President approves Washington storms disaster declaration

President Donald Trump has approved a disaster declaration for Washington state to address damage from late January and February storms that brought flooding, landslides and mudslides. The action, in response to a request from Gov. Jay Inslee, makes federal funding available to state, local and tribal governments as well as certain nonprofit groups.

White House plans ‘big announcement’ on tax reform

The White House will release the "broad principles and priorities" of their plans to overhaul federal taxes on Wednesday, a White House official said Friday night, downplaying expectations that the Trump administration would reveal key details underpinning the plan. President Donald Trump said earlier Wednesday that he would release new information about his plan to overhaul the tax code on Wednesday, a sign that he is trying to accelerate one of his most ambitious campaign promises even though key specifics.

Pence embraces US-Australia partnership after Trump spat

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, meets with Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at Admiralty House in Sydney, Saturday, April 22, 2017. . U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, right, receives the gift of a book called Rendezvous with Destiny by Michael Fullilove, left, as Australian Governor General Peter Cosgrove looks on during a lunch reception.

‘Drain the swamp’ more a Trump slogan than a practice so far

The leader of a bipartisan good-government group, Zach Wamp, headed to the White House last week to ask whether President Donald Trump's "drain the swamp" slogan would ever be more than a throwaway campaign slogan. One of the president's closest aides, Steve Bannon, assured him it's a priority.

Trump tells ‘dreamers’ to rest easy, targets criminals

Young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and now in the country illegally can "rest easy," President Donald Trump says, telling the "dreamers" they will not be targets for deportation under his immigration policies. Trump, in a wide-ranging interview Friday with The Associated Press, said his administration is "not after the dreamers, we are after the criminals."

Future of revamped health care bill remains dubious in House

President Donald Trump on Friday downplayed the significance of pushing Republican health care legislation through the House next week, a retreat from more bullish White House pronouncements a day earlier, which had gotten a skeptical reception at the Capitol. In brief comments to reporters Friday, Trump said the attempt to rekindle the GOP drive to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law is "coming along well."

In Photos: Scientists Worldwide Fight Back Against Anti-Science Trump Agenda

An estimated 10,000 people took part in the March for Science in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday. Tens of thousands are celebrating Earth Day by marching Saturday against President Donald Trump's ongoing attacks on science, in an unprecedented global uprising of scientists against the anti-science Trump administration.

Trump says Paris attack will help Le Pen in election

President Donald Trump on Friday said he believes an attack on police officers this week in Paris will help Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate, in upcoming elections in France. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mr. Trump said that while he is not explicitly endorsing Ms.

National briefs: Order aims to roll back Dodd-Frank

President Donald Trump set the stage Friday for a rollback of regulations that were intended to curtail corporate tax evasion and prevent another financial crisis. Frustrated by the slow pace in Congress on his goal of overhauling the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulation law and the fact that his mission of rewriting the tax code remains in limbo, Mr. Trump ordered his Treasury Department on Friday to review measures put in place by the Obama administration.

U.S. Treasury rejects Exxon Mobil request to drill in Russia

The Trump administration has rejected a request from Exxon Mobil to waive U.S. sanctions against Russia to allow the company to resume oil drilling around the Black Sea. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday in a brief statement that the administration "will not be issuing waivers to U.S. companies, including Exxon, authorizing drilling prohibited by current Russian sanctions."

As Trump, GOP seek to replace Obamacare, Southern California holds its breath a ” again

In the Santa Clarita Valley, where hospitals and specialists were once few and far between, Teresa Savaikie said the Affordable Care Act helped keep her and her family from losing their home as she fought two, stage 3 colon cancer tumors. In the San Gabriel Valley, where there are more hospitals and specialists, Mike Merkel said the Affordable Care Act pushed his wife, Nina, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, out of the City of Hope, where she had been a patient and into a maze of providers and specialists all across the region.

Young immigrant – dreamers’ can – rest easy,’ Trump says

Young immigrants protected by executive action from deportation say they won't ''rest easy,'' even if President Donald Trump says they should. Several ''dreamers'' told The Associated Press on Friday that they were not comforted by Trump's pledge, in an AP interview, that he wouldn't target the almost 800,000 people brought to the U.S. as children and living in the country illegally under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program enacted by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Jeff Sessions again degrades Hawaii and the U.S. justice system to defend Trump’s Muslim ban 2.0

At his Senate confirmation hearing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied under oath that he had never had contact with the... Despite promising to release his tax returns in a televised debate with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump continues to show that... Jeff Sessions is really all in on calling one of the 50 United States an "island in the Pacific" as a way to attack the legitimacy of a duly appointed and confirmed federal judge who sits in Hawaii. In an interview with MSNBC's Ali Velshi, Sessions did not back down from defending that indefensible position.

Trump secrecy moves threaten his ‘drain the swamp’ pledge

The leader of a bipartisan good-government group, Zach Wamp, headed to the White House last week to ask whether President Donald Trump's "drain the swamp" slogan would ever be more than a throwaway campaign slogan. One of the president's closest aides, Steve Bannon, assured him it's a priority.