate resolution to the floor as privileged Wednesday, after weeks of threats,
  
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• Ethics office finds ‘probable cause’ Texas Republican misused campaign funds

  10-05-2024 22:39 via thehill.com
  
  A new report from the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) says there is “probable cause” that Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) used campaign funds for personal costs, an allegation that the Texas Republican denies.The OCE — an independent, nonpartisan entity that reviews allegations of misconduct regarding lawmakers and staff members — released its report on Friday, after the Ethics Committee announced in March that it had opened an investigation into the congressman.
  
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• Biden briefed on US review of Israel's war conduct

  10-05-2024 22:07 via thehill.com
  
  President Biden has been briefed on a State Department report scrutinizing Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the White House said on Friday, but would not indicate if the report influenced his decision to hold back the transfer of thousands of heavy bombs earlier this week. The State Department transmitted the report to Congress on Friday. The report was expected to assess written assurances from Israel that U.S.-provided weapons were being used in line with
  
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• House Democrats push back on Israel arms pause

  10-05-2024 21:26 via thehill.com
  
  A group of 26 House Democrats are pushing back on President Biden's decision this week to halt the sending of heavy bombs to Israel amid fears of an Israeli invasion into Rafah, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced amid the war in Gaza.
  “We are deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel, during a critical moment in the negotiations,” reads t
  
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• Kirby: 'Deeply regrettable' no Gaza cease-fire deal after meetings end

  10-05-2024 21:07 via thehill.com
  
  White House spokesperson John Kirby on Friday called it "deeply regrettable" in-person negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza ended without a deal, but said the U.S. would work to keep all parties engaged moving forward."Obviously we don’t have a deal. And that’s deeply regrettable given the amount of energy that was applied trying to get us there," Kirby told reporters in a virtual briefing."While the physical meetings have concluded, in other words, nobody’s sitting across fr
  
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• Officials pledge reimbursements for dairy farms impacted by avian flu

  10-05-2024 20:21 via thehill.com
  
  Federal officials on Friday pledged to reimburse farmers for some of the costs associated with keeping their herds protected from an outbreak of the avian flu virus that’s rapidly spreading among dairy cows. The funding includes up to $28,000 over the next 120 days to help individual farms test cattle and bolster biosecurity efforts to further limit the spread of the H5N1 virus between herds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture allotted $98 million in existing funds to support the
  
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• Mace accuses former staffers of sabotage, ‘massive invasion’ of privacy

  10-05-2024 19:39 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who has experienced a string of staff resignations and firings, accused her former employees of sabotage and invading her privacy in a new interview.
  “I knew that they were sabotaging the office for a while. I didn’t know to the extent that they were doing it,” Mace told the Daily Mail in an article published Friday.
  A total of nine of Mace’s staff members left her office between December 2023 and February 2024, the outlet reported. Before that,
  
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• Lawmakers push GAO to review 'unnecessary surgeries' performed on migrants

  10-05-2024 17:24 via thehill.com
  
  A trio of lawmakers is asking the Government Accountability Office to take up an investigation of medical care provided to migrants in detention facilities, knocking an earlier report they say failed to thoroughly review “unnecessary surgeries.”The ask, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, comes after a string of reports detailing inadequate medical care in some cases, while in other instances invasive surgeries like hysterectomies
  
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• Johnson: ‘The person on the other side of the aisle is not an enemy’

  10-05-2024 16:18 via thehill.com
  
  Shortly after dodging an ousting attempt, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) urged members to turn their attention to foreign adversaries, not their enemies within the halls of Congress.In an interview with Politico, Johnson told an anecdote about former President Ronald Reagan and Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill (Mass.) meeting after Reagan’s assassination attempt.“They didn’t agree on almost anything, but they had respect for one another. And I think we’ve got to get ba
  
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• The 7 biggest lawmaker feuds on Capitol Hill

  10-05-2024 11:30 via thehill.com
  
  Feuds on Capitol Hill are nothing new, but the current Congress has featured some doozies. From the historic toppling of a House Speaker to the profanity-laced sniping between conservative hard-liners, the last 16 months have been chock-full of momentous clashes that have roiled both chambers and played an outsized role in how Congress functions.Those personal tensions reflect the broader polarization of Congress and the country, trends that have been exacerbated by the ubiquity of social
  
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• Lawmakers take feuds to new heights: Drake, Kendrick Lamar have nothing on Congress

  10-05-2024 11:30 via thehill.com
  
  The Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake feud — already dubbed the biggest beef in recent rap history — is a story of two successful individuals, who have large egos, fed up with one another.Sound familiar?Beefs — both personal and policy-based, some of which can take a petty turn — are a tale as old as time on Capitol Hill, where clashes between some of the country’s most prominent public figures, fueled by uber self confidence and a strong determination t
  
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• Democrat says Biden hasn’t been clear on Rafah policy

  10-05-2024 03:22 via thehill.com
  
  House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said President Biden and his administration have been clear on their policy around sending weapons to Israel in relation to an invasion of the city of Rafah.“My main criticism of the administration… president right now is they just haven't been clear on what their policy is,” Smith said on NewsNation’s “The Hill” with anchor Blake Burman Thursday. “It is not the policy of the Biden admin
  
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• US House panel to hold hearing on Baltimore bridge collapse

  10-05-2024 02:53 via thehill.com
  
  The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is set to hold a hearing on the federal response to the recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, according to a Thursday press release from the committee.“Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure [Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.)] announced that the full Committee will hold a hearing with federal agency witnesses to discuss the ongoing investigation into the allision of the Motor Vessel DALI with the Francis Scott
  
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• Lawler calls for Roy, Massie to be 'immediately removed' from Rules Committee

  10-05-2024 00:20 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) called for Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to be "immediately removed" from their powerful spots on the Rules Committee after they voted with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Wednesday to advance her effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Ga.) from his post.Greene's effort to force a vote on the motion to vacate Wednesday ultimately failed when Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise (La.) countered with a motion to table her resoluti
  
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• FBI warns of efforts by China, Russia, Iran to influence election

  09-05-2024 23:46 via thehill.com
  
  China, Russia and Iran are among the foreign adversaries ramping up their efforts to influence the 2024 election with campaigns being aided by artificial intelligence, the FBI warned Thursday.“Election threats are more diverse and expansive than ever,” a senior FBI official said on a call with reporters.And while each adversary has their own approach with different nuances and prerogatives, “sowing discord and undermining democracy is consistent across the board,” the off
  
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