US Politics News

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked each of the 18 prospective jurors in front of him to look across at Donald Trump and then take a long look inside themselves and decide whether they were up to the job of deciding guilt or innocence. 'You have to be able to come back from your deliberations and look the defendant in the eye and say "guilty.' 'And only you can know that.'

Senators were sworn in as jurors in Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas ' impeachment trial Wednesday in what is expected to be a quick event. Mayorkas is the first Cabinet official to be impeached in nearly 150 years, but the charges against him will be quickly shut down by Democrats because there aren't enough Senate GOP votes to convict him. House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February and just delivered the articles to the upper chamber Tuesday. They claim that Mayorkas' handling of border security has been atrocious, saying an estimated nine million illegal immigrants have entered the U.S. since he first took office.

Columbia University President Nemat Shafik was accused of running one of the 'worst hotbeds of anti-Semitism and hate' during a grilling in Congress over her handling of pro-Palestinian protests on campus The Ivy League chief defended the 'peaceful' demonstrations and the students' right to free speech in the surge of anti-Semitic rhetoric since the start of the Gaza war that led to the resignations of Harvard President Claudine Gay and Yale President Liz Magill. House GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., accused Columbia's leadership of refusing to 'enforce their own policies and condemn Jewish hatred on campus, creating a breeding ground for antisemitism and a hotbed of support for terrorism from radicalized faculty and students.' 

President Joe Biden went back to his childhood home Tuesday during a campaign trip to Scranton, Pennsylvania. The presidential motorcade pulled up to 2446 N. Washington Avenue in Scranton's Green Ridge neighborhood to pay a visit to the home where he's visited periodically over the years.

The Biden administration officially unveiled new rules it plans to use to wipe out millions in debt for student loan borrowers by tackling ballooning interest. President Biden first announced his new proposals to cancel student loan debt for millions of Americans during a visit to Madison, WI more than a week ago. In total, the administration believes his combined efforts could bring relief to more than 30 million borrowers including the 4.3 million who have already seen their debt forgiven.

Donald Trump walked into 100 Centre Street on Tuesday morning like a billionaire who owned the place. The building may house Manhattan's criminal court but that didn't stop the former president throwing out a string of power moves as he arrived for day two of his hush money trial. He waved at reporters outside the building then stopped when he arrived on the 15th floor to hold a brief press conference, denouncing the judge and the court, as security officers looked on.

The handover immediately triggers a constitutional process that will force the Senate to decide the fate of the embattled border chief. Mayorkas is the first Cabinet secretary in nearly 150 years to be impeached. Senators aren't expected to be sworn in for the trial - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to quickly dismiss - until Wednesday morning. GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he would 'strenuously oppose any effort to table the articles of impeachment.'

Vice President Kamala Harris canceled her scheduled appearance with Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, with plans to attend a campaign event instead. The Vice President was scheduled to appear on the show Tuesday which films in the afternoon.

Speaker Mike Johnson is facing multiple calls to resign by his fellow Republicans disgruntled that a massive $95 billion foreign aid package doesn't include border security measures. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told DailyMail.com that he will be joining Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., in her effort to strip Johnson of his speakership. 'He's going to lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy,' Massie vowed. 

Trump let loose outside court after the first day of jury selection as he became the first U.S. ex-president to stand criminal trial. The former president also castigated the judge for refusing him permission to go to the U.S. Supreme Court next week for a hearing related to January 6.

The first trial of a former U.S. president began not with fireworks, angry polemic or theatrics. It began with a moment of quiet solemnity as 96 prospective jurors were sworn in at Manhattan criminal court on Monday afternoon. And then half were dismissed after admitting there was no way they could prevent their strong feelings about former President Donald Trump influencing their view of the case.

The first batch of Manhattan residents were brought into the court and sworn in as they prepared to find out if they would be chosen for the panel in the first case in history involving a former president.

Donald Trump's blushes were spared at the start of his hush money trial on Monday as the judge refused to allow mention of evidence his wife Melania was pregnant with son Barron during his alleged affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal Judge Juan Merchan allowed prosecutors to enter evidence Trump's 2016 campaign coordinated with the National Enquirer before the election, but stopped short of letting attorneys bring up salacious details of the alleged relationship. McDougal claims she had a ten-month affair and was in love with Trump between 2006 and 2007. She was then paid $150,000 to keep quiet about it by the National Enquirer. The ruling kicked off a dramatic start to the historic trial where Merchan refused to recuse himself from the case and wouldn't say if Trump could attend his son Barron's high school graduation. The former president, 77, is facing 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels over their alleged affair. Each count he has strenuously denied carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison, but if found guilty he could face a fine or probation as a first-time offender.

President Joe Biden on Monday said he did not want the Middle East conflict 'spreading' and reiterated his demand for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 'The United States is committed to a ceasefire that will bring the hostages home and prevent the conflict from spreading,' Biden said in the Oval Office ahead of his meeting with and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shyaa Al-Sudani.  'The United States if committed' to Israel's security, he added.

Donald Trump will go on trial Monday for felony charges related to the hush money scheme to keep porn star Stormy Daniels silent during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump's lawyers have been filing a series of motions seeking to delay the trial. But the former president has lost repeatedly in those efforts, setting up the April 15th start date.   Trump faces 34 felony counts in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is charging the former president with using his business records to hide the $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was not present in court on Monday for oral arguments and the court did not give a reason for his absence. Chief Justice John Roberts said Thomas 'is not on the bench today' in court but he would 'participate fully' in two cases being argued based on the briefs and transcripts.

Speaker Mike Johnson is facing one of the toughest weeks of his career as pressure mounts on him to pass a foreign aid package that could prompt his removal from office. Following Iran's drone and missile attack on Israel over the weekend, Congress is getting calls to green-light billions of dollars for the Jewish country that has been embroiled in conflicts with Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. The Saturday evening attack was Iran's first direct attack on Israel and U.S. leaders see delivering aid as vital to supporting the country's anti-missile and anti-drone defense systems. The Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid package that provides money for Israel, Ukraine and Indo-Pacific partners - notably Taiwain - in February, but the Republican-held House has not touched the measure as many conservatives don't want to dole out money abroad before passing border security legislation. Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has set in motion the process to remove Johnson, and has warned him against putting the Senate's bill up for a vote.

Biden, 81, is set to leave Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home on Saturday afternoon so he can meet his national security team just 24 hours after he said an Iranian strike on Israel would happen 'sooner rather than later'. He was due to stay until Sunday, but will now return to Washington D.C. following reports Tehran was moving more than 100 cruise missiles and drones to prepare for an assault. The Pentagon has already moved aircraft carriers into the Red Sea amid fears of a full-scale war and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant today to tell him he has 'unwavering' support from the U.S.

President Kamala Harris . It's an idea that keeps popping up on the campaign trail and in more Washington, DC conversations, as more people are wondering if there is a real possibility the vice president could be the 47th president of the United States.

President Joe Biden said on Friday he expects Iran to attack Israel 'sooner than later' and said his message to Tehran was 'don't.'  'We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel and help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,' Biden said after addressing a gathering of black leaders.  The president's ominous tone comes amid fears that Tehran could send hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles toward Israel in retaliation for an April 1 strike on a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. 

The Pentagon is beefing up its presence in the region and the USS Dwight Eisenhower has been sent into the Red Sea in a warning to Tehran and to protect American personnel should the violence spill over, multiple reports suggest. U.S. officials fear that hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles could be used in a retaliation for an April 1 strike on a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. The USS Dwight Eisenhower could would be able to intercept missiles and drones fired by Iran.

The White House announced it is wiping out another $7.4 billion in student loan debt for 277,000 borrowers, bringing the total student loan debt canceled under the Biden administration to $153 billion since President Biden took office. The latest round of borrowers who will see their student loan debt forgiven will receive emails informing them of the move on Friday. It comes after President Biden unveiled his latest large-scale effort to cancel student loan debt on Monday which, when combined with other efforts, would impact some 30 million borrowers after his original plan to cancel up to $20,000 in debt per borrower was blocked by the Supreme Court last year.

New documents show that Dr. Anthony Fauci's top U.S. health aide intentionally tried to hide his discussions about the origins of COIVD-19 by using his personal email.  Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, claimed a whistleblower provided him new bombshell materials. The unnamed whistleblower revealed emails showing that Dr. David Morens - Fauci's top aide at the National Institutes of Health - allegedly used his personal Gmail account to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to skirt federal transparency laws.

Despite being ordered to pay 'crippling' fines of $800 per day a former investigative reporter said that she would still not reveal the confidential sources behind her reporting. Catherine Herridge is an award-winning journalist who served as an investigative reporter for CBS News from 2019 to 2024 and before then at Fox News from 1996 to 2019. She is known for her reporting on Hunter Biden and for her February termination from CBS News which resulted in hundreds of her files being seized and her getting locked out of her office. On Thursday, Herridge testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the personal costs she has shouldered to protect her sources and advocated for the PRESS Act, which aims to protect journalists from revealing their sources. 'The fact that I have been fighting in the courts for two years and that I am now facing potentially crippling fines of $800 a day to protect my reporting sources underscores the vital importance of the Press Act,' she said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave a very awkward and short response when asked Thursday about the death of O.J. Simpson. Simpson passed away Wednesday at the age of 76 after a battle with cancer, his family announced on social media.

Robert DeNiro, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, and Bill and Hillary Clinton led the glamorous arrivals for President Joe and Jill Biden's state dinner for the Japanese prime minister. But politics was not on the agenda for the event at the White House. Guests repeatedly inclined to discuss the upcoming presidential election, instead focusing on the party ahead of them. Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, merely said 'hello' when asked if would be donating to the Biden campaign. 'What do you think?' DeNiro responded when asked how he felt about the 2024 election and then kept going, walking through the entryway quickly with girlfriend Tiffany Chen at his side. He ignored a question about whether he'd campaign for Biden. 

Biden called on pre-determined questioners at a press conference with the Japanese PM, then fielded a shouted question and accidentally said it was the '20th Century.' He was being asked to respond to an Arizona abortion ruling that could shake up the 2024 race. The law itself that the ruling is based on dates to 1864. 'Elect me. I'm in the 20th Century - 21st Century,' Biden said.

Eighteen Republican led states are attempting to block President Biden's student loan forgiveness effort to cancel billions in student loan debt. On Tuesday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced he is leading a coalition of seven states in a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its SAVE plan. The lawsuit comes after eleven other states led by Kansas recently filed another lawsuit against the Biden administration over the program that began forgiving student loan debt earlier this year.

Donald Trump launched a scathing attack on President Biden's handling of inflation just hours before buying Chick-Fil-A for an entire Atlanta restaurant. The former President took to his social media platform Truth Social to pounce on the news that the annual rate of inflation rose again to 3.5 percent in March. Later in the day, he was filmed in a jovial mood as he visited a Chick-Fil-A where he picked up the tab for the entire restaurant. The latest inflation report had already caused stocks to tumble amid fears it will deter the Federal Reserve from slashing interest rates which are already at a 23-year-high. Trump wrote: 'INFLATION IS BACK - and RAGING! The Fed will never be able to credibly lower interest rates, because they want to protect the worst President in the history of the United States.'

The loyal Trump executive who worked for the family for 50 years was last month found guilty of lying under oath during the former president's New York fraud trial. He told the court he didn't know how Trump's Manhattan penthouse ended up being listed as three times its actual size in the company's financial statements. A judge handed down a five month sentence for Weisselberg, 76, to be served at the notorious New York prison.

President Joe and Jill Biden will transform the White House into a spring garden - complete with a koi pond and floating lily pads - when they welcome Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife for a state dinner on Wednesday night. 'The State floor will transform into a vibrant spring garden, a place of joy and renewal of hope and growth,' first lady Jill Biden said on Tuesday when she previewed the dinner for journalists.  Legendary singer Paul Simon will perform for guests after their meal of home cured salmon, rib eye steak and salted caramel pistachio cake with cherry ice cream.

Republicans were expected to further the impeachment process against Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas Wednesday but instead they will weigh whether they should approve over $108 billion for his agency. The embattled secretary will appear before House and Senate appropriators today to make the case for why the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should receive more money than last year. His request comes after the House voted to impeach Mayorkas in February for high crimes and misdemeanors related to his handling of the southern border and for allegedly lying to lawmakers. Speaker Mike Johnson's office originally planned to send the articles over to the Senate Wednesday hoping to immediately begin a trial. But Tuesday afternoon GOP Senators asked that Johnson hold off on sending the articles to give the upper chamber more time. Now Mayorkas will be on the Hill to make his case for why the agency needs more cash all while he has overseen record illegal immigration.

President Biden told a man who interrupted his speech Tuesday to 'shush up,' then tore into Republicans who want to 'terminate' Obamacare, saying it would lead to 'killing' millions.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state can enforce its 160-year-old long-dormant law criminalizing all abortions except when it puts the mother's life at risk. This makes Arizona one of the states with the most strict abortion laws in the country after federal abortion protections were stripped in 2022.  Pro-abortion critics dubbed it a 'dark day for Arizona' and President Joe Biden immediately responded to the 'cruel' ruling with a statement claiming it will subject Arizonans to an 'extreme and dangerous ban.'