Trump’s legal team weighs how to curtail special counsel – reports

U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyers are reviewing ways to limit or undermine the special counsel investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including by examining the backgrounds of the investigators, according to newspaper reports. FILE PHOTO: Special Counsel Robert Mueller leaves the U.S. Capitol Building after meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2017.

Eager for Triumph, Trump Pushes Divided Republicans on Health Care

The Republican-controlled Senate will make one more attempt to repeal Obamacare next week, hoping to make good on a major campaign pledge made by President Donald Trump. Trump and his Republican allies suffered a major setback when the latest effort to repeal and replace Obamacare failed in the Senate, riven by divisions between conservatives and moderates over what should come next.

Senate panel rejects Trump cuts to foreign aid, domestic

Rebuffing a Republican president, a GOP-led Senate panel on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to foreign aid and deep reductions in spending on domestic programs such as education, housing and energy. In May, Trump proposed a cut of some 32 percent in spending in diplomacy programs such as economic aid and contributions to international organizations.

US seeks Syrian solution, but Assad doesn’t have to go first

The U.S. is seeking a political resolution to the crisis in Syria and won't insist on Syrian President Bashar Assad's immediate ouster, President Donald Trump's homeland and counterterrorism adviser said Thursday. "I don't think it's important for us to say Assad must go first," Tom Bossert said at the Aspen Security Forum, an annual gathering of intelligence and national security officials and experts.

Even with Trump warning, Mueller likely to probe finances

President Donald Trump's growing anxiety about the federal Russia probe has spilled into public view with his warning that special counsel Robert Mueller would be out of bounds if he dug into the Trump family's finances. But that's a line that Mueller seems sure to cross.

Trump struggled to put out fires this week

This week - which was Made in America Week by the way - Donald Trump climbed into a fire truck and proclaimed, "where's the fire?" multiple times, while Vice-President Mike Pence awkwardly stood next to him, laughing: The fire was consuming Republican health reform plans, which again went up in smoke when they couldn't agree on the latest iteration of the healthcare bill. "For seven years I've been hearing repeal and replace from Congress - I've been hearing it loud and strong.

Budget Office: Latest GOP plan adds 22 million uninsured

A revised Republican health care bill would drive up the number of uninsured Americans by 22 million by 2026, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday in a report unlikely to help GOP leaders persuade their party's senators to back the reeling legislation in an upcoming showdown vote. An earlier projection by Congress' nonpartisan budget analysts on the initial version of the GOP legislation projected the same number of people losing coverage.

Words of support from Trump, Obama, Bush and Clinton

Several Republican senators learned of the news during a meeting about health care, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven told CNN, adding that there was "stunned disbelief" in the room and they prayed for McCain." Senator John McCain has always been a fighter," President Donald Trump said in a statement.

Castro: 2nd Trump-Putin meeting is ‘not normal’

Rep. Joaquin Castro said Wednesday that the circumstances of the second meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit earlier this month are "not normal." A senior White House official told CNN the discussion -- which was not disclosed at the time -- lasted "nearly an hour."

Mitch McConnell, master lawmaker, taking the hit for health bill failure

Donald Trump is taking the heat for the implosion of the Senate health care bill, which is what happens when you're president and your party controls both houses of Congress. But there is another Republican who is getting pummeled in the press.

Trump Declines Invitation to Speak at NAACP Convention

The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump has declined an invitation to speak at the NAACP's annual convention next week in Baltimore, leading the nation's oldest civil rights organization to question the president's commitment to his African American constituents. "During his campaign, President Trump asked us 'what do you have to lose?'" NAACP Board Chairman Leon Russell said.